How to get Pokemon cards graded

Getting your Pokemon cards graded can be stressful, especially with all the grading scams, from companies running away with money to losing cards and even grading ‘obviously altered’ cut cards.

The key decision for many when considering a grading company is reputation. It’s a given that companies that employ people to manually determine grades are prone to errors.

Below we’ll help you explore your best options for getting your treasured Pokemon cards and booster packs graded in the USA and the UK in 2025.

How the card grading process works

• First, sort through your cards and look them up on TCGplayer.com or an equivalent website to find out what they might be worth.
• After you have a selection, examine them yourself for scratches and tears using your eyes and a magnifying glass or lupe. Make sure to read the section on what card-grading companies will look for and eliminate any in poor condition.
• Once you’re done, take some high-resolution digital photographs of your cards and save them. This will help should anything go wrong.
• Start an online submission.
• Select your options, i.e., bulk vs. single. If you would like a more detailed breakdown, you can opt for sub-grades.
• Carefully package your cards or packs and send them in.

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Why to get your Pokemon cards graded

There are various reasons to get cards graded with the main ones being:

• Certifies the card’s authenticity.
• Preserve your cards, some graders will sonically seal your cards inside a protective, stackable casing.
• It increases their value.
• Most authenticators will register your card and slab to deter fraudsters.
• It looks professional and is an aesthetic way to showcase them.

What do companies take into account when grading?

There are a multitude of things that grading companies factor in when grading individual cards and booster packs. Below, we’ve got a breakdown of what they look for with both types.

Individual cards

• Centering: 50/50 percent is ideal, with marks deducted for off-center cards. PSA states that for a card to achieve its PSA 10 grade, a gold standard in the industry, a card must have “55/45 to 60/40 percent on the front, and 75/25 percent on the reverse.”
• Corners: cards with perfect corners at a glance gain the highest ranks. Under magnification, corners may show imperfections, which will lower their grade.
• Edges: under the naked eye, cards with perfect edges will rank highly, although marks will be deducted for flaws spotted under magnification.
• Surface: coloration, glossing, printing imperfections such as lines, and, the focus of the art, are taken into account. Marks are deducted for marks, scratches, print lines, print spots, and imperfections spotted by eye and magnification.
• Whether or not the card is authentic or authentically altered, Examples of authentic altered cards include those that have been signed. A tastefully signed card can become a treasure, but a sloppy one can ruin an otherwise mint card. For example, points will be deducted for aged, unaesthetic, and/or smudged autographs.

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Booster packs

• Card packet wear from touch.
• Crinkling in the cellophane wrapping.
• The packet having a ‘fresh’ appearance is important, meaning that mildew, mold, holes, stains, and sun damage are considered.
• Tears and damage to the seals.
• If water damage is present on the outside packet and possibly the inside.
• Some printing imperfections can be present even in top-graded packs but the best won’t have them
• Misaligned wrappers.
• Bleeding of the gum used to seal the wrapper.
• Evidence of card removal.

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The USA-based HGA provides a grading calculator to help you estimate the value of your card based on their system. Along with the guide information, you can refer to this before sending off your cards to get a better estimate of what you can achieve.

The calculator allows you to input variables in four categories: surface, centering, corners, and edges.

Best Pokemon Trading Card Grading Companies in 2025

Grading Company	Card Grading Scale	Customer Service	Price	Extras	Turnaround
Beckett Grading Services Beckett (USA)	1-10 with .5 increments	4/5	$$$	Detailed report card with sub grades	2 – 60 days
Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA) (USA)	1-10 with .5 increments	4/5	$$$	Primary authority on grading Pokemon cards	2 – 24 weeks
Card Grading Corporation CGC (USA)	1-10 with .5 increments, with 10 gems being second best, and a special 10 pristine rating	4/5	$$	2-9 with .5 increments, a 1.8 “G-“, then increments of .2 from 9-10, e.g. 9.2, 9.4, etc.	11 – 35 days
Sportscard Guarantee Corporation SGC (USA)	1-10 with 10 “pristine” and 10 “flawless” ratings	5/5	$$	Claim to have most accurate & consistent grading scale, without “tweeners”, in-between grades	2 – 25 days
Ace Grading (UK)	1-10	4/5	$$	Anti-counterfeit “Cypheme” labels	1 – 20 days
Hybrid Grading Approach HGA (USA)	2-60 days, refund if the time scale is not met	5/5	$$$ Pay by the day instead of by card	Hybrid grading uses AI and real people	2-60 days, refund if the time scale is not met
Automated Grading Systems AGS (USA)	1-10 grading scale	5/5	$$	Uses automated AI grading	4-30 days

Beckett Grading Services (BGS):

Beckett is based in Texas and they have an excellent reputation. Their system is easy to comprehend. They use a 1–10 grading scale that increases in half-point increments. Their highest-graded cards come with distinctive black labels for 10’s, gold labels for 9.5-10’s, and silver labels for 8.5-9’s. Oother cards have white labels.

Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA):

PSA is known by most to be the ‘gold standard’ of grading in the trading card industry. They’ve been around since ’91 and are one of the ‘big three’ along with CGC and Beckett. Their grades are easier to achieve than Beckett’s or SGC’s.

Certified Guarantee Company (CGC):

CGC is another of the big three companies in Pokemon card grading. They have a strict grading system; however are cheaper than PSA and Beckett.

Sportscard Guarantee Corporation (SGC):

SGC was entrusted with grading a Mickey Mantle 1952 trading card that later sold at auction for over $12.6 million, making it the most expensive trading card ever sold. They are meticulous and highly respected for being the most accurate. Some collectors believe their grades to be worth more than those of competitors like PSA, as they are more difficult to obtain.

ACE Grading (Ace):

Ace Grading has excellent security protocols that help protect the buyer from fraud. They use a tamper-proof foil logo, a QR code, and an AI-powered ‘cypheme‘ label that matches the item to the uploaded card and condition. The label also includes a unique orange band that isn’t featured in Pantone lists. They record their chemically unique signature, which is stored in the cloud and cannot be copied.

Hybrid Grading Approach (HGA):

HGA was founded in 2021 during the Pokemon card boom and has had an impressive run, growing quickly since. In an industry where reputation is everything, they have already staked their claim by becoming one of the only companies to use a hybrid approach to grading, making the most of AI as well as real people. They also offer a refund promise in case your cards don’t meet the agreed turnaround times.

Automated Grading Systems (AGS):

A group founded AGS at a collect-o-con in 2021 and has since rapidly gained prestige for being one of the only card grading companies to exclusively use card scanning software. Their ‘robograding‘ approach that uses computers to grade Pokemon TCG cards returns highly accurate grades.

Artificial Intelligence and Computer-Based Grading:

Human error has a significant impact on the grade your trading card will receive on that day. While most companies use computers to help them grade your cards, others solely grade using AI. This is great news for consistency and accuracy, but for older companies adopting the technology, it has an obvious downside. As the algorithm improves and as people regrade their cards, their previous cards are unlikely to receive the same grades they had before.

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What not to do

• Don’t trust your prized cards with intermediary grading services.
• Don’t send in cards before researching their potential value online and taking photographs of them.
• Don’t forget to follow the guidelines set out by your grading company of choice before sending
• Don’t submit fake or altered cards unless they are authentic and autographed.
• Don’t throw away your miscut, misprinted, or altered cards. Some collectors are willing to pay a premium for miscued and misprinted Pokemon cards.

That’s everything you need to know about Pokemon card grading in 2025. For more TCG content, check out the most expensive and rarest cards, best Pokemon cards of all time, best looking Eeveelution cards, and the best packs to buy.