Grading: PSA, Beckett, CGC and SGC explained

Grading means sending your card to an independent company that assesses its condition, confirms that it is authentic and seals it in a plastic slab with a grade on a scale of 1 to 10. The grade sets the price: the same card in a 10 can be worth several times more than in a 9. The big four are PSA, Beckett (BGS), CGC and SGC. PSA is the largest and the most traded on the secondary market overall, while SGC has built its reputation on vintage cards.

Quick facts

Scale	1 to 10, where 10 is the highest grade
At the top	Gem Mint 10 at PSA. Beckett, CGC and SGC also have Pristine 10
Assessed	Centering, corners, edges and surface
Included	Authentication and a sealed slab
Required when submitting	Penny sleeve and card saver, never a toploader
Turnaround	Varies widely with service level and queue
Largest on the secondary market	PSA

What is assessed

Four things are examined, under a lamp and magnification. Centering is how evenly the image sits between the borders, front and back. It was decided when the printed sheet was cut into individual cards, long before the card ended up in a pack. Corners are assessed as sharp or dinged. Edges are checked for chipping and whitening. The surface is checked for scratches, print defects, fingerprints and dull spots in the foil.

The result is that a card can look perfect in hand and still get an 8, most often because of centering. That is nothing you can influence, and it is the reason a large share of everything opened is ruled out of top grades the moment the pack is torn open.

The difference between the companies

PSA	The largest, and its labels are the most traded on the secondary market. A single overall grade, without subgrades.
Beckett, BGS	Subgrades per category, plus the Black Label tier for cards with top grades in all four.
CGC	Comes from the comic book world and has grown quickly on the card side.
SGC	Has built its reputation on vintage cards and is counted as the fourth major player.

Which one is right depends more on what buyers in your niche expect than on the quality of the assessments.

The grades and what they are called

All four use the 1 to 10 scale, but the names and the top differ. At PSA, 10 is the highest grade and is called Gem Mint. Beckett, CGC and SGC have a tier above it, Pristine 10, for cards that are essentially flawless even under magnification. PSA's scale looks like this, and the other companies use similar names.

10	GEM-MT, Gem Mint
9	MINT, Mint
8	NM-MT, Near Mint-Mint
7	NM, Near Mint
6	EX-MT, Excellent-Mint
5	EX, Excellent
4	VG-EX, Very Good-Excellent
3	VG, Very Good
2	GOOD, Good
1.5	FR, Fair
1	PR, Poor

PSA gives half grades from 2.5 to 8.5, and a half grade means a copy that is nicer than most within its grade, not something in between. There is no 9.5 at PSA. Beckett, CGC and SGC have half grades across the whole scale, including 9.5.

PSA	10 Gem Mint is the highest grade.
Beckett	Pristine 10 above Gem Mint 9.5. Black Label is a Pristine 10 where all four subgrades are 10.
CGC	Pristine 10 above Gem Mint 10.
SGC	10 Pristine above 10 Gem Mint.

Beckett's four subgrades cover centering, corners, edges and surface and are shown on the label next to the overall grade. The overall grade is not an average. The lowest subgrade carries the most weight, so a card with three 10s and one weak point ends up closer to the weak point than to the 10s. Gem Mint therefore does not mean the same thing everywhere: at Beckett it is 9.5, at the other three 10.

The label

The label shows the card's name, set, year and number, the grade and a cert number. At PSA it also shows the grade name, such as GEM-MT or NM-MT, and sometimes a qualifier after the number. A qualifier means the card reaches the grade in everything except one thing.

OC	Off center, the image sits crooked
ST	Staining, stains
PD	Print defect
OF	Out of focus, blurry image
MK	Marks, writing or marks
MC	Miscut, card cut incorrectly

PSA always applies MK and MC when needed. For the other four, PSA usually lowers the number instead. If it says Authentic instead of a number, the company has only certified that the card is genuine, without a grade. At PSA such a card may have been altered, for example trimmed or cleaned, so Authentic should not be read as untouched.

The population report

Each company publishes a population report, or pop report: how many copies of a card it has graded in each grade. Pop 1 means the company has graded a single copy in that grade. The figure applies to one company, changes every time new cards are graded and says nothing about how many ungraded copies exist. It is a measure of what has been graded, not of how rare the card is.

Check the cert number

The cert number on the label can be looked up with the company, which shows the grade, the description and, for some cards, images. If they match the card in your hand that is a good sign, but no proof that the slab is genuine, since counterfeiters copy real cert numbers. Also look at the slab and label themselves, and buy expensive cards from sellers you can trust. The companies' guarantees do not cover cards in tampered or counterfeit slabs. More in the guide to authentic cards.

Is it worth it?

Calculate, don't guess. Six steps, in this order:

1. Find out what the card is worth ungraded, based on sold prices.
2. Find out what the same card is worth in the grade you can realistically get, which is not always a 10.
3. Subtract the grading fee.
4. Subtract shipping in both directions.
5. Subtract any fee to an intermediary.
6. If what remains is greater than the ungraded value, it may be worth it. Otherwise not.

On a low-value card the fee often eats the whole gain unless the grade is the highest possible. The calculation looks completely different when the card is already valuable, since percentage premiums then become large, or when the card is nearly flawless and the chance of a top grade is real. There are two more reasons that are not about return: if the card is to be sold to someone who cannot judge authenticity, the slab reduces the buyer's risk, and if the card is sentimental, the slab protects it whatever the calculation says.

Don't bother when the card shows visible wear, since grading confirms condition but does not improve it. Don't bother when demand is low, since a confirmed grade does not help a card nobody wants. Don't bother with common newly printed cards where the fee exceeds the value. And don't bother if you plan to keep the card anyway without displaying it. Then a magnetic holder is enough.

How to submit

1. The card in a penny sleeve.
2. Then in a card saver, a semi-rigid holder. All four advise against toploaders, since the card must be removable without bending.
3. Fill in the company's form and state the declared value, which determines both the fee and the insurance.
4. Pack so that nothing moves in the package.
5. Ship with tracking, and insure when the value justifies it.
6. Wait. Turnaround times vary widely with service level and queue length.

PSA, Beckett and CGC take submissions from collectors in the EU at offices in Germany: PSA in Frankfurt, Beckett in Lage and CGC in Munich. PSA and Beckett grade the cards there. CGC grades trading card games in Munich and sends other cards on to the United States. SGC takes submissions in the United States. There are also intermediaries that collect cards and send them on in a combined shipment, which lowers the shipping cost per card.

The misconceptions

The most common is that grading makes a card valuable. It confirms the condition; a worn card becomes a confirmed worn card. The second most common is that all expensive cards should be graded, while some markets hardly care about the label. Many also believe a card straight out of the pack is flawless, which factory print and cut errors contradict. That 9 and 10 would be close in price is rarely true; the difference is often several times over. And improving a card before submission by cleaning or trimming counts as tampering and gets no numeric grade.

The accessories

Before submission you need penny sleeves, card savers and bags. For shipping you need rigid packaging and filler. After return you need binder pages for slabs, or stands if the cards are to be on display.

Frequently asked questions

• Are PSA 10 and BGS 10 the same thing? No. PSA 10 is Gem Mint, PSA's highest grade. BGS 10 is Pristine, a tier PSA does not have.
• What does OC on the label mean? Off center. The card reaches the grade in everything except centering.
• What is a pop report? The company's count of how many copies of the card it has graded in each grade.
• Can a card be regraded? Yes, you can submit an already graded card for a new assessment, but the grade may come back lower.
• Are sealed products graded? Yes, entire boxes can be assessed and encapsulated by some companies.
• What happens if the card is fake? It is returned without a grade, and that in itself is an answer worth something.
• How do I know what grade I can get? Examine the card in strong light from several angles, and be harder on it than you want to be.

Read more about card condition, authenticity and what a card is worth.

Shop: grading accessories at Bangerpack.

Written by us who run Bangerpack. Range and prices change continuously. What applies when you read this is shown in the category.