Looking at pricecharting, PSA 9s seem to go for at least 3x that, with the price matching what an ungraded copy might go for.
It’s a certificate number starting with 1xxxx So I’m guessing that means it’s a very old cert? I’m just very confused as to the pricing, as it seems too good to be true. Are older certs really that devalued?
Maybe people are wary of the price KNOWING it should be more. I wonder if the seller has considered keeping the cert #, and updating the slab to a newer one for a better sale with more authenticity.
Since it’s Europe, I reckon sending slabs over to PSA, even just for updating isn’t really worth it. But I guess they could. Is that part of why the price is so low, the old-looking slab? Still, even just cracking the card and selling ungraded it should go for more, no?
You didn’t mention the marketplace this is selling on, so this will only pertain to eBay as that’s what I can only infer.
If you’re comfortable putting the capital toward it, I would just buy it and see what arrives. Record yourself opening the package in its entirety for record keeping just in case, and if the slab itself seems tampered with or something seems off, open a return request as the item doesn’t appear to be what was ordered. There are a myriad of possibilities right now; The seller doesn’t have experience selling graded cards, doesn’t know how to properly value, the card may have been stolen, they could be using a photo that doesn’t even pertain to the item they’re selling. All in all, eBay has the best buyer protection out there so there isn’t much risk purchasing an encapsulated collectible as any variance of what you receive versus what was listed makes it easy to get your money back.
If this is a private listing somewhere like on Facebook, just move on. Not worth the risk in my opinion
I don’t want to say the exact site(for privacy I guess), but it’s one of the major ebay-equivalents in my part of Europe.
I decided to go for it. The site has a buyer protection program as well, so there’s something wrong with the slab(or it doesn’t arrive) I’ll get compensated. Will make sure to film my opening of it.
I’ve heard some people winning deals like this on ebay and the like, with the result being the seller having “lost” the card(for insurance reasons potentially?). But that usually happens with pricier cards. Hopefully something arrives.
Will make a new post should it arrive and look weird. Ty for the advice!
Edit: Looked through the seller profile and it’s the first and only item they’ve sold as far as I can tell. Registered years ago though and the way registering works on this site is via a digital ID, meaning you can’t just create new accounts easily. Red flag or as you pointed out, inexperienced with selling graded cards?
Posted about this in the Bargain-Bin thread but thought I’d update here as well. Slab arrived and looks as advertised. Other than tiny specs of whitening on 2 corners and a incredibly small amount of whitening on the 3rd one, it looks great. There IS some weird form of damage that might be on the slab itself on the back however. If that’s on the card itself, I reckon it could’ve lowered the grade had it been a newer cert.
Overall an absurdly good deal from a seller who seemingly didn’t know how to properly evaluate the value of pokemon cards. He sent the slab in a regular envelope, completely rawdog. No cardboard, bubble wrap or any kind of protection. At least it had one of those plastic sleeve bags?
