How to verify a PSA cert number

Step-by-step: where the certification number is on a PSA slab, how to look it up, what the record should show, and the warning signs that a listing does not match its label.

By Cardboard Terminal · 2026-10-20

Every PSA slab carries a certification number on the label. PSA keeps a public record of every number it has issued, so a buyer can confirm the card, the grade and in most cases a photo of the exact slab before paying. It takes thirty seconds and it is the single most useful check on an eBay listing.

Where the number is

On a modern PSA label the cert number is the 8-digit number printed on the front, under the grade, and encoded in the barcode and QR code. Older labels show 7 or 8 digits. The number is unique to that one slab. If a card is cracked and regraded it receives a new number.

Look it up

1. Go to the PSA cert verification page at psacard.com/cert and enter the number, or scan the QR code on a newer label with your phone.
2. Read the record: card name, set, year, card number, variety (1st Edition, Shadowless, Holo) and the grade.
3. Compare every field to the listing title and the photo of the label. Grade, year and variety are where mismatches hide.
4. If the record includes images of the slab, compare the card's centering and any visible marks to the seller's photos.
5. Check the population report line. A low population at the top grade explains a high price; a high population suggests the asking price should be close to the recent sold prices.

Warning signs

• The grade on the label does not match the record. Walk away. Labels can be printed; records cannot.
• The record is for a different card. A Japanese version, an Unlimited instead of a 1st Edition, or a different card number entirely. Sometimes an honest seller mistyped the title; sometimes not. Price off the record, not the title.
• The record has no images and the seller's photos are low resolution or taken from another listing. Ask for a photo of the slab with a handwritten note in frame.
• The slab shows signs of tampering. Clouding along the seam, a label that sits unevenly, scratches concentrated near the edge of the label window.
• The same cert number appears in several live listings. One slab cannot be for sale in two places at once.

Other graders

CGC, Beckett (BGS) and SGC each run their own lookup. CGC's includes slab images for recent submissions. Beckett's returns the grade and sub-grades. The checks are the same: match the record to the label, then the label to the photos.

How Cardboard Terminal uses the cert

The deal finder reads the certification label on each slab it lists, confirms the card against the grader's record and prices the listing against sales of that exact card and grade. A listing whose cert does not match its title is held back rather than shown with the wrong comps. The cert number is also what links a listing to its card price page.