Grading is not automatically worth it. It is a bet: you pay a fee now for a number that either multiplies the card's value or wastes the fee.
The arithmetic
For any card, work out:
- 1.What it is worth raw, in its current condition.
- 2.What it sells for at the grade you realistically expect — not the grade you hope for.
- 3.The submission cost: grading fee, postage both ways, insurance, and the months of waiting.
If (2) minus (1) does not comfortably exceed (3), do not submit it.
Where people go wrong
- Assuming a 10. Cards that look flawless to the eye routinely come back 8 or 9. Centring alone knocks out a huge share of submissions, and you cannot fix it.
- Grading cheap cards. A £15 card graded at a £20 fee is worth less than the fee unless the grade is exceptional.
- Ignoring the spread. For many cards a PSA 9 is worth barely more than raw, while a 10 is worth five times as much. That means the bet is all-or-nothing.
The four things graders actually look at
| Sub-grade | What kills it |
|---|---|
| Centring | Borders uneven front or back — decided at the factory, not by you |
| Corners | Any softening or whitening, visible under magnification |
| Edges | Whitening along the sides, common on black-bordered cards |
| Surface | Print lines, scratches, dents, dimples under raking light |
Getting an answer before you pay
Our AI grader is free while it is in open beta. Photograph the front and back and it returns a predicted grade on the PSA, BGS, CGC and ACE scales, the four sub-grades, centring measured from the actual borders rather than eyeballed, and a crop of each defect it finds.
Match the card to the catalogue and it goes further: it compares the raw value against real graded sold prices, so you see the potential uplift before paying a submission fee. Every grade is an estimate to help you decide — not a guarantee, and we are not affiliated with any grading company.