The Charizard that PSA does not want you to see

I’d like to see PSA doing the same with those chinese fake stickers they still grade, or with fake signed cards they have graded.
FPOs are more authentic than many stuff they are unaware of
rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F183503569971

Wait; so i should keep my legitBackintheDay graded FPO charizard undercover before PSA finds out about it & claims it back or am I (and other ‘oldlabel’ FPOzards) still safe?

When did the Chinese start counterfeiting those Japanese Bandai sticker/cards?

Early 2000, same period of the official ones… or around those years

I never saw a fake one. How could you tell the difference between the two?

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Off topic question: Does BGS grade FPO cards?

I don’t condone what PSA is doing here, but there are so many of you guys that send and resend these or No Damage, etc… while clearly knowing they don’t want your business. Why even bother?

I respect cullers/pokemonplace, but I don’t really get why he’s ruining a very profitable business he has grading his cards through PSA and earning that big premium for so many years. Why not just green label that card or send it to BGS?

It kind of rubs me the wrong way. He’s probably going to grade though friends or family members from now on so nothing is lost, but it still seems a bit shady/unethical to me.

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Ethics, following rules, correctness, etc aren’t big priorities for much of this generation. Nowadays it’s considered simply “business”…trying to get a competitive edge in any way possible. Many of those same people are habitual crackers. A practice that rips off collectors and hurts the hobby’s reputation.
If all our fellow Pokémon people ran their little businesses like Rusty of TCA Gaming, we’d all be better off. There’s a lot to be said for honorable and reputable sellers.

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All they offered was for me to send back the card. Hardly something I wanted to do in the first place. If PSA would have offered to buy the card I would have sold it to them, I never got that offer. Instead they went with the route of strong arming me into their will. I’m not great with authority, it’s either a personal weakness or a strength depending upon the perspective.

When I had the call with PSA, I told them I no longer had the card. They asked me to provide them with the person who owns the cards contact info. In response I asked for their clients contact information.

I won’t pretend to be clean in this, I also won’t pretend I wouldn’t do it again. At this point it’s purely a learning experience. I now know that if I get something that got past PSA I better keep it under the radar.

My business isn’t in any jeopardy. Thank you for the concern though. Unless you’re referring to my reputation. If so, so be it if I lose a few customers who won’t buy from someone who they don’t view as holy as Jesus. I’m not perfect, I won’t be perfect. I have my moral issues that I cope with, sending to psa below declaired market value, keeping psa restricted items, watching the market and capitalizing on deficiencies in the market, are all things that I do that people have called me unethical for doing. I don’t plan on stopping any of them.

Green labels/BGS aren’t options.

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PSA seriously needs to reevaluate their researching methods for Pokemon. There was a card(s) that was not able to be graded until the submitter uploaded an image to Bulabapedia (PSA’s main source of reference). Not only is the card(s) able to be graded now, the card scan is the very card that the submitter was sending lol.

PSA not grading established set cards (no rarity Venusaur & Raichu) along with many of the other omitted cards is a lot more embarrassing than letting this Charizard through. I mean there’s even footage of someone opening these FPO cards directly from packs, just doesn’t make sense.

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This situation is pretty tangled, but PSA really needs to stop this amateur league garbage. As numerous members have highlighted, there are quantifiable issues that PSA is not rectifying. If they aren’t grading FPO’s because of “lack of documentation”, then remove all of the baseball error anomaly cards from the pop report that don’t have “documentation”. Remove the cards @shizzlemetimbers mentioned. Or accept all of them; just be consistent.

As for addressing this oversight, they couldn’t offer a buyback as the card didn’t sell. IF it did sell, then a buyback would make sense. Regardless, their approach could have been something along the lines: “Sorry this card was graded by mistake. We would like the card back and would be willing to work out reasonable compensation for your time. Please get back to us as we would like to resolve this amicably. Thank you!”

In short, PSA does not have a single Pokemon expert in house. They are too cheap to pay for one, and too stubborn to understand how investing in expertise would increase quality and profitability.

Unfortunately none of this truly matters as PSA has the Pokemon market with no actual competition. BGS is asleep at the wheel, and starting a new grading company from the ground up is a massive unrealistic risk.

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But why would they? PSA is making money hand-over-fist from gullible collectors who pin their hopes on having their Pokemon cards “graded by experts.”

PSA is the collectibles industry’s equivalent of a three-ring circus that lives by the motto “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

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Would love to see a “pokemon only” grading card company though. I agree risk is enormous, but I actually find it as possible.

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That specific one (ebay link) is fake because that card exist in non holo only. Chineses reprinted several cards from the Anime Collection set with those kind of glittery holofoil patterns.

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I’m sure we both have had businesses where we made a few mistakes.
PSA may run 60,000 orders again this year and make a few mistakes too.
It’s been an especially trying time this year. Customer service is at their wits end especially due to PPP (poke people problems).

Now when legitimate problems do arise, how do they handle them? Too often…horribly. They need to fix that big time. Hire a darn non sports expert.

I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Third party grading is a necessity.

PSA right now is more like a decline from A to B, not a complete F student. Overall they are fine and still provide a good service. They simply have an increase in solvable problems that they choose not to rectify. Some of that increase is reasonably from the unprecedented volume. However PSA won’t hire the necessary expertise. When qualified people apply, some on this forum, they chose the cheaper option.

Have you seen these faked too?
It’s the
PSA 10 Charizard Carddass Vending Ser. 5 Prism Pokemon Japanese Bandai #186

www.ebay.com/itm/PSA-10-Charizard-Carddass-Vending-Ser-5-Prism-Pokemon-Japanese-Bandai-186/292767414240?hash=item442a4c37e0:g:7~AAAOSwWMNbv42u

That one is a legit holo from series 5!

This is another chinese sticker graded, not from Anime Collection.

rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F153230534332

Also this is not an authentic sticker
rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F192720896359

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I really don’t understand PSA. The expertise is out there and even if they’re too cheap to pay someone full time, they could at least hire a consultant of some sort that would barely cost them more than their low level employees.

Still too much? Just sign up to Scott’s Patreon and skype him now and then.

Don’t want to pay anything? Sign up to efour. Lol

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The research department at PSA fucked up and instead of simply holding their own staff accountable for the incompetence, they’re trying to bully a subscriber/customer of theirs (community member here) to send it back “or else”. The fact that they can cancel all other submissions and ban the user from future grading is petty and unprofessional/unbecoming of a company like this. That said, the lack of competition in this market grants them the rights to bad-behavior without any repercussions, as is the case in any monopoly/oligopoly business structure. No one here I bet would submit this back to PSA. I guess he’ll just have to re-open a new account with PSA under a different name/address/email. In closing, Fuck You, PSA. Take responsibility for your own stupidity and stop throwing a digital tantrum. Your ENTIRE business is structured around authenticating cards and grading cards. Do your job better. This isnt the 100th time you fucked up a label or authenticated a card wrong, let alone the 1st. But since it’s a highly sought after niche card with a big price tag, you want to threaten to ban the user, absolve yourself of the authentication/serial you gave the card, and wipe your hands of the matter. It should not work like this. In any other business this would not be allowed.

This. All of this. And all because of a lack of competition in the market that allows them to get away with it.

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