WIWAG back in business under sundiegocollectibles, trimming cards for PSA slabs

[swarmee]

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1369218





Welcome back to the card industry!

[Fred]

Just curious. has anybody ever tried using a laser to cut edges off of cards?

What do people use to make precise cuts without leaving an indication like a bat ear or something like that?

I thought WIWAG was somehow replacing higher grade cards with lower grade cards in PSA holders and they were caught doing that.

[MULLINS5]

Originally Posted by Fred

Just curious. has anybody ever tried using a laser to cut edges off of cards?

What do people use to make precise cuts without leaving an indication like a bat ear or something like that?

I thought WIWAG was somehow replacing higher grade cards with lower grade cards in PSA holders and they were caught doing that.

Yes, lasers are used, mainly to measure though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU_4cfNbP1I

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by Fred

I thought WIWAG was somehow replacing higher grade cards with lower grade cards in PSA holders and they were caught doing that.

They were; it was covered in the link. And the trimming that these scammers have been getting away with is sometimes fairly noticeable with bat ears. But it seems like they're just using garden variety paper slicers or industrial ones.

[MULLINS5]

Originally Posted by Fred

I thought WIWAG was somehow replacing higher grade cards with lower grade cards in PSA holders and they were caught doing that.

Now PSA is doing the work for them.

[Marchillo]

Out of curiosity -

There’s a lot of 25 uncut sheets of 1979 Topps that all have the Ozzie RC. It’s at $2700 at the time of this post. There are only 5 PSA 10’s out there and they go for $20K plus. With all those expert trimmers out there this seems like a slam dunk. There’s nothing different about an uncut sheet right? Would it be unethical to make an absolute perfect cut and get it graded a 10? I know the backs might not line up, possible surface issues but I would imagine you could get a couple out of it.

[swarmee]

Yes, it is unethical because PSA is only supposed to grade pack-released cards which were cut at the factory and boxed out. PSA claims that they can see the difference between factory and aftermarket cuts (and the lie detector test determined "That was a lie."). So altering a card by cutting it from a sheet and submitting to PSA would be against their TOS.
This is one of the major accusations levied against NFL football player Evan Mathis: buying uncut sheets and submitting cards to PSA for gem grades. Is PSA incompetent or are they in on it? That's for a court (or court of public opinion) to decide!

To add: that's one reason vintage Mint cards in Beckett holders sell for so much less. They knowingly grade sheet cut cards; check the price differences in the 1979 Wayne Gretzky cards. And now SGC is offering the option for them to CUT CARDS FOR YOU and then grade them. However, they have not declared whether or not this only applies to cards like Post or Jell-O, but their roll-out showed they were cutting up proof sheets of 1970s Topps cards, IIRC.

[Marchillo]

That makes sense. I think it’s obvious they can’t detect non factory cut cards when done well. I personally can’t cut my kids school pictures straight. Not sure how much I’d care if the cards were cut from a sheet that was uncut in a way the factory does versus trimming a card that came out of the factory.

Im also a mid grade collector and would be unhappy if I dropped $15K on a PSA 10 pop of 5 and then have 15 of them show up on the market all at once.