I have a question. I recently purchased a PSA 10 Gardevoir ex sar from Japanese shiny Treasure ex. I don’t know anything about graded cards. Or how they look. The numbers weren’t blocked out. But I was looking at other PSA graded cards and noticed that the Front label had a blueish look and can see a PSA watermark on the right side. Buy the card I purchased the label has no blueish tint and can’t see the watermark. Label looks like a bright white. I checked the serial number on PSA and the card popped up. But on the bottom of the Page there was a blue box that said there was another PSA /DNA item also has this same cert number and I clicked on it and it says Martin Brodur. I haven’t received the card yet. Say delivery tomorrow Thursday. So I can get a better look at it tomorrow. But the way it looks in the picture don’t seem to match how other PSA front labels look like and how it says another PSA DNA item also has this same cert number. I am confused and thinking it’s fake. Also the card doesn’t look like it is a PSA 10. Because of the border being off a little on the left side of the card. What do I do
Sellers used to cover certs because they were weary of others using their images for fraudulent sales. People can still do that of course, but it’s a bit of an unnecessary action to take when it stops people from checking if YOUR card is legitimate or not, thus losing potential customers.
If you have concerns about a card you bought. Please post a photo/image of it and we can give feedback.
First off, beautiful card and great choice. Second, highly doubtful people are faking non-Zard shiny treasure SARs. Third, the DNA thing happens all the time now. Years ago, PSA did not anticipate how popular they would become and used numbers for DNA encapsulations that were tens of millions away from their current certs at that time but now we are here…
I think some people also cover the certs, because of people who obsessively keep track of cert numbers of higher end cards and copies trying to track ownership in their Excel sheets. The current owner likely doesn’t want the IG community to know whose copy they bought, or who bought their copy in the event they sell.
When selling a card, there is no reason to cover the cert.
What @kpod said is interesting. People who obsess over ownership of cards they don’t own and never will is relatively new, and a bit invasive. I could understand covering from a privacy perspective. Then again, I just wouldn’t share the card at all. Either way if someone is selling, the cert should be shown. No relevant seller or auction house covers certs.
all ways cover up , dont want the registry fanatics to know what my other cards graded were. The registry whales are hardcore buyers.
The answer used to be “no good reason”. But today, everything is optimized to the max including information. And information can be weaponized.
If you’re selling, I think it just hurts more than it helps to hide your certs unless you know for sure there’s something in your submission you don’t want people to see. This thread is a good example. Though I don’t blame anyone for wanting to hide certs today. Even then, that privacy is not guaranteed if someone wants to automate a method to loop though all PSA certs.
I’ve heard some people hide certs so their numbers can’t be used in a fake slab. If a fake slab is caught by PSA, they deactivate the cert. IIRC, the original owner would then have to take time out of their day to prove to PSA that the cert and card are real, and that the other was a mimic. Some people don’t want to deal with the hassle.
As someone who experience this, yes its annoying, but if the card is for sale, the cert numbers should be present.
Seems like a neverending game of cat and mouse though.
You prove yours is real but then the faker will continue to fake slabs no?
That’s exactly why people hide their certs. They don’t want to play the game.
I agree with @smpratte , the certs should be public if you’re selling (or at least provided to buyers on request). But from the few people I’ve seen that hide their certs for this specific reason, they only do it with cards they don’t have any intention of selling any time soon.
I think there’s legit reasons to cover a cert, one being not wanting to leave a track of how much that particular card sold for, mostly out of respect for the buyer, another being that you don’t want a certain card to be tied to you (as a seller) in case someone decides to dox you, if you post a card on this forum and someone goes on eBay and sees it for sale it’s likely you’re that seller, make a purchase and you’ll most likely get a return address if the seller doesn’t have a PO box. Unless we’re talking about 1k USD plus cards I don’t really care if the cert is hidden when I’m buying as long as the photos are decent. In my opinion it’s ultimately about privacy which I think is completely understandable.
If you’re in the U.S., your card will go through eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee if it meets the threshold and the buyer will receive a shipment directly from PSA. This would protect the seller’s address information.
Yeah I think there are easier ways to protect your address than hiding certs. For instance, not using your home address as the return address.
If people really wanted your address to steal from you or something, they don’t need a cert number. They already can see all your ebay inventory
I think hiding the cert number is pretty silly and frankly a little paranoid. Auction houses sell five and six figure cards and don’t hide the cert numbers. Nobody is faking 99.99999% of cards out there.
A lot of people aren’t from the US. 
It’s a matter of connecting pieces of information, if you post the same card (without cert hidden in one place or the other) on a forum/social media and on a marketplace you just connected your online opinions to your business, what happens when someone doesn’t like your opinions and has a little too much time on their hands? Not saying the chances of that happening are high, just saying there’s a possibility so I think it’s a valid reason.
This is especially true for older certs that don’t have scans on the PSA website.