PSA Case Damaged?
 

Hi, I just got back into card collecting after a couple decade break and bought my first PSA card of my childhood favorite player. My concern is now that I have a couple of other PSA cases and took a second look at the card, it appears to have been possibly messed with. I don't think the card was switched, it's just not worth enough (~$40), but it does seem to have the frosting issues noted in this article. But since I might want to resell in the future I want to make sure that I am upfront about it as it doesn't appear to be worth it to try to get it reholdered by PSA. Or is it worth returning to the eBay seller 1+ month later?

I've attached photos. You can see the clouding/frosting on both sides on the lower quarter of the card. It's pretty much hard to see with a white background (the seller had it pictured on a light marble table).

Thanks for any input!

The case looks OK to me, but personally, I would crack it out, as that stain is one of the easiest in the world to remove.

Interesting, how would one remove the stain? I wasn't sure if it was tape residue or gum stain. I thought that was considered "alteration" and was looked down upon? I personally have no problem with it and would consider it "restoration", although I know that that is the minority view.

I actually didn't realize that that is what the (ST) meant when I bought it and was pretty disappointed once I realized it. I would have been happier with a PSA 7 at probably the same price.

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So what do you think caused that clouding if you think it looks fine? Thanks.

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Sometimes it just happens naturally as part of the case sealing process. The gum/wax residue on the front is usually wiped off with a nylon by people who choose to do that. If it's just dust on the card, it's not considered alteration as long as it doesn't remove surface gloss.

Tape stain removal would be different; most would call that alteration, because it would require a non-water solvent to remove.

You can remove the stain in which case you may get regraded at a straight 7. But it may be an 8 or 9 oc. Probably not worth the cost of regrading.

Funny people care more a PSA case being damaged then PSA's reputation

Not to be too off topic here but in response to the PSA reputation comment, I get it there is a scandal going on that no one really knows yet how deep it goes. But honestly, I live in a small town in Wisconsin. There are no old school card shops within 100 miles of me and the likelihood of me getting to a show anytime soon is low. My only option for buying cards is online and yes although the system is far from perfect, at least graded cards give some sense of a baseline for the condition you are buying in the get what to pay for sense.

I have tried buying raw vintage from carefully studied pics alone and 90% of the time am disappointed once I have the card in hand. There is also no guarantee that raw are unaltered in the first place. Yea I enjoy collecting cards as a hobby but also with a sense of some type of small side investment for my children. Not to put them through college but give them a handed down heirloom collection that may be valuable. To me, graded cards still represent some small sense of I know what I’m getting. Don’t mean to rant and by no means am I a PSA apologist I just think there is a ton of baby-with-the-bathwater reaction now before the dust settles.

To be clear, I was asking because I was a little disappointed with the stain and I might want to resell in the future and I don't want to be accused of selling a tampered with card/case. From the article I linked to here it would seen that this case has issues, but people here seem to think it's totally fine. As I said and showed in the pictures it's really only noticable with a darker background so it looks totally fine otherwise.

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