The Strategy Behind My First PSA Submission

I’ve been in the sports card market for the last few months, and even though experienced collectors and investors have been sending their cards in to different grading services for years, I still see a first-mover advantage if you know how to submit cards right now.

The sports card market is only growing, so everyone investing now is still early in the game.

When I learned about grading services, I was drawn to the 2019 Arizona Cardinals team pack that had Kyler Murray #302 rookie cards in them.

You can learn more about why I’m so high on Murray here.

When PSA 10 #302 Murray cards were selling for upwards of $90, I was able to buy 8 packs of cards with Murray rookies in them for just about $50 (including shipping and taxes).

So I decided I wanted to buy some of those packs, see if I could get them graded as a 10 by PSA, and then see if I could flip them from there. I went with PSA because it was the grading service I was most familiar with.

I bought 8 packs of the 2019 Arizona Cardinals team cards for a total of $52.32. If you add up each Murray rookie card from each pack (8 total), and divide that by $52.32, I paid $6.54 for each Murray rookie.

There were also a few other expenses I had to note to make sure I would be in the right ballpark for a potential profit: a $20 grading fee for each card, a $20 return shipping fee, and $10 for shipping to PSA.

I ended up submitting 10 cards in total, but for the 8 from the pack, I paid roughly $30 per card with all the fees and shipping.

As I mentioned earlier, each Murray #302 was selling for as much as $90 at the time, so that looked like a nice opportunity. I thought if the cards reached $100 and if I cleared $70 per card after fees when I sold them, that would be a profit of $560 from the 8 cards, which would give me more money to buy more cards or to put away for a rainy day.

Not bad for just clicking a few buttons and packing things into a box!

I decided to test this idea out and see what would happen.

Sometimes It’s Better to Be Lucky

I submitted a total of 10 cards.

Eight of those cards were from the packs, and two of the cards were from a Murray card lot I had won on eBay.

When I had them all, I filled out the PSA forms, packed the cards away, and shipped them out to be graded.

During the grading process, I discovered I made a few mistakes.

Card Grading Mistake, №1: Wanting the Card to Grade a 10

Buying any lot of ungraded cards is taking a gamble. The pictures may look great, but once you see them in person, it’s a different story. There might be a slight scratch you didn’t see in the picture, or the corner isn’t as sharp as you thought it might be, or there is some issue with the surface that you didn’t originally notice.

From my experience, the majority of sellers on eBay seem reputable; it’s just difficult to get a true idea of the condition of a card from a few pictures.

But I have to admit that I don’t remember taking a lot of time to look at the cards in the pictures for the lot I bought, and I don’t remember spending a lot of time looking at the condition of the cards when I got them.

I slapped them in a top loader and wanted to ship them out immediately.

I wanted them to grade as a 10 very badly, but I didn’t stop to think if they would grade as a 10.

I also didn’t really look at the packs of cards. Being the first one in the pack, it could have had little dents or other issues that would cause it to grade lower than a 10.

Even though they were protected to a certain extent, it wasn’t a guarantee those cards would receive a top grade.

Card Grading Mistake, №2: Shipping the Cards in Packs

I had read somewhere that you could submit packs of cards to PSA and they would open them and grade the card.

That sounded great to me — I wouldn’t have the chance to potentially damage the cards by putting it in a top loader or packing it up.

It turned out that you couldn’t submit the cards in a pack and ask the graders to pull the individual card out that you wanted graded.

Card Grading Mistake, №3: Not Fixing Issues Sooner

When I looked at my online submission, it said there was a problem and that I need to contact the PSA customer service department. I put it off for a day or two. When I first tried to reach the company, a recorded message said that everyone was in a meeting. I tried later in the day and the same recorded message played.

The following day I called but was on hold for 20 minutes and hung up.

The next day, I decided to send an email to hopefully reach someone before I tried calling again. I got a quicker response with email, and they told me about the issue with sending in packs of cards.

I had to agree that I wouldn’t hold the graders responsible if a card became damaged when they opened the pack, which I said was fine. But it still took a few days before the issue was fully resolved.

As soon as I saw the message that there was an issue with my order, I should have just called in and waited until I got a hold of someone to clear things up and move the process along.

Everyone knows the increased demand has created longer turnaround times, and not getting this issue solved ultimately extended the time it took for my cards to get graded.

Now, despite myself getting in my own way and making some rookie mistakes, I ended up being lucky.

All of the cards graded out as a 10 and have increased in value since I submitted them on May 4.

From this experience, I could just think I was a visionary and the positive result occured because I was so smart. But from all the mistakes I made and the bull market in sports cards, I have to acknowledge luck played a large role in my cards coming back with a 10.

But it was good to see that my strategy worked — I bought cards from a pack that were selling

Having said that, I’m now wiser by learning from my mistakes, and hopefully my experience can help a few folks out there who have wanted to submit cards but just haven’t yet.

What to Know Before You Submit Your Cards to PSA

Be selective.

Before submitting your card, look at what a PSA 9 version of the card is selling for. Would it be enough to cover all the costs involved with grading it if you’re trying to sell it?

If it doesn’t seem like it would and you think there is an issue or two that would hold the card back from being graded a 10, just hold on to it. There are plenty of other opportunities out there.

Know why you’re investing in sports cards.

Why are you submitting your cards? Do you want to try and flip them quickly? Do you plan to hold them and wait for the value to go up in the next 5, 15, or 20 years? Do you want to create a massive private collection and have all of your cards graded?

Figure out your plan for each card.

It’s going to take time.

Back in May, PSA had a backlog of over 1 million cards.

Just be prepared for your order to take a few months and realize that everyone who submits cards is also dealing with the turnaround times.

Don’t rush anything.

Take your time with all of this.

If you’re feeling worn out, just wait to when you have the energy and time to fully devote yourself to getting your cards graded.

Don’t invest what you can’t afford to lose.

A fun little disclaimer here. This is not financial advice and this is just my experience. When I submitted my cards, I paid $220 just in grading and shipping fees. You should never put in money for the grading process or buy cards with money you can’t afford to lose.

With all that in mind, if you feel prepared to submit your cards for grading, these are some resources I found when I was trying to learn more about submitting cards and what steps to follow.

Helpful Card Submission Resources

PSA Card Submission Resource, №1: Rydog54 — PSA vs BGS vs SGC

Before even starting your PSA submission, it’s important to understand the differences between PSA, Beckett, and SGC.

You may find there are different strategic reasons to submit to one grading service over the other, and Rydog does a great job in describing the differences with each service.

PSA Card Submission Resource, №2: PSACard.com — Online Submission Center

This is the best place to start if you want to send card to PSA. It shows the four-step process in submitting cards, and it also has a price guide to help you get started.

PSA Card Submission Resource, №3: YouTube Videos

I normally retain information better by reading, but I also wanted to find videos that showed how to submit cards to PSA for grading.

How To Submit To PSA And How Much It Will Cost You

How To Submit Cards to PSA for Grading — All trading cards. All Genre’s.

There are a lot more out there, but these are two that I found helpful.

Conclusion on Submitting Your Cards to PSA

Outside of the few mistakes I made, this was a relatively smooth process.

I would just encourage you to take your time, use the resources I shared above or search for ones on your own that you find helpful, look over the cards you want to submit, have a plan for what to do with the cards after they are graded, and you will be all set!

I’ve also seen a few comments where people say they are afraid to submit their cards because they don’t know if they will get them back. PSA is part of Collector’s Universe, which is a publicly traded company, so that should put your mind at ease.

I hope this has been helpful, and I would love to hear your comments about what your own card investing strategies and your experience with submitting cards to be graded.

JD —Founder of All of the Murrays