Should I get my Basketball Card Professionally Graded?

My basketball card is worth more when it’s graded, right? We have seen some very poor decisions made by collectors when grading their basketball card by a professional grading service like PSA or SGC. The biggest misconception is that grading a basketball card will make it worth more money. Grading a card or several cards from your collection can be a money losing proposition, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. Kurtz Kardz grades a very small percentage of the cards from the collections we buy!

We will grade a basketball card only when it increases the value of the card. This is difficult to explain and usually a very lengthy discussion. Contact us if you would like a more in-depth explanation.

We value a basketball card based upon condition and then its market price in that condition. If the card is worth $1,500 in a PSA 7 and also worth $1,500 in Nm (raw) condition, we’re going to value it at $1,500 whether it is ungraded or graded. You can spend thousands of dollars having your basketball cards professionally graded, but we’re still valuing the card at the market price based on its condition, regardless of how much you spent grading it.

There are times when you should have a card professionally graded. You first need to determine the grade of the card, then check the current market price for the card in that grade. An example of a good decision would be grading a 1961 Fleer Jerry West Rookie for an SGC 7. If it grades a 7, you increased the value by $500 over the raw/ungraded value. Great decision when you only paid $100 to grade the card! However, if you over graded the card and it comes back an SGC 6, you have not increased the value of the card versus the raw/ungraded value. You just spent $100 in grading fees for NO reason. This is the point where you need to realize that you could waste money grading cards and get no appreciation in value.

If you want to professionally grade some cards to see how they grade, I highly recommend it! Take 4 of your more valuable cards and get them graded. Look at the grades when they come back to see if you were accurate on your grade predictions. Over my 26 years I have talked with many collectors and all of them were disappointed with their grades. Don’t grade cards just to grade! It very seldom increases the value of the card. If the grades for the 4 cards don’t come back as you expected, STOP grading cards!! Find a dealer you trust, show him the cards, and then listen to how he grades a basketball card.

Show me the cards you had professionally graded when I come see you. Cover the grades with masking tape and let me grade the cards. You will be amazed at how close my grades are to the grading company’s. I have been doing this for a long time and know how to look at a card. You just reacted and thought, it’s not so hard to look at a basketball card and grade it, what’s the big deal!?!? If you will give me the chance to meet you in person, I will show you why my expertise in grading cards is a BIG DEAL!

A very sad story

I was contacted by a gentleman who had a 1949 to 1952 Bowman baseball collection. There were 556 cards in the collection and they were all graded by PSA. He had a very nice spreadsheet and forwarded it to me. The grades were anywhere from a PSA 1 to a PSA 4, the majority being 1 or 2. There were no Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, or Willie Mays cards in the collection. See where I am going with this? I made the gentleman an offer. He was dumbfounded and said, I paid more for the grading than what you just offered me! When I am paying $4 for a 1950 Bowman baseball common in a PSA 1 hoping to sell it for $6, do you think it makes sense to spend $18 to grade it?!?!

Contact us! We can provide more insight on this topic.

Why you should sell to Kurtz Kardz

Finding the retail customer takes an extensive amount of work and most people with collections don’t have the time or knowledge to accomplish the task. Also, the sports card shops in your area are generally not well equipped to appraise or purchase vintage collections of any magnitude. These retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don’t have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. So, how should you proceed? Kurtz Kardz will buy the entire collection and pay cash for it immediately.

We start with the more valuable cards from your collection. We grade them while showing/explaining the reasons for the grade.  We then establish a price for the card with a full explanation of how that is done. Once we receive your ‘Buy In’ of our explanation and the assessed value, we will continue with the remaining cards and come up with an offer for the entire collection.

We have been in the card collecting hobby full time since 1996. We have purchased nearly every card in existence except for the ‘True Rarities’, no T206 Wagner yet!!

We treat every collection and collector with the respect they deserve. Being a longtime collector myself, I understand how much work it takes to build a collection. So when you’re ready to sell, I understand what you are going through and will help you reach the best decision.

Our process is very straight forward and my guarantee is that you will feel comfortable within the first 10 minutes. Sounds a little overly confident? Well, I have purchased hundreds of collections over the last 26 years, with many pleased clients.

We Are Always Buying

Kurtz Kardz is always buying vintage sports cards from 1887 to 1972. You can get an idea of the cards we aggressively target by visiting Our Most Wanted List. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today.

How can I engage with Kurtz Kardz?

  1. We will Travel to You! If you have a collection and want us to come see You, we can catch a plane the next day! We have traveled all over the country buying sports cards, you can be our next stop! Contact us to discuss this option, we generally require a more valuable collection because of travel expenses.
  2. Meet me in Denver, Colorado
  3. Ship your collection – We can offer our FedEx account with free 2-day shipping. The package will be fully insured and tracked. We will make an offer the day we receive your cards. If you choose not to sell the cards, we’ll ship them back that day! For those of you who are nervous about shipping your cards, we have shipped millions of dollars’ worth of cards and only placed one insurance claim (in the amount of $650) in our 26 years. If you have engaged with us, and made the decision to sell your cards, they will be insured for the estimated value we placed on your collection.

Call Kurt at 303-792-9665