The Ultra Modern PSA 9 is Dead

After my last PSA return I think you are completely right and in future returns I will be doing more cracking. People won’t even pay the extra couple bucks to have the card sealed and protected everyone just wants that shot at grading a 10

So are you cracking your 9's when you want to sell or do you think its kind of a wash? I tend to like buying 9's, I know im getting a very clean card without paying the 10 premium. Great thumbnail!

I believe a PSA 9 is okay on rarer cards.

Hard to argue. Everything since 2020 has been graded en masse straight out of the pack. Prizm, Chrome, Select, Mozaic....every single reveal, every day. Now, even parallels have been watered-down. If you are a dealer, it's fine because you aren't holding ultra-modern long. Only current packs I've opened since Series I 2020 were gifts, thank God. Now I just hunt for overpriced older stuff, ha! Truthfully, I mostly buy singles and then grade them these days, with the cards I want. This is exactly what will drive people toward the safe haven of vintage, the gold & silver of sports cards. Going to be very interesting to see what happens with the Flagship Topps parallel RCs in modern. 2003 was the first year of sub-99 #d parallels in Topps, and the gold have had pedigree since 2001. But everything after 2019 went haywire, maybe even 2018. I do still want a /99 or less RC of star, HOF-caliber players in MLB here and there from now on but that's it. RPA RCs in BK Or FB, and that's it. But my cut-off date for BK is 2018-19 class and 2012 for FB. I can't hold forever being a HOF RC collector and HOF players keep coming every year. I'm sick of shiny, busy chromium cards also, I'd much rather have Flagship paper parallels and vintage. The pop reports on these newer cards are crazy high already and that's the way it will stay until collectors learn and adjust their habits. Just guides me back to the past. Lots of holes yet to fill on my old want-lists. People do generally have to learn the hard way, though. So, we will have to wait until the whole "card boom" excuse wears off and people start to see how little value there is in certain cards despite the fact the hobby has re-regulated it's price points. Vintage is slumping a bit but when it revives, like safe havens and hedges always do, there will be millions of new post-covie collectors that want to turn around those losses with something proven. The cycle continues in the card industry. I'm enjoying the discounts on certain PSA 9's that the newer collector's want to immediately discount as worthless, I mean a 9 is still mint. Mint is all we talked about as kid collectors. Not pristine or gem, but mint. So, when these newer folks to the hobby want to write off a rare 90's or 2000's card because it's a "lowly" 9, it's like a birthday gift to me. Very good points, man. Hope you guys avoided all the crazy storm action we had up here since Saturday.

Yup, its back to the way it was before the boom. 9s in modern cards are useless.