What the hell goes on at PSA???

[null_user]

Very minor hairline scratches/scuffs caused by PSA tend to happen fairly often to my returns, it’s the type of minor scratching that you’d expect to happen from sliding a card holo-side down along a table. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it certainly does happen to an extent in the experiences of many people. Of course it’s not easily quantifiable and largely anecdotal. It’s just one of the risks that you have to accept and comes with the territory, it will occasionally happen.

[Fireftw_TCG]

@ssjc

Its a dangerous time to send in high value cards right now.
It shouldn’t be, but it is.

I don’t recommend anyone sending in high value cards like this until they are out of their backup slump.

I sent some medium-high value cards away before all this emerged. It’s too late to change now, bit worried! Just hoping I don’t get the guy rushing to clock off on a Friday afternoon and all is OK!!

[pokematt]

That stamp looks funky lol. But damn sorry to hear i’m worried about my cards there now too

[KingPokemon]

@seriouslysilly

@chris350dx

Sent off a mint 1st edition base set charizard for grading with one hairline scratch and this is what I find on it when I get it back…

imgur.com/a/r0Db2

what the hell goes on over there?? I inspected this card for a long time under multiple lights and I ABSOLUTELY would have seen this! this was sent as a super express delivery you would think they would be more careful with valuable cards! what do they do drop them and slide them on the floor?? completely unacceptable.

Quick question, is the original hairline scratch there still? Sorry for my skepticism but with all the hassle I’d be worried that it was swapped especially for such a high value card.

@ssjc

.

You gotta lay off the drugs silly;)

[tem4elf]

That’s shitty but I believe it.
I always make sure my cases and sleeves are clean when sending in. I even put them in plastic bags while they are sitting before being submitted. Even with those preventative measures I’ve received cards back with what look like dust scratches that weren’t there before. The issue that really gets me furious is fingerprints. I have cards that I pack pulled with gloves, inspected, sleeved, and sent off that have returned with fingerprints right on the holo. I even have PSA cases that have fingerprints on the label inside of the holder. I can post pictures but I’ll save everyone from the upset stomach today.

[chinameowthsunflower]

@tem4elf

That’s shitty but I believe it.
I always make sure my cases and sleeves are clean when sending in. I even put them in plastic bags while they are sitting before being submitted. Even with those preventative measures I’ve received cards back with what look like dust scratches that weren’t there before. The issue that really gets me furious is fingerprints. I have cards that I pack pulled with gloves, inspected, sleeved, and sent off that have returned with fingerprints right on the holo. I even have PSA cases that have fingerprints on the label inside of the holder. I can post pictures but I’ll save everyone from the upset stomach today.

I got a couple of those. They’re like potato chip fingerprints too lol.

[1by1collector]

@hypernova

Man, I absolutely feel for you. I’ve been here before as well. Looked over a card longingly for hours with an high-intensity light without any sign of imperfection and then it comes back to me with a scratch in the holo. It was also a big one - shadowless charizard that came back a 9 due to the scratch. Same thing happened with a shadowless blastoise - nothing visible presubmission and then it comes back a 9 with some weird holo smudgelines.

It makes me wonder who transitions the cards from card savers → naked for grader → encapsulation-ready. It is absolutely depressing to think that a careless employee making $16/hr can ostensibly cause $15k of damage to a card and the only person to blame is us for trusting PSA in the first place. You’d think with all of the cash PSA receives they would be re-investing that money into technologies that would make them world leaders in high-volume, low-weight delicate handling tech. But the sad truth is they probably hired a part-time contractor for $16/hr to take the cards out of the card savers, sandwich them between some plastic sheets that were manufactured or stored improperly and now contain roughness and/or dirt/dust which interacted with the holo on your card, and then the grader looked and saw an absolutely flawless card with a bunch of holo scratches and gave it a 9 [which, honestly, is no longer 9-worthy due to the amount of scratches].

Damn sonnnnnn! these are some very fine words of wisdom. I love PSA but at the same time they deserve some real bashin’ lately. thinking of making a PSA dart board soon!

[chiznuggets]

efour card grading service, just for Pokemon cards. Scotts the ceo. What could go wrong?

[ssjc]

@chiznuggets

efour card grading service, just for Pokemon cards. Scotts the ceo. What could go wrong?

everything

[null_user]

PSA is God and they don’t make mistakes.

Unless you attached a camera to your submission to document every step taken PSA won’t accept accountability for any damage.

[chris350dx]

@investablecards

Very minor hairline scratches/scuffs caused by PSA tend to happen fairly often to my returns, it’s the type of minor scratching that you’d expect to happen from sliding a card holo-side down along a table. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it certainly does happen to an extent in the experiences of many people. Of course it’s not easily quantifiable and largely anecdotal. It’s just one of the risks that you have to accept and comes with the territory, it will occasionally happen.

yeah but when we are talking about a super express delivery insured for 4k you would think they would know to be VERY CAREFUL with it.

[chris350dx]

UPDATE I got off the phone with them and they said that if I believe it was damaged by them to send it in for review and they will have to go back and review the cameras at the stations that the card was graded at. but to do this I have to pay shipping to them and then shipping back .so basically my thought is that of course they are going to say its not their fault and then I’m going to be stuck paying shipping back and forth which for a card of that value is going to come out to around $150…to be completely honest I KNOW for a fact that the card WAS damaged by them. I mean come on its a 1st edition charizard that could possibly have got a 10 I examined this card day and night for any damages and those scratches I would NOT have missed. to me it looks like a grader dropped the card and slid it or something. seriously its a shame we have such incompetent people dealing with our cards that can cost us thousands of dollars… so I know that something like that has to show up on the cameras but even if it does will they say its their fault? I highly doubt it lol. anyone ever send a card back to them for for damage review before?

[chris350dx]

@jj1

@chris350dx

I can see this happening on a sub of a bulk order but one super express sub? come on you think they would know to be careful with it! oh well I really thought it had a shot at a 10 and when I found out it got a 9 I was going to send it again but now no way. literally this could have happened on any of my other cards but this one lol

Just out of curiosity, how long did the order take?

3 days for the grading process

[null_user]

@chris350dx

@investablecards

Very minor hairline scratches/scuffs caused by PSA tend to happen fairly often to my returns, it’s the type of minor scratching that you’d expect to happen from sliding a card holo-side down along a table. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it certainly does happen to an extent in the experiences of many people. Of course it’s not easily quantifiable and largely anecdotal. It’s just one of the risks that you have to accept and comes with the territory, it will occasionally happen.

yeah but when we are talking about a super express delivery insured for 4k you would think they would know to be VERY CAREFUL with it.

I agree. They should be careful with it, but they do make occasional human error. Unfortunately there’s no way for you to prove that the damage was caused by them, unless you had a long and detailed video showing the card prior to grading at all possible angles. And even then it’s not really evidence as the card may have been damaged between the video being made and them receiving the card. It’s just not realistic I’m afraid.

I’m not saying I don’t believe you, as I know it’s happened with myself before. But you can’t really expect any comeback from PSA I’m afraid. Good luck if you do decide to challenge it, it will be interesting to see if you get anywhere!

[KingPokemon]

@chris350dx

UPDATE I got off the phone with them and they said that if I believe it was damaged by them to send it in for review and they will have to go back and review the cameras at the stations that the card was graded at. but to do this I have to pay shipping to them and then shipping back .so basically my thought is that of course they are going to say its not their fault and then I’m going to be stuck paying shipping back and forth which for a card of that value is going to come out to around $150…to be completely honest I KNOW for a fact that the card WAS damaged by them. I mean come on its a 1st edition charizard that could possibly have got a 10 I examined this card day and night for any damages and those scratches I would NOT have missed. to me it looks like a grader dropped the card and slid it or something. seriously its a shame we have such incompetent people dealing with our cards that can cost us thousands of dollars… so I know that something like that has to show up on the cameras but even if it does will they say its their fault? I highly doubt it lol. anyone ever send a card back to them for for damage review before?

You said thousands of dollars difference and you’re worried about the shipping cost? Just send it back and they’ll check the tape to see if the damage was caused there. If so and the card hit the floor, and the card is otherwise a 10…you’ll get reimbursed and they’ll send it back and pay shipping.
I must admit that I’ve seen that same scratch pattern many times straight out of packs.

[chris350dx]

@KingPokemon

@chris350dx

UPDATE I got off the phone with them and they said that if I believe it was damaged by them to send it in for review and they will have to go back and review the cameras at the stations that the card was graded at. but to do this I have to pay shipping to them and then shipping back .so basically my thought is that of course they are going to say its not their fault and then I’m going to be stuck paying shipping back and forth which for a card of that value is going to come out to around $150…to be completely honest I KNOW for a fact that the card WAS damaged by them. I mean come on its a 1st edition charizard that could possibly have got a 10 I examined this card day and night for any damages and those scratches I would NOT have missed. to me it looks like a grader dropped the card and slid it or something. seriously its a shame we have such incompetent people dealing with our cards that can cost us thousands of dollars… so I know that something like that has to show up on the cameras but even if it does will they say its their fault? I highly doubt it lol. anyone ever send a card back to them for for damage review before?

You said thousands of dollars difference and you’re worried about the shipping cost? Just send it back and they’ll check the tape to see if the damage was caused there. If so and the card hit the floor, and the card is otherwise a 10…you’ll get reimbursed and they’ll send it back and pay shipping.
I must admit that I’ve seen that same scratch pattern many times straight out of packs.

I know sometimes scratches can be tricky to see but as soon as I looked at this card when I got it back I noticed the scratches vs on the other hand I spent an hour looking at the card before I sent it in and did not see those scratches so I am 100% confident that it got damaged there. but yes you are right whats shipping cost when you are talking thousands of dollars from a 9 - 10. I’ve decided to fight this and will be sending the card back hopefully the cameras show how it was damaged and hopefully PSA will be honorable and admit it to me if they do see they caused the damage. thanks for the input Gary.

[gottaketchumall]

@chris350dx I don’t ever recall hearing of PSA “reviewing tapes”. Being that they even suggested it if it were me I would ask to see the footage myself whether or not they ultimately determine it was their fault or not. I highly doubt in either case that they would let you see it, but I would try and get a look if possible and it wouldn’t really hurt to ask.

Has anyone ever had any experience with this or knowledge of it? Perhaps they have cameras on the super express and higher service lines? I think bulk is 99% of what they handle volume wise so it wouldn’t be ridiculous to think that could be the case. Cameras were never brought up with my past issues but all my cards that had damage while being encased as 10’s were bulk submissions and a couple years ago now.

Could you just imagine if they started a twitch channel or something and let you stream the live view of those cameras? Lol there would be youtube channels built around analyzing every single move the graders made like they were play-by-play commentating on a sporting event.

[chris350dx]

@gottaketchumall

@chris350dx I don’t ever recall hearing of PSA “reviewing tapes”. Being that they even suggested it if it were me I would ask to see the footage myself whether or not they ultimately determine it was their fault or not. I highly doubt in either case that they would let you see it, but I would try and get a look if possible and it wouldn’t really hurt to ask.

Has anyone ever had any experience with this or knowledge of it? Perhaps they have cameras on the super express and higher service lines? I think bulk is 99% of what they handle volume wise so it wouldn’t be ridiculous to think that could be the case. Cameras were never brought up with my past issues but all my cards that had damage while being encased as 10’s were bulk submissions and a couple years ago now.

Could you just imagine if they started a twitch channel or something and let you stream the live view of those cameras? Lol there would be youtube channels built around analyzing every single move the graders made like they were play-by-play commentating on a sporting event.

yeah a rep over there told me they have video cameras at each of the stations on the card that the card goes through. But yeah I’m going to try to call them right now and speak with the manager Stephanie just to verify everything before I send it out.

[chrispy]

@chris350dx

@gottaketchumall

yeah a rep over there told me they have video cameras at each of the stations on the card that the card goes through. But yeah I’m going to try to call them right now and speak with the manager Stephanie just to verify everything before I send it out.

Stephanie strikes again!

[geg89]

Can they not check the cameras…then you can send it in?