Absolutely crushed and devastated. We all know how inconsistent PSA can be. But this isn’t inconsistency. This is an instance of a grader being spiteful and giving wrong grades on purpose, for god knows what reason. People joke about it being before lunch, didn’t get laid, etc. But this is serious shit. This grader was out to screw people over, in this instance, I got stuck with this person.
The shadowless cards were for the most part resubs that got unfair 8’s, being pack fresh. I could live with about half of them coming back 8’s and trying again, as some of them do have a faint print line here and there, and so in all fairness they could go either way. But the rest of the order, the bulk of it, is personal collection material that makes me question why I even do all this. Every single non holo card I sent in was either pack fresh easy 9/10, or pack fresh and personally pulled by me, without so much as a single speck of whitening, not a hairline to be seen, and either perfect or near perfect centering. I take great pride in my ability to scrutinize, pregrade, assess condition of cards. Every time I sent to PSA before this sub I have had 90%+ pregrade consistency, with the few misses grading +/- 1, and generally being fair. Not today, not with this grader.
I’ve never looked at grades online, but when I had my lady look at one specific card to check an upcharge (for an 8 ffs), she, even knowing how I don’t like to know anything, couldn’t help but gasp at the numbers, in a bad way. So I knew I had to look. Every single wotc holo got an 8 or less, mostly 7’s. Some of these holos were easy 10’s mind you, rest being sure 9’s in quality.
This grader saw WOTC holo, and said I’m gonna personally screw this guy. The unlimited base I sent were the finest WOTC non holos I personally pulled out of my box, easy 10’s. They all got 8’s. All 3 shadowless starters were precisely same condition… they get 8/9/10. Gym cards were pristine, I was actually worried about getting 10’s and having to sell because of the value. The shadowless porygon? What is up with that? It was a simple pack fresh well centered card with zero flaws, getting a 7?! The wotc slowpokes getting 9’s and their equal condition counterpart slowbro’s getting 8’s. Cello fresh ancient Mew, zero printlines, pristine, gets an 8. The funniest thing of all, is my including a played jungle vaporeon holo at the end for shits n giggles, and it got a 7. This thing’s holo surface was thrashed. Same grade as all my pack fresh cards.
I’m not made of money, I’ve looked forward to doing a big personal collection sub (with a few sellable cards to help pay for sub) at an affordable price at PSA for over 2 years now, and this happens. It’s just really messed up. Completely devastated that I have to crack 40 sub 9’s that have zero business being in plastic at that grade, especially considering how worthless they are to anyone but me, with no recourse. Completely unfair, never had such a bad experience in 10+ years in my hobby. Rant done.