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PSA Quick Opinion services. Would like your thoughts.

I wish we had a "poll" option on this site. I am curious to know what my fellow members think about PSA's Quick Opinion service. I have three questions.

Do you, or have you, used this service?
How often do you use this service?
How accurate do you feel their Quick Opinions are?

Thank-you.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve on January 3, 2019 at 8:29pm

I look at it this way. If PSA charges $10 for a quick opinion and they say “likely not genuine”, then they have made $10 and the person who inquired is most likely happy they were saved from making a costly mistake. If PSA says “likely genuine” and they are wrong, they have made $10, but have another set of problems with the person who may be out a large sum of money because of their mistake. They most likely error on the side of caution to avoid being wrong, but make the money either way.

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Permalink Reply by James on January 4, 2019 at 12:54am

Excellent point, Steve. PSA has probably calculated that overall it’s in their own best interest to reneder a “LNG” in the vast majority of cases. They protect themselves and still make money with less risk involved than if they provide an opinion of LG. Fifteen inquiries that are returned LNG just means they collect $150 with no pain involved. But if the item is actually genuine, they are costing the seller potentially lots of money from a lost sale. Of course to be fair, if they do report an item LG, they have a chance the buyer will send in the item for a full LOA; hence more money that way.

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on January 3, 2019 at 8:53pm

I find this discussion most interesting. What seems bothersome here is that, according to most of the input, this is just another way to gain a buck from an inexperienced collector. Maybe they can just flip a coin. Heads they win; tails you lose.

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Permalink Reply by James on January 4, 2019 at 12:55am

Nice way to put it, Joe!

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on January 4, 2019 at 3:45am

I expect a business with shareholders to take care of themselves first. I think it illogical to expect them to place customers collecting needs ahead of their bottom line.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel S. on January 4, 2019 at 4:47am

Paraphrasing Adam Smith’s 1776 The Wealth of Nations, it is not because of the benevolence of the butcher, the baker and the brewer that we are able to eat. It is because they act in accordance with their own self interest.

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on January 4, 2019 at 4:52am

Or perhaps, they render NLG as a way to sway potential buyers toward already certified PSA products? Passive aggressive motivations?

Very interesting.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on January 4, 2019 at 11:57am

Whatever incurs the least expenditure.

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on January 4, 2019 at 11:02am

I’m wondering what would happen if a QO was requested for an inauthentic PSA/DNA authenticated item on eBay. Would it be reevaluated, or would it automatically be deemed “likely genuine”?