PSA introducing grader notes 📝

PLUS: Fake Wemby rookies seized at the border 🥸

Author

Azum Beg
April 25, 2024

Today’s edition is brought to you by Cardboard Market — use one search to find cards across eBay, COMC, PWCC, MySlabs, and more!

Rise and shine, card enthusiasts! This is Penny Sleeve, we’re like your favorite late-night take-out spot. Fast, fresh, and ready to go. 🥡

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

  • PSA introducing grader notes 📝

  • Fake Wemby rookies seized at the border 🥸

  • Auctions ending soon 🔎

  • People to follow in the hobby 👥

  • Meme of the day 🃏

PSA INTRODUCING GRADER NOTES 📝

Almost exactly a week ago, I wrote about whether PSA should include grader notes with each submission. I concluded that it’d be good for the hobby, but that it’s unlikely that they’d be releasing them any time soon.

Well, in a recent episode of The Geoff Wilson Show, Ryan Hoge, president of PSA, announced that PSA is set to introduce graders notes. Expected to launch in June of this year, graders notes will provide collectors with detailed justification for the grades assigned to their cards. The initial launch will only be for Express tier submissions and above, given the time-consuming nature of creating shareable graders notes, but PSA will look at customer reception to determine whether notes should be expanded to lower grading tiers.

My take: This is a great step towards bringing more transparency to the hobby. On top of just being transparent, it helps educate collectors on what details affect card grades, which could influence whether or not they send certain cards for grading. It’s great to see PSA, a company that essentially has a monopoly on grading, still take steps towards holding themselves accountable and simultaneously improving the experience for collectors.

FAKE WEMBY ROOKIES SEIZED AT THE BORDER 🥸

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) officers in Rochester, New York, recently seized a significant haul of counterfeit goods, which notably included 29 fake rookie cards of Spurs standout Victor Wembanyama. The cards were designed to mimic his 2023-24 Panini Prizm base card.

One of the counterfeit cards

According to Sports Collectors Daily, more than 52,000 Wembanyama Prizm cards have sold on eBay since their release, totaling more than $8 million in sales. Collectors in the hobby were troubled by the seemingly high-quality nature of the counterfeits, and whether anyone would be able to distinguish them from real cards. One collector joked that the counterfeits were identified because they were “too well-centered,” taking a jab at a common issue with Panini cards.

My take: This story definitely brings to light an issue that’s only going to become more and more relevant in the hobby. eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee doesn’t kick in until the card’s value is more than $250, so it’s the Wild West right now for raw cards under that price. Someone pointed out on Twitter that there are dozens of Wemby Prizm base cards ending for auction tonight that are being sold/shipped from China. Each auction is still being bid on, so it seems like a lot of collectors aren’t aware of the risks they’re taking.

AUCTIONS ENDING SOON 🔎

PEOPLE TO FOLLOW IN THE HOBBY 👥

MEME OF THE DAY 🃏

Source: Thecrazedviper on Reddit