How is this card a PSA 9?

[pwaldo]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1981-O-Pee-C...item58b296dece

[MattDMC]

Well if you squint your eyes hard enough the centering kind of begins to look alright .


Thats far from a 9.

[flemingc04]

The same goes if you zoom in far enough that you can't see both sides at the same time lol. That's terrible.

[Drewk86a]

Looks like they are setting the bar awful low at PSA.

Then again, they set the standard with these other Mint 9 Messier's
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1981-O-PEE-CHEE-HOCKEY-118-MARK-MESSIER-HOF-PSA-9-MINT-OC-WEIGHT-10X-IN-SET-/351102901294?pt=US_Hockey_Trading_Cards&hash=item5 1bf5d1c2e

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mark-Messier-O-PEE-Chee-289-PSA-9-MC-Mint-Rookie-Card-/281374812005?pt=US_Hockey_Trading_Cards&hash=item4 1833ee765

Could it be that "MINT" to PSA means that the card is in the same condition it was when it came out of the pack? Maybe they don't consider a factory flaw, such as centering, to affect grading?

[sedinfan]

Sooo, according to their site...

MINT 9: Mint
A PSA Mint 9 is a superb condition card that exhibits only one of the following minor flaws: a very slight wax stain on reverse, a minor printing imperfection or slightly off-white borders. Centering must be approximately 60/40 to 65/35 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the reverse.

Zooming in on the image in an editing program, to me I see about 9 pixels of white on the left, and 25 on the right, so lookin' like 75-25 or so centering to me, which puts it more in the PSA 7 range.

[GHCHambone]

I have seen some other examples of this seller getting quite favorable grades from PSA...

[GHCHambone]

Looks like they are setting the bar awful low at PSA.

Then again, they set the standard with these other Mint 9 Messier's
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1981-O-PEE-CHEE-HOCKEY-118-MARK-MESSIER-HOF-PSA-9-MINT-OC-WEIGHT-10X-IN-SET-/351102901294?pt=US_Hockey_Trading_Cards&hash=item5 1bf5d1c2e

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mark-Messier-O-PEE-Chee-289-PSA-9-MC-Mint-Rookie-Card-/281374812005?pt=US_Hockey_Trading_Cards&hash=item4 1833ee765

Could it be that "MINT" to PSA means that the card is in the same condition it was when it came out of the pack? Maybe they don't consider a factory flaw, such as centering, to affect grading?

Those both have qualifiers, which take the flaws into account. They are technically not Mint 9, they are "almost" Mint 9.

[flemingc04]

And this is one of the main reasons why I don't collect graded cards. Each company has their own standards but you're relying 100% on one person's subjective opinion. If they are newer to the company, they are more likely to make mistakes (like any job).

[brooaar]

someone was lax in printing the label, this is an (OC) 9 all the way...or a true 7.

[japhi]

This is simply a mechanical error, was probably supposed to go into the system as 9OC and the OC was left out. I know graded cards aren't super popular around here but most of the time PSA (and SGC, and Beckett) do a good job of giving the buyer an indication on quality of the card, and a lot of flaws can only be seen in person, like a light surface issue. For guys that buy 100% online grading is super helpful.