What is everyone’s opinion on getting a PSA 8/9 card with a dent in the mail? Graders, as we know are human and mistakes do happen from time to time.
I recently purchased a PSA 8 english gold star. When I got the card and upon closer inspection, the card has a dent in the back and when I mentioned it to the seller, he acknowledged the dent and said
Quote “Shit! Thats lame I didn’t even notice that i literally only had the cards for like 2 days after getting them back from PSA that slipped my eyes becuase I thought it’s slabbed up and it’s an 8 so I just didn’t look super close. I am really sorry about that” End quote.
I did ask for photos but this dent is only noticeable at certain angles. However now that I see it, it is really hard to unsee. I should have asked for a video with flash on and ask the seller to go over every angle but I trust PSA and didn’t want to come off as difficult so maybe the fault is with me.
My question to E4, do sellers have an obligation to point out cards that are obviously “misgraded” to buyers? Or should they at least offer some kind of compensation such as an option to return or a slight refund of payments?
I am trying to be a good buyer but at the same time I am also very disappointed in what I got. What would you do in my case (from both a buyer and seller point of view?)
I think you answered your own question in your opening paragraph. Mistakes do happen.
Personally if a card has been graded and the seller has provided a good quality front and back scan/picture. It’s up to you to inspect the card and are happy with it’s condition to purchase. Since you have purchased the card and are unhappy then you should bring this to the attention of PSA and send it in for a review.
Yes I can spend time and money to send it back to PSA but from what I seen, their financial guarantee is a joke, I remember another E4 member (gottaketchumall) purchased a 1st edition base set charizard PSA 8 and it got a dent across the front, send it back for review and PSA still said it is an 8.
Now gottaketchumall is cool and when it comes to his turn to sell, he at least disclosed the dent and offered below market price so all is fair. But in my case, I paid above recently sold and the dent wasn’t disclosed to me beforehand. I don’t want to be wasting any more time/money just to have PSA come back and say yep, PSA 8 can have a dent, sorry we are not going to change the grade.
I always read that a dent is a automatic 6, but from what I’ve seen I’m going to guess it would depend on the severity of it. I had a Masaki Gengar psa 9 card that I returned (seller had free 30 day returns) since it had the masaki marks on the corners. But when asking if this was normal, other people checked there masaki cards and some 9s also had the indents.
@markzkong, In your analogy did gottaketchumall get a refund off the seller? It looks as though they reviewed it and didn’t agree with PSA again and sold it on. You bought an 8, you could also sell it on and purchase a new 8 with a different type of damage.
As a seller, if your card has a dent/crease (which will get max PSA 6) and you know about it and still got graded as PSA 8/9/10 because graders are human and mistakes happen, do you have any obligation to let your buyer know about the damage before you sell it? From my understanding, some of you are saying you can sell dent/crease card with PSA 8-10 grades, not tell the buyer and then have them deal with PSA.
Now as a seller and you didn’t know about the dent/crease but was later pointed out by the buyer, do you have an obligation to offer a return or partial refund of payment or is the sale final?
I would say if the buyer noticed something wrong with the card and the seller by his own will offered a refund or partial, then accept. If he doesn’t and you force a return, it would look bad on you. He’s selling you psa opinion, not his own.
Everyone has different standards on what is acceptable damage for graded cards I suppose. Depending on how light the dent is, maybe it’s within standards of the grade it received as buckna said.
I recently bought an older cert PSA 8 Typhlosion which turned out to have a whitened dent in one of the edges that I would have assumed would grade a 6 by today’s standards.
Although a fussy buyer claiming their opinion is better than PSA is one of the most annoying things to a seller, I think there can be exceptions especially when it comes to higher end cards like gold stars. I have a 5 shadowless Blastoise that looks like a 3 so when selling I wouldn’t try to hide the condition because it’s obvious it shouldn’t be a 5. A dent is less obvious so it’s probably not the sellers fault either.
I’d say either suck it up, agree a small partial refund (like 5-10%) and keep it or return it for a full refund given that it is quite an expensive card and you aren’t happy. No one is really at fault (except maybe PSA if it is as bad as you say) it’s just one of those things
You bought a PSA 8 and got a PSA 8. They sold you a card that was professionally graded by a third party and you are paying for the standard based on that third party. Not the seller. If you disagree with the card’s grading that is not an issue you have with the seller, that is an issue for the third party who graded it and whose opinion you went on.
By going after the seller you are just trying to squeeze a guy with no control over the situation. Take it up with PSA and leave the poor guy alone.
@wisewailmer, you completely missed my point. How would you feel if gottaketchumall didn’t disclose the dent or print line and sold it to you at market price? You would be happyto get that charizard instead of one without a dent right?
@dragonwarrior, I am not sure if I agree. I am not talking about minor stuff but dents and creases on PSA 8-10 grade. Here are some examples of “PSA 8” cards. Do you mean to tell me, as a seller I have no obligation to let my buyer know about the damage? That you would feel no shame in selling these and disclose them as clean cards? Maybe so but how would you feel as a buyer to receive this slab after you paid market price and the seller offers no return or no refund? I also have a photo of a PSA 9 with a huge crease that somehow PSA missed. I can grab that photo when I am home if you are still curious. Mistakes happen, don’t act like PSA is perfect.
Maybe I am in the minority but if that is the case, then I rather be a “villain” and disclose these damages to my buyers before passing them on and have them waste money/time to deal with PSA.
I never commented on what you should do or what he did. I’m just saying that was not a dent in his case
If you want my opinion, I have never returned a misgraded card but I have gotten partial refunds a few times when they were obviously misgraded so ask if he would do a part refund
Say you purchased a Kellogg’s cereal from amazon and they send you the exact food but it’s opened or maybe the cereal is now expired, how would you feel if Amazon tells you too bad no return or refund, please contact Kellogg and then you have to spend more time and money just to get your refund. It’s just bad service.
I feel like sellers should be honest and disclose misgraded card to the buyer or at least offer return or partial refund. Seems like I am in the minority here and that is okay.
@markzkong Do you perhaps have pictures of the dent, I think severity of the dent also plays a role in the grade. It is good business practice to disclose dents or other types of damage before you sell it, but if the seller is dealing with lots of volume this might not always be possible. If I notice the dent, I would always put that in the listing.
In the end, you bought a PSA 8 card. Buy the card, not the grade is a known saying for a reason. I would try to fix this with PSA (which unfortunately will not help probably). If the dent is very big I would try to fix this with the seller as well. If the dent is not big, I would leave it as is.
“Mistakes happen, don’t act like PSA is perfect.”
I’m agreeing with you here. The issue is that forcing the seller to refund you doesn’t resolve this. PSA is the one that needs to be held responsible for their mistake.
You are also assuming that the seller knew that this was there and that they willingly did not disclose it. It is extremely unfair to assume that. I have sold hundreds of cards on ebay over the past decade and you know what, I have missed damage before on raw cards! It happens but to assume that the seller knew and intentionally hid it (when you haven’t even shown us what the listing looked like) is a stretch.
