The PSA - DNA rating system is a way that buyers and sellers of trading cards can come to a consensus regarding the quality and value of rare baseball cards. Trading cards (and baseball cards in particular) have always been at the heart of the sports collecting industry. They are easy to buy, cheap to make, and plentiful. Kids love to collect them and trade them. When those kids grow up, die-hard adult collectors continue their childhood loves. Many make livings out of it.

For over 100 years, collecting baseball cards has been an American hobby. With thousands of players to choose from in the past century, it is easy to latch onto a particularly unique market and start collecting. But when baseball cards started to become valuable, there were problems. Two inexorable facts should be stated here: first, money always changes things, and second, there will always be con men looking to make a quick buck.

When it was obvious that cards were big bucks, scam artists started making forgeries. In addition, for-profit collectors would overstate the condition of real cards so that their value was inflated. The industry was getting out of hand, and something had to be done. As a result, the PSA - DNA rating system was introduced. PSA stands for 'Professional Sports Authentication,' and it was created in response to these events.

PSA - DNA organizations are independent companies who check the authenticity and grade the condition of trading cards. They have nothing to gain or lose by doing this, and that's why the process is objective. They charge a fee for their services, paid for by the seller. After the card is graded, it is sealed in a hard plastic case and accompanied by a tag that shows the grade, as well as a grading license number and bar code so that buyers can check the tag. It's the best way to ensure that trading cards buy and sell for fair prices.