Great experience. Card was just as described. Excited to have this added to the collection.
Frank Thomas 1990 Topps Signed Baseball Rookie Card #414B Auto Graded Beckett 10
Learn the Secret How To CORRECTLY Prep Sports Cards for an Autograph Signing in Under 1 Minute
We all want to get the best possible autograph on our card. You ever get a card back from signing and you're like, what the hell happened here? The pen is all over the place. The ink sprayed out. It's streaky like crazy. Who do I blame for this? Who can I yell at? We all know, we want to blame the autograph promoter. That's the one you paid for the autograph signing. So naturally we get blamed for it and totally understandable. But often times, we don't control the athlete's hand or the pen, so there's a lot of factors at play. One of them has to do with the surface of your card, especially with modern cards and their glossy surface.
If a card's surface doesn't have anything for the ink to stick to, it's really hard to get a good quality autograph. So how do we fix this problem? Well, we use baby powder. Yes I said that right, baby powder. The stuff you put on our kids' butts. We're going to be using baby powder on our cards.
Why do we do this? Applying a small amount to the surface of a glossy card like Chrome or Prizm, those kinds of cards. will give it some tackiness and the ink something to stick to. In the video you can see I'm using some of these 2021 Topps Chrome soccer cards of this guy, Jared Stroud. Spread the powder all around the cards surface, just like I'm doing here so it looks like Al Pacino's desk in Scarface. Then after you've done that, then take a microfiber towel or heck you can even use your t-shirt and wipe it off. That's it. That's all you have to do. I wouldn't use something rough, like a paper towel. It might scratch your card. Just something very, very smooth to wipe off your card.Β I went ahead and tested a few sharpies and paint pens on each card. The one on the left has not been prepped with baby powder, and the one on the right has.
You can see how the blue sharpie has some holes in the ink and it's kind of, spread out a bit.Β Same thing with the black sharpie and also the white paint pen. The ink had nothing really to stick to here and took a long time to dry. Therefore, it kind of spread out like that.
Now take a look at the one of the right. Very clean, right? Ink stayed exactly where it went to on the card. It didn't move. It's dried right where it went on the card. As you can see the autographs on the right are way better than the ones on the left, because there's no streaking for the most part, it's stuck right to the card where you put it.
I would do this if your card is any Chrome or Prizm card. The original cardboard cards, think 1981 Topps or 1986 Fleer. You don't need to put baby powder on those. The cardboard will hold the sharpie autograph perfectly. You don't need to do anything to those cardboard cards. 
If you're unsure if your card needs to be prepped, what I would do is buy a cheaper card from the set, like a $3 card and test a few pens on it. You'll know right away whether or not you need to prep that card. I would be cautious of using baby powder if you plan on getting the card itself graded after the signing.Β I have no way of knowing how this will affect your surface grade. To the naked eye it doesn't cause any damage to your surface, so don't worry about that. It looks perfect. But then again, I'm not grading any of my cards that I get signed.Β I don't know what these look like under a scope that PSA is going to use to be able to look at your card surface, so I don't know the full extent of that.
If you are sending in like a few thousand dollar card, that was a PSA 10 and you're getting it signed, I probably wouldn't put baby powder on it just to be on the safe side. I just don't want to lead you down this road and then you send it back in, and you get a PSA five. This is just for cards that we're getting autographed and we're not getting graded.Β
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The COA was placed exactly where I wanted it and it turned out great. Always an easy experience.
An excellent experience with the team. The ball turned out perfectly. Easy to ship the ball in and it returned after signing without an issue.
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Fernando Tatis Jr 2019 Topps Baseball Rookie Card RC #410 Graded PSA 9 MINT
π such a nice autograph! Thank you!
Thank you for another awesome autograph!
Mr. Powers delivered on my request for this Cal Ripken jr. autograph. It was a nice size clean and perfect signature better than I expected. Mr. Powers team is quick to respond with any concerns you may have and keeps you posted on your item. I will absolutely be getting more signatures through them to finish my collection. I highly recommend Powers Sports to anyone that has any doubts. I use to do send ins with Steiner sports until he sold, to me Powers picked up where they left off and I couldnt be happier. Thank you
Great experience as usual! Iβll definitely be getting more autographs in the future!!
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The color match ink auto looks great! Thanks!
A fantastic addition to the set. Bosh's autograph really pops on this one. Thanks!
This might be the only autograph of this card that has his whole auto on it. Great addition to the collection!
This came back amazing! The autograph was very clean! Thanks!
This completes my set of sketch cards. It's been fun doing this.
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Ronald Acuna Jr 2018 Topps Living Baseball Rookie Card RC #19 Graded PSA 10
Loved it all.
Great experience as usual, highly recommend Powers
Great job by Matt and his team as usual
Matt and his team did it again. Highly recommend Powers to anyone looking for high end autographs
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Awesome experience as usual, I love my Jagr autograph!
Awesome experience as usual!
Great experience! I had never gotten any autographs through a signing like this before and I had a number of questions. Someone called me right back & couldnβt have been nicer. The customer service was outstanding every step of the way & I couldnβt be happier with the Reggie Jackson autographed ticket.
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Finally caught the ghost!!!
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All hail the Chief!!! Robert Parrish .. 4x NBA champion inscription.. Double 00..
I waited a long time for this one especially being a huge fan of the Showtime era Lakers. Kevin Mchale was a thorn in my side but I have the utmost respect for him and the Celtics.. A great addition to my growing collection..
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Roberto
August 26, 2024
Great question by the poster above, David S.