I don’t buy from people who write trash on the titles of raw cards like “PSA 10?? ? ? ? ? ?”
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I have zero expectations lol, I assume I will get something near mint at best and anything better is just a lucky bonus. If I really want something mint I buy graded or hunt for it myself from packs.
“Easy 9 or 10”
I’ve found a lot of Japanese sellers use generic ‘Mint’ desciptions. If it’s not mint, aka scratches, i’ll leave negative feedback. Generally I avoid Japanese sellers with below 95% positive feedback.
I normally let the pics do the talking than the sellers themselves, as many genuinely have no clue what “mint” or “near mint” mean. Have had plenty of success buying mint cards this way on eBay. Even with pics, cards tough to judge are Fire Red Leaf Green holos or legendary collection reverse holos for example as creases can only be seen at very specific angles.
For some reason, I’ve had way better luck with finding actual mint cards on Mercari than I have had on eBay.
personally if its not modern I’m not going to buy vintage raw, I will just buy the card in a mint or better grade. I know its profitable for some people if you willing to put in the work.
I bought a collection from a guy on ebay in August with 0 feedback, English and Japanese wotc holos. With the exception of 1, all the Japanese are 9/10 condition (they’re at cgc right now), and the English were mostly 7-8 with some potential 9s.
So if I may conclude:
- I’m not the only one with bad luck, it’s just that supply of raw mint cards ran dry and listing descriptions can simply not be trusted.
- Always ask for additional pictures if the given pics leave room for deception.
- Lower your expectations.
Thank you all for your inputs 
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It was 2 years ago
I have actually had great success finding many 8 and 9 worthy raw cards for awhile now on eBay, and it takes me almost no time at all. The key is to save searches for the cards you want. Select buy it now and newly listed and save the search, and take a second to refresh it as much as you’d like throughout the day. It can also work with newly listed auctions with make offer options. Often times the cards don’t sell immediately unless it’s an incredible deal, and you have time to talk to the seller. Every now and then a card will pop up in fantastic condition and be reasonably priced. Sure it can still have flaws you can’t see, but if you get more pics and ask the right questions that chance can be minimized. I always expect a grade below how it looks but im pleasantly surprised quite often.
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I guess I should´ve specified my response a bit further as I was thinking about high value wotc/ex era cards. Finding raw (gem) mint copies of those is not worth the time. Candidates are getting listed from time to time but they either already command PSA prices or have some hidden flaw.
Gotcha, yea I’m just over here just collecting unlimited WOTC. Still managed to find some raw neo destiny/rev shinings in 9 condition very reasonably priced over the last few months. Gem mint is definitely close to impossible though even with the unlimiteds. And I’m sure 1st editions are a different animal entirely
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That´s great, always a good feeling when you find a nice copy for a good price! With Unlimited in particular, some specific holos in gem mint condition are absolutely impossible to find, even harder than 1st ed in some cases.
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“Beartic 30/98 Emerging Power s Keepers Pokemon Shining foil not Charizard PSA 10 Gem Mint? Yugioh”
I wish I was exaggerating
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I get your point, and I would personally agree that I wouldn’t exactly expect that card to be called “mint”.
However, I’ve come to expect exactly that from PSA 9s: cards with some minor flaws, that appear to be mint for the most part. This took some getting used to, in all honesty.
I personally believe this doesn’t have all that much to do with the new/old cert stories you see pop up once in a while. A PSA 9 will range from cards that were on the brink of landing a score below 9, to cards that almost scored the 10, but something held it back. I think it rather comes down to weaker/stronger grades, which have always happened, and will continue to happen, both as a result of this wider range of the 9 grade, as well as the subjective nature of grading.
Oh and, another thing not to forget, I guess people’s expectation of what PSA’s definition of an actual grade means, might not match the grading standards PSA applies to those grades.
I’ve held some really ugly 7s and 8s before, where if you would crack them out of the PSA case and try to sell them as raw “NM” or “NM/M”, people would have laughed at those.
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I stopped buying raw cards altogether on Ebay. Everyone’s grading perspective is different and 9 times out of 10 it’s over evaluated condition wise.
@voltagic, 'tis a misgrade. It is an 8. When empirically we can and have shown that a “strong” grade is better than a different card’s higher grade, it is an inconsistency we have constantly pointed out that PSA produces, and therefore a discrepancy/error. It just is what it is. It is a ton of different and fallible humans working there. Not one person, not a computer. Misgrades happen all the time.
7’s and 8’s are hard. Subjectivity and all that–but 9’s are far easier to determine just a straight up error/misgrade. The word Mint is more objective than Near Mint.
The Slowbro’s flaws aren’t minor–though I have come to have the similar expectations that you have, and you aren’t wrong about most you said. No one disagrees that most PSA 7’s are not NM by almost universal raw standards.
Hi, I’m very very new to this site and the reason I joined is a want to expand my sons 1999 base set collection. I’m not sure if everything on Ebay is honest cards. Also the PSA graded cards…could they be fake ?? I hope this reaches everyone as it’s my first post.