PSA Grading Question - help!
 

Good evening,

I just received two cards back via a group submission and I'm curious about two of them.

One I recieved a MINSIZERQ which I know means the card is too small or too large than a normal size card and could not be graded. That's fine, I'm bummed because I got this card from a member on here and it was presented in good faith, but it is what it is... My question is, how does this effect value?

Two I received another card as ALTERED. Would this because you can clearly see that somebody wrote in pencil on the card and then erased it? How does this effect value?

Thanks so much for your help!

In most cases, it will affect the value, a lot. If they are rare cards, they will still have some value - maybe 10% of the vg-ex price. If they are not that rare then they will have minimal value; assuming we are talking post-war cards.

>>>I received another card as ALTERED. Would this because you can clearly see that somebody wrote in pencil on the card and then erased it?<<<

Maybe others here know better but I think writing (regardless of whether subsequent attempted erasing) is designated MK (for "Marked" I suppose) when something achieves a grade at all.

Whereas I think "altered" is reserved for something more nefarious, per the official definition:
N-5 Altered Stock - This includes, but is not limited to characteristics on the card that appear to show some form of alteration such as paper restoration, crease/wrinkle pressing or enhanced gloss.

So I wonder if your item is altered in a nefarious way such that they refused to grade it at all, and for instance if that had not been the case, then they would have assigned it a numerical grade + "MK", like 5(MK).

Not all people collect graded cards. Your MINSIZ card is probably worth what 80% of what a regular sized raw card is worth, to collectors looking to complete sets. Many raw collectors don't pull out calipers to determine whether cards meet 2.5x3.5 or whatever the real size is.

The ALTERED one could be for the erasure, if PSA thinks it also damaged the surface of the card. Marks or erasures could also get MK qualifiers. Did you request "No Qualifiers"? If so, maybe they weren't willing to downgrade it from a MK. Again, a raw card collector probably wouldn't care as much as someone working on a registry set. I think the 10% of VG-EX raw estimate above is way low. Maybe 30-50%, but it is true that it depends on how rare the card is.

I do think the 10% is pretty accurate for very common post war cards. However, for high demand, rare or ultra rare, the 30%-50% is realistic, possibly a little higher for a "must have" card.