So i recently was told this and thought it was quite ridiculous…this in regards to submitting cards through psa. Basically say you have a card that looks like a 7 but could possibly be an 8 and you want to try to bump it up to that 8 grade. You would take a card that looks like a 6 and put it right before the card that looks like a 7 because the last card the grader saw was a 6 and if you put a card that is border line 8 after it the grader should see this looks significantly better than a 6 which was the last card they saw and just might possibly bump your good 7 up to an 8. Lol I don’t feel this is anything more than just some bs because when i look at cards to grade I don’t go off of what did the last card look like i go off of just that individual card! Anyway the guy swears buy it I don’t buy it. Just wanted to hear everyone’s thoughts haha
You’re right sounds like garbage. No matter what I put behind my Base unlimited charizards PSA will never give me a 10 no matter how hard I try lol
I mean ideally you’d want the grader to be unbiased when evaluating your cards, but since we are dealing with humans, there will obviously be human biases involved.
Honestly, if you have a card that is sitting between 9 and 10, I’d be more inclined to stick it between a bunch of weaker 9-ish cards than a stretch of flawless cards. This assumes a bit about the order the cards actually get graded in though.
I think this is a question better suited for a psychology forum than a Pokemon forum though. And obviously there’s a level of deceit possibly involved with this behaviour since you’re trying to bump up a grade which may or may not deserve it.
I do this because there is a human element that is likely at play at least some of the time.
A good grader should be looking at each card objectively on its own.
Realistically though, graders process hundreds of cards and some graders are newer, so objectivity can be distorted by repetitive monotony.
I’m not sure if deceitful is the right word taking into consideration that graders can easily subjectively grade down or up one grade.
You’re assuming that your entire submission is assigned to a single grader (not aware of those tricks) and that there is no review by a second grader or in a second time. Idk, it seems unlikely.
If you take a card that you think (and probably should) deserve a 8, and you use this technique to attempt to push it up to a 9… I’d say that’s deceitful. Especially if it’s a card you’ve already graded 3 times.
Obviously grading is subjective, etc,etc. but in this case I think intention is what is relevant here.
I guess I must have misread Chris’s OP.
I didn’t realize we were talking about using this to bump a grade above what you think it deserves. That would be deceitful if that’s your intention.
When i order the cards by condition, I do so to help encourage the grader so the cards that actually deserve a 9 have a better chance of actually getting a 9.
It’s not that I think I’ll get a better grade than is deserved, but the amount of 8s I’ve gotten back that are in better condition than many 9s I have warrants some strategy to help mitigate PSA’s fickleness.
I think my main point was it might work, and if not then it probably doesn’t hurt to try.
I don’t have an issue with anyone who does this I was just commenting that any method of maximizing a grade could be used in a deceitful way.
There are several ‘tricks of the trade’ but I’ve always been torn to share them for a couple reasons. Card placement is one of them.
I heard a trick was to use shoe polish to shine up those holos to a sparkling glisten 
Whenever i submit, I try to separate the holos and non-holos into two distinct sections. I know a few people that are convinced that mixed submissions bring down the grades of their holos.
Well that’s not nice Gary 
share your wisdom with us 
But within a week, everybody in the Pokemon world would know cause the info would be shared on social media and spread like crazy,
That would cause three things. PSA prices would drop and I have a huge investment in those outside my collection, all advantage would be lost due to the nature of the info, PSA would become more overwhelmed, again due to the nature of the info and it could affect my relationship with them.
Yeah you are right but whoever says they wouldn’t try to do this to get a better grade is BS. All anyone wants is a better grade so you are going to do all you can to make it happen.
Lol 
The fact that big players in the game reinforce that there are little games like this one in OP that can be played to potentially skew/inflate ones grades is just another reason why I am and will always be a 9 collector and a 10 seller.
I also like how when people suggest that PSA may be damaging cards in the grading process or that PSA may be lying about having two professionals grading each and every card that the tin foil hats come out but stuff like this is given credence.
The fact is they are more error prone and inconsistent than most people like to admit and grading is much more subjective than most would realize.
@garyis2000 so jedi mind tricking a borderline card during submission into a 10 the first time around is okay but review/regrade of a strong 9 card that “two” professionals deem a PSA 10 the second time around isn’t?
Who thinks a third party opinion isn’t subjective?