Hi guys.
I am looking at a PSA graded Base Blastoise being sold online and the seller says it’s ‘Off Center’. But there is a special designation (OC) for badly off center cards right? This one doesn’t have it.
I am pretty new and not so sure what makes a card off center, people on facebook say cards are OC or the centering is ‘perfect’ and I can never tell the difference.
I was hoping someone here could tell me if it’s a mislabeled (OC) card or the seller is wrong.
Card is moderately off-center but not enough to warrant the OC designation.
Thank you!
It is off-centered top to bottom. However the threshold for PSA to give the ‘OC’ qualifier is pretty high and also inconsistent. It also needs to be pretty mint. You’ll mostly only get the qualifier if the centering is the main issue that keeps the card from getting a 10. There are very few 8(OC)'s and pretty much no 7(OC)'s AFAIK.
A card has to be very OC the get the qualifier, but even if it is, PSA might just give your mint off-centered card an 8 with no qualifier instead of a 9(OC) when they feel like it.
Never understood those OC collectors myself
In response to the op, I understand that base set blastoise is notorious for cantering issues. Not sure if this is because of where he normally appeared on the overall WOTC sheet prior to cutting
Do you think 8 is a correct grading for the card based on how OC it is?
The back looks really clean. I know the photo of the front is super low resolution.
My main concern is if I buy it, can I sell it in a few years as an 8 or am I gonna have to say ‘the label says 8 but it deserves a 7’ and sell it for peanuts?
Yeah the centering is definitely in line with the PSA 8 standards. If the card is otherwise in PSA 8 condition, it’s completely fine.
In my personal opinion an off-centered card should never be less than a 9 if the rest is mint.
There are for sure holo scratches on this card. The back looks so good that there has to be wear on the holo.
Thanks for your help. I don’t mind holo scratches on a PSA 8 because if there’s no scratches on the holo the back has to be pretty rough for PSA to still give it a 8.
PSA seems to apply the OC grade completely at random. They’re supposed to follow a ratio guideline but I’ve found that they usually don’t if it’s only just over the threshold. I’ve seen several cards which have PSA 9(OC) grades attributed to them which have better centring than PSA 10 copies of the same card. The inconsistency is pretty annoying.
I think what you mean is that the seller is giving his own opinion on the card. He thinks it’s OC and probably should have gotten the OC designation even though it has none…All I know is there are a lot of Pokémon collectors out there that love having a designation on their card label. I for one don’t.
I could be wrong, but PSA will grade the card according to how you want it. What I mean is, you can submit a card that would clearly get a designation and PSA will leave it off the label (your option I believe), but they would knock the grade down 2 numbers. At least that’s how they do it with sports cards. Same with Pokémon?
Same card: So a PSA 9 OC would be the same as a PSA 7
For example, You can either choose to have them label it 9 OC or if not then they down grade the card to like just a PSA 7 without the OC.
I think…sports cards they do it like that.