Show us the card. We’ll explain what may improve, what will remain and the price before you decide.
Get a quoteSee the servicesPressing or cleaning can rule out a number grade. Read this first.
Sabrina’s Gengar, 14/132, after cleaning, set on a dark ground. The red line is an illustration, not part of the photo.
Six kinds of damage, each quoted per card once we’ve seen it. What may stay is listed with each one.
Our photographs are cropped, not retouched. Results vary from card to card.
Compare the marked area, then use Enlarge for a closer look. Light, angle and holders can differ; each caption explains how.
Light folds and crease lines reduced, so the card lies flatter.
Limits Only some creases come out. A hard fold that cracked the ink will still show a line.
Work time Deep crease cleaning: 1–3 business days once your card arrives.
Ampharos ex
Look at the holo beside Ampharos’s head.
A crease line shows there in the Before photo and not in the After.
The first is in a toploader, the second in a sleeve; light and angle differ too.
Pocket Monsters card back
Look at the lettering and the blue behind it, left of the Poké Ball.
A white crease line shows through the blue and across the lettering in the Before photo and not in the After. Fine hairline marks remain on the lettering and the ball.
Light, angle and framing differ: the first is closer and cuts off the card’s left edge, the second shows the whole card.
Dust, grime and the grey film cards pick up from hands, sleeves and binders, cleaned from the surface.
Limits Marks that soaked into the card, like water stains, may not come out. Surface dirt usually does.
Work time Cleaning: 1–2 business days once your card arrives.
Sabrina’s Gengar, 14/132
Look at the yellow border.
Dark specks show along it in the Before photo and not in the After.
The first is on a table, the second in a toploader; light differs too.
Small dents and dings eased, the kind binder rings and loose storage leave.
Limits Only shallow dents ease. A dent that broke the surface will still show a mark, and deeper dents may stay visible.
Bent, bowed and curling cards flattened where the card allows.
Limits A sharp bend can leave a line, the way a crease does. Light curl, from humidity for example, often flattens.
Fingerprints, smudges and haze cleaned from holo and foil surfaces.
Limits Scratches in the foil are permanent. Haze and fingerprints can usually be cleared.
Sticky residue, tape marks and surface stains taken off where they can be.
Limits A stain that has soaked in may only fade. Surface residue can often be lifted.
Pressing or cleaning can rule out a number grade.
Graders treat some restoration as alteration. PSA lists crease and wrinkle pressing, and cleaning sprays or solutions, among signs of an altered card; CGC lists pressing, chemical cleaning and stain removal. A card judged altered doesn’t get a number grade from either. What counts depends on the card and the evidence of treatment, so a gentle job is no guarantee either way. If you plan to grade, tell us before we start.
Sources: PSA grading standards, “Altered Stock” and “Evidence of Cleaning” (checked October 7, 2026); CGC Cards, “Cards we grade” (checked October 7, 2026)
Photos first, a quote second, posting last.
Once your card arrives, deep crease cleaning takes 1–3 business days. Cleaning, scratch removal and polishing take 1–2 business days.
One card or a collection. Show us the condition first; we’ll explain what may improve and the price before you decide.
No photos or contact details are collected on this page. You choose what to share when you contact us. How your photos and details are used and kept.
Start with a conversation
Front and back of each card, with an angled photo for a crease or dent. Several cards? Include their names and keep each pair together.
Instagram opens separately. Attach your photos and send the message there. Email opens your email app with a message ready to edit; attach your photos there.
Optional. These answers stay in your browser; this page sends nothing.
One card per line. Names and numbers help, but a clear photo is enough to start.
Copying prepares the message. It does not send it.
Confirm the proposed work, total price, expected timing, return postage and responsibility for damage or loss. For a valuable or irreplaceable card, ask about handling and insurance before deciding.
Photos start the conversation. They do not authorise treatment or publication.
Five things worth a close look on a card.
Most of what dulls a card sits on top of it: dust, skin oil, the grey film from sleeves and binders. A low light from the side shows it best.
Corners and edges take the knocks and collect the grime. Soft corners, pale edges and marks show there first.
Under a low lamp from the side, a crease shows as a line of light, even where it’s hard to see straight on. That’s why an angled photo helps us assess a crease.
Dirt that sits on the card, like these dark spots across a card back, can come off. The ink printed underneath it can’t.
Holo and foil scratch more easily than plain card. Fingerprints and haze sit on the surface and can come off; a scratch is in the foil and stays.
From the first cards in Japan in 1996 to the English sets the cards on this page come from.
The game was first published in Japan in October 1996, by Media Factory. Wizards of the Coast brought the Base Set to the United States on January 9, 1999.
Source: Wikipedia, “Pokémon Trading Card Game”; Wikipedia, “List of Pokémon Trading Card Game sets”
Gym Heroes, the sixth English set, arrived on August 14, 2000, with 132 cards. Sabrina’s Gengar, the card in the opening photograph, is number 14 of them.
