I was just scrolling through eBay and just saw this listing on a PSA 9 1st edition for around 50 usd. I’m not crazy keen on owning that card but am curious if that is a usual price or is a steal of a deal. The case does have a pretty bold scratch on the front and a slight scratch at the back which could be the reason for it’s price being lower then the other listings.
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People usually pay for the card not the plastic case, so as long as that scratch didn’t leave a scar on the card it should not affect the price.
Alright thanks for your reply. I am just a slight bit concerned since I live in Australia and shipping for recase would Probably be a large amount.
Depends on the scratch. If it takes away a lot of the eye-appeal, it should have an effect on the price. Collectors want to enjoy looking at their cards after all. If it’s a really nasty scratch, I think you’d have to add the cost for recasing onto the buy price to get an accurate picture.
If it’s a crack or a more substantial damage to the case, it’s not even guaranteed that it will receive the same grade after recasing.
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I mean, if it’s to the point where the card needs to be re-encapsulated, it makes sense for the price to get knocked a bit. My original response is directed towards typical scratches that don’t ruin the aesthetics of the case.
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Ninja’d me lol
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I think that’s actually a crack, not a scratch. Worst case the card could’ve been damaged when this happened.
Im not too firm on the rapidly increasing Base prices, but it seems like a good price.
On the other hand it’s only a PSA 9 common Onix… not really worth the hassle if you don’t actually want the card IMO.
I mean, I’m seeing Onix in 1st ed PSA 9 is going for about 5-7 times that amount, so if your goal is to save money, you could inquire for details of the Onix, it’ll cost you $10 to re-encapsulate the card plus shipping, I expect about $20. So the Onix would really cost you $80. Downside will be the ridiculous turnaround time, but if you’re in no rush and the card is clean, I’d hop on it myself.
Nope. You can clean up a scratched case really well with plastic polish and a bit of effort. If it’s really really bad you can always reholder the card with PSA. Once I started cleaning up old cases I started appreciating them more.
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same lol. i actually search out beat up cases that people don’t want to bid and and clean them up while saving like 5-10% sometimes on the card 
Assuming the scratches on a PSA case aren’t incredibly deep (>1mm), I’ve found that using a compound like Polywatch works wonders at removing them.
It also works really well with Hesalite glass, or really any acrylic glass that uses a polymethyl methacrylate resin.
Hey man, not sure if you got the memo, but currently, absof$&!ing notbing and I mean nothing affects, influences, persuades or dissuades price.
Grades don’t even matter anymore nor do pop reports on rarity. BGS 9 is = to PSA 9 maybe even PSA 10?
Sub 100 pops 9s and 10s from eras where production was low selling for fractions of the price.
And evolution reverse pikachus selling for 50$+ ! Because of fancy click bait titles including 1st edition, shadowless, base set, etc.
The best one yet? Long time eBay members and veterans of the TCG selling space have become entire sell outs. Long time seller put an Evolutions raw Hitmonchan for 1000$? And has it as “last one” because he sold 4/5 previously for the 10-20$ of a card that it was? So to dupe people into thinking it’s base?
So if you, a somewhat educated individual in the hobby who wouldn’t be potentially overpaying for something so common, THINK and are actually questioning that you may have found a deal, just BIN and don’t look back. Now is the time to buy the cards you wanted while there is absolutely no eyes on them and zero demand.
Don’t forget to list all your base/jungle/fossil bulk that we all have 10s if not 100s of thousands of for their price in a PSA 10 and use words like NM / PSA10?! / INVESTMENT GRADE / VINTAGE / CHILDHOOD / COLLECTOR in the titles!
Happy hunting!
** and no case scratching doesn’t really affect or deter buyers when there isn’t other options. If there were plenty and at that price for the same grade, then sure, people would chose to buy the cleaner case that’s it.