When is grading Pokémon cards worth it? A guide for collectors and streamers

Pull a great card on stream and someone in chat will ask: “Are you going to grade it?”. Grading can protect a card and add to its value, but it costs money and time, and for most cards it is not worth it. Here is how grading works and how to decide.

What grading is

A grading company inspects a card, gives it a condition grade, usually on a scale up to 10, and seals it in a hard plastic case called a slab, with the grade on the label. The slab protects the card and tells any buyer what condition it is in, as judged by an independent company.

The best-known graders for trading cards are PSA, Beckett (BGS) and CGC. Each has its own scale and label, and buyers in different communities have their preferences.

What graders look at

• Centering: how evenly the borders sit around the artwork, front and back.
• Corners: sharp, or soft and white.
• Edges: clean, or chipped and whitened.
• Surface: scratches, print lines, dents or marks, especially on holo areas.

Many cards fall short of a top grade straight out of the pack, because of how they were printed and cut. That surprises people more than anything else about grading.

How the process works

1. Choose a grader and a service level. Price and waiting time depend on the level and on how much the card is declared to be worth.
2. Fill in the submission online, card by card.
3. Put each card in a penny sleeve and a semi-rigid card saver, as most graders ask.
4. Ship the cards, tracked and insured, to the grader.
5. Wait for the grades, then for the slabs to be returned.

Fees, waiting times and packing rules change, so check the grader's own site before you submit.

When grading is worth it

The basic sum: is the graded card worth more than the raw card, plus all the costs of grading it?

• The grading fee for the service level you need.
• Shipping both ways, with insurance.
• The chance that the card comes back with a lower grade than you hoped.

Grading tends to make sense for valuable cards in excellent condition, where a high grade is realistic. It rarely makes sense for cards of low value, or cards with visible flaws.

Other reasons to grade

• Protection: a slab keeps a special card safe for good.
• Authenticity: buyers trust a graded card more, which helps when selling.
• A personal favourite: some collectors grade cards they love, whatever the value.

For streamers

When a buyer pulls a big hit on your stream, it is their card. Sleeve and top-load it on camera, ship it carefully, and let them decide whether to grade it. Some streamers offer to submit cards for buyers; if you do, be clear about fees and waiting times up front.

For handling cards before and after, see how to ship trading cards safely, and for the terms used here, our TCG stream glossary.

Pokémon is a trademark of its owners. PSA, Beckett and CGC are trademarks of their respective owners. StreamQueue is not affiliated with any of them.