I had mentioned in passing before that it was found that PSA had been grading fake copies of 1st Edition Legend Of Blue Eyes White Dragon cards, which as disappointing as it was, was at least understandable in that the counterfeit cards were at least made in the likeness of real ones. But this:
I am horrified. These cards are just flatout fake. “Japanese Promo”? I hate to be a whistleblower but this needs to be pointed out and addressed.
Edit: Actually before I jump to conclusions, these may just be another example of fake cases (like the Pikachu Snap Card) that someone slipped real PSA labels into. I’m posting from outside without my own cards to compare with. Can someone else please confirm one way or the other?
Unfortunately this was pointed out by the youtuber “The Old School Expert” in 1 of his youtube videos. It’s really disheartening to see an established card authenticator like PSA grade replica/fake cards. I truly hope they take notice of this and take action.
YGO’s collector base is tiny and even amongst die hard collectors lot of people are unaware of a lot of promotional cards. Graded cards are only sold amongst a handful of collectors, never (and I mean never) appearing in large auction houses or trade groups on fb and most of the time that collector is buying something extremely overpriced because they’re far removed from the playerbase and don’t know what they’re buying. There’s no appeal to grading Yu-Gi-Oh! because most things with value are playable.
I’ve seen a lot of pokemon collectors pay ridiculous amounts for PSA 9s or 10s of $1-$2 cards.
Most Yu-Gi-Oh! collectors who know what they’re buying won’t have graded cards. I really think this is just ignorance on PSA’s part and something like this can’t happen with Pokemon.
They put their reputation on the line when they authenticate and encapsulate a card. If they “don’t really deal with Yu-Gi-oh!” to the extent that they can’t properly authenticate a card, then they shouldn’t offer to grade them at all. If true, that they authenticated and graded fake cards, regardless of the type, it really does say something about them as a company.
I have come across a lot of Pokemon fakes the past couple years. Some much better than others, but most/all quite clear. I have almost thought to sneak one of the better ones in the middle of a 50+ card order and see what happens. I can’t imagine they would take too kindly to that though, and I wouldn’t want my whole order not graded because of it. It really will become a problem though with increasing Pokemon popularity and increased submission from some folks who may truly not know of their cards authenticity.
Haha, i think their credibility and reputation has been in question for a long time, even within baseball cards.
But it’s not like we can do anything about it. They are technically the monopoly currently, and people won’t just switch to a new grading service.
lol, and i have these cards sitting in my draw here, no-one wants to buy because they are a little damaged. but the background colours should match the front colour, and the border and holo looks off on the graded ones. good eye to know they are fake. (i’m not a yugioh expert, just had these three cards for some reason to compare haha)
If you look closely the PSA holographic emblems don’t shine. Might be entirely fake instead of malpractice. Unless the numbers match in the population report, which is pathetic if they do.
Yeah you’re right they’re just dumb asses over at PSA.
On a more serious note, it surprises me that as shiny and lustrous that PSA holographic logos are, in the pictures these seem to show no signs of shine. The reason why someone would grade their own card a 4 is as mysterious as why PSA might have actually graded fake cards.
3) Real Cards for Comparison - And just for reference, this is what real G4 God Cards would look like; the fakes don’t even have the right card format, let alone holo pattern, font, text, etc. :
@areestee draft an e-mail to PSA and ask for their comment. You have all the work done already and just need to put it together in an email. I would be interested to see how they respond. Send the links to their verification, the eBay photos and the real photos along.
Well, I just figured I’d follow up since it’s been over a month now since I sent the email and I’ve not received any response from PSA. At this point I’m not expecting a response. Here’s a copy of the email I sent:
Looks like the auction ended for 99 cents on bid. Who knows if the transaction actually went through. That being said, I’m not going to elevate this to a phone call because I really don’t see the good it will do. There is a 90% chance that this issue is beyond what a phone customer service rep would be able to understand- much less address.
It thus comes down to the community to police and educate. Keep your eye out everyone. Spread the word when you see stuff like this. Do your research before you buy. Happy hunting.
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