PSA Lingo for Newbies

I thought I'd lend a hand to PSA by augmenting its "Glossary" for newcomers to the grading game. Yes, some of my definitions and terms are tongue-in-cheek, but may be helpful nonetheless. Please feel free to add to this list!

BTCNTH – “Buy The Card, Not The Holder” (not really an acronym, but it should be!)

Cert – The unique 8 digit certification number assigned to every PSA-graded collectible.

COCD – Compulsive Order Checking Disorder; an affliction suffered by a significant percentage of the PSA membership characterized by an uncontrollable urge to constantly refresh your order page to see if your grades have posted (see “poppage”).

Flip – the PSA label

Grader of death – a nefarious creature purportedly inhabiting the depths off Newport Beach who is solely responsible for grades that are at least one full point lower than the submitter expected.

Loggage – verification that your problem-free order has arrived at PSA and has been entered into their system to await grading.

Problem shelf – where your cards reside after arrival at PSA if there’s a problem with your order (e.g. order form incomplete, payment information not supplied, etc.). Will prevent loggage. Solution? Call PSA customer service.

Poopage – a less-than satisfactory posting of your grades (see “Grader of Death”).

Poppage – the near-orgasmic moment when your grades are posted online; hyper-anticipation of this event can lead to Compulsive Order Checking Disorder (see “COCD”).