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Is it worth grading your Pokémon card?

Grading only pays when the slab sells for enough more than the raw card to cover the fee, the shipping and the chance of a lower grade. We work it out for every card from real, cross-checked sold prices — each grade priced on its own, never mixed with another card or another edition — plus PSA’s population report. Open any card and look at its Grading tab, or start from the guides below.

Highest PSA 10 multipliers →Where a PSA 10 sells for the most times the raw price.Best cards to grade →Where grading pays the most on average, after every fee.Cards not worth grading →Popular cards where grading loses money on average.Graded copies selling below raw →Where a PSA 9, 8 or 7 sells for less than a raw copy.Grading costs →PSA, CGC, Beckett, SGC, TAG and ACE fees, and which tiers are paused.
Highest PSA 10 multipliersSee all →
  1. 1Hypno 8 Fossil79×
  2. 2Squirtle 63 Base Set77×
  3. 3Zapdos ex 116 EX FireRed & LeafGreen75×
  4. 4Articuno 2 Legendary Collection70×
  5. 5Mimikyu GX 038 Fairy Rise68×
Best cards to gradeSee all →
  1. 1Charizard 146 Skyridge+$8,361
  2. 2Poncho-Wearing Pikachu 207 XY-P Promotional Cards+$7,181
  3. 3Mimikyu 289 SM-P Promotional Cards+$6,449
  4. 4Shining Charizard 107 Neo Destiny+$5,454
  5. 5Gengar H9 Skyridge+$5,112

How we calculate it

Prices. Medians of recent recorded sales for each grade from eBay, Yahoo! Auctions JP and Mercari, converted to USD. Grades are never mixed. Every price counts only sales whose listing confirms this exact card, and the rankings go further still — a card only makes a “highest” or “lowest” list with enough independent evidence and a sane price ladder, so one stray listing can’t hijack the top spot. When a grade has no recorded sales we show a price-guide reference or an estimate, and label it.

Chances. We start from PSA’s population report for this exact card. Pop reports overstate the 10 rate, because people only send the copies they think are perfect. So our default takes about two thirds (65%) of the reported gem rate. Move the slider if your copy is flawless or off-centre.

Costs. PSA’s fee for the tier the card’s value at each grade requires (Standard covers up to $1,000; a $4,000 PSA 10 goes in at Super Express), plus about $15 shipping to PSA, $22 insured return and $5 of sleeves and supplies, split across the cards in your order. Selling fees (eBay: 13.25% + $0.40) come off every sale, raw or graded.

The answer. Expected value of grading minus what you’d net selling it raw today. The break-even gem rate is the chance of a 10 at which the two are equal. The PSA 9 check asks whether a 9 alone would still pay for itself.

Study tool, not financial advice. Prices move during the months a submission takes.