Grading Sports Cards

Grading sports cards is an easy way to profit in this market. If you’ve never done it before, it might sound complicated or even risky. Rest assured, it’s actually pretty simple once you understand the basics.

Here we’ll dig into why grading makes sense, what kinds of cards to send for grading, and how to get your cards graded.

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What does it mean to get a card graded?

The idea is simple: You can send a raw (ungraded) card to a professional grading company anytime.

The grading company will judge the card based on its physical condition. The four categories grading companies evaluate are a card’s centering, corners, edges, and surface. They can also authenticate and grade autographs.

Once the grade has been determined, they’ll permanently slab the card inside a case with the numeric grade displayed at the top. Depending on the company, the label may also include the card’s sub-grades (commonly referred to as “subs”).

What Grading Company Should I Use?

There are three grading companies we view as acceptable, but only one we recommend.

Acceptable = BGS & SGC

BGS and SGC are two well-known grading companies with decades of strong reputation in the grading space. Both are acceptable, and both generally can help your card gain value.

Recommended = PSA

If you like money, the only grading company you should be using is PSA. The premiums are much, much larger on a Gem Mint PSA 10 than on a Gem Mint BGS 9.5 or SGC 10. We’ve used all three of these companies over the years, but at this point the gap between PSA and everyone else is enormous and still growing. They are the only grading company we use and the only one we recommend using at this time. We still buy and sell cards from BGS & SGC, but PSA is where we send raw cards to be graded.

Why should we grade sports cards?

Three key benefits to grading:

Benefit #1: Immediate Value Increase

1) Condition matters greatly in the sports card world. The better the condition, the more valuable the card will be. Because of this, the most important benefit of grading cards is the value gained when you achieve a high grade on a card.

The meaning of “high grade” varies by card. For modern cards, typically your card will be worth slightly more than raw value if it earns a Mint grade (Mint PSA 9 or Mint BGS 9). Typically your card will be worth quite a bit more than raw value if it earns a Gem Mint or better grade (Gem Mint PSA 10, Gem Mint BGS 9.5, Pristine BGS 10). 

There’s no magical multiplier that applies evenly across all cards, but to give a rough range, a Gem Mint BGS 9.5 is often worth 1.5-2x raw value, a PSA 10 is often 2-8x raw value, and Pristine BGS 10 is often 3-10x raw value. The multipliers for lower end cards are usually even larger, while the multipliers on higher end cards are usually on the lower end of the range.

For example, the Aaron Judge card pictured above is worth about $400 ungraded. Recent sales of BGS 9.5s were in the $700 range, and PSA 10 sales were in the $1200-1400 range.

When you send a card to be graded and it gets a Gem Mint or better grade, you have effectively created value out of thin air. Your card that was worth $100 ungraded could suddenly be worth $400 now that it’s a PSA 10. If you can repeat this indefinitely, you have a strong formula for success.

You also have control over when you grade cards. As long as your cards get high grades that add value, you can create a potential profit instead of waiting for the card to rise in value on its own, which can often take much longer.

Benefit #2: Condition Certainty

2) You remove any questions about the card’s condition. Everyone has a little different idea of how to describe the condition of a raw card. Dealing in graded cards removes bias so both buyer and seller know exactly what is being bought/sold.

Benefit #3: Condition Protection

3) Preserve condition indefinitely. Outside of maybe wiping fingerprints off the surface with a microfiber cloth, a raw card will never be in better condition than it is right now. You can’t fix a dinged corner or a scratched surface. You can take a card in good condition and mess it up by dropping or finding another way to mangle it. Grading cards helps protect their condition indefinitely.

What Cards to Grade

The overarching theme is to grade cards that meet two criteria related to condition and value.

1) Condition – The card needs to be in good enough condition to give it a strong chance at receiving a desirable grade. “Desirable grade” will change from card to card, but for most modern cards, we’re looking for PSA 10s.

Grading is a risk because we’re committing to pay the grading fees no matter what grades the cards get. If we get all 8s and 9s, we could lose money on the order. That’s why it’s important to inspect your cards before grading to make sure there aren’t obvious flaws.

2) Value – The desirable grade needs to add enough value to create an immediate profit margin. Graded value must be greater than raw cost of the card plus grading fees minus all selling & shipping fees.

We also don’t want to take a risk to create a small profit margin. If you pay $10 for a raw card that sells for $50 as a PSA 10 and it costs $30 to grade, we’re barely breaking even after fees. And if we get any 9s instead of 10s, we are losing money on the order. The idea is to find cards that create notable profit margins. Generally, the more expensive the card is raw, the more premium will be created by achieving a desirable grade.

As a rule of thumb, if we send cards where bigger value is added if they earn a desirable grade, we don’t need to get as many desirable grades to still profit on the order.

Examples

Example #1

We submit 10 cards worth $10 raw, paying $30 each for grading. A PSA 10 of this card is worth $75. A PSA 9 of this card is worth $25.

Each PSA 10 positions us to make $35 of profit, which is about $25 profit after fees and shipping.
Each PSA 9 positions us to lose roughly $20.
– 4 out of 10 cards get PSA 10s, we lose $20 on the order.
– 5 out of the 10 cards get PSA 10s, we make $25 total profit on the order.
– 8 out of 10 get PSA 10s, we make $160 total profit on the order.
– 10 out of 10 get PSA 10s, we make $350 total profit on the order.

In this example, we need a minimum of 50% gem rate (rate of PSA 10s) to avoid losing money. We need a gem rate of 70-100% to make a worthwhile profit on the investment.

Example #2

We submit 10 cards worth $25 raw, paying $30 each for grading. A PSA 10 of this card is worth $150. A PSA 9 of this card is worth $55.

Each PSA 10 positions us to make $95 of profit, which is about $75 profit after fees and shipping.
Each PSA 9 positions us to lose about $7 after fees and shipping.

– 1 out of 10 cards gets a PSA 10, we make $12 total profit on the order.
– 4 out of 10 cards get PSA 10s, we make $258 total profit on the order.
– 5 out of the 10 cards get PSA 10s, we make $340 total profit on the order.
– 8 out of 10 get PSA 10s, we make $586 total profit on the order.
– 10 out of 10 get PSA 10s, we make $750 total profit on the order.

In this example, we only need a 10% gem rate to be profitable. Each additional Gem Mint 10 grade creates even more profit margin.


Summary: You can quickly see the value of submitting cards where a PSA 10 grade offers a bigger premium. Ideally, these are the types of cards we can target, as it reduces the gem rate required to profit on the order.

Note: PSA has also lowered prices, so as long as we’re ok with a slightly longer turnaround, the above examples become even more reasonable with grading under $20/card instead of $30.

Grading Base Cards

One popular strategy is to grade base cards…but not just any base cards. Usually we’re looking for base cards of a player’s key RC. For the three sports, it’s likely Topps Flagship for baseball, and Panini Prizm for football and hoops. Each product has enough popularity that PSA 10 (sometimes even PSA 9) base RCs will carry a nice premium.

Why does this work? Base cards are inexpensive and easy to acquire. This means we can be picky with which copies to send for grading, leading to a higher rate of Gem Mint grades.

We prefer rarer cards if we’re buying to hold. But if our plan is to buy, grade, flip, and repeat, base cards quickly become a nice option. We just don’t recommend holding them very long once graded.

Before you dive into buying base cards to grade, you’ll want to be sure the values make sense. Use eBay Research, Card Ladder, or a similar site to get a ballpark on what they’re worth raw and graded. Then add the cost of grading and make sure there’s still enough profit margin after fees for you to make worthwhile money.

Remember, even if you’re picky, you still may not get a 100% Gem Mint rate. It’s best to be conservative with your estimates and assume you’ll “miss” on a few (get a 9 instead of a 10). That way you’re not caught off-guard.

Example

Sometimes you can buy a base card for $10 raw and sell a PSA 10 for $100. Paying $18/card plus shipping to grade a stack of these immediately creates a nice margin for any 10s. You invest roughly $30 and can sell for $100 minus fees, which means you can make $50-65 per card, depending on the fee % you pay when you sell. Find a player like that if you want to try this approach.

Gem Mint

The biggest premiums come from Gem Mint grades. It’s hard to get PSA 10s on older cards like the Mantle RC pictured below, which is why they go for enormous money. But for newer cards produced within the past few years, typically 10s are the desired grade.

This leads us to the obvious conclusion that we should typically be sending cards we think can get a 10.

This page of PSA’s website provides visual examples of cards in each grade.

So, what cards should we grade?

We should be grading cards that give us a high likelihood of getting a desirable grade, where that grade adds enough value to provide us the opportunity to immediately profit on the card.

It’s ok to take a chance on a card we think is borderline between a 9 and a 10. Just like cards we expect to come back as 10s can sometimes get 9s, cards we expect to be 9s can sometimes be 10s. We want to make sure we’re taking smart risks.

The way we view borderline cards is to only send them if the 10 would add a significant amount of value and/or if getting a 9 would provide enough premium above raw value that we could still sell the PSA 9 for raw value plus grading fees.

If raw value is $20 and grading is $30, it doesn’t make sense to submit the card if a PSA 10 is only worth $50-60. We want our best case scenario (PSA 10) to generate a worthwhile profit, since getting a 10 isn’t guaranteed.

If raw value is $20, grading is $30, and a PSA 10 sells for $100, we can usually justify submitting the card. Remember, we only want to submit if the card has a chance at the grade we need.

If we aren’t confident it’ll get the grade we want, then the value added by that grade should be higher.

The opposite applies too. If we’re almost certain a card will get a 10, it’s less risky. Because it’s less risky, the 10 grade doesn’t have to add as much premium for us to justify submitting it.

How to Grade

You can get an account set up with Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) or Beckett Grading Services (BGS) on their respective websites, however we recommend using a trusted third party group grading submitter for grading sports cards. This will make the process even easier since you’ll have an experienced submitter helping guide you. It also reduces shipping costs, since they’re split among a larger group instead of you covering 100%.

Examining Condition

Once you have the cards you want to grade, inspect their condition to make sure you’re not sending a card with obvious flaws that will hold it back from earning the grade you need. Don’t forget to inspect the back of the card too. They grade the whole card, not just the front!

The four areas to consider are centering, corners, edges, and surface. Here’s a quick breakdown of each.

How to Inspect Centering

Look at the border of the card and determine if it’s even on all four sides. If it’s 50-50 split between the top and bottom borders and 50-50 split between the left and right borders, you have a well-centered card. You can sometimes still get a PSA 10 if the card has 60-40, but the closer to 50-50, the easier it’ll be to get a 10.

Cards without borders are more difficult to judge. Look for any design elements on the outside part of the card that may help you gauge centering. Use your best judgment.

You can also look online for copies of the card already graded as PSA 10s and compare yours. Does the centering of your raw card look identical to the PSA 10?

How to Inspect Corners

Sports card corners are intended to be sharp. Look at both the corners on both the front and back of the card. Check to see if any are dinged, rounded, fuzzy, have a flipped up edge or other damage. If so, they are likely not a 10, especially if more than one corner has an issue. If it’s a very minor issue on one corner, you might still have a chance, but the worse the damage, the less likely you’ll get a 10.

How to Inspect Edges

Similar to corners, edges are also intended to be sharp. Look for dings or nicks or frayed paper on the edge of your card. Any of these issues make it far less likely your card will receive a 10.

How to Inspect Surface

Surface is the trickiest of the four sub-grade categories. It’s typically the most subjective. When inspecting, move the card at different angles under a bright light to search for surface scratches, scuffs, lines, dimples, etc. Any of these make it harder to get a 10 grade, but all are open for interpretation. The fewer issues and the less severe they are, the higher the chance you get a better grade.

Prep Your Cards

We recommend using a microfiber cloth to carefully and gently wipe down the surface of a card. These often come inside an eyeglass case or with a new screened device, but you can also buy them cheaply on eBay. A quick wipe down will help remove fingerprints and any light debris. Just be careful not to damage your card while removing fingerprints.

Once you remove fingerprints, put the card into a penny sleeve and a semi rigid card holder. We prefer Cardboard Gold Card Saver I for good quality and the right size. Sometimes card savers stick a little bit when they’re brand new, so it may help to pre-open it with your finger before sliding the card in. *Note that PSA requires cards to be submitted in semi-rigid holders.

Once your cards are each in a penny sleeve and card saver, fill out any appropriate forms with the grader you’re using. As part of this process, you’ll have to input your cards to track what you’re sending. Once complete, you’re ready to ship them to the grader! Package carefully (guidelines can be found in Basic Principles) and send them off!

Pricing & Turnaround Time

The pricing and turnaround times for grading have changed over the past couple years, and PSA is currently working toward bringing back more reasonable turnarounds and pricing after being swarmed with demand they were not prepared to handle in 2020.

As of 2023, PSA’s lowest available price point is $19 for a 65 business day turnaround. You can also pay more for a faster turnaround or higher value cards. Mid and higher end cards are virtually always worth sending if they’re in good enough condition. At $19/card, many lower end cards won’t be worth enough even as a 10 to justify grading. Remember to always look at eBay to check estimated values prior to submitting.

PSA keeps a page updated with current pricing and turnaround options if you’d like to explore options. Keep an eye on this over the coming months, as we suspect we may see further decreases in turnaround times, and possibly pricing.

Pop!

When your order is complete, your grades will be available to view through the service you used. In the card world, you’ll hear this referred to as “grades popped.” It’s an exciting day, especially if you do well and get lots of high grades. Your order will then be shipped back to you and you can decide how to proceed with your newly graded inventory.

Challenges with Grading Sports Cards

Grading can and should be a key part of your card strategy if you want to make money. But there are also some challenges to be prepared to run into along the way:

– It can be difficult to find raw cards that are in good enough condition to submit. Other people grade too, so if you’re buying raw cards on the secondary market, there’s a good chance they’ve already been considered for grading.

– Grading is subjective. Sometimes you can get a different grade on the same card depending on who grades it. Some cards you thought looked perfect can still come back as a 9 instead of a 10 grade. PSA 9s aren’t bad, but PSA 10s are the money makers on most modern cards.

– Ever since the boom of 2020, grading has become far more expensive and the turnaround times are a lot longer than they used to be. Grading companies are taking a bigger chunk of the potential profit, and collectors are waiting longer to get cards back. It’s still a viable strategy, but we must be selective about which cards we send.

Summary

Grading sports cards can be a proactive way to protect cards, preserve their condition, and add value to your cards. We recommend PSA as the top option for grading.

By grading sports cards and achieving desirable grades, we immediately raise their value. This allows us to create a profit margin instead of waiting longer for the player’s value to rise in other ways. Wherever possible, we want to leverage proactive opportunities like grading because it allows us to grow our business faster.

If you enjoyed this guide, we recommend Cardboard Philosophy for more sports card strategy and tips.

Disclaimer

Cardboard Profit LLC operates this site and offers the content of this site for informational purposes only. The content of this website is not financial advice, investment advice, or any kind of advice. Cardboard Profit is in no way responsible for any kind of loss you may endure, financial or otherwise. Cardboard Profit has a strong track record of success, but past performance does not guarantee future results. The sports card market can be volatile, which means there is risk associated with buying cards. You are 100% responsible for your own finances, decisions, and actions. You are also fully responsible for any possible loss that results from your decisions or actions. Please act responsibly.