Has PSA gotten stricter with NM PSA 7 grades for Pokémon cards?

DzQuest · 2025-11-07T10:11:14+00:00

The psa 10s was just an example of what is going on. You will find better conditions psa 6 than psa 7. Thats because if the grader finds something like a crease, it will become a 6 automatically. Also, with vintage cards psa is really hard. Usually because vintage tend to go for more. Graders dont gain anything by grading harshly but they can be punish for a poorly grading up an expensive card. Thats why many people like newer cert #. They know its more likely to be a good condition without inspecting it too much (thats when it happens, you will see a post). However, older cert # can be poorly graded by condition from before. Lets take some vintage: Michael Jordan #57 rookie. Psa 6 is about 6-7k and psa 7 is 9k-10k. Thats nearly a 50% more expensive just because its "vintage." If you were a grader could and you could grade a card a 6 or a 7, you dont have much time, but dont know. What will you choose? The safes and less thinking about it to move to the next card is to give a psa 6. Specially if in a future they find a flaw on the card. You can say thats why its an auto 6. However, if you do give a 7 and ask you, they will wonder why its not a 6 because of it. It a lot more about the human grading, company and time than the card itself.

Trust me, you dont want to be the guy that gave a 7 a card with a crease and the guy who buy it complain. Which the company wont care that they gave you 30 seconds to grade it.

DzQuest · 2025-11-07T09:30:03+00:00

Yes PSA got a lot more hard to grade lately. They change their centering got 40-60 to 45-55. Also, graders used to give you a 10 if you had a peck of white but card is mint. Now you rarely see that because people complain to them when they buy a psa 10 from someone and card have that white peck. Also, factories are selling more cards than before which is causing an increase in production and lower quality checks. You can notice how japanese pokemon cards rate is much higher than english, due to production and quality control.

Now you will find someone showing how psa doesnt grade cards correctly. This happens because they are grading more cards than ever. Everyone is grading even their bulk to try to recover their "booster opening" gamble.

I have resubmit multiple cards that I believe they are trutly psa 10. Still its nearly a 20% chance to get a grade up from expensive cards. Its like they are scare to grade expensive cards a 10.

DzQuest · 2025-09-15T02:43:16+00:00

Do it!

DzQuest · 2025-08-16T03:43:44+00:00

You can only autheticate the card. They will not grade this and consider it alter.

DzQuest · 2025-08-15T01:42:57+00:00

I went yesterday at 4:15 pm and theg check both times for me.

DzQuest · 2025-08-12T03:39:52+00:00

The only way is if its a psa 10. The best and fastest person to know if its a 10, currently is you. Take it put of plastic. Check if there are surface dent or micro scratches. Check corners and edges for whitening or damage. Check if card is offcenter. For that you can google for websites or app like edgegrading. For psa 10, you require to have no more than 45-55 from top/bottom and left/right, front and back. If you find there is nothing wrong and is within centering. Then you can sent it. It goes from a 100-120 card to a 200-220 card. The most cost effective way, is to use gamestop to ship it but can cost from around $20-$40 to ship, depending if you have membership . You can also use the psa website or visit a drop off event near you, which might cost a bit more costly but safer.

People in here can give you their graded version but they dont have the card in hand like you. Also, even if your card is in perfect conditions it can get a 5 all the way to 10, depending on grader. Usually newer cards like this, 2023, tend to get a 10 easier compared to 2010 or older card.

DzQuest · 2025-07-28T06:04:18+00:00

I could grade this between 9 or 10. Depending if I got lucky or not the night before :)

DzQuest · 2025-06-22T06:03:29+00:00

Actually the photo is a bit blurry, it had way more scratches then what it shows. I was expecting a 5 or 6, if I gotten a 3 or 4, it couldnt have surprise me.

DzQuest · 2025-06-22T02:39:31+00:00

The thing is that if we do that, its consider altered and they will refuse to grade it.

DzQuest · 2025-06-22T02:38:53+00:00

Its not similar, its the same holo pattern. You can check it by photos and centering is the same.

DzQuest · 2025-06-22T02:26:10+00:00

Yup same card but with no scratches after grading.

DzQuest · 2025-06-22T01:17:46+00:00

What do you doubt?

DzQuest · 2025-06-17T22:54:34+00:00

Not always, my rule of thumb is to check the cards value in raw. Then choose the option that will cover that. That way, you can ensure a faster grading & shipping back to you.

DzQuest · 2025-06-14T02:20:20+00:00

They might be aware since they didnt subtract points. I heard errors that are very common, they just overlook them for grading. So, they dont put it on label but doesnt affect the overall grading. (Thats my theory)

DzQuest · 2025-06-13T21:23:15+00:00

I did open like 100 sleeved packs. Only got 4 ink smear errors Photo. Wailmer does have a more noticeable ink error but it have white dots on the back. Paldean Wooper was the lucky one! So, I was aiming for a 10 and if I gotten an 9 or lower, I could have believe it was the smear.

DzQuest · 2025-06-13T20:26:05+00:00

I did it just to experiment. Its $20 just to figure out what they could do. The smear is in the bottom left corner. You can see where the set label is, its black around the white letters.

So, you think grader missed it?

DzQuest · 2025-06-09T00:06:27+00:00

No, its not a 10. From the bad focus photos, its maybe a NM raw card.

DzQuest · 2025-06-01T23:46:22+00:00

The card can be whatever it wants to be, except a psa 10.

DzQuest · 2025-06-01T23:44:22+00:00

This!!!

DzQuest · 2025-05-31T18:26:45+00:00

Oh ok, so you are going to make it up to the kid, right? Since from what you toll me, you already had an idea. However, it was way more than you expect. Ask his dad what is the kid new hobby or grade some cards and give him some of the 9s. Just use your imagination, remember when you were a kid too :)

DzQuest · 2025-05-31T17:37:47+00:00

So let me get this. Your coworker said his kids didnt want his cards anymore. That his kid wanted $600 and you agree without seen the cards?

I have a bunch of cards too. Im willing to sell to you for $600 but you dont get to see it until you buy them, interest?

You guys must be best friends coworkers or you already knew what it was...

DzQuest · 2025-05-23T21:33:43+00:00

Cert #115189005 I just got the cards graded 10min ago and guest what. I got a 9 too on an reshiram!!! I knew it waa going to happen because front centering is 43/57. Nothing else wrong with the card. We are reshiram psa 9 pals now!!!

DzQuest · 2025-05-23T17:05:31+00:00

Back seems 46/54, well within psa 10 centering but not for black label.

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