How to Calculate How Much Graded Cards Are Worth

Got some cards you want to get graded, but you’re not sure how much they’ll be worth afterwards?

I get it—I’ve sent in cards before that afterwards didn’t sell for anything like I thought they would…and boy is that frustrating.

For most modern cards, having a card grade as a 9 will often result in the card worth the same (or slightly more) than raw. Some highly sough after cards (such as a Prizm silver) will see a nice bump with a 9. For all cards, the grading “bump” is dependent on the grading company, how sought after the card is, how old the card is, and how hard it is to find the card in good condition.

Let’s dive in and see if we can figure out what you’re looking for!

What Grades = Raw Prices?

If you’re determining if it’s worth it to get your cards graded, my first step is to figure out what grade I need in order to break even.

So if the current value of the card is $10, and I’m going to spend $15 with SGC, what grade do I need for the card to be worth $25? Or, in reality about $35-$40 when factoring in eBay selling fees and shipping costs.

If a 10 gets you only that break-even number, then obviously there’s no room for profit.

If it’s a 9.5, that’s probably still not a great idea. Even if the card looks pristine to your eyes, there might be surface issues you didn’t find, or you’ve got a particularly harsh grader.

PSA 9s Aren’t What They Used to Be

When I first got back into collecting, my sweet spot was targeting those PSA 9s. My go-to was to find ones that were under 20% of the value of a PSA 10—and even better if I could find then for 10% or so!

However…pretty soon most of my PSA 9s began dropping in value!

I lost money on a Ja Morant Prizm, my Bowman Ken Griffey Jr. is about half what I paid for it, and my Tim Duncan Topps Finest has dropped about 80% in value…all of them PSA 9s!

Here’s what I’ve learned since then:

1. Avoid High Pop Cards – The Ja Morant card is just everywhere. Sure it’s Prizm, but it’s just a base card. Luckily after it bottomed out, Morant became a superstar and I eventually sold it at only a small loss.
   
2. Tim Duncan Gets No Respect – And not just him…many of the all-time great big-men just aren’t appreciated…from Shaq to Hakeem and down the line.
   
3. We’re in the Junk Slab Era – When PSA shut down in 2021, they had a backlog of literally millions of cards! Everyone came back in and saw the pricing for the entire market skyrocketing and sent in everything remotely valuable. While the craziness has settled a bit, grading prices have settled down as well, so that’s how we still get PSA grading over 7 million cards per year.

Of course I’m not saying that all PSA 9s aren’t worth anything—if I’ve got a rare Wembanyama auto, I’d be thrilled with a 9. Or of course any older rarer cards—I wouldn’t be putting my nose up at a Jerry Rice PSA 9 either.

This is also the case with other grading companies…and perhaps even worse.

Most SGC and BGS cards that come back a 9 these days seem to not increase in value more than the cost of grading it.

PSA | BGS | SGC Calculating Grading Card Values

First and foremost, I’m going to focus on these three companies because they’re the most popular ones right now. They’re considered to be the most reputable and typically carry the highest resale value.

Also of note: 

PSA 10 and SGC 10 are considered gem mint—but at BGS a gem mint is 9.5.

2018-19 Luka Doncic Prizm Rookie

2018 Topps Chrome Ronald Acuna Jr.

On these two modern cards, obviously PSA wins as far as a multiplier. You’ll notice on the Ronald Acuna that’s there’s no room for error or profit. With the cost of grading (plus shipping & taxes), you’d break even with a PSA 10!

In other words, under no scenario would you send this card in, unless his pricing skyrockets.

Collectors who have been paying attention know that SGC resale value has drawn even with BGS. However, SGC’s incredible return times has led them to the clear #2 in the hobby.

How to Price Your Sports Card

Before I jump into particulars, the obvious easiest thing to do is to just look up the value of your card once graded (like I did in the previous section).

My two favorite ways to do this are through eBay and CardLadder. 

EBay is the monster platform, and most other services draw from eBay’s sold comps for their pricing. CardLadder takes eBay pricing (and from some other platforms) and organizes the information in really useful ways.

I’ve already covered this topic of looking up the values of your cards in detail. Check out this article especially:

=> 8 Surefire Ways to Determine Sports Cards Values

How Else Do I Determine if My Graded Card Will Have a Good ROI?

It’s not always cut and dry as to what your card is going to sell for!

Perhaps you send your card in, but 1,000 other people get theirs back first and the value drops. Maybe the hype dies down on the player. Maybe it’s a brand that isn’t typically held in high regard and values plummet. 

Or, maybe you just can’t find any comps to compare yours too!

So let’s talk about what other factors go into whether a card is worth getting graded:

Iconic Player – Probably goes without saying, but a nice Kobe card is going to have more long-term value than a Tyler Herro card. Perhaps you sent in a card of his to get graded, but by the time it came back, his hype had already died off. Someone like LeBron or KD isn’t going to have their hype cooling off…in fact just the opposite as they cement their legacies.

Pop Count – Like my Ja Morant card I mentioned above, how many others of your card are there in circulation? Or how many will there be? Remember when Mac Jones became one of the most popular rookies (card-wise) ever?

If you want a good chuckle, take a look at the value of his Donruss PSA 10:

The lesson here: if you can be one of the first to market, it makes sense. If not, then it’s probably not worth grading a base card of a low-quality, highly produced set. (I sold two raw Donruss rookies of Mac Jones for $66 back then. Probably worth a buck apiece now!)

Quality of Brand – Not all autos, rookies, or numbered cards are created equal! A 1/1 from Flawless is going to be worth 100x more than a 1/1 from Leaf. So…is your card’s brand licensed? Is it sought after? What are the hobby boxes selling for? If it’s on the high end, that’s a decent indicator that your card might hold value for a while.

I once sent in a 2021-22 Chronicles Draft Picks Cade Cunningham Select Black Prizm to SGC. It came back a 10!

Seeing as the raw were selling for $40 – $50, there were no other comps on eBay, and it’s the #1 pick, I thought this was at least a $200 card. I listed it at $275 and had no offers. I lowered it to $230 and no offers. 

This card shows Cade in his college uniform (which typically don’t hold value well…and neither does Chronicles as a whole), so I became worried that as his pro uniform (and quality brands) were released that his prices would drop.

So I put it on auction – here’s what happened:

Disappointing right? 

All told, I made AT MOST $5 profit. When figuring that I had to send off the card, wait for it to come back, list it, and ship it…yeah, it was mostly a learning experience.

Hopefully this helps you with you graded sports cards!

Another great read you might like is my article that compares many different cards after getting them graded at PSA:

=> Is PSA Grading Worth It? A Deep Look at ROI

What is the Best Card Grading Service?

The right answer is…it depends! For most, it’s going to be PSA for its best resale value. Here are a few other categories along with the winner:

• For Resale Value – PSA
• For Quick Turnarounds – SGC
• For Subgrades – BGS
• Strictest Grading Standards – SGC
• For Holy Grail Values – BGS
• For Display/PC – HGA

Read More => Best Card Grading Service