How I Evaluate PSA Graded Cards on eBay 

I feel like every time I watch one of your videos, I’m getting a free college class On the hobby! Great presentation as always!!!!

I overlooked this episode. I didn't know vending cards are a bit smaller than waxpack cards. Thanks for keeping these older videos up.

I agree with your assessment of thin borders on most high grade cards. I mainly collect T206’s and I’ve definitely noticed that a huge percentage of cards graded above a PSA 6 have short borders in comparison to lower grades. I think that trimmed graded cards are much more widespread in the hobby than anyone thought (or cares to admit).

Your contribution to the hobby and the education you freely provide is appreciated.

I bought a 63 fleer mays PSA 8 about 20 years ago and when I was scanning it to sell I saw a very small crease on the front which I had not seen previously seen. It's beginning certification # was "0". I sent it in PSA and they down graded to PSA 5 and gave me the difference between the value of of an eight and 5. But they put the same original certification # on the new label but what else could them have done. With all this fraud in the hobby I can't believe people are paying hundreds of thousands for cards that are so suspect as you well point out. Great vid!

Great video. Love that you were able to put your thought process out there for us. Never heard of the 0 Cert Number thing, thanks for highlighting that something to consider.

So love your videos ... you and Baseball Card Collector Investor Dealer's channels are the most respected ... all this other crap is just that ... hyped up day trading of sports cards making people go broke or invest in the wrong stuff ... thanks again! and know were out here always waiting for your next upload brother!

​Zero Cert. cards - never thought of that. Thank you!

Great advice ..... it's honest. I respect honesty and your advice.

You sure are right about the big ebay auction houses having higher final bid prices.

Yes, when i see a gape on these cards , I'm thinking TRIMMED ? Some even have them on 2 sides of the card !

In my experience and opinion vintage cards with perfect or great centering below a grade of 8 will all have corner wear. You really take a hit on the corners if the card has great centering. Sometimes it worth it to have a slightly off centered Psa 7 card and have the corners mint or NM. Very good vid. Subscribed

I use a lot of the same criteria that you mentioned, personally I like the rough cut vintage cards , I think it adds character. I also like half grades , they seem to be centered nicer and less in demand 6.5's are my go to cards . It sure is nice having you back making videos.

I usually dont respond to videos but i wanted to because i really like your videos. I must have watched more than 10 in a row, they are really informative and to the point. I can only imagine the amount of time that must have gone into even researching this. They have helped me alot both with what to look for in cards and which sellers to look out for etc. (I was curious why PWCC and probstein123 etc had so many negative ratings and now i know thanks to your videos.) Keep it up and i hope you get alot more subscribers you deserve it!

Great video Keith. I'm not a new collector but I was definitely taught a few things here. I never realized the starting with zero certificate number problems. You always put out some of my favorite videos. Hoping to see a lot more videos coming my friend. Thank you as always for sharing.

Great tips! I feel confident knowing I go by these same standards. Thanks for the 0-cert number tip!

Thank you for the great research and advice. I purchase exclusively vintage and most of it graded. I agree with almost all of your points, but I have to say some BIN cards with a best offer feature have been some of my best bargains. Sometimes if you simply add BIN cards to your watch list, the seller will send you an offer even less than what you would have paid. One final thing I take into account is the graded card’s population. Even if it looks less than ideal to me, I may still bid/make offer if that particular graded card is a low pop that rarely surfaces on ebay. Thanks again!

Keith, I enjoyed your list immensely. However, I think the most important thing you said to me was no matter what Grade is on the Slab, inspect the card! Too many times, buyers assume that if the slab says PSA 10, then the card must be "Perfect" in Presentation.. As you and I both know as Seasoned Collectors, this is completely false! Great stuff as always Keith! One thing I look at besides the criteria of the card that you broke down is, how well preserved has the slab been since Grading?... Take care.

I actually LIKE the rough cut, thinking it adds to the "vintage" feel of the card, and is less likely to be a trimmed edge. I noticed you did not mention the BACKS of cards, and think this is something to0 often overlooked. Oftentimes TPG's are too lenient with issues on the back (o/c, wax, etc.) and I don't like cards with these problems. After all, the back is 50% of the total surface area

Great video Vintage Card Curator and Thanks for sharing your insight and giving me an education. Have a great weekend.

I just stumbled upon your videos and I've watched 6-7 already and subscribed. Your videos are very well done, data driven, and gets to the point very quickly. I feel like I'm going to min-Ted talks on vintage cards. Quick question, do you have any suggestions for seeking non-slabbed cards? Incredible work!

Awesome tips! I don't gravitate towards slabs, so you opened my eyes to several issues that I didn't know about. Well done!

Thank you for sharing your insights. This was educational and entertaining.

Excellent video and research as always! Will be saving this video to reference at a later date for sure. Eye appeal is big with my as I try to buy the card and not the grade. The only other thing I can think of is to look at teh surface of the cards as certain years have a unique finish to them.

Just watched this video and the content is really helpful. Thanks! Goes to show there is still an evaluation process on graded cards and not just raw cards.

This is a really good tutorial So needed and appreciated. Thank you kind sir

Incredibly informative, thank you for the tips! I’m a new subscriber after hearing about you on Baseball Card Collector Investor Dealer’s channel. Will now be going back through all of your videos! Feeling a bit of buyers remorse on a couple of recent purchases, not from PWCC directly, but cards that went through PWCC in the past. Unrelated, why does it seem the prices on PWCC auctions go higher than other offerings on ebay for the same card/grade? At least for the cards I’ve followed, not every time but much more often than not. (That’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed away and, of course, the bad press from the scandals. Probstein I wouldn’t buy from under any circumstances base on stories I’ve heard from others.)

Great video my friend. I try to stay away from PSA cards myself. Thanks for putting these video's up. There are very educational and entertaining.

Great video! My first point of call is eye appeal. If its going into my collection I want it you be aesthetically pleasing. Love the channel and the content!!!

Thanks! I just wanted to vent about psa 9 ten ratio. I and a friend took 100 1990 Michael Jordan pack fresh and sent the best 40 to psa in 2017. And got back 2 tens!! Your videos help expose their fraud. They pop control and give higher grades to preferred customers. Thank you for your research!!

Your a card guru !! I Just love all your advice.

This was very helpful. I just retracted a bid on Ebay based on the info from your video and put it on a graded card but this one doesn’t have a gap. Thanks

Another great video. I appreciate the mind share. I'm always willing to learn more as I get back into the hobby.

That's crazy because before I ever started watching your videos I bought a wax box of 1984 Topps Football that was BBCE wrapped from a PWCC auction on EBay in 2017. When I opened the box ALL of the PACKS were BEAT to HECK!!! I do not see how BBCE would wrap that box without making some note of it but that was the first and last time I dealt with PWCC because after I contacted them about it they said that they would tell Steve Hart. When I followed up on it they never answered me again. They took my $1,000 and that was it. And Probstein, well my instincts told me to stay away from him. Kind of like the pictures of the "card doctors" you showed, most seem to have a certain ethnic look to them. Kind of like the heads of the IMF and Federal Reserve. It's amazing that one tiny minority group of people could wreak so much havoc in almost every phase of life on earth! Thanks for what you do, VCC even though PSA, Beckett and the other scum have turned the hobby into just another business where gangsters prey on the little man. At least you are giving other collectors a heads up so they don't waste their hard earned money sending in their prized cards to PSA only to get population controlled market manipulation! Take care, brother!

Enjoyed this one! Thanks for sharing, Keith.

Great list. Agree 1000% on qualifiers. The new PSA SMR guide on line with SMR and recent auction prices has helped

Great content! I really enjoyed this episode.

Another great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I've watched all your videos. You do great work. I'm going to need some new ones very soon. I'm starting to exhibit withdrawl symptoms.

Great tutorial. I learned a lot. Thanks!

Excellent content and narration!

Great points, especially on card "fit" within the holder. Cards both old and new that move somewhat in a PSA slab are incredibly common; I've had my own battles with getting over the fact that many move at all - a pet peeve. While some size variation - particularly 1/32 of an inch or less - is more common that most would think on vintage cards, there is no doubt that PWCC and the other trimmers have made evaluating this incredibly more difficult. I'm more of a collector first and an investor second, so your points about the appearance of the "whole card" are very well taken - across the grading spectrum. Mildly OC cards bother me less, because like you I grew up in a hobby that cared less about centering as a "main" or most important criteria. But you are correct in that it's certainly easier to sell a card that is well centered - no matter the grade. As always I love the quality of your videos and attention to detail and nuance. Thanks!

Wow i just learned a ton thank you. Again.

Well done as usual. I am a corners and edges over centering guy with my own vintage cards, but I am generally not looking to sell.

Excellent points! I grew up in the “corners” generation as well!

Thank you for the tips!

Fantastic content

Great vid. I also review PSA Certs and if it shows it crossed Probstein or pwcc in the past, I do not bid or buy those cards.

Excellent video, thanks!!

Dude solid vid man!

Really good information, as a strict collector and not investor not all it applies to me but it's still good information to have.

NO WAY....I CLICK ON YOUR VIDEO AND GUESS WHO YOUR FIRST COMMERCIAL WAS. PWCC VAULT🤔. LOVE Your videos and I am sharing so the entire cardmunity will know.

I buy investment graded (PSA/SGC/BVG) Vintage HOF'ers.....centered with nice eye appeal. In reality, maybe 10% to 15% of all vintage graded cards reach this criteria. Ya, I remember back in the days before slabs, 4 sharp corners were the name of the game. Today, it's centering. A 55/45 or better centered 59 Willie Mays (PSA 8) sells 2x of one 60/40 or worse. I stopped buying at PWCC/Probstein 3 years ago. I could often get nicer cards at a much more reasonable price from the auction houses, especially the smaller ones.

Great Video.

Good points all. Wasnt aware of the "0" cert concern. Definitely dont want to ever buy a "Gary Moser special"... unless I already did...then I dont want to know.

Great tips. I stay obviously away from sellers who have less than 99.7% feedback or just go with 100%. Or something doesn't feel right.

Took some time today to look at the "history" behind some of my PSA slabs. Interestingly enough, of the sellers you mention (I avoid them as well) - I only have 2 slabs which were earlier sales from Mr. Probstein: a '71 Felipe Alou PSA 7, and a '65 Dick Allen PSA 8. Both fit snugly enough in their holders though and don't seem suspicious to me.

Some great advice!

When you said " I try not to over pay' I thought you were going to follow up with "but I always do" lol

Very good presentation! I also avoid PWCC and Probstein for the reasons you outlined. I will, when buying PSA slabbed cards, go lower grade for centering and color sharpness.

Great video

Great video thanks

Great videos, you do a fantastic job! Thank you for this resource. Recently purchased a 1956 - 1955 Milwaukee Braves team card from ebay. After receiving the card I discovered a hair in the PSA case. Do you feel like this is something I should/could return to the seller? It's a nice card but it's for my PC and the hair is going to drive my OC crazy. Thoughts?

Great information. However to some of us who don’t have unlimited funds and still hope to acquire some of the greatest cards of their fantasies, accepting a qualifier or a half grade isn’t always deterrent to getting an otherwise well graded card. Example: If I get the chance to pull the trigger on Topps ‘55 Clemente PSA 7 (oc) or a Topps ‘68 Ryan 6.5 for a reasonable price, I’m DOING it. And that’s because I’ll never come close to buying one without it. And even if I want to sell it/them, I’m betting there’s at least thousands of collectors who’d have no problem buying it. But YES; Dean’s Cards and PWCC especially are total price gougers.

Love the content I started collecting as a kid in the 60s and have never sold a card but thinking of getting them graded is there one company you would recommend over the other

Great information! However, after watching this I feel like my cards probably won't sell or they may not get a good price when I do try to sell them. I'm new to all this and have just started to look at selling my baseball and football cards that I've collected back when I was a kid. Most are from about 1978-1982. I have the entire 1980's Topps baseball complete set that my dad bought me and they have never left the box, until now. All the corners and edges all look really good to me. They are straight with no scratches, folds, bumps and such, but It's mainly the centering on some of these cards that are off and after watching this video makes me believe they will be hard to sell. One of the worst ones is my Nolan Ryan from that year. The centering from top to bottom is way off. I'll probably just keep that one, but there are more just like that which will really hurt when I try to sell them. I'm glad I watched this video though and have started watching a lot more of your content like the PSA/Ricky Henderson issue which I thought was really good and informative. Great Researching! I'm a subscriber now.

Keith, great video but damn that's a lot of steps. I don't think I could be that patient to check all those things. Here is the one strange thing I do. I use the auction prices history on PSAs website and rarely bid above what the lowest winning sale was over the last 12 months. This is for vintage only, of course. Thanks for the video.

Probstein in the thumbnail 👀😂

I look for hi grade cards where the issue is on back . Example is a Psa 7/8 which looks 1 or 2 grades higher just looking at the front

Want to know the definition of irony? A PWCC ad came on before this. 😂

Awesome

I love half grade cards

Good info.. thanks! I have a 1968 Mickey Mantle insert game card that is graded PSA 5.., based on my on-line research, how this card only received a 5 is beyond me.., would you ever recommend breaking a card out of the frame and resending it to PSA for re-grading?

Never realized how much difference the gap would be on trimmed cards. Do full size cards fit in their holders THAT snugly? If so does that present the possibility that the card can get ruined being in the holder such as the card may get edge damage?

So these are just a few things that I like to do I like to my cards and use a 10 times magnification jewelers loupe with fluorescent lighting but not too bright and I also have a black flashlight in case I am skeptical whether it is in authentic or this applies to vintage mostly Second movie I will take a cotton ball or a Q-tip and just kind of lightly clean the surfaces front and back depending on what the car it is in I might do the edges but I never touch the corners and I will never put any kind of chemical and overwater nothing just Q-tip or a cotton ball lightly. I would recommend looking at different slabs of different graders throughout the years and seeing how they changed I would also recommend especially with vintage cards that you get two or three from the same set like I have a will 1961 rookie and I also have Oscar Robertson from that same shit rookie now These things that I’m telling you do not always apply because just like anything no two cards are going to be 1,000,000% identical however clean your cards before you submit to PSA but before you do any of that practice on some old junk codes and see what works for you practice with your lighting your magnification and definitely with the black light. Lastly PSA says nothing about putting penny sleeves on your cards before you put them in top letters shout out to at graded card investor for that little bit of knowledge if you have not watched him you must do so another thing is if you’re moving modern or ultra modern Pay to get a yearly subscription to marketmovers it is a very useful to as long as you stay up alone things like who’s the best prospect and what’s going to happen this season or whatever but having said that don’t put all of your eggs in one basket diversify your investments if you’re doing it to make money I could submit a 86 fleer 57 Jordan rookie card and hope I get somewhere between seven and nine if I’m lucky OK or I can submit a ton of Trae Young and Edwards Zion Jalen Green I think you get the picture and literally do a cost benefit analysis is the cost of grading the card and it potentially coming back way lower factor in the money you’ve graded Plus what you want to get out of the card because you have to make sure it is worth the money to grade the card to break even at best or make a profit if you’re lucky now vintage they hold value but not all will and we don’t know what the future holds for any kind of market lastly if you want a fun safe and free way to kind of get a little bit of a grade yourself for your real card you can download the sea 0LLLX app it is free you scan your card you can scan graded RAW any sport Pokémon whatever and in seconds it will tell you to pick a condition pour all the way to the gem mint and in seconds it will tell you via sales from eBay directly what is the average sale price of the car it is and you can get a ballpark figure of whether or not that card is worth it. Now this is just my opinion and things that I do but my opinion in $10 will get you a foot-long sub from Subway so as always just have fun with it and remember why you started doing it you don’t do it for money you do it because you love the hobby and sports thanks for listening to me rant Godspeed and good luck investors collectors dealers not necessarily in that order piece

It's a shame collectors have felt the need to pour so much more $$$ into modern graded cards, when there many raw examples that have fantastic eye appeal. Then they look like investors only. You left out one important thing - the castanet sound effect!

Fantastic video! I’m not sure I agree with going for auctions. Some of my best purchases ever were BINs. If I want a card and it is in my price range I don’t worry about saving a couple of bucks because it isn’t in an auction. Time is money to me and BINS save me a lot of time. Regarding auctions though do you use esnipe or one of those tools? I’m a big fan of using that so I don’t have to watch the sale and try to bid the last second.

I don't quite get the recent centering obsession. Don't get me wrong, I like a card that is centered over a card that isn't centered everything else being the same, but it's just one set of criteria in the overall look and condition of a card. Doesn't it stand to reason that in general a centered card of a certain grade is going to have other flaws relative to a slightly off center version of the same card in the same grade? So basically if you are looking at a 1965 PSA 7 Topps Pete Rose card that is perfectly centered there is obviously going to be other flaws in the card (corners, sides, surface, etc.); whereas another version of that same card in the same grade that is slightly off center might be otherwise flawless. At that point you are basically deciding which flaws bother you less. Personally, I'm okay with a 70-30 card or better.

Bring back the maracas Keith!

How do you think PSA inspects crossover slabs? How can they accurately tell the grade through a case/slab?

I made a mistake buying a 9 with stain q. It was listed, but back not shown so I missed it. I mean, it's not really a 9 is it?

Hi there. How can you tell the difference in a slab between a vending box card and a trimmed card? They look too similar!

another great video Keith. I am the same way I refuse to buy anything from the big 3. Just not worth it.

I wonder if you sent in a bunch of those older 0 graded cards to get reholdered if PSA would still honor the original grades. If so, it would be a good potential for "grade washing"

How should I feel if a psa10 card I own from 2003 (Carmelo Anthony topps RC) is slightly off centered, even tho it’s a 10? Dk how to feel :( noticed days after having it

Is this a trimmed card? "2001 Topps Chrome Traded #T99 Ichiro Albert Pujols RC Rookie PSA 10 GEM MINT" - current Probstein auction. Seems like too much space on the top and side. Also, the card looks a bit off center for a PSA 10.

Question: I noticed in your video that your Reggie Jackson & Mickey Mantle cards didn't have the 8 digit serial number on the top......can you explain what happened?

Amazing work as always! This is the first I'm hearing about vending versus pack-pulled. Where did you learn this?

I look for defects in a "10" and keep in mind that if a card has a "10" with visable defects, the seller could have special treatment from a grader. There is a card for sale right now that clearly has a rough edge and is graded a "10". How else do you explain it ? Maybe they are a great customer that sends in huge bulk orders and the grader wants to treat them right, who knows .

This is a very informative video for someone like me who is getting back into cards after a 27-year “hiatus” 😄, but man...I gotta ask: With all of this, is it even fun anymore? Not your fault of course, but the general level of negativity collectors seem to have towards cards these days is a bummer. Between having to guard against trimming and the hypersensitivity to centering, it seems like it’s all about rejecting 99.9 percent of cards.

Do you use the same criteria for sgc cards?

Moved all 25 of my 50s 60s cards on eBay over 5 months and moved alot of the money over to high end silver and bronze age cgc comic books . Hope pop culture will be going strong 10 years from now . See if I shot my self in the foot or knocked it out of the park in 2030 . Thanks for all the information ( didnt know about 0 cert # )

Do you have any thoughts about 4sharpcorners?

Alot of collectors may have cards with the '0' in the beginning especially if they have been submitting cards since PSA started......

Why not use VCP for price tracking?

Do people buy 7s ? Or unrated perfect condition cards?

Hey Keith, there is a 1970 psa 9 willie mays at auction on ebay and the seller is probstien. It is the most off centered 9 I have ever seen! The centering is 80/20 side to side at best! This card is very questionable... Take a look your self. It is ending in 6 days from this message post.

Then there is BGS who has higher standards than PSA

Yes I've seen gaps in card's big time especially in 65 , 68, 69 70 , 71 , 72 ,73, 77, 78 , 79 topps and especially with half grades 65 and 69 topps are either off centered to leaning to one side like mantle , Reggie Jackson , hank Aaron, Roberto clemente, Nolan Ryan because there's a big difference on centering from psa 7 to psa 8 and sgc 7 and 8 . I've seen sgc 8& 9 look better than psa plus bvg stopped doing sub grades on card's. There's Gai and ksa, csa , bccg , gem , gma, pgi, 5 star , pro these are the other grading companies out there with card's slabed and don't trust none of them. Due to covid-19 and Gary v and others abusive attitude towards the hobby now it's even more work because people scamming by taking out card and putting same card in but different grade especially with BGS and PSA , there's are videos of people showing you how to open case and shill bidding with no payment is hurting the hobby because nobody telling the truth about the dark side and if you bring it up they get offended by this actuation. PSA raising grading fees to 15 for Morden and 10-12 for 1990. To 1960. Would this have happened to the hobby if covid-19 happened or Gary v hyping up card's that HE and his investment firm or panini bidding system or stock x. Time will only tell because it's like the junk wax era were things are getting out of control because of greed. Just like the stock market the sports card market could crash are the people who created the madness , WHO gets held accountable for misconduct of there actions .

The problem is that psa offers no transparency so you don't really know what you are getting, what damage there may be, or anything else that you cant easily see from a pic on your computer screen. And their grading is very erratic. Other companies do a better job, with some being fully transparent about everything (DSG is a good example of that). PSA might have the highest resale value, but in every other aspect they are nowhere near the best.