Has anyone graded in 2025 with completely questionable grade returns?
Especially on Vintage
I sent what I felt like was the nicest celfairy that I’ve ever seen. I was completely expecting a good chance at the first psa10 since 2021. It’s only pop 21 but I’ve been able to track down 8 of them and I felt very good about this particular card in comparison. As you know base set 2 QC is VERY bad so I felt that this card was really stand out
I got the fake grade of an 8.5 this year. Actually it was the only card I graded for myself.
With how little it is actually used, it is completely fake and random.
those scratches are not from me
they are not there in the prescans and clearly not there from the images i uploaded
dont know what those are
I spent a long time pregrading and prep with this card
the holo was perfect.
I have a zillion pictures of this card. It spent a lot of time under magnification and different lights
It’s why I stopped grading entirely. I refused to give them my money ever again when they are going to imagine damage that isn’t there. They are truly so bad at grading. Innumerable instances where pack fresh cards get an 8 (or even 7). This clefairy is particularly offensive. I just don’t know how people can put themselves through this — unless of course they are reselling, which makes it understandable of course.
I can only operate on feeling here, which I don’t like at all. I’m grading hundreds of cards a month and here’s what I got:
For English, 8 feels like the default grade for most mint cards. I’ll send what I believe are 9’s and 10’s and receive 8’s. 9 feels like a gem mint card, rather than a mint card with a small defect. 10 feels like an 11 or a misgrade.
So at this point, I’m only sending mint English cards that I’d be comfortable with in an 8.
Jokes aside, I would just crack and resubmit if you are unsatisfied with the grade. @charizardespana already pointed out some fairly visible scratches on the holo and in the PSA scan it looks like there might be some more in the lower left. I would think a fair grade for this card would be a 9. Receiving a PSA grade which is one lower than what you could reasonably expect is incredibly common (I have multiple cards like this in every submission I receive back) and is not evidence for PSA assigning "questionable " or “random” grades.
Looks clean but hard to really say without seeing it in hand, especially wrt holo scratches or light scratching. That’s what usually foils colorless holos (pun intended)
But even with a bit of scratching I agree it’s harsh for an 8. Grading is inherently random to some degree, so if you think it deserves higher, pull the slot machine one more time.
I like base set 2. The swirls that are lacking from base make an appearance. I like the way the “2” looks, and I LOVE the cosmos holo pattern it gives much more life to the base set cards
Agree with the others, seems like a harsh grade, but grading results follow a probability distribution, so you can submit again and hope for a better result.
It’s frustrating and disappointing, but going in with the expectation of a 10 on any vintage card is going to lead to disappointment much of the time.
but vintage holo is basically psa 8 right outta the pack most commonly, anyone selling “unweighed” packs or box breaks and tells u otherwise is tryna take ur money
It’s rough, that’s for sure. It’s a beautiful card, and assuming that the surface mentions aren’t noticeable/there in person, it looks like it could grade higher.
Not to diminish this card, but you mention that there have been no 10s since 2021, and it’s likely some damn nice BS2 Clefairys have been submitted in that time frame. I don’t think it’s a 2025 thing.
cosmos holo on cgc test print 