First time I am having to deal with this. Sure, like others I have had many PSA cards graded as weak 9s and 10s, but this is the first time i’ve had two cards this bad. How would YOU handle this Charizard knowing that value is TECHNICALLY a PSA 8 due to the guarentee as soon as its in the buyers hand? Sell it at a PSA5 or 6 price? An 8 is around $520 while a 5-6 would be about $180, almost a $350 profit if someone was to buy it at a PSA5-6 price. Should it matter? I can’t list it without specifying the flaws, since that is not my style. As for the Mewtwo, its a little different due to the value not being significantly different, just wanted to show how it was missed as well in my last sub.
First is a “PSA 8” Shadowless Charizard…2 VERY obvious and large dents
And the “PSA 7” Shadowless Mewtwo with one obvious large dent & red pen on the back…
I’m glad to read that this is the first time it’s been this bad for you but it still sucks it happened at all. PSA should have to pay you the difference once they review the cards [free of charge] and downgrade the designation. Try communicating with them and explain the situation from a seller’s standpoint. It’s poor quality control, plain and simple. Let them fix their mistakes, don’t let the problem become bigger by trying to sell them as is.
You should disclose it because it’s the right thing to do, but if you won’t
Sell it for a lower price, say 20% below market, and add a cheap booster
I recently got a psa 9 neo card in a low pop 10 case and paid farrrr too much for it, but it was slightly cheaper than a regular 10 so I suppose I had it coming not suspecting the blur pics, plus the cheap $2 booster made me feel abit better
I just took it as lesson learnt and moved on. I guarantee you I would have returned it if I paid another 20% more, and am contemplating it right now as I type this. He sold at a slightly lower price and gave a cheaper booster to make me feel better twice, and made a 900 / 90% loss feel not so bad, impressive
Did you grade these yourself? If so technically by the rules you are not entitled to the guarantee of grade and authenticity as per the terms.
Further, did you know this damage was there when submitting? If not, then I would say PSA must have damaged them on site if that is what you suspect. Really you’d have them between a rock and a hard place on that as two experts deemed these cards 7/8 when they crossed their desks, and as you pointed out the damage seems worse than that. If it happened after grading and pre encapsulation they would be due to make you whole regardless of the financial guarantee policy.
I actually submitted some cards that were pack fresh gem mint a while back that got PSA 10’s with corner creases. Even though I was the original submitted I was able to send them back and be paid out the difference between the PSA 5/6 and PSA 10 grades. They claimed they didn’t damage them but must have overlooked the damage IIRC. Honestly not any better I don’t think.
ETA: Don’t sell them as is. Rectify this situation yourself ideally whether you were the original submitter or a purchaser. It is best for the hobby to remove any issues like this from circulation and have them encapsulated in a proper case reflecting their actual grade.
Graded them myself. This order was from months ago, but I do remember the charizard being damaged, I sent it in just because it looked fantastic aside from the dents, so it would look okay to recoup some cash. I didn’t even think about removing it from circulation, I ASSUMED someone would take the free profit to send to PSA. I know if I contact PSA they will just re-grade them lower with nothing coming on my end. Its a weird situation, I knew what the grades should be when I sent the cards in, so compensation wise I shouldn’t expect anything as I expected the 5/6 when I sent them in.
In that case @joetehman I would just send them in for review and point out the issues. See what they say. At a minimum I would hope they would revise them at no cost to you, but it is a bit uncharted territories for me. Theoretically you wouldn’t be due any compensation via the financial guarantee but technically I wasn’t in my own past situation as I mentioned.
The grades become very weird when the card is otherwise in great shape but has a few semi-major issues like dents/creases etc. I’m not too sure how I feel about them overall as I have many cards that I love in binders and wouldn’t look twice at, but I know I’d never grade them as they’d get sub 6 unless the pros were sleeping on the job as they occasionally do.
Talked to a rep today who told me to send it in and they will waive fees and look it over to see if its worthy of the grade or not and “I don’t know what happens after that”.
Received the cards back…both kept the same grade. There was a sticky note on the Mewtwo that said “Scratches” and one on the Charizard with just an arrow pointing to the set number, what they meant I have no idea…I talked on the phone with them before I sent them out, I left a note with them IN the package, and apparently they are still both 8s. I forgot how bad the dents were until I saw the cards again, these pictures do not do them justice. Guess I will call and send them back a 3rd time!
Another Update, called PSA and the rep told me they looked at the cards and deemed them correctly graded and there wasn’t anything else they could do. I told them there is no way these are 8s, can I at least send pics of the damage to look at it, she sounded hesitant, but accepted. I received a response from her saying, “The images have been reviewed, the grades are correct”. Now I don’t know WHAT to do, guess I will make note in the listing.
I guess they can’t grade over the phone or over pictures per say, but for it to remain an 8 after review is very surprising and obviously an incorrect grade. PSA wants us the customers to be able to determine grades so we know the correct service level but not so much when it is a potential PSA at fault scenario.
Need to get it out of circulation, it’ll be going in with my order next week to get fixed.