Scratches can make your Pokemon card’s value go from $500 to $50 depending on the severity. It’s best to do everything possible to prevent this from happening so you can show off your cards in the best condition possible. When you first pull a card, the obvious thing to do is to put the card in a sleeve immediately but some people don’t know that sleeving or handling a card certain ways can leave permanent marks and scratches! Here’s how to prevent that.
How to Prevent Damage
Deep Pocket Monster on YouTube made a great video showcasing how scratches and scuff marks can appear from normal handling of Pokemon cards. An important take away from the video is if you touch the holo part on a card, you’ll likely see fingerprints and possibly scuff marks where you put your finger. The more you touch the holographic part, the less shiny it becomes. This can devalue rare holo cards drastically and for this reason, it’s best you don’t touch the holo part of the card at all before it’s in a sleeve. Sleeve a card right when it’s pulled by holding it on the edges and contain your excitement so you don’t put a lot of pressure on the card! This PokeTuber also preforms a series of tests to see if other types of handling can cause scratches and marks, you can check that out here.
How To Clean Pokemon Cards
A common question when cleaning cards is can you fix scratches on Pokemon cards? You may be able to remove fingerprints and dirt from cards but scratches are permanent. There are some people that claim you can use certain chemicals or oils to remove scratches but this will only damage the card further. You do not want your cards to get wet as they will warp, bend, and be in worse condition after the fact. With older cards you might see dirt or black specks on them. To remove these specks you can take a dry Qtip and gently clean the card with it. You can also use this method to remove fingerprints from cards. If you decide to use a cloth instead of a Qtip, just make sure it’s very soft. Some cloths will cause scratches even with light pressure.