One of the best ways to make money in the sports cards industry is to send in your cards to get graded!
Things aren’t quite like they used to be when the boom hit in early 2021…back then, you could submit almost anything and sell it for a crazy premium.
People have gotten smarter—not to mention, the market got absolutely flooded.
To figure out if your cards are worth grading, you need to first research sold comps to make sure you’re sending in cards that will see a sufficient bump in pricing to be worth it. Then, you need to ruthlessly inspect your cards to determine if they’re in a good enough condition to get the grade you need for a good ROI.
Now, I’m not going to break down which grading company you should go with—I already did a complete review of all the major players in the space here—but I will use PSA a lot because they are the standard.
How Do I Know if My Cards Are Worth Grading?
Research Card Values at Different Grades and Different Companies
There’s no hard and fast rule for what grade you need to get in order to turn a profit!
Each company carries their own perceived value (like PSA being king), each company has their own grading scale (gem mint for PSA is 10, for BGS it’s 9.5), and then it depends on the popularity of the card, condition, age, etc.
An extreme example of this is how some older, valuable cards are worth grading even if they get a 1. If you’ve got a Jordan rookie, you’re grading that sucker even if it’s bent in half!
For other cards (usually common ultra-modern cards), even getting a 10 won’t raise the value enough to get it graded, even with one of the cheaper companies.
In general, sending in cards worth $5 is unlikely to net you any sort of ROI.
However, a good exception to this are extremely condition sensitive cards. One of these is the famous 1992-92 Upper Deck Shaquille O’Neal:
Crazy, right?
The thing is, this card was INSANELY over-printed! Everyone has one. I’ve seen pictures of people with shoeboxes full of these.
However, with that all-black background, these cards are very hard to grade well. That’s because any wear shows up perfectly against the black.
I sent one mine to be assessed by a pro and he told me it was the cleanest version of this card he’d ever seen, so I had it sent to SGC. It came back a 9 and is probably worth $15. That’s how hard these things grade.
Modern Rule of Thumb for Minimum Card Grades
In general, with newer cards that aren’t insanely valuable, you’ll often need to get a 10 or you’re generally going to lose money.
Like this:
Zion Williamson PSA 9 vs Raw Prizm Rookie
Granted, this is a base card, but there’s no reason to send a card like this in at all.
However, some rarer variation are absolutely worth getting graded, such as that same LaMelo but in a silver:
Raw, these things go for about $30.
So the moral: do your research!
Look up the raw value of your card, and then what it would be worth as a 9 or as a gem mint (some companies have 9.5 as gem mint, others have it as a 10).
And then always be conservative. That’s the secret to not losing money! If you’re like “I guarantee this will get a 10, I would still assume I’m going to get a 9.
Check PSA Population Reports before Sending in Your Cards
Finally, as part of researching values, take a look at the card’s population report. This will tell you how many of your card there are for each grade.
Unfortunately, PSA is the only one with a truly robust pop report. However, even if you’re going with another grading company, you can at least get a sense for how many there are.
If a card has an extremely high pop count (like 5k or higher), be wary.
That Zion rookie has nearly 40,000 PSA 9s and 10s out there!
Even if your research shows that you can turn a profit, seeing an ultra-high pop count like this gives me pause.
By the time my card comes back, will prices have dropped too much? That’s more likely with higher pop counts.
How to Assess Condition of the Card
Here’s my process that’s worked well so far:
Check the Centering on your card
If I’m opening a box of cards and I find a banger, I’ll take a real quick look at the centering. The ones that look at least decent, I’ll put into a penny sleeve and a Card Saver. If the centering is obviously trash, then I’ll put it into a top loader.
Later, I’ll pull out those Card Savers again to take a much closer look at my potential graded cards.
According to PSA’s guidelines, your card can be 55/45 to 60/40 off-center and still get a 10 (on the back, that goes to 75/25.
You can always eyeball it—if it’s easily noticeable, then you’re unlikely to get a 10. If it’s the only thing wrong with the card, a 9 is still in play.
(NOTE: I see cards posted on social media all the time with this caption: “How is this a 10 with that centering?!” I’m talking generalities here…those are the rare exceptions)
I bought a handy tool in Amazon that’s helped me exactly measure the centering. Check it out here!
Check the Corners/Edges of your card
First, I look at with the naked eye. If a corner/edge is soft or dinged, I won’t send it to be graded. You’re likely starting at an 8.
An 8 according to PSA has “slightest fraying at one or two corners.”
If any of the corners aren’t sharp, I wouldn’t send it.
Check the Card’s Surface Under Bright Light
Let me warn you…this is the step that trips up most people! When collectors send cards in and get an 8 or lower, it’s usually from the surface.
I can’t tell you how many BGS cards I see with 9.5s for corners, edges, and centering…and then like a 6 for the surface.
When I was just getting back into it, I found a nice Paul Pierce rookie in my collection. I looked everything over and I thought it could get a 9 or 10. Sweet, right?
However, once I learned more, I re-checked the card before sending it in. I looked at it under a bright light and held it at all different angles.
The card was the most scratched thing I’d ever seen! But since I’d been looking at the card in my basement with low lighting, I hadn’t noticed it before.
So, get a bright light (I use my light box) and hold the card at every angle under the light. Anything but the most minor of scratches goes back into a top loader for me.
Re-check Corners/Edges/Surface Again Under Light and a Loupe or Magnifying Glass
If I still have a card that looks worthy of grading, I’m going to take things to the next level.
Still under a bright light, I’m going to go over every inch of that card with a loupe! That’s those little magnifying glasses jeweler’s use to inspect gems.
You can grab ones on Amazon with 30x magnification for super cheap (here’s the one I bought). It’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made!
Send to a Professional
Last but not least…there are companies out there (usually ones that also submit cards to be graded for you) that also will inspect your cards for you and let you know what grade they think you’ll get!
These are people who have tons of experience doing it, and in the times I’ve done it…they’re usually extremely accurate.
Also, because it’s not their main business (bulk submitting cards is), they’ll usually look over your cards for super cheap and send you back the ones that don’t pass inspection. They charge like $3 – $5 per card.
It’s an absolute no-brainer to help you save $20+ per card that has no business being graded.
I like Nashcards for this service.
Sending cards in to get graded is one of THE best ways to make a profit (long as you’re sending in the right cards!). For more ideas on flipping cards for cash, check out this article:
