How to check a PSA cert

Step by step

1. 01Find the number. The cert number is printed on the PSA label. Copy it from the slab itself, not from a listing photo or a screenshot.
2. 02Open PSA’s page yourself. Type psacard.com/cert into the browser and enter the number. PSA’s FAQ says its own app can also scan the label or its QR code. Use PSA’s page or PSA’s app, not a phone camera that opens whatever address a QR code holds.
3. 03Match every field. Player or character, year, set, card number, any variety, and the grade. One field that differs from the label is enough to stop and ask.
4. 04Compare the images, where shown. PSA’s FAQ says its SecureScan images, for cards, tickets and packs, are added to the cert verification site. Where the record shows them, set them beside the slab: the corners, the centring, the surface and the label itself.
5. 05Keep the result. Save the lookup with the date you made it, with photographs of the slab front and back. That is the start of the card’s record.
6. 06If the lookup shows no record. Check the digits first. If the number is right and PSA shows it as deactivated or not found, read what a deactivated cert means before anything moves.

What this check does not prove

• Who holds the card now. A cert records the card and the grade on the day it was graded. It says nothing about who has held the card since, or how it got to the seller.
• That the slab in hand is the one graded. The lookup checks a number. A label can be printed to copy a real one, so the card, the label and any images on the record have to match the slab in front of you.
• The card’s condition since grading. The grade was given on the day PSA graded the card. A slab can be opened, damaged or resealed afterwards; look at the case edges and the label for signs it has been disturbed.
• What the card is worth. A grade is not a price. The lookup says nothing about value, and neither does this guide.
• Ownership. A matching record does not show who owns the card or whether the seller can pass title to it. That is a question for the seller, in writing.