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Posted By: Damian Anderson

You just have to look hard and be prepared to deal with the hassle of returns to the sellers over the internent. I have never had refund refused from a seller on a card that I deemed altered or third party deemed altered. Just watch feedback closely and ask questions upfront. There is an element of time investment here though. I buy almost exclusively raw cards and get them graded myself. I have encountered many altered cards doing this and many unaltered. I have learned alot about trimming doing this (and by reading this forum). It has cost me some in grading fees, but at this point I consider it money well spent from the knowledge acquired. I also have learned that my semi-trained eye is often as good as or better than the opinion of the grader. Cards I questioned and wasn't sure about came back graded and cards I know weren't came back as. This is a huge plus when buying in person. Of course this applies only to issues I am familiar with. Third party graders aren't perfect for sure. Just my thoughts.

Damian