So, I’ve recently got into collecting Pokémon cards, with plans to submit them to psa eventually. I’ve been learning as much as I can about how psa grades cards and what to look for before submitting. It’s been a lot of fun so far and this forum as been a huge help!
However I recently purchased a card that at first glance seems absolutely flawless. Except at a certain angle there seems to be a very small indent. I normally wouldn’t post a thread about one of my cards but this is a situation I where I can’t really find an example anywhere else. I know that bends and creases bring the card down to an automatic psa 6, but have any of you had any experience with something small like this bringing down a grade? Again the rest of the card is absolutely perfect. It would definitely get a strong 10 of this wasn’t present.
Was thinking of getting two wooden blocks and duct taping them together as tight as I can. But there’s no indent on the back so I’m thinking it’s probably warped beyond repair
yeah its worth placing them on a hard surface like a countertop in a sleeve and then piling books or something on top and leaving it for a while, but I wouldnt expect too much unfortunately
That’s a good idea for people’s own collection. This technique should not be used to hide damage like I see done all the time. A creased or dented card should be sold as damaged or heavy played. Put it in the description or title. Hiding it isn’t fooling any experienced collectors. It just leaves yourself open for a instant return/complaint which leads to a bad buyers experience. They also won’t return to buy again.
Edit: I thought this was funny and might lighten the mood.
People claim dented cards or creased cards are near mint. How about Near Damaged instead
Not sure how fixable this particularly indentation is, but yes PSA will automatically dock to like a PSA 6 or lower if there’s any kind of indentation. I have some Masaki holos (Masakis are infamous for having subtle indentations on the back of the cards) and despite all those cards otherwise being mint with their subtle indentations they all graded between a PSA 5 and 6.
In my limited experience, many peoples claims of card quality are completely off at least on eBay. The best are the “gem mint” cards that have whitening all along the back edges. I only try to buy cards with a lot of pictures so I can see for myself. But this is the second time I’ve gotten a card with this type of indentation, with no way of ever knowing based on the pictures.
@silver Ya I have a few cards with indents myself. And card condition sure does get frustrating when buying ungraded. I was buying light played and near mint cards. I noticed that most of the time they are the same condition or close. No one sells mint cards as near mint. They grade anything PSa 8 or better and sell us 5-7 quality cards. Which I don’t mind as long as it’s labeled correctly and people arnt hiding damage.
If I know it’s a 7 or lower I rather pay less and get it as light played or buy a PSA 8 or 9.
I will say every now and then I get a actual mint card but it’s a lot more misses then hits
I sell mint cards as near mint, and I know plenty of other sellers that do this. I would rather a buyer be surprised about the condition in a good way than be disappointed/upset. So yes; plenty of sellers sell mint cards as “NM.” More experienced ones, anyway.
I never list cards as “mint” because it leaves you much more open to complaints as a seller, so I have listed many pack fresh cards that would probably grade a 9-10 as “near mint.”
@cerulean I will pm you for your eBay listings or site you use. That’s a good way to sell cards and yes some sellers are like you. The truth is most arnt tho. Unless we’re talking modern. Near mint is obviously mint for sword and shield cards.
I have almost 2000 active eBay listings and not a single card labeled as mint. NM is the highest grade I give, even for absolutely pristine cards. There are some sellers like me and Cerulean out there, but they are few and far between at this point. There are plenty of raw PSA 8-10 cards available online — but I would argue that you’re more likely to find them from people who call their cards ‘NM.’ If someone’s calling their card ‘mint’ then it’s either flawless (which they clearly realize, and would’ve graded it with PSA themselves) or they simply aren’t detail-oriented, in which case you also shouldn’t buy from them. Don’t buy from the sham sellers who call raw cards mint. Anyone who does is partially responsible for the (likely) impending demise of NM raw card-collecting. Pokémon grading standards are pathetic — as a fellow raw card collector: don’t support those who follow those standards!
