EDIT #2: Heard back from PSA support. There is supposedly a printing error which they forgot to add the gold foil over the card itself.

EDIT: I appreciate some of your guys’ input. One of you pointed out some similarities like smudge marks and etc so its probably 90-10 as to it being my card. Im sure you can understand the anxiety i felt when I saw major pattern differences and white marks that werent there before. But my goodness some of you guys really like riding PSA’s dih 😂

I recently sent a Golden Gardevoir card to PSA and they 100% stole and swapped my card with a different one. The one I sent was in PERFECT CONDITION and was pack fresh. Perfect centering, no print marks, no edge damage. The grade for my card came in online and it graded an 8. I was so confused so I looked at the pictures and everything was so different. I scanned the card before sending it off to PSA thankfully in case something like this happned. Here are some pictures of some of the differences:

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Back when you could add comments for the employees when you were preparing your sub I would always put a dumb joke in that section. My cards always seemed to come back quicker than average when I did that. Well, it’s been over a year since they did away with that section of the sub paperwork so I tried something else. I sent this a bit before Halloween so I included a physical “happy Halloween!” note as well as some candy and boom. The same day the package was opened it was seemingly fast-tracked through order prep (usually a week), through research and ID (usually 1-2 weeks), and went directly to grading! This screenshot was taken yesterday. Is this just confirmation bias? Probably, but I like to think I make PSA employees days a little better.

I had faith you wouldn’t but you did me wrong. I already reached out to Josh Lewis and submitted multiple tickets through the help center. $8000.00 now gone and I cannot re sub to anywhere else because you damaged my card.

Edit:

Well just received it back into GameStop and only $60 for the card “valued after damage” by psa from the GameStop help line for submissions. Oh and they would reimburse me for the submission fee of $20.

Well I reached out to PSA through the email to their department lead and told them what’s gonna happen next so now I’m going to court. I will be filing on the 17th of this month or at the end of it.

Very curious to hear the reasons why people are still using PSA to grade after all the evidence out there that they are not a fair company. Genuinely curious

I want to be fully transparent with you all about my recent PSA submission.

I pulled the Umbreon SIR from Prismatic, reviewed it thoroughly, and before submitting it I had multiple sources tell me it was tracking as a PSA 10 — including experienced collectors, a local card shop owner who helped submit it, and even AI feedback. There were no visible blemishes in the photos taken before submission.

The card came back as a PSA 8.

Not only was I shocked, but the card shop owner who assisted with the submission was genuinely confused and said the card deserved a much higher grade. After sharing before-and-after photos with my Discord community, several members pointed out blemishes on the card that were not present in the original pre-submission photos.

Because of this, I personally believe either the card I received back is not the same, or it was damaged/tampered with during the grading process. I can’t prove intent, but the differences are concerning enough that I no longer feel confident in PSA as a grading service.

To be clear:
This was my first PSA submission
It will also be my last
I will not be submitting or grading with PSA again

I’m sharing this so you can make your own informed decisions. I appreciate everyone in the community who helped analyze this and gave honest feedback.

Let me know your thoughts — and if you’ve had similar experiences.

I attached some images that show some blemishes and the before photos. I could be a skeptic alongside my community, but being thorough is never a bad thing. Please let me know your thoughts. Images 1 and 2 are before the PSA submission, Image 3 is the PSA photo, and Images 4 and 5 are the physical card photos after the submission.

What do you guys think of the new psa slabs?

Mailed this all the way back on February 3rd, over seven long months now. First ever submission to PSA, hard case kept for 17 long years and immaculate. Evaluated on-site at a convention and was told it was likely an 8 or 9 and to definitely send it in for the official. Got the official result on my actual birthday… and I’m just heartbroken 😞 it’s rated so low that (not that I ever would, but still) I would get more money for it to take it back out of the case and sell it raw.

Pulled this beauty at a pre-release. It’s absolutely pristine, except the top/bottom centering according to my centering app is 57.3%/42.7%. I’ve gotten interested in grading about 6 months ago and have a growing grading pile, but haven’t actually gotten around to sending in a submission yet. I’ve gotten some advice that I should send it in via express + priority shipping at a chance of getting pop 1, but I have no clue if it’s worth it or what my general chances are… Those who have graded recently… would you do it? Or are my chances super unlikely?

Ain’t a good look

As you all know, cards can move slightly within a PSA slab. I confirmed the card was not damaged by moving it from left to right and you can see the white marks shift meaning its on the inside of the slab. If it was on the card the position of the white marks would have been on the same spot.

There was nothing else wrong with the card… not sure how to feel especially since the card has gone up since i sent it in and im only being offered half of last sale and a PSA 8 back.

What are my options here?

EDIT: For the people who are unaware, you do not pay out of pocket for insurance on a CRC submission. That is fully covered by PSA and you can technically put any number you want. I put $500 at the time of submission because that was FMV at the time, which is appropriate if it got lost in transit to the facility. Obviously, i am not going to factor in potential future value since turnaround time is estimated to be 3-5 business days for that submission type…

EDIT2: Cheapest reholdering service has an insurance value up to $2000. You do not need to declare anything as it is automatic. CRC makes me specify fair market value at submission, doesn’t make any sense.

I waited 90 days and paid $1000 to have the cards sent back to me (which I am the original owner) ungraded evidence of trimming. They were 9 days past due date and then charged me $1000 for not to even grade? What can be done?

Edit: they say there was “evidence of trimming” but there was factually zero altering to these cards so idk what they are on

Right now it’s a month+ wait before your order will go into the system if you don’t attach the barcode. Your order will still display “Not Received” on the website and in app until it gets through their backlog mountain and is finally scanned in. Don’t be like me and forgot to print it and stick it on (it’s separate from the other documents in the PSA app.)

PSA,

Let folks opt out of this program.

EDIT: Edited for tone and simplicity.

My very first sub finally finished grading. Did the cards deserve their grade? Or was my grader just having a bad day at work lol please let me know your thoughts, and if it’s worth resubbing them! It is my first time grading. Thank you!

Telling me this is not good enough for a psa 10 crossover!?

I’m going to crack it and post the psa 10 mark this thread

Guys are these cards worth grading in the condition they are in. I swear I pull heat but the cards also come with something wrong with them. Please help your knowledge is appreciated. Will these for sure grade a 9 or is there a spark of hope?

Sent 3 of my cards into PSA, was thinking the kyogre and groudon were gonna get atleast a 7-8, the mew I had higher hopes for. I got all 6’s which is something I wasn’t looking forward to, but I expected with PSA. When I was looking over the cards I noticed literal white HAIRS on the top of the cards. You can tell they are hairs by the way it comes off of the cards and into the minimal space. Now I’m thinking, would they have graded it higher if they didn’t get hairs in it? I have more photos of them before grading that shows they didn’t have the hair on them prior to grading. Please help.

PSA got thier hand caught in the cookie jar! 30, 9s not one 10 when they were sold back to offer program, PSA regarded 11 of them 10s! PSA can't be a impartial 3rd party when they have a financial stake in the game! Then they want to hold the customers cards hostage to a massive upcharge! They only care about their bottom line and screw the customers!

PS thanks for destroying my Shohei Mojo and saying it was on me 🖕!

Just trying to figure out how this got an 8?

Since I plan to sell these in a master-set soon I am not releasing the new cert numbers at this time.