To Grade or Not to Grade?: When Should You Send Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering or Sports Cards to Be Graded by PSA, BGS, or CGC?

Grading collectibles refers to the process of authenticating a collectible item as real, and then assigning a “grade“ to that item based on its condition.

Different companies use different grading scales, but most have a large range from 1 to 10 (in the case of PSA), with a “1” indicating “Poor” condition and a “10“ indicating “Gem Mint“ condition, or a card that is in perfect condition.

In in the past two decades, interest in grading has skyrocketed, driven primarily by increased demand for graded trading cards, such as Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh, One Piece, and Magic: The Gathering cards.

Let’s dive into some specifics about grading collectibles, including (1) why you might want to grade your collectibles, (2) important considerations when grading collectibles, and (3) whether grading actually increases value (aka the price you’ll get if you want to sell).