“Sprint Name”: Revolutionizing the Trading Card Grading Experience: Introducing the PSA Online Submission Center 2.0
“Scoping”:
In the fast-paced world of trading card collecting, efficiency and user-friendly experiences are paramount. At PSA, we understand the importance of providing collectors with a seamless process for submitting their prized cards for grading. That’s why our Product & Tech Teams have been hard at work, not only revamping the web version of our Online Submission Center (OSC) but also introducing an entirely new and innovative product within the PSA App. We are thrilled to share the details of these two groundbreaking solutions that promise to redefine the way collectors submit their cards for grading.
“Requirements”: OSC 2.0 Web
Our journey began with a philosophical approach to building a replacement product that prioritizes user experience and efficiency. The development process followed a continuous improvement cycle, starting with defining requirements and UI design, followed by rigorous user testing. This iterative loop continued through development, QA, an alpha, and beta before going live.
To ensure a smooth transition for our users, we implemented a phased approach, starting with an Internal Alpha, followed by a Public Beta where users could opt in or out based on their preferences. This not only provided valuable feedback but also allowed us to make real-time improvements based on user experiences.
The go-to-market (GTM) marketing strategy was carefully crafted to allow for flexibility, ensuring that we had some breathing room before the full launch. This strategic approach not only eased the pressure of a tight launch date but also allowed users to adapt to the new OSC at their own pace. The positive feedback from customers on social media (Instagram, X, Facebook & YouTube) was overwhelming. Some of our favorite replies:
- “Adding the cards with visuals in the drop down is key. Appreciate the dev team on that one.”
- “As a professional product designer, avid card collector, and PSA customer, I can say with confidence that this is an awesome and much needed uplift. Kudos.”
Our full launch and legacy deprecation were thoughtfully planned, providing customers with ample time to transition to the new product seamlessly. The phased approach also allowed us to deliver OSC experiences for PSA Japan and our partners via the new backend and APIs. The launch dates were strategically chosen, considering various factors, which ultimately saved us valuable development weeks on other initiatives. These time savings from thoughtful sequencing can be the difference between launching the nth feature improvement by the end of the quarter and not.
“Requirements” OSC Mobile App:
Building on the success of the OSC web version, we took a greenfield approach to develop an entirely new product within the PSA App. The philosophical approach remained consistent – prioritize user experience and efficiency. With the mobile app especially, we wanted to focus on simplicity for new users. Make submitting a card to be graded more safe, fun, and easy for novice collectors.
With a keen focus on the collector community, we introduced a user-friendly interface, making card submissions for grading a breeze on the PSA App. The OSC Mobile app introduces our new “scan to submit” technology which uses the device camera to scan and identify the user’s trading cards. It also leverages PSA Estimate to help submitters understand the value of their cards and, based on those values, which service levels are recommended for their submission. The app’s design complements the web version and leverages the same backend, providing a cohesive and integrated experience for collectors across platforms.
The OSC Mobile App development process followed a similar improvement cycle, from defining requirements to design, user testing, development, and QA. The iterative nature of the process allowed us to fine-tune the app, ensuring it met the high standards set by our team and our customers with several internal rounds of alpha testing throughout the summer and fall, culminating in a final internal product review complete with pack rips and scanning big hits for submission. The product felt like it was finally in the hands of customers (albeit internal ones). Feedback was mostly positive, but we wanted to make sure the launch was a success so we fine tuned the spec matching models, fixed every edge-case bug we could find, and iterated another whopping 39 versions in the final month before launch.
Just a few weeks later, the product was ready for showtime. The big launch day had come and we were all holding our breath to see how customers reacted on social media – the best barometer of public opinion. Within minutes, the feedback started pouring in – “This was actually really clutch to use, took about ⅓ of the time that it took to regularly input them” – and we celebrated another successful launch.
“Post-mortem”:
The PSA Online Submission Center 2.0 represents a significant leap forward in providing collectors with a streamlined and enjoyable grading experience. The dual launch of the web version and the mobile app reflects our commitment to embracing technology to enhance user satisfaction.
We are immensely proud of the positive feedback received from our customers, validating the hard work and dedication put into these projects. As we continue to innovate, iterate, and evolve, PSA remains at the forefront of revolutionizing the trading card grading experience, ensuring collectors have the best possible journey from submission to collecting, selling, and trading their graded cards.
Tucker Byrne is the product lead for the PSA Experience Team. He has been building customer experiences for a wide array of user journeys across ecommerce, payments, and platform-level products for several years at Collectors and prior at Amazon. Tucker is most proud of his team’s work launching PSA Japan, revamping the Order tracking experience to include the option to sell graded items, and now the all-new grading submission capabilities across web and app. Tucker is known internally for being the kindest member of the Product team. Outside of work, Tucker enjoys collecting items have sentimental value – childhood pokemon cards, saved tickets, favorite video games, and coins.
Sam Torres is a Product Manager who oversees PSA Experience Application products, including Online Submission Center, Checkout, and Orders on both web and native mobile. He has been at Collectors for two years and has been a voice for the collector, both as a PSA PM and a Pokémon TCG enthusiast himself. Sam has also won two Hackathon awards at PSA for his contributions to cert verification and turnaround time transparency.
