All this Miracle Card Care or whatever chemical solutions to clean cards are out in the market and some do pass PSA detection.. I feel like anything after cert 7 is sus and could bring damage in the long term on cards?
Am I overreacting?
Youre being paranoid. Card care can be in any grade. Focus on the card itself and you wont have an issue regardless the grade.
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I would say all this card care started well before the 7 cert. You might as well worry about 5 / 6 certs and after.
If so worried then maybe best to not buy graded
Yet even if you buy raw , who knows what has been put under card restoration to try and get the card to NM or higher yet how would you be able to tell if a grader can’t?
Slabs that get encapsulated may damage the card. The card may get damaged by the grader while getting graded ect.
Always risks when buying raw and even graded
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Cmon triple…
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I think 4 certs and lower are fairly safe IMO. Im shooting from the hip and drawling that line arbitrarily but card “restoration” just really wasnt a thing a few years ago.
There is definitely a legitimate concern to be had with newly graded vintage cards. What %, idk, but its definitely a tangible portion of the new supply.
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Yeah I agree, I might focus on 5 and 6 certs when looking for vintage high graded cards
“Buy the card, not the grade” should evolve into “Buy the card, not the cert.”
Edit: (Of course there are few exceptions with questionably authentic cards like with new cert vintage trophies)
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The problem is you can’t tell if a card was polished graded
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In this case are you considering the cards altered along with PSA not catching it?
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- People have probably been altering cards from the beginning, it’s only just become somewhat common knowledge now.
- I take it you’re not going to be buying singles either? As these could easily be altered
- Realistically, I still think 99.99% of PSA slabs will be safe. Also, if you think about it, any cards with scratches will likely have whitening on the back and I’m pretty sure PSA are able to catch any card dyes.
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People were not cleaning cards since the beginning. Most people weren’t even grading cards until 10 years ago. This stuff sprouted post 2020.
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yeah didnt that 2x cert 1st ed charbar that pwcc auctioned like 3 times was trimmed allegedly 
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Kurt’s card cum is definitely a phenomenon of the last few years
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The number of people in the hobby that are openly supportive of “card cleaning” is something that I find truly disturbing. I realize that different people will have differing opinions about what constitutes “altering,” but this is a firm line for me. As a collector, I want cards that have been preserved in their original form, not cards that have been “restored,” “polished,” or “cared for” with any form of chemicals. To me, these are all just euphemisms to justify deceptive and exploitative practices. Assuming only a small segment of “card-cleaners” are willing to disclose their use of card-care products, it’s unsettling to think how many people are quietly complicit.
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In Italy p much every recently graded card (0015+ from BGS) has been “restored”, I have just stopped purchasing graded cards altogether.
Raw cards are even worse, vinted/ebay/facebook are flooded with “perfect” holo cards with awful backs.
Lately, I have been sticking to new cards and only buying vintage from trustworthy sources, it’s too much of a headache rn.
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In the beginning there were only a few guys like Gary who were even grading Pokemon cards. They were already major outliers. Now you are suggesting that not only did they have an interest in grading unproven children’s cardboard, but also altering/restoring it to too, to inflate the grades… That seems pretty unlikely.
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Rumor on the streets PSA and BGS can’t catch it currently