The problem with this is that what’s a binder card today could be someone else’s slab tomorrow. I can understand people wanting to spruce up cards for personal collections, but they almost always end up being sold to someone else. If someone decides they’re over Pokemon or they need the money, they’re not just going to throw their cards away… And that’s how these end up being sold to unknowing victims. It may start as something innocent, but could end up affecting way more people in the future, unfortunately.
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Ive seen it pop up on reddit some as at least one user offers it as a service. It looks good in photos for sure but its definitely a concern to see that others are aware and that it actually does work well. Hope that graders can find a way to spot it reliably and it causes interest in it to die out.
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I feel the same way. I don’t know how to articulate it, but something about the cards seems off. They look very glossy, unnaturally so in my opinion, but if I saw one laying on its own without any other cards to compare it to (such as in a solo ebay listing) I don’t know that we’d be able to tell.
I want to say that shining a UV light on the card would show that something is wrong with it, but I believe that would be bad for the card. Perhaps looking under a household microscope will reveal evidence of polishing, but I wouldn’t know for sure unless I tried it. I don’t currently have a microscope in my home, but I’m thinking about investing in one for science.
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I can confirm that at least 3 separate Instagram accounts currently offer this service.
One of my core beliefs as a collector (of many things, not just trading cards) is to think of myself as a steward, not an owner. We can’t keep everything forever. Eventually, even if it’s not until after we die, our things will change hands to someone else — the next steward of our precious things.
So I just fundamentally do not believe you should do anything to alter a collectible that might not be in the best interest of future stewards. Someone else someday is going to care deeply about your item and they deserve to receive it intact.
This is not everybody’s perspective. Some will feel “these are my cards and I can do what I want with them.” I’m sure I’d never convince anybody otherwise. But conditioning cards isn’t something I would ever do. As only the momentary steward of my arbitrary relics I don’t feel I have the right.
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I can understand that perspective. I personally don’t alter cards not just for myself, but out of respect for the hobby and the community. I think a lot of the thrill of collecting is hunting down cards that have been sealed up for 20+ years and are still in Mint condition. These become increasingly harder to find, and will continue to become increasingly more rare, forever. There is a limited amount, and as cards are naturally lost due to accidents (such as fires, floods, etc) this number will trend toward 0.
I find it disrespectful to the rest of the community that has been collecting for decades to suddenly have “mint” cards pop up while others have painstakingly hunted legitimate rare cards down. Just my personal opinion, but I think for the integrity of the hobby, it will be healthier when more people share that same opinion (and many do already).
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I found this page a couple of weeks ago and have been following it since.
I’m glad I’ve decided to move to LP binder cards for most of my collection now, so this shouldn’t really impact me. And to be honest, if I could buy HP cards and have them cleaned for my binders (never to be resold), I would be tempted. Especially if I can stretch my dollars more and complete more sets.
It feels shady to send cards that were cleaned/serviced for grading, but with how much profit could be made I’m sure some people may have some flexible morals. I would be worried if I owned some low-pop PSA 10s if the only reason it is hard to grade is print lines.
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I get the feeling that this service wouldn’t fix print lines as those are generally not scratches that can be filled, correct? Those are printing imperfections and are therefore deeper in the layers of the card I believe. Scratches are surface marks that can be filled in.
And @JoshsOddCollection, I’d consider doing it, but only after rigorous testing. I kinda hope that what will happen is that the practice will be accepted, but it should be noted in listings for sale that the card has been cleaned(probably wishful thinking). However, it seems that it leaves some kind of residue and is fairly easy to tell that the sheen is different. It might end up like coin collecting in that case.
Polished coins are worth less than their raw or uncirculated counterparts. But people likely still enjoy having them if done correctly. And/or it’s like Pokémon where people have graded, and binder copies of the same cards. There will likely be a market for polished cards.
I would only be okay with it if there is an easy way to tell that cards have been polished and people don’t have to guess. Regardless, I don’t think that polished cards should be accepted for grading, because it makes it unfair to everyone else who has cards that haven’t been polished.
As far as not fixing print lines, I have seen that it somehow makes print lines less noticeable. One of Rattle’s videos has more information on this, but I don’t recall which one exactly (there’s 2+ hrs of footage)
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Just one thing to note here - people following these accounts are not necessarily utilizing their services.
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Yep, of course. Was just pointing out that it’s more common than some might think.
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Scott made a video on this topic.
I am surprised by the relatively large percentage of commenters that seem to be completely ok with this alteration.
I get the impression that some commenters don’t really understand what Scott is referring to. This isn’t just some dirt cleaning, but some of them are equating it to that. I assume those commenters probably haven’t seen Rattle’s videos or actual before and after pictures.
Other commenters genuinely seem completely ok with this. If Scott’s followers (a subset I assumed were next-level collectors) are this divided on it, then I can only imagine how the broader population of casual collectors will feel (even more in favor of alteration).
I think we have to assume that a large portion of the hobby will fully support these alterations. It is disappointing to see.
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I really think the nuance between subtractive and additive cleaning is lost on in the conversation.
If the “cleaning” involves filling in scratches with foreign material, it’s unquestionably altered. It’s the same as adding ink to the corners. On the other side you have the removal of things like dirt or fingerprint oils with water which is probably unquestionably acceptable.
In the middle you could have a subtractive cleaning process that removes part of the card material. An obvious examples is trimming the edges. Although from a certain perspective, while trimming is subtractive, it also means you are altering the card dimension and “adding” a new edge. I think most people would heavily devalue a trimmed card.
For me, I could be swayed to be okay with certain kinds of cleaning. It entirely depends on the process. What property of the card is being destroyed while “cleaning”? If you are applying foreign substances, no thanks. If you are altering the dimensions, no thanks. If you are sticking a card in a book to reduce it from being warped, then I have no problem.
It really is about money though. People want a way to take a $20 PSA 9 and do some magic to make it a $500 PSA 10. Smpratte is gatekeeping (a word actually used in the comments) people from making this EZ money. You can see the projection happening in a lot of those comments where “smpratte is worried about the value of his cards going down” as if smpratte doesn’t have access to the exact same cleaning process everyone else does.
If this becomes a common thing and is not something a grading company checks for (or can check for) of course people will take advantage of it. If it becomes a thing people care about, then cards that are provably uncleaned will become more valuable. If it’s not a thing people end up caring about and it’s easy to do a PSA 8 → 10 upgrade then all it will do it make 10s much cheaper
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The newest fleeting drama to rile up the masses
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I think in the near future cleaning your card for submission will be a near-unanimous practice, and when I say cleaning I mean exactly as you said - removing dirt, gunk, flattening, and removing skin oils. I’ve never frowned upon any of that personally. Aside from the fact that gentle cleaning would be nearly impossible to detect.
Let’s do a thought experiment - let’s say I had a vintage Coca-Cola machine, and I wanted to get it authenticated/certified to sell it at auction. This thing has been sitting in my garage for 20 years and is covered in dust, gunk, fingerprints, etc. Am I going to put it up for auction as it is because it’s in its current untouched state? Or am I going to take a rag and some gentle cleaner to make that baby shine? Probably the latter.
Real deal card alterations are a whole other issue entirely and I think the two get mistakenly lumped together. Size alterations/heavy chemical restorations/anything that uses ink/etc. I don’t think will ever become allowable.
I think it’s good to have these discussions and keep up with the times on what practices are allowed vs. not allowed. People will always be trying to find an edge.
Just my two cents on the discussion. 
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One thing I’m curious about: how much of an issue could this even potentially be? Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that holo scratches can be removed entirely in a way that’s totally indetectable. How many cards are there that are in perfect condition aside from holo scratches? In my experience, most cards with significant holo scratching also have other condition issues that aren’t possible (AFAIK) to remove through “alteration.”
I don’t see how, for instance, edge-wear could be removed in a way that is totally indetectable. This fact alone would make 99% of cards with holo scratches ineligible to be restored to gem mint condition.
Basically, my point is: condition issues are rarely isolated. Usually, a card with one sort of condition issue that resulted from poor handling/storage will also have others.
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Fun fact: I met the german altering guy in person earlier this year as I bought a japanese Charizard expedition PSA 10 from him. This now gets a different perspective but the card has 4xxx cert so hopefully submitted before all this bs. Old certs to the roof 
This is a good point! I thought of it as well, since most of the current altering revolves around removing scratches. A set like Neo Genesis would be a big offender, as its prone to holo scratches. But there are plenty of sets/cards where holo scratches aren’t the primary condition flaw.
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Joke’s on you, all of my cards will be cremated with me. I’m taking my collection to the grave.
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Yes I think you are right.
There is really only one (semi-common?) instance of card damage that I could see this process especially targeting.
Consider binder cards that went straight from pack to binder 20 years ago. They often maintain minty corners and edges. However, they are still highly susceptible to micro surface scratches on the holofoil. In my experience many of these pack-to-binder-forget-about-for-20-years cards end up grading a PSA 8.
This actually just happened to me on all of my Skyridge cards from childhood. I opened a box as a kid, protected them in a binder from day 1, and the holos all came back as PSA 8, and one got a 7. I noticed most have some amount of slight foil scratches.
I guess this happens because dust gets in the binder page and scrapes against the foil.
It is these specific types of old binder collections that might get their grades boosted by this kind of alteration.
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