Are Psa Graded Cards Worth It
Think back to when you first started collecting cards, or sets. For me, I remember buying old football stickers, and the original Pokémon rush back in 1999.
Nobody cared about the condition as long as it wasnt too badly damaged, even if pristine versions were worth a little more.
The commodification of the hobby has been rampant in recent years, to the point where its becoming more difficult to buy sets due to scalpers, or theyve risen to prices that are far too expensive for the average collector.
If you just want to collect sets and you dont care much about the overall condition, Id stay away from PSA 10 copies unless you plan to sell your cards in the future.
Will Professional Graders Grade Fake Pokmon Cards
In general, no reputable company will allow fake cards to be graded, although there is still a possibility no matter how slight that a fake card may slip through their authentication system. Be sure to check on the track record of your chosen grader in order to see how good they are at catching fakes, as a grader accepting fakes can make their grading less valuable across the board. For example, PSA, despite being the leading grading service, has had to grapple with controversies to do with allowing fake cards to be assessed and graded in the past.
This controversy dates all the way back to 1991, when a grader knowingly allowed a doctored T206 Honus Wagner card to be graded their first grading ever a grade of 8 of 10 that persists to this day. There have been more controversies with fakers who exploit PSAs process, which has, in turn, resulted in PSAs competition getting something of an attention boost at the expense of PSAs reputation.
There is an additional challenge to do with whether you should pick PSA, as the CEO of its parent corporation, Collectors Universe, noted that the grading process took only 30 seconds to do. This does not by itself mean that they are not stringent enough, but coupled with the fact that they have a poor reputation with fake cards being graded, someone being given pause should come as no surprise.
Looking To Get Your Pokmon Cards Graded But Dont Know Where To Start We Got You Covered
Before we begin, please keep in mind that I work for Ambr Grading but I have used over a dozen different grading services over the years. I am not sponsored by or affiliated with any company or service outside of Ambr Grading and the opinions written are mine.
So youre looking to get your Pokémon cards graded and wondering where to start. Grading cards is not something all card collectors do but it is extremely popular among Pokémon Card collectors. There are many benefits to having your cards graded which include permanent protection and having the card authenticated. Some questions you might have asked are:
- Which of my Pokémon cards are worth money?
- Which Pokémon cards of mine will be worth money in the future?
- Are my Pokémon cards in good enough condition to get graded?
- Is it worth it to get my Pokémon cards graded?
The first thing you need to consider is why you want to get a card graded. Are you trying to make money now, invest, keep something for nostalgia or begin a collection? If it’s nostalgia or a collection that you care about most, the monetary value may not be a consideration. If maximizing your return tops your list of reasons for grading your cards, its important to understand which cards you have so you can accurately evaluate them.
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How To Submit Your Pokemon Cards To Beckett Grading
Pokmon Gotta Catch Em All And Heres Where You Can
Were reader-supported and may be paid when you visit links to partner sites. We dont compare all products in the market, but were working on it!
Over the past 3 decades, Pokémon has built itself a global cult following. Fans of all ages collect, play and trade physical Pokémon cards as often as they do on the multiple virtual and gaming platforms that are now available.
Weve rounded up a list of the top 10 online stores to find the missing Pokémon from your collection online.
Where to buy Pokémon cards online
eBay offers competitive pricing at its best. You can explore brand new and pre-loved cards, which makes finding that missing piece from your Pokémon deck a breeze.
- Create an account and keep tabs on items of interest by adding them to your watch list
- Compare products and prices side by side to find the very best deal
- Free shipping on millions of eligible items with eBay Plus
AliExpress holds one of the largest selections of Pokémon cards youll find online and with more than 5,000 listings to explore, youll be spoiled for choice.
- Join to receive new-customer coupons
- Daily flash deals available
You can start your Pokémon card collection or search for the perfect booster pack at Target.
- Free shipping on orders over $45
- Free 60-day returns
As a leader in entertainment products, ozgameshop.com provides a huge range of quality tech, gadgets and gaming memorabilia.
- Free shipping on orders over $50
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Psa Graded Pokemon Cards A Beginners Guide
So lately at Titan Cards you may have seen that weve been shouting about our newest Pokemon Card lines PSA Graded Ultra Rare and Secret rare cards sounds great right? But what exactly is PSA grading, and why would anyone want a PSA graded card? This article will give you a beginners guide to the ins and outs of graded trading cards, Pokemon and otherwise.
A selection of PSA graded Pokemon Cards we just put into stock this week.
The Best Places To Sell Your Pokemon Card Collection Near Me: Physical Stores
Another way to sell your Pokemon card collection is to find a phisycal reseller. In that case youll not deal with shipping. In order to get the best selling price you can check the following sites:
- : Looking for the nearest card/comic shop? Lets try our comics store locator to find the closest to your house!
- : this platform helps you to locate the nearest place to start selling your Pokemon cards. In this case, its a real pawn shop so you can sell also a variety of other articles!
- Dave & Adams Store is looking to purchase Pokémon cards, particularly holographic ones. The store purchases complete sets and valuable modern single cards. In case the store agrees to purchase your cards, youre paid by cash, PayPal or check.
- Cape Fear Games allows you to sell your games and the cards their are looking for in the buying list. Payment options include PayPal, check, and store credit.
Buy and sell TGC cards.
Pokemon is one of the most known trading card game becoming a worldwide phenomenon. In case youre asking yourself about selling other TGC cards, like Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic, check our articles!
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Beckett Pokemon Card Grading Scale
Beckett has a more in-depth process, giving subgrades for the four key factors mentioned above. Their range runs from a Poor 1 to a Pristine 10.
Interestingly, they also have an elite level above that called a Black Label Pristine 10 for cards that score 10 for all the subgrades. As you can imagine, these cards are highly sought-after and valuable.
See here for more info on grading your Pokemon cards with Beckett.
P G C The Professional Grading Company
Website:
PCG Team: At PGC , we grade cards in as little as 72 hours using some of the most advanced card case security features in the world. Our cases feature a long list of security features including gold holograms, watermarks, UV inks, micro text only visible under microscope, embossed gold foil and QR codes. Cards look incredible graded in PGC cases with our beautiful gold metallic labels. We are based in London and ship worldwide.
Website:
Anthony Hickman:I think its important to start with the elephant in the room. We love PSA and BGS just as much as the next collector.
We founded TFG on the core principals of integrity, professionalism and humility, fundamental values that are inherent with our Royal Marines heritage. Alongside a genuine passion for the hobby, we wanted to build a Grading Service based on these core principals.
We understand the narrative of why use anyone else? and this has resonated with us from our conception. We want to challenge this and ask why not?. Our vision is to create an alternative that is viable, trusted within the community, accessible, engaging and innovating, offering a cost effective and efficient service with a competitive turnaround time. I have often wondered why such a progressive and established hobby, relies on the performance of two businesses, and the answer is because at this moment in time, they do what they do, better than anyone else.
Peter Graham:
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How To Submit Pokmon Cards To Cgc For Grading
If you’re like me, you have a fairly decent collection of cards from the Pokémon Trading Card Game . Some of your cards might be common, some of them valuable, or some of them meaningful to you in some other sense.
At some point in time you might decide that you want your cards to be locked in a graded slab. There are many reasons why you might want to do this. Maybe you want to make sure your card is authentic, maybe you want to know the condition of the card through grading, or maybe you just want it preserved in a solid slab for the end of time.
All are great reasons!
So how do you get your cards graded and more importantly how do you send them in correctly so they aren’t lost, damaged, or incorrectly evaluated? In this article, we’re going to look into the process for using the Certified Guaranty Company to submit our cards for grading.
In case this is your first time hearing about the Certified Guaranty Company , it is one of the many trading card grading services available. However, many might recognize CGC as CGC Comics because they are the most well known when it comes to comic books. I’ve personally had more than one hundred Pokémon TCG cards graded with CGC and the cases, which we’ll call slabs, make the cards look beautiful!
So let’s start walking through each of the steps. The more cards you have, the more time consuming this process will become.
Psa Graded Pokmon Cards: Pros And Cons
Here are the main pros and cons associated with buying and selling PSA 10 Pokémon cards.
PSA Graded Pokémon Cards Pros:
- Cards will be safe and secure for years
- Helps to avoid purchasing fakes and forgeries on the resale market
- Great resale values
- Pokémon cards looks great in the slabs
- Trusted brand, and market leaders for grading
- Easy to sell and attracts many bids
PSA Graded Pokémon Cards Cons:
- Notably more expensive to purchase compared to ungraded copies, or even other grading companies like BGS
- Longer wait times if you plan to send cards off for grading
- The priciest grading company in the world
- Many modern cards are graded thousands of times, diluting values long-term
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Pokemon Card Grading Scale
There are four key factors that effect the grade of your Pokemon cards:
1. Centering
This refers to how well centered the artwork on the card is. Grading services tend to be stricter with centering on the front of the card, compared to the back. They will also work off certain centering ratios to determine the grade of the card.
2. Corners
This refers to the condition of the corners. Anything like whitening, nicks, or unsymmetrical cutting can affect the grade of a card.
3. Edges
This refers to the condition of the edges of the card. Again, whitening, nicks and edgewear can affect the grade.
4. Surface
This refers to the condition of the surface of the card. Scratches, nicks print lines and even holographic bleed can affect the grade.
What Is The Most Valuable Pokmon Card
The most valuable Pokémon card is the Pikachu Illustrator. It is one of the rarest cards ever made because it was originally given to the winners of a CorCor Comic contest in 1997 and 1998. Only 39 copies were awarded, but an additional two were made. This means that there are only 41 cards in existence.In February of 2021, a Pikachu Illustrator card sold for $375,000. Before that, one of the cards sold for $195,000 in 2019.
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Why Are Psa 10 Graded Pokmon Cards So Expensive
PSA 10 Pokémon cards tend to be some of the most expensive on the market, partly due to the rarity, and the difficulty in obtaining a Gem Mint 10/10 grade.
For example, well look at the Charizard V found in the 2022 Brilliant Stars collection. Its arguably the best card from the set, and an ungraded copy recently sold for $233.
Its a fair price for a major hit, but its almost 50% less than a recent sale for a PSA 10 copy at auction. That saw a PSA 10 version of the same card go for a flat $555, and it can easily sell for $600 at the upper limits.
However, a PSA 9 copy can be had for less than $300, so theres a major dropoff if a modern card isnt in pristine condition.
It used to be a lot cheaper to send a card off to PSA, with the most affordable tier currently priced at $50 per card. This has contributed to higher sale prices, as it doesnt make sense to send off anything less than a 9 with recent sets.
Consider this, if you have a $10 card and a PSA 10 will sell for $60, is it worth the time and effort to send a card over to the company?
On the other hand, it can lead to major money if you have older Pokémon cards, or anything especially rare.
Youre essentially buying one of the very best versions of a card with a PSA 10 copy, and youll be able to avoid the numerous fakes and forgeries that plague the resale market.
Getting Your Pokemon Cards Graded
In the course of researching the market value of your card, you may have come across graded cards that seem to be fetching large premiums over cards in seemingly mint condition. This is no fluke.
Over the past 30 years, a number of third-party grading services have popped up to authenticate and grade trading and sports cards. Pokemon cards are certainly no exception. In fact, the multi-six and seven-figure cited examples in the opening paragraph of this article were PSA graded cards that scored GEM MINT 10 on a condition scale of 1 to 10.
Popular Pokemon Card Grading Services Include:
The paid professional grading insight and card authentication service can cost anywhere from $15 to $500 or more for a single card, but the added value can be well worth it when it comes to sale time.
For example, the 1st Edition Base Set Charizard in mint but ungraded condition would likely have fetched somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000 to $40,000 on eBay, assuming HD photos highlighted every nook and cranny of the card. The verified authenticity and gem mint status sent the sales price soaring past $400,000, making it only 1 of 121 known cards in existence to have achieved that grade.
That said, card grading requires a small to moderate learning curve, and it may be wise to consult an experienced submitter, check out a YouTube tutorial, or even ask questions in a Pokemon Facebook group before submitting a card to a service.
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How Can I Get Cards Graded For Cheap Or Free
If you are on a budget, but you still want to get your sports cards graded, you might be looking for the cheapest way to send them off. There is a third-party website called Graded Gem that allows you to send your cards to PSA for a discounted price.
Their prices range from just over $11 to just under $35 per card. Graded Gem is currently not accepting submissions, and it is not yet known when they will start to take orders again. You can keep your eye on their website to see when they will be ready again.
What Option Is Best For Selling Pokemon Cards
If youre not sure about whether or not you should sell Pokemon cards online or in-person, hopefully this explanation will help you understand the difference
If you have very valuable cards that are worth a lot, you may want to consider selling online through a trusted site listed above.
Additionally, selling online will be a longer process as orders dont come in immediately. However, you will have a much higher chance of getting your card sold at full price.
If youre selling in bulk and have full packs that you can organize together, in-person selling might be a better option for you.
Sometimes people just want to get rid of their entire collection altogether and selling in-person is a really easy way to do so.
Organize your cards in value, rarity, packs, editions, etc and see which ones fit the proper selling type.
Chances are, youll have to sell online and in-person if you have a large enough collection.
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