Beginner guide
Card Grading, Explained Simply
What the numbers on a slab mean, who hands them out, and why one grade step can double the price.
What Grading Is
Grading is a professional checkup for a card. You mail your card to a grading company. An expert examines it — corners, edges, surface, centering — and scores it from 1 to 10. Then the card is sealed inside a clear, tamper-proof case called a slab, with a label that states exactly what the card is and what it scored.
That little label solves the two hardest problems in card collecting at once: is it real, and what shape is it in? With a raw (ungraded) card, you’re trusting a seller’s photos and their word. With a slab, a neutral expert already answered both questions — which is why graded cards are easier to buy, easier to sell, and easier to price.
The 1–10 Scale
Every grader uses a 10-point scale, and the top of the ladder is where the action is. The gap between rungs looks small on paper. On price tags, it’s enormous.
Grade 10: Gem Mint
As close to perfect as it gets. Sharp corners, clean surface, crisp edges, well centered. The grade every collector hopes for — and the one graders hand out least.
Grade 9: Mint
One tiny flaw a grader can find with a magnifier — a whisker off center, one soft spot. Still beautiful in hand. Most people can't tell a 9 from a 10 without the label.
Grade 8: Near Mint–Mint
A couple of small honest touches: a slightly soft corner, light centering drift. A great-looking card at a friendlier price — a favorite first slab.
Grade 7: Near Mint — Light wear you have to look for.
Grade 6: Excellent–Mint — Wear you can spot, still displays well.
Grade 5: Excellent — Honest play wear on corners and edges.
Grade 4: Very Good–Excellent — Clearly played, nothing major missing.
Grade 3: Very Good — Creases or heavier wear show up here.
Grade 2: Good — Rough — but the card survived.
Grade 1: Poor — Heavy damage. Loved very hard.
The bars are a feel, not a formula: the higher the grade, the steeper the price climbs — and the top rungs carry most of the market. Grade names are PSA's; CGC and BGS use nearly the same words.
PSA vs CGC vs BGS
Three companies grade most of the Pokémon cards you’ll see. All three are legitimate. They differ in reputation, label style, and what their slabs sell for.
Professional Sports Authenticator
The biggest name in card grading. More cards trade in PSA slabs than any other, so PSA prices are the easiest to look up and compare.
On the label: Red-and-white label strip. One grade out of 10 — a 10 reads “GEM MT 10”.
Certified Guaranty Company
Started in comic books, now a serious card grader too. Known for strict, consistent grading — CGC slabs often cost a little less than the same card in PSA.
On the label: Dark blue-and-black label. Uses half grades (like 8.5), and a “Pristine 10” above the regular 10.
Beckett Grading Services
The detail lover. Beckett scores four things separately — centering, corners, edges, surface — and prints those subgrades right on the label.
On the label: Label color changes with the grade: gold for 9.5+, silver below. A flawless “Black Label 10” is their rarest prize.
How to Read a Slab
Every slab tells you four things. Learn to read them and no listing can confuse you again.
Grader
Pikachu · Some Set
#025 · Holo
10
Gem Mint
CERT 12345678
The label. Who graded it, which card it is (name, set, card number), and the grade. Read this before the price — the label is the card's ID.
The grade. The score out of 10, big and unmissable. This one number moves the price more than anything else on the slab.
The cert number. A serial number unique to this exact card. Type it into the grader's website and it shows you what they graded — your fake-check superpower.
The case. Sealed sonically, not glued — it doesn't open without breaking. It protects the card and proves nobody swapped it after grading.
The cert number is the one beginners skip — and the one that protects you most. Each grader runs a free lookup on its website: type the number in, and you see the exact card they graded. Photos can be borrowed. Cert numbers can be checked.
Why One Grade Step Moves the Price
Here’s a real example from the cards we track. The Van Gogh Pikachu promo — same card, same art, same year. As we wrote this, a PSA 9 was going for about $1,100, while a PSA 10 was asking $1,800 and up. One grade step. Hundreds of dollars. (Prices move daily — those links show today’s numbers.)
Why? Scarcity. For every card sent in, graders hand out far more 9s than 10s — and collectors chasing perfection all want the same few 10s. You can even look the ratio up: graders publish a pop count — how many copies they’ve graded at each level. Few 10s in the pop report plus lots of demand equals the price cliff you see between grades.
This is exactly the math our Deal Radar works with: because a graded card’s identity and condition are locked, every copy of the same slab is comparable — and when one is listed way below the others, that’s a real deal, not a mystery.
Should You Grade Your Card?
Grading costs real money — roughly $20–25 per card plus shipping, and weeks of waiting. So the question isn’t “is my card nice?” It’s “does grading add more than it costs?”
Grade it when the card is genuinely valuable, when it’s a rare pull that looks flawless straight from the pack, or when it’s a card you’ll keep forever and want protected and authenticated.
Skip it when the card is inexpensive (a $5 card in a $25 slab is still a $5 card), visibly worn, or just not special to you. Sleeves and binders keep cards safe for pennies — most collections should live there happily.
One more honest note: graders judge harshly. Cards that look perfect to you come back as 8s and 9s all the time. If your plan only works if the card gets a 10, that’s a lottery ticket, not a plan.
Quick Questions
What does PSA 10 mean?
PSA 10 is Gem Mint — PSA's top grade. The card looked essentially perfect to a professional grader: sharp corners, clean surface, crisp edges, well centered. Because so few cards earn it, a 10 usually sells for far more than a 9 of the same card.
How much does grading cost?
Roughly $20–25 per card at the big graders' standard tiers, plus shipping both ways, and it can take weeks to come back. Prices change with tiers and card value, so check the grader's site before you send anything.
Is grading worth it for cheap cards?
Usually not. If a card is worth $5, paying $20 to grade it rarely makes sense — the slab would cost more than the card. Grading pays off for valuable cards, rare pulls in great shape, and cards you want protected and verified forever.
What is a cert number?
A serial number the grader prints on the label, unique to that exact card. Enter it on the grader's website and you'll see what they actually graded. If a listing's cert number doesn't match the card in the photos, walk away.
Which grading company is best?
There's no single winner. PSA slabs are the most traded, so they're the easiest to price and sell. BGS subgrades tell you more about why a card earned its grade. CGC has grown fast with strict grading and often friendlier prices. The honest answer: the best grader is the one whose slabs you can confidently buy or sell.