Pokemon Card that needs grading must be sent to a company that is professional in the grading business. Companies evaluate the condition of Pokemon cards using different factors like edging and centering. And after a complete evaluation cards get grades from 1 to 10, 1 is the lowest, and 10 is the highest grade of the Pokemon card.
If you are a collector then you should have high hopes for the newest Cards. And if you have an old deck then you probably should get them graded to add value to them, if you want to know how to get Pokemon cards graded, with simple steps we have explained everything for you.
Part 1. Steps to Grade Pokemon Cards
Once you have decided to grade your card and spend your money, then grading is a relatively easy process, with a bit of a wait. It doesn’t matter, which grader you choose, the process to work on them is the same for everyone.
1. Inspection of Car
Prior inspection of your cards keeps the cost down because you will be paying on a per-card grading cost. Inspection will do the good of removing the ones which don’t need grading because the ones that are in the middle usually are secured from curves or cuts. You will not get anything near to 10s but above 5s is quite good.
2. Submitting the Cards
Follow the steps of the grader that you have chosen for the submission process, and submit the cards which you have selected for submission. And then you have to wait because there are real people that are utilizing their time to grade the cards, inspect everyone and give value to them.
3. Authentication
In this step, the company inspects the authentication of the cards that you have submitted them. This process inspects whether the collection that you have finalized for grading is genuine cards or not. In the market, there is a massive business of falsified and forged cards, so if you are buying be aware of this. The grader will also check if you have attempted to hide defects in any way.
4. Grading
After the authentication process, the grader starts working on grading cards. And this process will take time because there are a lot of factors that they need to look at to determine the best score for a card.
5. Encapsulation
Lastly, the encapsulation process starts to prevent the cards from further damage, and also to prove the value of the card there is a displaying of the grade.
Part 2. How Pokemon Cards are Graded
There are very few factors that a professional grading company will look into the card and after giving points to each grading factor they assign the grade.
Grading not only tells you the quality of your card but also adds more value to it. If you have a Pokemon 1st Edition Charizard Card, does it holds the same value that people say online, well that depends on the condition of the card, if it is in good condition then the value is retained if not then the amount degrades.
Factors that are Considered
There are four factors that professional grading companies look into the card to decide your Pokemon card quality. These factors include centering of the border, corners condition, edging conditions, and scratches on the card.
Border Centering
The crucial part for a card to score high is the card’s centered border. If you look at the back of a typical Pokemon card then you will observe that the back of the card has blue edges and on the front, there are borders of different colors.
Corners
Most commonly it is the corners of the cards that you see most damaged. The card which has crisp and pristine corners are considered to be the best. The corners should be perfectly flat, without any whiteness and there should be no roughness as well.
Edging
The edges, like corners, are the most easily damaged parts, so the factor that adds value to the card is the edges. So they must be sharp, without any bending or coloring, and must be pristine.
Surface
If the cards were not in the protective covering or any type of casing then there will be a lot of scratches atop. If you can’t see the scratch with your naked eye, it does not mean that there is not any.
Professional graders will examine the card with magnifying lamp to see whether it is scratchless or not, and they will also look for other defects like dings, dents, and scrapes on the surface. There are times when printing defects are present and they will lower the value of the card.
Scale of Grading
There is a scale of grading for a pokemon go card which has a score between 1 to 10, below are scores with conditions.
- Poor Condition
- Good Condition
- Very Good Condition
- Very Good to Excellent Condition
- Excellent Condition
- Excellent – Near Mint Condition
- Near Mint Condition
- Near Mint – Mint Condition
- Mint Condition
- Gem Mint Condition
It is very difficult to find the Gem Mint Condition card, but you never know, there is only one way to find out and it’s by grading the card. And if you do find a 10s card it will have 200,000 dollars worth.
Part 3. Where to get your Pokemon Cards Graded
There are very few options where you can get a grading for your cards. The most common places are BGS, CGC, and PSA. These three are the trustworthy and best options where you can’t go wrong.
Beckett Grading Service (BGS)
In 2001 BGS entered the card grading business and for collectors, BGS 10 is the best. BGS is very strict in grading cards and a very professional one too this can be seen from this that BGS 9.5 is equivalent to the PSA 10. But sometimes BGS too struggles with time like PSA and they are the most expensive one of all three.
Certified Guaranty Company (CGC)
CGC for grading cards uses blue labeling and is very quick in its service and the least expensive too, but do not mistake the cost for the quality they still provide the best grading for Pokemon cards. They too are considered to be strict in grading and provide subgrades on cards.
Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA)
PSA for grading cards uses red labeling and is the most popular of all three options. But they are not very fast like CGC and this is because of their popularity, they always have too many orders that their wait time has increased significantly.
Part 4: How much it will cost to get Grading for your Pokemon Card
Two options are primarily used for getting the grading for Pokemon Cards, Bulk Grading and Single Grading.
You should keep in mind that, you have to pay the cost of insurance and declare the believed value.
How to get a Bulk of Pokemon Cards graded
Bulk grading involves a large sum of cards, where you send a bulk of cards to the company for grading and they give you a discount to get them all graded.
The amount changes depending on the Pokemon card but on average, it will cost you around 30$ per card excluding the amount of shipping and insurance.
How to get Single Pokemon Card graded
Single grading involves only one card and this is the most expensive. It can cost you between 25$ to 200$ for grading a single card.
Conclusion
By grading Pokemon cards, you will know the exact worth of your card and this will prevent you from scamming. The cards that are not graded may have some value based on assumptions but grading will boost it. So you need to find a reputable grading service, for this, we have done the research for you, you can choose any one of the ones which we mentioned.
In addition to this, your cards will be encapsulated after grading to prevent them from further damage, while showing the grading score of the card. Keep in mind that if some Pokemons are not available in your region and you want to catch them, you can use tools like iFoneTool AnyGo to change your location.
To assess your cards, grading is the best available option that adds value to the card, whether you want to know the value of your cards or want to sell them both ways it is pretty cool to get cards encapsulated and gading on top to show off. After reading this article, do you know more about how to get Pokemon cards graded? Share your thoughts in the comments!
