PSA Card Cert Lookup - Grade, Population & Comparable Sales

Turn a PSA certification number into a complete row: what the card is, what grade it earned, how many exist at that grade, how many grade higher, PSA's own value estimate, and the recent sales of comparable copies with prices, dates and marketplaces.

Population tells you how rare a card is. Sales tell you what it is worth. This Actor returns both from the same lookup - no PSA account, no API key.

Why use this actor

• Population and price in one row. Most tools give you one or the other; the scarcity number and the market comps arrive together, so a rarity-versus-value screen is a single sort.
• Real comparable sales - price, date, marketplace, sale type, the grade that sold and its own certificate number, so you can follow any comp back to its own record.
• Pop Higher = 0 is the collector's question - it tells you instantly whether a card is the top-graded copy.
• Bulk-friendly. Feed a list of certificate numbers, or walk a consecutive block with range mode, since PSA issues certificates sequentially.
• Fails loudly. An unknown certificate returns not_found, junk input returns invalid_cert, and a layout change returns shape_changed instead of a silently blank row.

How it works

1. You give the Actor one or more PSA certification numbers - the number printed on the label. Full psacard.com/cert/... URLs and #-prefixed numbers work too.
2. The Actor opens each public verification page and reads everything it publishes.
3. cert mode returns one row per certificate with the item, its population and a sales summary; sales mode returns one row per comparable sale.
4. Rows stream into your dataset for JSON, CSV or Excel export.

Input

{
    "mode": "cert",
    "certNumbers": ["49204884"],
    "maxItems": 200,
    "maxConcurrency": 3
}

Field	Type	Description
mode	string	cert, sales, range or reference.
certNumber / certNumbers	string / array	Certification numbers, URLs or #-prefixed numbers.
startCert	string	range mode: first certificate of the block.
rangeCount	integer	range mode: how many consecutive certificates to walk (max 5000).
maxItems	integer	Row cap for the run. Default 200.
maxConcurrency	integer	Parallel lookups. Default 3 - keep it modest.
proxyConfiguration	object	Residential proxy, on by default and required. PSA refuses datacenter addresses.

Example inputs

Look up a collection:

{ "mode": "cert", "certNumbers": ["49204884", "69300886", "147233572"] }

Pull the comps behind one card:

{ "mode": "sales", "certNumber": "49204884" }

Sample a block of certificates graded around the same time:

{ "mode": "range", "startCert": "49204884", "rangeCount": 50 }

Output

CERT (cert and range modes)

{
    "_input": "49204884",
    "recordType": "CERT",
    "certNumber": "49204884",
    "certUrl": "https://www.psacard.com/cert/49204884",
    "itemGrade": "GEM MT 10",
    "gradeNumber": 10,
    "year": "2018",
    "brand": "PANINI PRIZM EMERGENT",
    "subject": "LUKA DONCIC",
    "cardNumber": "3",
    "category": "BASKETBALL CARDS",
    "varietyPedigree": "EMERGENT",
    "labelType": "w/ Fugitive Ink Technology",
    "psaEstimate": 60.0,
    "psaEstimateRaw": "$60.00",
    "psaPopulation": 4923,
    "psaPopHigher": 0,
    "recentSalesCount": 5,
    "recentSaleMin": 46.0,
    "recentSaleMax": 70.0,
    "recentSaleAvg": 56.8,
    "latestSaleDate": "2026-09-15"
}

Field	Type	Description
itemGrade / gradeNumber	string / number	Grade as printed, plus its numeric part for sorting.
psaPopulation	integer	How many copies exist at this grade.
psaPopHigher	integer	How many copies grade higher. 0 means this is a top-graded copy.
psaEstimate	number	PSA's own published value estimate at this grade.
recentSaleMin / recentSaleMax / recentSaleAvg	number	Range and plain average of the comps on the page.
latestSaleDate	string	Most recent comparable sale.

SALE (sales mode)

{
    "recordType": "SALE",
    "sourceCertNumber": "49204884",
    "saleIndex": 0,
    "subject": "LUKA DONCIC",
    "year": "2018",
    "soldPrice": 70.0,
    "soldDate": "2026-09-15",
    "seller": "eBay",
    "saleType": "FixedPrice",
    "grade": "PSA 10",
    "certNumber": "69300886",
    "lotNumber": "267742724000",
    "imageUrl": "https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/aRgAAeSw6XlqarNX/s-l400.webp"
}

Each sale carries the certificate of the copy that sold, so you can look that one up in turn and build a chain of comparable cards.

SURFACE (reference mode)

{
    "recordType": "SURFACE",
    "surface": "cert-page",
    "isAvailable": true,
    "detail": "payload parsed",
    "sample": { "certNumber": "49204884", "itemGrade": "GEM MT 10", "psaPopulation": "4,923", "recentSales": 5 }
}

Error rows

{ "recordType": "ERROR", "_input": "999999999999", "_error": "not_found", "_errorDetail": "PSA has no such certification number" }

What you can build with it

• Collection valuation - feed every certificate you own and get grade, scarcity and current market range in one sheet.
• Rarity screens - sort by psaPopHigher = 0 to find top-pop copies, or by low psaPopulation for genuinely scarce grades.
• Deal checking - compare an asking price against recentSaleMin, recentSaleAvg and psaEstimate before you buy.
• Market tracking - schedule the same certificate list weekly and watch estimates and comps move.
• Comp chains - each sale row carries its own certificate number, so one card expands into its graded neighbours.

Notes & limits

• The full population report needs a PSA account. This Actor returns the population figure the public certificate page prints, which is the population for that item at that grade, plus the count graded higher. It links to the full set report but does not open it.
• Comparable sales are the ones PSA lists - typically the five most recent. This is not a complete sales archive.
• psaEstimate is PSA's own number, not an appraisal by this Actor and not investment advice.
• A residential proxy is required, not optional. PSA answers home connections and refuses cloud ones; the Actor ships with Apify residential proxy enabled, and turning it off makes every row fail. This is also why the run costs a little proxy traffic.
• The source is strict. Keep maxConcurrency low; a wave of parallel lookups is the fastest way to get refused. The Actor negotiates the connection itself and records which profile worked in _tlsProfile.
• Certificates are sequential, which makes range mode useful for sampling a grading period - but most numbers in any block belong to cards you have no interest in.

Scheduling tips

• Valuation refresh: weekly per certificate list is plenty; PSA's estimates do not move daily.
• New comps: sales mode weekly on the certificates you care about.
• Start any new schedule with one reference run to confirm the source is answering.

Troubleshooting / FAQ

A certificate returns not_found. PSA has no record for that number. Check for a typo - the number is printed on the label under the barcode.

blocked_or_transient on every row. Almost always the proxy setting: PSA refuses datacenter IP addresses, so the residential proxy must stay enabled. If it is on, lower maxConcurrency and try again.

shape_changed. The page returned 200 but no item fields - PSA changed its layout. The row says so instead of shipping an empty record.

Why is population empty for my cert? A few item types (tickets, some memorabilia) do not publish one. The rest of the row is still complete.

Can I search by player instead of certificate number? Not in this Actor. The public entry point is the certificate number; searching by player needs the account-only sections.

Legal & fair use

This Actor reads the public certificate verification page that PSA publishes for every graded item - the same page a buyer checks before a purchase - without an account and without touching the account-only population reports or auction-price archives. Prices and estimates are published market data, not investment advice.