How can you tell if a PSA holder or flip has been tampered with?

jsanz

Are there a lot out there? I'm mostly into unopened packs and boxes so I don't know much about graded cards.

Grimster

harder to tell if you are basing your opinion off of an auction picture on ebay rather than holding the card in your hand.

One of the telltale signs is frosting on the edges of the case. That would indicate that it has been opened before. All of the PSA cases (and BGS and SGC I think) are sonically sealed so it should show tampering pretty readily.

Other thing is to look at WHEN the card was graded (early flip vs. more recent flip, etc) and compare font sizes and kerning and make sure the barcode and authentication number are accurate

Last thing is to just look at the card. If it's a PSA 4 card stuck into a PSA 8 case....fairly decent chance it has been tampered with.

There are probably more signs out there to warn you of a case that has been tampered with, but those are the general ones I keep on the lookout for.

I am not a HUGE collector, but in my years of collecting graded cards I have not come across any fakes or ones that have been tampered with(knock on wood). I'd say my collection is about 20% self submitted and 80% purchased.