What PSA Hiring 1,000 Graders and Expansion Will Mean For the Hobby

Summary

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Collector Nation – Episode Summary

Episode Title: What PSA Hiring 1,000 Graders and Expansion Will Mean For the Hobby
Date: May 22, 2026
Hosts: Ryan Alford, Brian Ludden (CEO, Ludex), with guests
Podcast: Collector Nation – Where trading cards and collectibles evolve into culture, media, and modern assets.

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the trading card hobby’s explosive growth, with a special focus on the seismic news that PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) is hiring 1,000 new card graders and expanding operations. The hosts break down what this means for hobbyists, grading reliability, the business behind grading, and the implications for competition and product supply. Woven throughout are timely hobby updates, market insights, and lighthearted banter about sports and collectibles culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. PSA's Expansion – What Does It Mean?

• [11:05] Brian shares details: PSA’s parent company, Collectors, injected hundreds of millions in capital, fueling the hiring of 1,000 new card graders and opening new grading centers.

• Concern over reliability: Will rapid hiring diminish grading consistency?

  “You could send it to them five times, and you’re probably going to get five different grades.” — A [00:00]

  “They will hire and train a thousand people, which will take two or three months, and they're going to be fine because they're doubling capacity.” — B [00:07]

• Process Skepticism:
  Hosts joke about "grader university" and possible lack of accountability:

  “We already said this year they're like the weatherman. I mean, do they really have to train them? There's no accountability.” — C [11:36]

• Grading Consistency:

  “There should be, like, something to prevent that.” — A [11:59]
  “Because of the inconsistency, they should have that ABS challenge like MLB, where you're like, ‘Hey, I'm gonna challenge that one.’” — B [12:01]

• Motivation and Culture:
  Playful speculation about grader incentives, workplace hierarchy, and hypotheticals if graders get competitive:

  “How many grades can you do in a day? They're like ringing the bell—Tommy on floor seven got through 7,000 cards today.” — C [14:27]

• Security Concerns:
  Discussion about why graders need to be onsite—risk prevention and “Fort Knox” level security.

  “...it's like Fort Knox. You go in there, they're patting you down. The security is much higher...” — B [14:10]

• Job Quality and Automation:
  Jokes about robots doing 70% of grading, actual graders earning $50–70k/year, with market variations.

2. Hobby Market Updates and Hype Cycles

• Times of High Product Release Volume:

  “We’ve got so many products coming out right now, it's hard to keep up.” — C [00:19], revisited at [20:20]

• Discussion about the CONSTANT flow of new sets across baseball, football, and Pokémon, including:

  • Topps Chrome, Sapphire
  • Bowman Baseball
  • Pokémon “Chaos Rising”

• Collecting as Community & Asset Class:

• A Messi Panini Flawless “Soul of the Game” auto relic card sold for $551,093 (not even a 1/1!).

  “The card was numbered 10 out of 10 too. So it's not even like a one of one, which is crazy.” — A [10:18]

3. Sports Talk & Card Market Influences

• Shohei Ohtani Dominance:

  • Joking about Ohtani’s all-around excellence (“He must dominate everything in his life.” — C [04:43])
  • Analytics: 0.82 ERA, <4 runs in 7 starts.

• Wembanyama’s NBA Impact:

  • Triple/double overtime, MVP snubs, new standards for 7-footers as 3-point shooters.

    “Wemby is the MVP…most dominant player I've seen since Jordan.” — C [06:35] “Wemby interrupted the NBA, but he's not the last one.” — B [07:56]

• Market for Rookies & High-End Cards:

  • Wimby’s “buy all day” status after wild playoff performances.
  • Messi card sale underscores global appeal and hobby investment aspect.

4. Grading Market Manipulation & Competition

• Artificial Scarcity:
  PSA possibly pausing submissions.

  “That’s a really good marketing play … that’s how you raise demand.” — C [16:41]

  • Anticipation that shutting down will cause a post-reopening deluge and keep them perpetually behind.

    “They will hire and train…capacity opens up and they’re going to be fine…during that time, their company Beckett’s going to get tons of extra slabs.” — B [17:33–18:06]

  • A nod to broader consolidation (Collectors acquiring Beckett).

5. The Tech & Data Angle: Ludex’s Approach

• Set Release Pipeline ([22:14])

  • Brian: Ludex prioritizes sets for price data and AI based on user scans; larger, consistent sets are easier to train.
  • Challenges: New parallel variations complicate things, but experience and image input scale helps.
  • Pricing comps appear immediately with widespread selling (thanks, eBay).
  • The risks of too much vs. too little data: “Actually, data is a weird thing because…if it's too much, then there's always noise and it actually hurts your product.” — B [24:10]

• Personal Enjoyment:

  “I like running companies. That’s what it comes down to.” — B [25:01]

6. Community and Industry Events

• Collector Nation at The National:
  Talks about planning meetups (“not planners!”) and possible organic in-person events.

• Store allocation challenges:
  Demands for products like Bowman Baseball remain unpredictable and competitive.

• Comic Con & Hobby Fandom:
  Playful banter about costumes and “standing out” at shows.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We already said this year they're like the weatherman. I mean, do they really have to train them? There's no accountability.” — C [11:36]
• “They should have a grader Hall of Fame: Grader of the month, grader of the week, grader of the day…” — B [15:36]
• “If they stop grading for two months…then they're just going to have a huge influx of cards being sent in right after they open the floodgates again. So I don't think that they'd ever catch up because they'd always be behind.” — A [17:16]
• “If you're going to bet on a player, [Wemby’s] a good one to bet on. Like, otherworldly.” — C [09:35]
• “When you purchase On It cards, not only are you collecting cards for yourself … but you're giving back to those athletes who are helping you create memories.” — Leonard (On It segment) [35:13]
• “Brian is really Magnum TA—Magnum PI, not TI—he’s got the chopper, the Ferrari.” — C [31:33]

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Timestamps for Critical Segments

• [11:05] – PSA expansion news and what it means
• [11:36] – Grader accountability and training (Grader University jokes)
• [12:32] – Speculation on grader pay and automation
• [13:46] – Why graders need to work onsite ("Fort Knox" security)
• [14:27] – Motivation and speed in grading (gamification/humor)
• [17:16] – Implications of PSA pausing grading
• [22:14] – Ludex’s process for prioritizing card sets and handling data
• [35:13] – Leonard of On It explains their mission and NIL athlete partnerships

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Tone and Style

The episode is energetic, candid, and accessible, blending in-depth industry knowledge with playful sarcasm. The hosts riff off each other, making the grading industry’s quirks both approachable and entertaining. The inclusion of data-driven analysis (via Brian from Ludex) grounds conversations in the tech reality of the evolving hobby. There’s genuine passion for collectibles, paired with business acumen and a vision of the hobby as both culture and investment.

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For Listeners Who Missed The Episode:

This is a must-listen if you want to understand the business and emotional pulse of today’s trading card hobby—especially in light of PSA’s massive expansion and what it could mean for grading culture, reliability, the broader marketplace, and your own collection investments. Whether you’re a data junkie, a collector, or a hobby entrepreneur, the episode blends breaking news analysis, hobbyist humor, and strategic market insight—no cardboard knowledge required.

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Transcript

[A]

I'm curious as to how much it will decrease rater reliability. You could send it to them five times, and you're probably going to get five different grades.

[B]

They will hire and train a thousand people, which will take two or three months, and they're going to be fine because they're doubling capacity. We have the eye on the prize is the National.

[A]

Yeah, I think that's. Everyone's racing towards the national.

[C]

Around the corner. Ecoms. Here it is. This is the National Insight. It's coming around the last spin. It's collection management pulling ahead. We've got so many products coming out right now, it's hard to keep up. Baseball Bowman tops chrome now. Pokemon Chaos Rising launched today. The chaos. I keep going back to this voice. I was like, chaos is rising. Coming for you at Collector Station. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, we take you inside the hobby. Here are your hosts, Ryan Alford and Brian Lutt. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collector Nation Network. You got Ryan behind the desk here. We are behind the desk today. Brian. What's up, brother?

[B]

What is up, my man? That looks.

[D]

You look so professional.

[C]

I know. Like, I'm like. We had this in my old studio. We're kind of pulling it out. We're going to see how it looks. I feel like I need, like, packs or something to play with, you know?

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Like some dealer cards to hand out. Like I'm a dealer.

[A]

Play some poker while you're interviewing.

[C]

Yes. What's happening in Chi town?

[B]

No, weather's getting nicer. My Sox beat the Cubs twice last weekend, which is great.

[C]

Hey, I told. I was trying to give you the positive outlook before the season. I said how the White Sox might surprise. I said. I was like, can you be positive? What's the upside? And you're like, well, I could maybe go 30 and 120 or something. I mean, they're sweep the Cubs. I mean, what else does a White fan want?

[B]

Yeah, didn't sweep. They three. The two in one. But still, that's like a sweep to us.

[A]

Hey, you got to start somewhere.

[B]

White Sox sweep.

[C]

Yes. What's. Are they above 500? Are they 500?

[B]

Yeah, they're above.500 now. A game or two, dude. Get your playoff tickets now.

[C]

I know. Oh, who's. Who's the hot bat for the White Sox? Anybody?

[B]

They got a Japanese player.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I think he's leading the league in home runs, but, yeah, they Signed him to like a two year deal. I don't know how to pronounce his last name, but he's the first baseman that he had two home runs on Saturday.

[C]

Wow. So, yeah, he's owns the town. Does he own the town now?

[B]

He does.

[C]

Well, I guess for the White Sox

[B]

fans, he owns the south side.

[A]

What's the percentage of White Sox vs Cubs fans in Chicago?

[B]

You will see that if you come to this city, you'll think it's like 70, 30 cubs, but just in the city surrounding city. I mean, it's close to 50. 50.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But so like in inner city Chicago is more Cubs, and then the suburbs are more Red Sox or not Red Sox, White Sox.

[B]

It's honestly like you draw a line right through the city, and if you're from the south, the chances are like 80% that you're a Cubs fan or Sox fan. And if you're the north, 80% that you're a Cubs fan. And out west, you're 50. There's. It's 50. 50.

[A]

Gotcha.

[C]

I mean, the Japanese are taking over MLB. I mean, the Shohei dominant. You got this guy for. I don't know what his name is. I don't. I don't know. I don't keep up with White Sox players well enough, Brian. But, you know, and I hate butchering people's names if I just see them written. But that's why he's dominant and pitching and hitting and everything else. I mean, the guy just. He walks out of his house dominant. I, you know, he must dominate everything in his life.

[A]

He's only had four runs allowed across seven starts this season.

[C]

Is that good?

[B]

Pretty good.

[A]

Wonder.

[C]

Less than 1 ERA, 0.82. I know you've seen that on paper before. I don't think.

[B]

Yeah, it must suck getting out every day and just dominating.

[C]

Dominating everything. He has a bowl of cereal in the morning and they're just like cowering in the bowl. He's dominating them. He's like, yeah, like, I mean, he's doing things that no one ever done. Pitching and hitting at the highest level. And so that alone, he's. He's on another, like, planet. And so, you know, he's just. There should be a meme or something about, you know, just dominate your day. Like Shohei.

[A]

Hey, that rhymed.

[C]

Okay. All right.

[A]

It's like you're a marketing guy or something.

[C]

I don't know. I just kind of made that one up. But I do think,

[B]

I think I saw the odds of the Cy Young is Still Paul Skeens.

[C]

Ah, interesting. This a popularity contest or a numbers contest, I think. I'm just kidding. He looks pretty decent too, but.

[B]

Yeah, but I just think they don't believe he's going to keep pitching the whole season to qualify.

[C]

Ohtani?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I don't know. If his body holds up, it will be amazing. I can't help but think eventually he'll just hit, but I don't know. His arm, shoulder, whatever. I can't imagine throwing with the power. Everything that they do and just your arm not falling off, it's usually what happens. Right? Literally.

[B]

And now they get surgery and they come back even throwing harder.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

They got part bionic arm in there.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Coarse tendons, I bet.

[C]

Go ahead.

[A]

I was just gonna say, speaking of some other sports upsets, Wemby didn't get MVP this year. He got passed up and then he had an absolute banger of a game and put up 40 points in the conference final.

[C]

Yeah, I watched, I've watched both these games. Last night the Knicks absolutely like came back on the Cavs, like the biggest choke job ever. But we'll come back to that. I watched this first game. The spurs and the Thunder might be the best playoff series in a long time as far as like head to head, like elite players, elite play. They actually play some defense. And look, I, I, I'm not a Shea hater. I'm really not. But Wimby is the mvp. Like he is on both ends. The, the most dominant player I've seen since Jordan and, and like very different games. That's going to probably be like, what, what? There's so many. No LeBron. No. Most dominant, like on both ends. Like when he's at his, you know, really running the court. I mean it's like, I mean, in some ways more dominant than even Jordan. I'm, I am not in any way shape or form putting him in the those categories of like, he hasn't earned all time greatness yet, but like impact on the floor at his size and his agility, I mean it's, it's a sight. I'll just say that. And 40 points and 20 rebounds is, you know, like Wilt Chamberlain numbers.

[A]

Yeah. Crazy.

[B]

But Wemby, the thing about Wemby is, I mean it's just a new breed of, of the NBA. I mean, you're talking about people who, I mean, your, your three point shooters are seven footers. I mean, and it's not like one of them. That's like a lot of them. And so like and then obviously a seven footer is more dominant on defense than a six, six guard. So yeah, I would say that like Wemby interrupted the NBA. But it's not, it's not. He's not the last one.

[C]

No.

[B]

He's going to do this.

[C]

No, but I mean that 76 and that size is hard to generate. We'd have I think babies getting formed in la. Oh wait, maybe we do like. But I think you'd have the DNA creatures coming together if they could regenerate like at that. I mean the outside shooting combined with rebounding by the defense handling the ball is something to be seen. But it was a good game. Double overtime and then I mean good God, the calves just completely blew it. They were up 21 points like six minutes ago. They absolutely got toasted at the end.

[A]

That's why my grandma always said I want to die in basketball time. So you know, like a minute lasts a year.

[C]

Oh yeah, exactly. Hey, that's interesting. But I will and, but I'll look, let's be honest. They're playing for a second sort of like somebody blowing a knee out in the other series or like an injury. They're playing neither one of these teams are beaten. Either one of them. Like maybe not winning game.

[A]

Hey, knock on wood.

[C]

I don't, I mean I'm not even a fan of either any of these teams but he had that craze like all rookies do and then it kind of melt, you know, planed out and then now they're going back up. But his, that's a buy all day. Like I'll just say if you're going to bet on a player, like he's a good one to bet on. Like otherworldly. Speaking of otherworldly, a Messi card sold for solid half mil. What was that? A panini Flawless soul of the game. Auto relic 551093. No, that's not my phone number. That's how much that card went for.

[A]

Yeah, the card was numbered 10 out of 10 too. So it's not even like a one on one, which is crazy.

[C]

10 of 10.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

What. What was 101 go for?

[A]

I don't know.

[C]

And jersey match.

[A]

It has match worn boots and ties back to his 2015 Barcelona season. Yeah, crazy

[C]

for that. If I had it, I pulled it. I still want a messy jersey on my wall, you know. But that never came through. Did you.

[B]

Speaking of psa, did you see the news on them?

[C]

You know, I had not seen that until I caught the show notes walking in Tell me what's going on.

[B]

What I heard and what I read is that they got it capital infusion from the parent company collectors for like, couple hundred million.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

And then they are hiring a thousand more graders and open it up, like, more offices or more places for those people to grade. I mean, I just don't. I don't think that's that easy because you have to train these people. Right. Like, what's grading University?

[C]

We already said this year they like the weatherman. I mean, do they really have to train them? There's no accountability. There's no.

[B]

I mean.

[C]

Yeah. Who are they accountable to?

[A]

I'm curious as to how much it will decrease greater reliability. And, you know, sort of like how we talked on. On a different episode of, like, you know, you could send it to them five times and you're probably going to get five different grades.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And there should be, like, prevent that.

[B]

Yeah. Like, on that. Because of the inconsistency. They should have that ABS challenge that then MLB has now where, like, it comes out and you're like, hey, I'm gonna challenge that one.

[C]

Yeah, play the challenge card here.

[B]

I'm gonna challenge that nine.

[C]

I think I'm gonna challenge that nine. I wanted that to go back, and I needed to go to Fred down in Indiana, who just got hired because I heard he's a little generous. I'm gonna slip a hundo in that thing, and it's gonna work out.

[B]

What. What do you think they pay? What do you think they pay graders?

[A]

I think it probably.

[C]

The robots don't get paid anything, but I think, you know, the AI bots that do the first 70% of it, and I think the last 30%. Yeah. 50 to 70 grand, be my guess. Depends on the market. If you're in la, you're that bougie grader. You know, you're driving that BMW and living in a posh house. He's got to be making six figures, you know, but there's Indianapolis, that job. Low on the totem pole.

[B]

That job would suck.

[A]

It's just crazy that, you know, like, they obviously just acquired Beckett. You think that they'd have a whole new slew of. Of graders, and now they have to hire even more. Like.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

That just shows you the crazy demand that they're having and anticipate for the rest of the year.

[C]

I don't know why they're building offices. I mean, this. That seems like the biggest job you could ever do. We're going to be a Tim culture. We want everybody in the Office. We need grading. I need you in the dark room at the top of the building by yourself, doing 4,000 cards a week because we've got so much demand. But I want you in the office.

[A]

It might be like, a liability thing. Like, you know, they could hire a grader, and then what if that grader goes and steals all the cards? You know, so they might have to be in person to kind of minimize the risk of that happening.

[B]

You're.

[C]

You're right.

[B]

I mean, I. I've been to the grading stations or grading palace, and, yeah, it's like, you know, it's like what you. It's Fort Knox. I mean, you're going in there.

[D]

It's.

[B]

It's. You know, they're. They're patting you down. They're. They're. They're making sure nothing. You didn't take anything out of there. So, I mean, there's definitely. The security is much higher than. I think it's easier to get, like, into an airport and just, like, jump the gate there than it is a grading company.

[C]

I could see it being like, you know, an elf. You know, they got the elves making the toys, and they win the awards for who makes the most. Look, I made 4302X sketch today. Then there's a guy that's grading. How many. How many grades can you do in a day? You know, and they're, like, ringing the bell. He got through. Tommy on floor seven got through 7,000 cars today. We're gonna. It's a new car. Like, I'm sure.

[A]

I'm sure they do.

[C]

I mean, what's their motivation? What do you. How are they judged on? Because. Oh, we had a lot of complaints from Tommy. He must have been in a bad mood. He was grading too many lows, you know, like, what's the. What's the barometer speed? What's the accuracy judged on?

[B]

The other thing is, like, if you want to. You tie yourself to profitability, like, it's pretty easy to draw that line and be like, I just. I just made PSA 20 this year. I made them $280,000 in grading, and they paid me 50. And. And. And then. So that guy's probably leaving, right, because he shouldn't have done that math. And then I think they should have a hall of fame, like, gradient hall of fame, like, month of grader of the month, creator of the week, grader of the day.

[A]

I'm sure they got some. Some.

[C]

I mean, I wonder if these guys, like, get complexes because. And, like, they. None of them Are married girls or guys. I don't know why. I think it probably like everything in the hobby. You just assume it's whether it should or shouldn't. Women are probably more detailed, so they probably should be graders anyway. But a lot of times the. They grade everything in their life. We could do a spoof on what a grader would be like. Like he's grading his girlfriend and his mom and his dog.

[B]

I didn't like the outfit of that straw player.

[C]

I Wore this. A PIA. You know, this McDonald's meal. I gave it a 7.1.

[A]

I'm curious to see. I've. I've heard that they. They might stop taking submissions.

[B]

That's happened before.

[C]

That's a really good marketing play. If they don't. If. I mean, you know, it could be true. And I mean if get. The volume is so high. Could be. But that would be a few. Like, that's how you raise. That's how you get demand up. Oh, we're not going to give you what everybody wants right now.

[A]

Well, it's like, okay, if they, you know, stay with me. If they stop grading for a month, two months, whatever. Who. Who's grading?

[C]

The other companies.

[A]

Yeah, but they bought. Yeah, like, exactly.

[C]

And now we're figuring out why. That was sort of shady.

[A]

But if they, if they stop grading for two months, people obviously probably won't even send in cards. Then they're just going to have a huge influx of cards being sent in right after they open the floodgates again. So I don't think that they'd ever catch up because they'd always be behind.

[B]

It's like the mail. Like the mail never stops. Right. But what will happen is they will hire and train. Take that time to go through the backlog to hire and train a thousand people, which will take two or three months. And then capacity opens up and they're going to be fine because they're doubling capacity. And then during that time, their company Beckett's going to get tons of extra slabs.

[C]

Yeah. SGC and Beckett numbers go H. Now this is making sense.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It's, it's. It's what a business. When you can. You can shut down and. And like nothing.

[A]

Nothing happens.

[B]

Yeah, nothing happens. You. You. You make. Make her lose. No money. Like. Right.

[C]

Oh, what else we got here? All tops, Chrome, Sapphire. It is. We've got so many products coming out right now, it's hard to keep up. That's what delayed. Even this recording is, you know, Allocation. Yeah. When you don't have allocation, you Got to work the bad channels so, you know, like, going down, everything we got, like, baseball, Bowman tops, Chrome, Football. We got. Now Pokemon Chaos Rising launched today. When you're listening to this, the Chaos. I keep going back to this voice.

[B]

He's a great.

[D]

This. He's announcing.

[B]

He's a great announcer today.

[C]

That's all I am today.

[A]

Yeah. Our audience is gonna be like, chaos

[C]

is Rising coming for you at Collector Station.

[A]

I feel like you could be a

[C]

voice actor if this doesn't work out. And when I say this, I'm talking about, like, 12. The 12th thing I'm doing the 15 business.

[A]

Every single one of them fails.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I'm excited to see Chaos Rising because I think people are super excited about the release. And, you know, they didn't really, like, perfect order and stuff. So I. I'm excited to see kind of how that pans out and what polls people have in the store.

[C]

Yeah. Go to the collectorstation.com. i have on our front page video and animation of Chaos totally rising.

[A]

Yeah. And go to the Tick Tock, please, so that I, you know, on the

[C]

Tick Tocks, I mean, you know, like.

[A]

Yeah, I got. I got 40, 000 views. So actually, I'm famous, and I want.

[C]

I want you. There's no one that wants you to be more famous than me. Like, I want you to be famous. It's good for me.

[B]

We're gonna push you in front.

[A]

Yeah, perfect.

[C]

We want you, Cole and Lance, who's here today, we want all of them, everyone to be famous. It pays to be known.

[A]

Yeah. See, when I. When I'm doing Girl on the. Girl on the street in National. At the National.

[C]

Yes. That's Bella at the ball.

[D]

That's when you're.

[B]

You're coming out party. You'll. That's when you'll have, like, 400,000 views.

[C]

Yeah. Bella picks up the ball. Bella drops the ball. It's not so good. But we don't want any of that.

[A]

I think I need to, like, go in, like, some sort of costume. Maybe like a. I don't know, like, dress up as, like, a card or something. I don't know. Just, like, waddle around.

[C]

Don. Peace, Tim.

[B]

I mean, you go to comic. You go to Comic Con. Like, Comic Con's insane. Like, here's the thing about, like, Comic Con is these guys. It'll be. It was. I think it was in New York the last time I went, and it was 100 degrees, and this guy's, like, in a Chewbacca outfit and he's Wore the same thing for four days.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

See, that thing is ripe.

[A]

But I need to stand out. If I went to Comic Con, everyone's in costume, so I wouldn't be memorable. You know, I'm thinking, like, nobody else is going to be in costume.

[C]

This is true.

[A]

I can just run around and wreak havoc.

[B]

I think you should do it for a day.

[C]

I think so, too.

[A]

I'll come up with something.

[C]

We'll figure we're just, like, funky in care. I don't know.

[A]

I could wear a bob, a little wig.

[C]

I'll do it. What was that green hair? There you go.

[A]

Perfect. I'll get on that.

[C]

We'll do it. But all but with a Collector Nation shirt on.

[B]

Check. And a Lovex hat.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I'll just be the poster child for everybody. You guys can just, you know, throw whatever merch at me that you want.

[B]

Just sticker you up.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

So. All right, ludx. When a new set's coming out, I mean, there's so many new sets coming out. How do you prioritize and, like, you know, with everything that y' all do in the app and all, like, how do y' all work all that?

[B]

I mean, if it's a set that's come out, like, you know, multiple years while we've been here, we just look at the scan numbers and then prioritize the sets versus how many scans of the product. I mean, obviously, National Treasures is going to have as many, you know, cards scanned as Topps Chrome, but, you know, on. On the. On the equilibrium of them. You know, you have your Tier one, Tier two, and Tier three, and they're. It's not. It's not a huge science behind it, you know, but when the images are out there, it's easier for us to train a bigger set than it is. The smaller sets.

[C]

Oh, it's easier the bigger the set. It's easier just because more coming in, sort of. Yeah, like, more scans. I imagine it's learning, like, the more scans you get.

[B]

Yeah. And also, it all depends, too, on if. How many different, like, parallels did they add? Inserts are easy, but, like, if there's a lot of different parallels that we, you know, that we need to train our AI on. That takes a little longer, but, yeah, the bigger the sets, like, in the consistency of year to year, this is a big year of change. So it's taken us a lot longer to train because the penny needs a tops, you know, but once we have it. Once we have it, the parallels down, we're we're pretty good at getting it pretty quick.

[A]

How long does it take to get like accurate comps or. Well, okay, we've had that. Comps aren't too accurate, but like, generally,

[B]

I mean, things move so fast.

[C]

Buy in quick. I mean, it's, you know, it's where ebay and everything else is such a global and worldwide. I mean, all the product comes out nationwide and then people that are gonna just burn and turn them, like buy them, rip them, throw them on ebay, whatever. You've got comps almost immediately.

[B]

Yeah, it's the numbered ones. You know, like the 101s, obviously 1025s, I would say up to 99 are probably. It's better for us to use like a. Our pricing algorithm for that to almost, you know, dump it in there and price it based on past history. History. But yeah, once it's on 99 or above, they. They. They're going to move. And obviously the comps get, you know, the more you have. Actually data is a weird thing because you need enough of it, but then if it's too much, then there's always noise and it. It actually hurts your product. So.

[A]

Yeah, it's interesting.

[B]

Yeah, it's fun stuff.

[C]

The what's. The. What do you enjoy the most of what y' all do at lx?

[B]

I mean, I think, yeah, I like talking to my investors. You know, I got a bunch of them, over a hundred and you know, just catching them up on things. I enjoy that. I enjoy working with my wife Heather and you know, running the family business, per se. I also like mentoring and, you know, working with the team, just learning what they're doing and then also just, you know, bringing everyone in to the different meetings and letting them learn. So, I mean, I think I like running companies on it. You know, that's really what it comes down to.

[C]

You like being the boss. That's what I heard right there.

[B]

I've been a boss for a long time, so when I wasn't, it didn't work out so well. So.

[C]

No, you're a good boss. The it made me think you're saying all that. I don't know what made me think this while you were saying all that something. Will we have any time to do like a collector nation, ludx, something at the national that we could invite? Obviously everybody's so busy. There's all these things already planned. And it's like I'm thinking through, like, even people that hear this could show up like Dave and Busters or something. But I Don't know if we're gonna have time for any of that. I just. But I'm talking out loud, thinking out loud, you know, like some kind of get together that's not already on the mapped out, you know, agenda of everything else. Then you have the trade nights. I don't know.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I think there's definitely opportunity during the day to. Yeah, we'll. We'll figure it out. Like, because both our teams are nimble and we. We definitely have places to. To bring people into the back. The VIP lounge during the day. Lots VIP lounge. So we're gonna do some cool stuff, but. Yeah, organic stuff.

[C]

Yeah, there you go.

[B]

We're not planners. You and I are not.

[A]

Yeah. And it is gonna make me go crazy, so.

[C]

Oh, we need to plan like just the merge stuff and the, you know, that's. The print stuff is the only thing we gotta kind of.

[A]

I've been cooking up some ideas.

[C]

Oh, there we go. Those cookies you cooked up are good. It was my birthday on Monday and Bella made me cookies.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Amazing. Happy birthday.

[C]

Thank you. Bowman Baseball. As we kind of clear finish up here. That's been a surprise to me. Like we've got some coming in that was even delayed or something. I'm like. I know it's the flagship kind of. Everybody likes it. The, you know, like the, The. The baseball card guys. Like that is the. The set usually that starts the season off and the purists of baseball and it's been harder to get than normal. I don't know why. I don't know if that has anything to do with anything else going on, but if they. I've been wondering if they have been having. Printing all this stuff. They just take Panini. All of Panini's printers or are they having a hard time keeping up?

[B]

They did not get their printers. I can tell you. I. I can almost vouch for that.

[C]

Okay. How are they printing so much more stuff then they elves.

[B]

I mean, they're missed. I mean their Dallas properties. So. I mean, it's a massive. You know.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean. And they also had years.

[C]

That's true. It didn't just happen overnight.

[B]

Yeah, they didn't like. And. And I think they bought some of the company. They bought some of the printing companies. Fanatics, some of the printers. I know. Like during COVID Pokemon Corporation bought like a couple huge printing facilities just so they could own the. The supply. So I don't know.

[A]

Makes sense. I'll see.

[C]

We'll see. They got parts coming out left and right under that Top Signature Football.

[A]

I know I can't even keep up. Like, as soon as I finally start to learn a product, they release something else. And I was like, okay, wow.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

How many SKUs do you think they could just not print?

[C]

Like, Like a certain type of box within a set or like the set entirely?

[B]

The whole set?

[C]

Like, there's a few they could cut out. I mean, there's. I bet you within each product line, there's probably like four or five they could cut. I mean, but then I wonder if that. If the spend on that would be just distributed. Distributed across the other ones or the p. I. I don't know how many people are like, man, I don't know about you, but I can't wait for Top Signature Basketball to come out. Like. And look, we've got to. We're going to have a story. It looks. Be like, it actually looks beautiful. I think Tops did a really good job with it, but I don't know how many people are counting the days for. For that one, you know?

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Then, like, the cosmic stuff, people like that. I know they do. Somebody's going to DM me. I know I'd go, hey, man, you can say what you want, but that cosmic stuff, I gotta have it. Like, no, like, you got the cosmic, you know, one or two excuse.

[B]

I mean, people would survive if cosmic wasn't printed.

[C]

I think so. I think you probably will. I mean, that's probably gonna happen. I mean, they've all but said that. But at the same time, the hype cycle is kind of fun, you know, It's. Is it. Does it need to be as often as the director of procurement, sourcing and fulfillment at my own company, I would say I could take a pause here any moment, but I can't even, like, you know, I'm brushing my teeth in the morning going, hey, man, you got 12 of those. Four of those five. Okay, cool. All right.

[A]

But it's like, you know, that keeps people coming in the door and keeps everyone fed up to, you know, the top of the company to. Yeah, the whole chain.

[C]

So all we need. And I know everybody's saying this, but not everybody's got this store that we're in that we're shooting at, but National's got to be project allocation from TOPS for Collector Station, at least a startup, you know, and I'm gonna. I'm, you know, I'm gonna bring plane tickets to South Carolina. Like, that's all. I'm gonna hand those out because that. He's got to get here you need

[B]

to send your private plane over there. Pick him up.

[C]

This is true.

[B]

Get them cooked.

[D]

Get them.

[B]

Bella's cookies.

[C]

We can't take. Can we just, you know, can we bring you in the, the Ludox chopper?

[A]

You know, I'll be the chauffeur.

[C]

Yeah. Brian's. Brian is really Magnum Ta. He's. Or was his name Magnum PI Not Ti. Magnum TA Was a wrestler, actually. Oh, God. Even better for you. Magnum PI Also known as Brian. He's got the, the chopper. The, the Ferrari.

[B]

Can't afford the gas. Can't afford the gas for the chopper.

[A]

That's true.

[C]

It's pretty pricey. Hey, guys, it's our on it segment of the week here on the Collector Nation Network. And look this week, as always, if you hadn't met him yet, the lovely Leonard Berry. What's up, Leonard?

[D]

Hey, Ryan.

[C]

How you doing? Good, man. Glad to have you. One of my favorite times of the week. I love talking to college sports. I don't get to do it as much, so it's like I do savor the moments of like digging deep into the ONIT catalog and everything that's happening in college sports because it is a college sports are a passion of mine. I like college sports way more than I like pros. Everybody knows that. I'm in South Carolina. It's a big thing around here. And I think it's important for our audience to know exactly, you know, if you, if you, if you're a first time listener, we want to catch you up on exactly where on it sits in the marketplace, why we love partnering with them and just really the value prop that this is both on the collection side as well as there are some cards worth some money. That's not what really they're about. They're really about what they provide to the college athletes and the collectors by way of this differentiation in really how they do things. I'm going to let Leonard talk about that, but I wanted to tee that up. And if you've, hey, if you've heard it before, you're just going to hear it in a different spin and you'll get to hear some call outs on baseball. So, Leonard, I'd love to give everybody a rundown of just kind of where on it sits in the trading card and hobby space.

[D]

Absolutely. We are definitely a little bit different. We do officially licensed collegiate sporting cards. You can see some of that stuff from Topps with their Bowman products. You can see some of that stuff from Panini with their instant Nil and Nil cards. But we specifically focus on individual teams, which is unlike really anything that anybody out there does. We are officially licensed with all the universities that we work with and all the teams that we work with. If you love Ohio State, for example, this year we released Ohio State football, we released Ohio State men's and women's basketball, Ohio State wrestling, Ohio State hockey. I believe we had Ohio State lacrosse this year. Don't quote me on that. But that, that's just an example of if you are an Ohio State fan, whether you are a fan of the big money making sports, the sports that bring in the billions on national television, or you're a fan of the Olympic sports, of the players that maybe don't get enough shine from the national spotlight or the national market, we're focused on creating cards for those athletes and then connecting you as the fan to those athletes through those collectibles, through those cards, through our on card autographs. Because every card that we do has an on card autograph. If we do an autograph variation. So through some of those attributes, maybe don't get enough shine, maybe don't get enough love from the national media. We are focused on individual schools. We work with schools across the country, Big 10 ACC, Big 12 SEC during a Power 4 conference. We probably work with them and we work with some other schools as well, like Boise State, as we are headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Kind of a passion project out of there. So that's kind of the holistic view on what on it is and the space that we encompass in this trading card world, which, as you know, Ryan, everybody's trying to get a piece of the pie recently. And one of the other big things about us that we do differently is that we pay industry leading athlete royalties. So in terms of nil, which has exploded over the past couple years since we've been a company, uh, we've only been around for a short time, four to three years, depending on how you look at it. And we pay athletes royalties based on being in our trading card sets and sales of boxes. So when you purchase onit cards, not only are you collecting cards for yourself and getting the opportunity to grow your collection, whether you're a fan, whether you're trying to get your son or daughter into collecting, whether you're just a big fan of the university or a specific player, not only are you getting something in return, but you're giving back to those athletes who are helping you create memories with yourself, your family, your school, your alma mater, whatever it may be.

[C]

Love it. That was perfect. Leonard. Leonard. As we Close out today's segment. Maybe just a quick update specifically on baseball.

[D]

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot going on. Of course, baseball conference tournaments are going on. As you're watching this, the Big Ten will be well into their conference tournament. The Big 12 tournament will almost be over. We've got a bunch of different teams rocking and rolling in there. We got the number one seed in the country in ucla. There's the number one seed in the Big Ten tournament as well. Expect them to be in the championship game on Sunday. Expect them to win the championship in my personal opinion. And we'll see them be the number one overall seed on selection Monday, which is at noon Eastern time on Monday. So if you're a baseball fan, be on the lookout for that. We got Texas, Texas A and M, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, all who are probably getting into the tournament on Monday as well. Tennessee and South Carolina on the outside potentially looking in. We'll see what happens there. West Virginia, Arizona State should also be in there. Oklahoma State should, should we see on Monday? TCU is another team that I expect to get their name called. Georgia Tech, maybe the most threatening team out of the ACC in terms of teams that can threaten UCLA as well for the baseball World Series title this year, in my opinion. So there's a lot going on on the baseball side. We got a lot of teams and I know you mentioned, you know, like Clemson, we don't work with your school. And I, you know, mentioned kind of that we're the new thing. It's a little bit of we're new and we're old. You know, we've been here for a little bit. But yes, we definitely don't have that same long standing that you've come to expect from some of the card manufacturers that are in the market. So I just would say if you're getting into on it, if you've never heard of us or if you have heard of us, you know, there's a lot of growth potential still with us. And I think that's something that we try to do all the time. We're always trying to grow. We're trying to add schools, we're trying to come up with new designs. We don't have the 80 year history of some of the other card manufacturers at the moment, but in 80 years people might be looking back and saying wow, on it was really kind of the first ones to truly jump on college sports collecting and make this train move out of the station. So. And that's what I'm hoping for.

[C]

Go to onathlete.com use code collector nation. Check out receive 15% off or come by Collector Station here in South Carolina. The flagship store for the hobby in South Carolina and a flagship destination. Four on it. You need to get on it, Leonard. We appreciate it.

[D]

Hey, I always appreciate it, Ryan. Thanks so much for having me on, and I wish you best of luck. I know South Carolina is out pretty much every sport now, so

[C]

I wait for football, baby. I think it's going to be an interesting year around here. Two programs that it's time to start putting up and. And shutting up. Yeah. One way or the other. So we'll see how it goes. But either way, I'll be collecting on it and so should you. We'll see you next time.

[A]

All right. Anything else?

[B]

Oh, Happy Memorial Day to everyone.

[C]

Yeah, we didn't even talk about that, but I guess mainly because I don't know if it's as much of a trading card holiday.

[B]

You're going to the boat, I assume?

[C]

Oh, yeah, I'll be.

[B]

And I'm going to the lake house, so.

[C]

Hey.

[A]

And I'll be sitting, twiddling my thumbs, fighting for a chair at my pool.

[C]

You have to send me, like, a virtual toast or something, or, you know, wherever you're at, we'll exchange views.

[B]

Yeah, we'll do that. Knock it out.

[C]

Be a lot colder than ours. We can actually get in ours. Yeah.

[B]

Oh, Bella, have fun at the pool.

[A]

If I can get a chair, try. Yeah, I'll find something to do.

[C]

Brian. Appreciate you, brother.

[B]

Love you, brother.

[C]

Hey, guys, great talking. You know where to find us. The collectornation.com as well as L U D E X ludx.com and ludx in the App Store for Bella, who's always having a ball. Brian in Chi Town, I'm Ryan. We'll see you next time, Collector Station.

[D]

Bye.

[C]

Thanks for tuning in to the show. Be sure to follow us on your go to podcast platform and catch the

[B]

full video episode over on YouTube.

[C]

Visit [e-mail] and follow follow Ryan on

[B]

Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.