Purchased PSA 8 card with dent, what should everyone do?

General
22

I uploaded the photos above. The second photo is the PSA 8 English Gold Star that I got and it wasn’t disclosed to me. It has a corner dent.

I understand but my question to you all is, what are the seller obligations when it comes to selling? It seems like the majority of you are saying seller has no obligation to disclose or offer a return or refund but rather take it up with PSA’s financial guarantees. You guys are right, I wanted a PSA 8 card and I got a PSA 8 card but it is disappointing and I hope you all never receive misgraded cards in the future.

23

I completely understand your frustration and I would be upset too, but I don’t understand the comparisons you’re making.

You paid the market price for a card, graded PSA 8, and believe the seller should offer you a refund because you disagree with the grade PSA assigned it?

I don’t believe it is the responsibility of sellers to defend or explain why a grading company gave the card its grade. Grading companies should be the ones forced to stand by their labels.

Just my opinion, good luck with this though.

24

‘Sellers should be honest and disclose misgraded card’ is opening up a can of worms where everyone and their mom will return cards because there’s a speck of whitening on a PSA 9 they don’t like, and I don’t think any of us want that. Ultimately, like others said earlier your issue is with PSA, as much as it sucks to hear. A good seller probably should and will disclose an issue with the card and its grade if it’s blatantly obvious, but at the end of the day it’s not the seller’s job to determine what is or isn’t ‘acceptable’ damage and to validate the grade given by the company. If you contact the seller and they are willing to give a refund, good. If not, take it up with PSA as they’re the ones who have misgraded the card in your opinion.

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25

I guess the point is, PSA didn’t sell me the card, the seller did which is why I want to go back to the seller (just like in my example, I prefer to deal with Amazon if anything is wrong with my order rather than the actual manufacturer because Amazon is the one whom sold it to me).

I see do everyone’s point, to me a speck of whitening is vastly different than a dent or crease. I also wouldn’t go back to the seller if a card has some specks of whitening but i think PSA 8-10 cards shouldn’t have any dent or crease. If so, it should be disclosed to the buyer before the purchase or at least a return option should be given if it wasn’t disclosed initially. I am asking if that is a reasonable request from the buyer’s perspective.

26

I’m not sure I agree with the premise that the 8 is not appropriate given the picture

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27

If this is an appropriate PSA 8, PSA 8s really suck. I’ve had slightly worse dented 8s that I definitely considered misgrades, but also 8s that could be 9s all day. There’s way too much variance in this grade (IF this is an appropriate 8, which for me I don’t think it is).

Since PSA won’t do crap about it, I’d try to sell it off while disclosing the damage as good as possible. Many people don’t care about the condition as much as long as the label says whatever grade they want.

Edit: wait a sec, I thought that Blastoise is your card. But it isn’t, right? Well, then everything I said just applies to that Blastoise, obviously can’t judge your card without pics.

28

I would call that dark blastoise a misgrade, I was under the impression that the second picture was from the same card. If the dent in the second picture is from the card you bought, I would say that it is not a blatant misgrade. I would say it is a weak 8, but I would not call this a misgrade

29

Which photo is the exact damage you are referencing? The op stayed an English gold star, why is there a picture of a Dark Blastoise?

If the only damage is that corner lip then that is not a misgrade. Corner curves are extremely common on English cards and aren’t always even considered damage. Also since the photo is extremely zoomed, it’s tough to tell the actual context. Multiple photos of the actual card is the best way to illustrate a point.

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30

Sorry for the confusion, the dark blastoise is just an example that I used to illustrate what would you do if you got this in the mail after paying market price for it. From the majority of the responses, it seems like to be a good buyer, we should do nothing to the seller and take the issue up with PSA.

The gold star is in the second photo with the corner dent (not the same card as the dark blastoise). It is not a curve or lip but an actual dent. My photo taking skill isn’t the greatest but it’s there. The seller also admitted the dent when I reached out to him.

The point of this thread is I want to be a good buyer and asked what should I do in case where you got a card that you don’t think deserve the grade. Obviously everyone’s opinion is subjective, just like some people are okay with the corner dent on the gold star or even the dent on the dark blastoise. But it seems like the majority agreed the sellers should have no obligation to disclose or even offer return after a sale has been made. That is a shame because of I know there are some PSA 9 with crease in them. I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable selling them as “PSA 9s” without disclosing this information upfront. Just because I want a PSA x and got a PSA x doesn’t mean the sale is done. Misgrade or slab with cracks in them happen all the time.

In any case, people will have a different opinion of what a PSA 8, 9 or 10 should look like and that is understandable. I took everyone’s advice and reached out to the seller to let him know I will not return the slab. He is very appreciative of this and will provide a discount on the next order if I continue to buy from him (which I will).

At the end of the day, a few hundred isn’t that big of a deal but what is important to me is my character. For me, I just want to be a good buyer and thanks to everyone here, I know what to do now. You can close the thread.

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31

My problem would be that if I was the seller, I have no idea if the grade is correct or not, so I have to asume that a PSA grade is correct when I sell a card.

I think it’s wrong to ask the seller to be jugde over PSA. Not everybody that sell PSA-graded card have the knowledge like most people here have. They just have to trust the grade PSA have given.

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32

When you buy a psa 8 you arent buying a specific condition, youre buying a specific grade with a condition umbrella, some 8s are easy to agree with, others aren’t. If you disagree with the grade its not the sellers responsibility, its the graders. If you expect sellers to divulge every dent or issue why would they bother with grading? If you were to ask the seller prior to buying it “are there any dents” maybe you could argue an issue with the seller, but even then, PSA 8s have dents. This whole dent = 6 thing is garbage. I’ve seen more instances which disprove dent =6 than prove it. Ive graded plenty of 7, 8, 9s with minor or moderate dents, the occasional significant dent as well.

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33

IMO it looks like a very minor dent, but it’s hard to tell from your picture. I’ve had similar cards usually get a 7 or so. I wouldn’t call it a huge misgrade. How does the rest of the card look?

If I were you I’d ask the seller if they can do a partial refund that covers the difference between a 7 to an 8.

34

Looks like a legit 8, given the very minute corner lip. Without it, it would probably be a 9 … Hope you are not expecting to buy a 10 for the price of a 8. That does not happen very often.

Now if you bought the 1st ed Blas with that ugly, huge top crease in the front, that is a different issue altogether.

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35

I’ve purchased a couple 8’s without realizing a pretty sizeable corner ding or lip. PSA might treat surface dings differently than corner. In any case, it is upsetting, and I think most would hope that an 8 has a little more whitening or a holo scratch compared to a 9. This is why I now opt for slabs with subgrades, which PSA doesn’t offer.

36

In my opinion, if you buy a graded card, you can’t hold the seller responsible if you find any flaw on the card that in your opinion does not match the grade. The seller is not a grader and does not work for the grading company, so can’t be responsible for the grade. The grade has been awarded by the company and is like a certificate about its condition.

So if you are very particular about a certain flaw (in my case I try to get cards without holo scratches), you can ask the seller beforehand if he can see this particular flaw on the card. This can help you with the decision. But even if you find a minor flaw (such as a minor scratch), it is in my opinion not really the sellers responsibility as he is not a professional grader and just tried to do his best to examine the card as a non-professional. As a non-professional, he does not have to have the capacity to assess the card in a “professional” manner.

When you buy a graded card, you essentially buy the grade. If you weren’t able to investigate the condition before the purchase properly and you don’t like the condition after the purchase, its an issue between you and the grading company.

This is definitly frustrating and I have been in the situation myself, but I think that’s the risk that comes with buying graded cards.

But I see it this way: The risk of buying non-graded cards is much higher, as I have to only trust the seller’s description without any standard to uphold to.

PS: Regarding flaws on graded cards. I don’t think there is a flaw that isn’t allowed on any of the grades. In my opinion, you can make a list of flaws (scratches, whitening, creases, nicks etc…) and then you just walk up a scale. The higher you are up the scale, the less pronounced can any of those flaws be. But essentially I think you can get any flaws on higher grades, just less pronounced.

What’s the seller’s responsibility then? In my opinion, the seller has to correctly mention the grade and make sure he mentions any damage to the case (including cracks or fading through light damage). In addition, the seller should be willing to answer as many questions as necessary for you to make a proper decision. The seller should provide detailed photographs of the front and back. If possible high-res scans. In addition, videos showing the holos from various angles help as well. In response to specific questions, the seller should also be able to describe the condition and any possible flaws in his own words and be honest about it, but should not be held responsible for it if he makes a small mistakes (such as in case he overlooks a very minor scratch). I don’t see a need to describe flaws in the item description, but upon request when the buyer asks.

Btw, everything above is just my opinion. I haven’t been in the game of collecting graded cards for long. But I’ve done a lot of research, reading and talking to more experienced collectors.

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37

The reason I only sell PSA-graded cards is that it’s less hassle. You don’t have to worry about listing all the flaws - what’s mint to one person won’t be mint to another. As a buyer and a seller, we outsource all the hassle to PSA. If you have an issue with PSA’s grade, take it up with them. If you start hassling sellers you’ll only make a bad name for yourself.

Personally, I’ve bought a few 9 and 10’s that probably didn’t deserve the grade. But that’s just part of buying PSA slabs. You’re buying an expert’s opinion.

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38

Well summarized!

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39

IMO, sellers should disclose objectively misgraded cards. For example, I sold a PSA 10 with a binder dent and explicitly mentioned it in the description.

It’s tough to consider a PSA 8 objectively misgraded, though. PSA allows for a surprising number of flaws on PSA 8s.

Either way, I’d never request to return a professionally graded card – it’s the grading company’s mistake, not the seller’s. I do believe that sellers should disclose objective misgrades, though. Not because they need to, but because it’s the right thing to do.

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40

@zorloth PSA has proven in publicized instances recently that they will uphold horrible misgrades through their “financial guarantee” service.

It is never the responsibility to enforce a third parties grading scale. If/when you get a dud card you take it up with the third party. When they do to you what they did to profoakcali then you learn what third party grading is actually all about.

https://instagram.com/p/CWg3f7evkwz

By definition that card is a PSA 10 as it was originally graded and then reviewed and upheld whether anyone likes it or not. Don’t sell your card short. If it was worth enough even with the binder dent I’m sure it would have upheld the PSA 10 upon review.

41

@gottaketchumall, and that’s precisely why I disclosed that the card had a dent – because PSA’s “guarantee” is effectively worthless.

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