I have been away from grading since covid. I have been a member since 2006 or 08. I graded many cards. My son started watching Pokemon when he was 5 and later by 7 or 8 he wanted me to buy cards. Everything we purchase at of my scope we buy sealed. My son is now in grad school so time with him is limited. This weekend the show in Charlotte in only 40minutes from my home and PSA is there. I wanted to bring some of his cards and mine until he told me the prices. I told him no way. We I was shocked to learn what PSA has become. With this upcharge feature it is destroying the market for all collectible cards as well as setting the prices for cards. Grading is only an opinion, If I think my card is a 5 and you give it a 10, that’s what I paid you for! Not to then hold my property hostage until I pay the price of a 10. When a company needs to put in fine print that you can’t sue them for robbing you, that’s a problem. To prove grading is a mere opinion and filled with mistakes. I want to post a photo of a fake card they graded, but I need to protect my account, screen shots or something. You can’t trust this company any longer.
The upcharge is for insurance
I have a radical solution for you: don’t buy PSA cards or send cards to PSA!
Im not 100% on spotting a fake slab from just a picture, but have you confirmed the slab is real? I think its been reholdered once already due to the timeline of slabs, so I figured I would ask considering when you think about the odds of missing a fake card twice would be high.
Slab looks real to me, what makes you think it’s been reholdered? The label is time accurate for the certnumber.
I could be wrong, but I assumed the lighthouse logo didnt exist in 2009 since the cert number would stay the same. It may have just come out though.
Edit: lighthouse logo came out in 2017.
The certnumber is from 2017 
Dear lord…the amount of cards that have been graded throughout the years I have severely underestimated. 
The 27 era had that label. Its more likely PSA just graded a fake than someone making a fake slab for a worthless card.
You should probably stop by the booth and inquire about the card/slab since it’s fake you can probably get refunded or something. Idk. I’ll be in Charlotte for CAC too also.
Like I said, I’ve been doing this a long time. The insurance should be what you value the cards on the submission form. Not for what the eventually grade will be. You pay for the grading service.
I know it’s fake because I called the card company and they confirmed. I sent it in because I thought it was an error card.
There needs to be a baseline and data to go off of insurance. For example the damaged lenticular deoxys that occurred earlier this year due to a subjective value of the card. They’re a business and they are doing what they have to do to protect themselves. If you aren’t a fan of it, I recommend not using PSA.
What’s the card company? You asked the Pokemon Company if this card is fake? If so, I had no idea that was something we are able to do
It’s not for insurance because that is a separate clause (at least in the EU). See this thread
Just consigned all of my PSA slabs b/c of this post and going to switch to TAG
I said fake slab, not card.
PSA graded a fake card. Not a particularly shocking story.
As for the upcharges, don’t use PSA if you dislike upcharges. It’s a core component to their business model, and it’s definitely not changing anytime soon.
I love how every post like this contains the line ‘I’ve been doing this a long time’