Im thinking about buying this poliwrath. But I wanted to know what you guys look out for, or concerns you have when buying a item like this from ebay. Any advice?
Everything checks out to me: account with lots of recent sales/good feedback, card youâll receive is the exact Cert, listing price is close to last sold on eBay ($1,150).
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Find him on IG to get it cheaper. He has a business account.
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^ This was the second thing I was going to say.
Depending on your comfort level, message him on IG to see if you can purchase it off eBay and save you both money.
Thanks for the IG tip guys. dmâed him
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Thereâs one on pwcc. Iâd watch that or even go for it to see if you can get it for less
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Maybe just me⌠but donât pay the 10 premium on that one. Look at back right/left edges and center surface. Evident wear. Could possibly be more on the holo. Looks like a 9 at best sitting in a 10 case. Just my 2 cents.
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I think it depends a little. Will you buy this for your own collection or for investment purposes? @brendantheclayboy was actually pretty sharp noticing theres some whitening on the card even though it has a 10. If youâre keeping this for a personal collection everything looks fine. If itâs for potential resale purpose in a couple of years⌠I might wait for another one to come by which looks a little more Mint.
Why would you want a misgraded, egregious 10 for your own collection? Thatâs even worse man. Couldnât disagree more. Pay 10x price for no reason and always be reminded of a played card when looking at it? Ok.
Personally, I would buy a strong PSA 9. Theyâre a fraction of the price and look nearly identical to PSA 10s.
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Fwiw, to me the copy looks pretty clean and not really a misgrade. Have seen much worse 10âs even on newer certs.
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Thanks for all your opinions. I am definitely on the fence now whether this cards condition is bad enough that I should shop around longer. is it easy to see how long ago it was graded? It sounds like it was graded a psa10 when the standards werenât as high.
This is the way
I think most people estimate how long ago it was graded by the cert number. In this case, a 1xxx cert means it was probably graded at least 10 years ago, possibly more. I wasnât around back then, so some people may have a better idea of a more exact timeframe. Anything 4xxx cert is probably <= 2020.
At the end of the day though, I wouldnât even really bother getting into which certs are graded with which standards, or ânew certs are better 10s than old certs,â or any of that nonsense. In my opinion, all you really need to know is that grading is subjective. There is gonna be wiggle room from one card to the next. Shit gets really contrived when youâre buying PSA 10s because theyâre so expensive. From my limited experience, PSA 10s are not perfect cards and most of the time, I find myself mildly disappointed with the condition of the card. Iâd recommend you save yourself the time, money and energy and just go for a nice PSA 9. Most of the time, youâre paying up to like 10x the price for a card that looks virtually the same as a 9 anyway.
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I agree. Especially with WOTC. I feel like most clean WOTC cards ride the line between 9s and 10s anyway.
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Thatâs been my experience. Some sets just have inherent factory issues as well. For example, itâs very rare to ever find a Jungle holo without some type of holo silvering. Iâve seen 10s with similar or even worse silvering than Iâve seen on 9s, but because the rest of the card was flawless PSA just considers it to be âvirtually perfectâ condition it seems.
Then as you move into the Neo era itâs almost impossible to find some of the holos without some type of print defect or flaw. The 10s are usually as good as it gets, but can still have some minor issues at times from what Iâve seen.
Anyway, I still think WOTC holo 10s are great. I own a few of them. But thereâs definitely really good value to be found in a 9 or even an 8 in my experience.
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If this card is a 10, every card Iâve ever submitted is an 11. Iâd bet $100 rn it would regrade an 8 today.
Just remember, any PSA card before 23xx is kinda bad quality 
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For every person who thinks one cert is greater than another there are thousands who donât give a shit. If you like the card/condition just buy it and ignore the noise.
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People give too much credit to PSA 10 quality.
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