Is the PSA TRADING CARD Slab Finally Dead?

Well it seems like the time might finally be arriving for the "Trading Card" slab to disappear for good. If you don't know what I'm talking, I've done a video in the past about this topic and you can find more information there, but basically, if you don't want your card to be graded, you just want it to simply be authenticated as a real card and have any autographs on it authenticated as real autographs, and put in a slab, you can get it in the "Trading Card" slab. 

The slab doesn't have any special information on it. It doesn't list the full info of the card. Like if it was a Jerry Rice 1986 Topps card, it wouldn't have all that information on it, and people in the past I think mainly just used this PSA option because it was cheap and fairly quick on the turnaround time, compared to getting the card actually graded by PSA. I know that was the big reason I used it in the past anyways, because it just let me get cards moving in and out faster, and that was kind of the name of the game. For instance, it used to cost something like $15 to get a card slabbed this way, now of course that was a bulk rate, but still, $15 was a great price!

However, PSA has recently started dropping their prices and lowering turnaround times. Basically, everything collectors have ever wanted! The price for grading a card used to be like $300 before the pandemic, then it dropped a few times, and now you can find the "Value Service" at a price of $36. Wow. According to Nat Turner, PSA is aiming to get the turnaround time of any card, no matter what the service, down to a max of 90 days. We'll have to see if that actually happens, but if it does, that return time for that price would be amazing.

Additionally, PSA just announced on their website that bulk orders of the value service will be even lower at $22 a card. So prices are really coming down for us collectors, and that means we really have to be asking ourselves, "Why not just get the full card info on the slab?"

For me, all the info really adds to the value of the card. For one, it just looks good, and what more reason do we need in an industry like sports memorabilia collecting? Really. It looks good, and that always means value goes up. 

Now I'm not trying to hate on the "Trading Card" slab here. When PSA first started offering it, it absolutely made sense. Like I said, I used to use it fairly often as well, but now it just doesn't make sense. PSA is offering options at pretty fair rates right now, and it just makes sense to take them up on those offers. At this point, the only thing I think PSA should add to their options, is a super cheap and slow return time option. That way we still have an option for the price of the "Trading Card" slab, but we can make the choice to get that price by sacrificing turnaround time. That seems pretty fair to me.

Do I think PSA will actually create such an option? No, I don't. PSA is just too much on their game right now. They're at the top in terms of grading companies, and so they really don't have a lot of reason to cater to desired like these, but it's still nice to hope, and in the meantime, $36 is still a lot better than $300, right? I mean look at it this way, if you've got a signed Chris Mullen card, you probably don't want to spend $300 to get that card slabbed, but would you pay $36? I think you would, I know I would.

Plus, people really do get pretty confused about what the "Trading Card" slab even is. I know I had a hard time when I first jumped into the industry. It's the whole reason I made a video about it, and still people struggle with it. It's just time to go. Remove the confusion, slab cards in a way that looks good and adds value, and we can all be happier for it.

Also, it is more helpful for customers or people that don't really buy cards but are just doing it for gifting reasons. Everyone wants to feel secure when they are making an expensive purpose. We don't need non-enthusiasts getting scared about fakes because this slab only says "Trading Card" and that slab over there has a ton of info on it. I've said this for a lot of different things throughout this channel's life. The simpler we can make the industry as a whole, the better things will get.

 So that's what I've got to say this week. It's simply, but I do think it can have a lasting effect on the industry going forward. It's time for the "Trading Card" slab to go.