PSA SMR Price Guide

What's up with PSA's SMR Price Guide? I find myself paying PSA 5 prices for a PSA 2 or 3 card. Do any of you use this guide when buying already graded cards?

When I shop on ebay and auctions have "best offer", I email the seller offering to buy at the SMR value (which is often times way less than they're asking) and they don't ever come down close to the SMR...

Do sellers factor in the high cost of grading and kind of tack that onto the card's value?

SMR is pretty much a joke. For more common cards, looking at recent ebay sales will give you a better idea of current market value.

SMR is meaningless because PSA doesn't make any more or less income whether the prices they give are accurate. They make their money off of grading fees, where most collectors consider them to be at least moderately accurate, although occasional errors are made, which is the nature of the business.

It is not a bad company by any means but I think they do a disservice to new collectors by posting that junk. If I were in charge there, I would certainly make sure the SMR was a better product.

Many veteran pre-war collectors prefer SGC, and there is certainly a post-war following for BGS that cannot be denied. If I were a modern card collector, I would definitely go with BGS because of the better prices received for their cards and nicer holders.

Myself and many other people would say they are a bad company. From the Better Business Bureau:

Better Business Bureau Report:
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau. An unsatisfactory record is given when a pattern in the company's customer complaints causes us concern, when the company does not respond to complaints, or when it will not substantiate its advertising claims.

In this case, our complaint history for this company shows a pattern of unanswered and unresolved customer complaints. In those cases where the company has responded to the complaints brought to its attention by the Bureau, some remain unresolved because it appears that the company did not give adequate consideration to the customer's side of the dispute.

A BBB report is based on our file information and experience with an individual company over the past three years.

Whoa, I didn't know that about beloved PSA... The only thing i've heard about PSA is - don't argue with them or they'll ban you for life.

benjaminplante wrote:Whoa, I didn't know that about beloved PSA... The only thing i've heard about PSA is - don't argue with them or they'll ban you for life.

That should tell you something right there.

I'm banned from the PSA boards for standing up for a fellow collector that had a t206 Magie go missing while in the hands of PSA. Not the only board I've been banned from for speaking the truth and the moderators/owners wanting me to go away.

I'm sure the, say, 1990 Topps commons they grade never go missing...

Talk about self-serving! Has PSA gotten a little too big for its britches?

For once the smr made me feel good about myself. I bought a '72 Staubach rc on ebay that the seller said was vg-ex for $40... PSA slabs it a nm-mt 8 which has a smr of over $400. I always love it when the seller's descriptions are wrong in my favor!