How Pokémon Card Grading Works, Start to Finish

What do graders look at on a Pokémon card?

Four things decide the number: centering, corners, edges and surface. Before any of that, the grader checks that the card is authentic and hasn’t been trimmed, recolored, restored or cleaned. PSA’s standards say it won’t grade a card that shows signs of tampering or is of questionable authenticity, and it has a code for each reason (see the last section).

Centering

How evenly the printed frame sits inside the card’s border, measured left to right and top to bottom, front and back. It’s written as the wider border’s share of the pair: 58/42 means one border is 58% of the two together. PSA’s 10 needs about 55/45 or better on the front and 75/25 on the back. Centering is the one area you can measure with a ruler, which is why the centering calculator exists.

Corners

Sharp and square, or showing white, fraying or rounding. CGC’s Gem Mint 10 asks for corners that look perfect to the naked eye and still rate Mint+ under 10x magnification; its Mint 9 allows four sharp corners with only minor wear visible.

Edges

Whitening, chipping and rough cuts along the sides. On a Pokémon card the dark blue back shows every white fleck, so check there first. CGC’s 8 and 8.5 describe “relatively smooth edges with only minor touches of wear.”

Surface

Scratches, scuffs, dents, print lines, print spots and loss of gloss, front and back. Factory flaws count too: CGC’s Gem Mint 10 surface must be free of print spots with perfect gloss, so a card straight from the pack can miss a 10 without ever being touched.

Graders also weigh eye appeal. PSA describes grading as largely objective (print defects, staining, surface wrinkles, measured centering) with a subjective part on top, and says a small variance may be permitted on occasion.

How does the 1–10 grading scale work, and what are half grades?

All four big graders use 1 to 10, with 10 at the top, but they split it differently. PSA’s 10 is Gem Mint and its 9 is Mint. CGC and TAG both put a Pristine 10 above an ordinary Gem Mint 10, and TAG also gives every card a score out of 1,000 so you can tell a strong 10 from a weak one.

Beckett’s row comes from collector guides such as HobbyCardIndex’s, because beckett.com was offline for maintenance when we checked on September 22, 2026.

PSA half grades

PSA added half-point grades on January 16, 2008, for every step except 9.5, so they run from 1.5 to 8.5. A half grade means the card has high-end qualities for its grade, and PSA said centering matters most: at least five to ten points better than the grade’s tolerance. A card with a qualifier can’t get the half point.

PSA qualifiers

Instead of subgrades, PSA can add a qualifier that names one specific problem next to the number: OC (off-center), ST (staining), PD (print defect), OF (out of focus), MK (marks) or MC (miscut). Check for one in any PSA listing you buy: a 9 with OC on the label is not the same card as a plain 9.

Older CGC labels

CGC updated its scale, and its population report now lists old “CGC Trading Cards Gem Mint 9.5” slabs as Gem Mint 10. The retired “Perfect 10” keeps its status.

What do Gem Mint, Pristine and Black Label mean?

Gem Mint is the name for a 10 at PSA, CGC and TAG. It doesn’t mean flawless. CGC’s Gem Mint 10 is a card that earned a 10 overall but misses the Pristine standard on at least one point, and it still allows centering of about 55/45 on the front and 75/25 on the back.

Pristine is the step above. At CGC a Pristine 10 is “virtually flawless” to the naked eye, with 50/50 centering and flawless color and registration, and it gets its own Pristine label; CGC says that label is reserved for cards flawless under 10x magnification. At TAG, Pristine is a score of 990 to 1,000, and TAG says it represents less than 1% of the cards it grades.

Black Label is Beckett’s. Collector guides describe it as a BGS Pristine 10 in which all four subgrades (centering, corners, edges and surface) are 10. Check Beckett’s own grading page for the current rules; it was offline on the day we checked.

What are subgrades, and which graders give them?

A subgrade is a separate score for each of the four areas, printed alongside the overall grade. Beckett is the grader known for them: centering, corners, edges and surface each get their own score. That tells a buyer why a card got its grade, for example a 10 for surface but a 9 for centering.

• PSA: one overall number, plus a qualifier when a single problem stands out. Its standards don’t describe subgrades.
• CGC Cards: its current grading scale describes one overall grade per card, plus a separate autograph grade if you have a signature graded.
• TAG: no subgrades on the label, but a 1,000-point TAG Score that places the card within its grade, and a report for every card it grades.
• Beckett: four subgrades. Beckett’s own explanation of how they combine into the overall grade was offline when we checked.

How do you pre-screen a card before paying to grade it?

Most of what a grader sees, you can see at a kitchen table with a lamp and a phone. A few minutes of checking can save a grading fee on a card that was never going to come back a 10.

1. Know what it is and what it sells for raw. Identify the exact set and printing, then look up recent sold prices with the price check. If the grading fee is a big share of the card’s value, stop here.
2. Measure the centering, front and back. Type the borders into the centering calculator or line up guides on a photo. It shows the best grade centering allows at PSA, CGC and TAG. If the front is well outside 55/45, don’t count on a PSA 10: PSA allows only a small variance, and only on occasion.
3. Check corners, edges and surface. Tilt the card under one bright light to catch scratches and print lines, use your phone’s zoom on each corner, and look at the blue back border for white. The card condition grader puts what you find on TCGplayer’s Near Mint-to-Damaged scale. That scale isn’t a grade, but a card it places below Near Mint (a crease, visible whitening, a scratch you can see without tilting) is a long shot for the top grades: CGC’s Gem Mint 10, for one, needs corners that look perfect to the naked eye and a surface free of flaws.
4. Don’t fix anything. Pressing out a bend, erasing a mark or whitening an edge can get the card rejected as altered: PSA has separate codes for restoration, altered stock and evidence of cleaning.
5. Price the submission. Add the fee, shipping both ways and insurance with the grading cost calculator, and compare the companies in PSA vs. CGC vs. Beckett vs. TAG.

If you’d rather sell than sort a stack yourself, text photos of the fronts and backs to (760) 453-6389 for a cash or trade-credit offer based on recent sold prices, or read how selling to us works.

What are the steps to send cards for grading?

The order is the same at every company, even if the screens differ:

1. Choose the company and service level. The level is tied to the card’s value and how fast you want it back; the grading cost calculator totals the options.
2. Create the order on the grader’s website. List each card (set, number and name) with its declared value, and print or save whatever label or slip the order gives you.
3. Pack and ship. Sleeve, semi-rigid holder, a snug box, a tracked and insured shipment (details below).
4. Wait, and watch for messages. PSA and CGC both say that if they judge a card to be worth more than the level you chose, they move it up and charge the difference.
5. Check the slabs when they arrive. Each one carries a certification number. PSA, CGC and TAG all run a cert lookup on their websites, so make sure the number, card and grade match before you sell or store it.

How do you pack cards for PSA, CGC or TAG?

Follow the grader’s own instructions for that submission, because they differ. PSA’s shipping guide is the most specific:

1. Put each card in a clear penny sleeve. PSA says solid or opaque sleeves can cause delays.
2. Slide the sleeved card into a semi-rigid holder with both sides fully visible. PSA lists the size for standard cards as 3 5/16 by 4 7/8 inches, and its how-to guide gives Card Saver I as an example.
3. No toploaders, tape, pull tabs or sticky notes. PSA’s how-to guide also advises against hard acrylic cases and screw-down holders.
4. Wrap the stack, put it in a new box, fill every gap so nothing moves, and attach the tracking label from your submission confirmation.

CGC and TAG publish their own packing steps; TAG, for example, has its own submission kit. Whichever you use, pack the cards so they can’t move, and keep the tracking number.

What is declared value, and is my card insured?

Declared value is what you say the card is worth, and it does two jobs: it sets which service level the card needs, and it caps what the grader pays if the card is lost or damaged in its care.

• PSA calls it Max Insured Value and sets it by the service level you choose. Once PSA confirms it has the card, it covers loss or damage up to the lower of the card’s fair market value or that Max Insured Value, until the card reaches its next stop. If PSA decides after grading that the card is worth more than your service level allows, it upgrades the service level for that card, so choose the level for what the card should sell for once graded.
• CGC asks for your best estimate of the card’s current fair market value (the raw value for a raw card), based on a recent purchase, a comparable sale or a price guide. If CGC decides a card is undervalued, it can move it to the right tier and charge the difference, and any compensation is capped at the value you declared.
• TAG doesn’t require a declared value and doesn’t charge more for valuable cards, but each tier only covers a card up to a set amount, so pick a tier whose coverage matches the card.

The trip there is on you. PSA says it doesn’t insure inbound packages and suggests third-party shipping insurance. Insure the box for what the cards are worth, not what they cost you, and keep the receipt and tracking. Use recent sold prices, not asking prices, for every figure: the raw value for the box’s insurance and for CGC, and the likely graded value when you choose a PSA service level.

How long does grading take?

It depends on the company and the service level you pay for, and published turnaround times are estimates. TAG says so plainly: the turnaround times on its site “are estimates, not guarantees,” counted in business days.

Capacity changes fast. TAG paused its Basic and Standard tiers on May 1, 2026 and Express on May 28, 2026; in its September 16, 2026 update it said its backlog was down about 85% from the peak, that it was opening limited submission drops, and that it expected to be fully caught up in October. Check each grader’s current status before you send anything. For current tiers, prices and turnaround at all four companies, see PSA vs. CGC vs. Beckett vs. TAG.

What happens if a card comes back altered, authentic-only or with an N grade?

Not every card gets a number. PSA returns cards it won’t grade with an N code that says why:

CGC uses designations instead. Authentic (AU) is for a card that’s real and unaltered but can’t get a number, for example because it’s below the minimum size. Authentic Altered (AA) means real but altered, such as recolored or trimmed.

Before you submit a card you’re unsure about, read the grader’s terms on what you’re charged when a card can’t be graded. If a card comes back as questionable authenticity, compare it with the checks in how to spot a fake Pokémon card before you think about resubmitting.