How to grade Pokémon cards for 2026: Top grading tips and protecting your collection
If you’re new to collecting, perhaps you’ve wondered how to grade your Pokemon cards? There’s loads of other questions relating to this too, like why should I bother? And what are the benefits to graded Pokemon cards?
Simply put, by having your Pokemon cards graded, you determine their quality, and give them a more definitive value compared to their basic RAW form. In this guide, we look at the grading process including how it works, the five top grading services such as PSA and BGC, plus the pros and cons of submission.
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Pros and cons of Pokemon card grading
- Potential improved value
- Protection for the card
- Easier to resell
- Looks cool!
- Costly
- Poor lead times
What does it mean to get your Pokemon cards graded?
Whether you get a Pokemon card from a booster pack, buy one from eBay, or get one from a card rip or mystery box site, it will come in one of two possible forms:
- RAW - this is an un-graded card, with no slab casing, and no official quality review. RAW cards are basically fresh out of a pack and can be in varying degrees of quality and wear and tear.
- Graded - this is a card that has been sent for submission to a grading service such as TAG. The company then analyzes said card to determine its quality. Once analyzed, the card is encased in a protective “slab”, together with either a print or engraving of the grading result.
In short, to grade Pokemon cards means to:
- Review their quality.
- Get an actual grading rating from 1-10.
- Get a protective slab casing.
It’s the done thing not only for Pokemon cards, but also for One Piece, and sports trading cards.
Why should you bother getting your Pokemon cards graded?
So, in terms of how to grade Pokemon cards, you have to submit them to a recognized grading company. But, why should you bother getting your Pokemon cards graded?
The simplest explanation is that graded cards are more desirable because their value is known. With a RAW, ungraded card, the value is uncertain - you could be holding a PSA 4 Charizard for example, or you could have an ultra-rare PSA 10 - the difference in value here is astronomical. People want perfection - they want mint cards in the best quality, and they want scarcity - this drives the value, and it’s what a grading service can potentially achieve.
For example, let’s look at one of the most iconic Pokemon cards of all time - the 1999 1st Edition #4 Charizard from the Base Set:
| Status/Rating | Estimated FMV |
|---|---|
| Ungraded / RAW | $10,100.00 |
| Grade 7 | $21,259.00 |
| Grade 8 | $28,100.00 |
| Grade 9 | $30,910.00 |
| Grade 9.5 | $70,401.00 |
| Grade 10 | $334,575.00 |
Note that these are estimated price averages taken from the Pricecharting website and were accurate at the time this how to grade Pokemon cards article went live. But, it illustrates our point. The price difference from an ungraded card, to even a Grade 7 is +100%. You then look at the difference between an ungraded card and a Grade 10 and we are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars - grading can have that much impact.
Considerations to make before getting your Pokemon cards graded
We do not recommend sending every Pokemon card you own to be graded. There are too many potential drawbacks and considerations to make first. You need to think about the cost, the lead times for submissions, and what you are potentially getting back in return.
The cost
Getting your Pokemon cards graded is not cheap! There are only a handful of recognized services that people regularly use. This ultimately means that they can charge a premium, and boy do they! In most cases, unless you are sending bulk submissions, you are looking at $50 per card. As a result, your grading costs can soon spiral out of control and eat into any potential returns you might make in the future.
Before you send any Pokemon cards to be graded, please make sure you have baked in the grading cost into your calculations. It’s also a great idea to scout around the different service providers to see which give the best prices for the cards you want to get graded.
Turnaround lead times
In recent years, the trading card industry has seen a massive surge in popularity. As a result, you have tens of thousands of people all sending their Pokemon cards to be graded - hoping to get that glorious Grade 10 rating. This has had a knock-on effect though. Considering there are only 5 reputable grading services that people typically use, and the limited staff and facilities they have, grading lead times have ballooned exponentially.
Unless you are paying for a premium service, you can be looking at 40+ business days to get your cards graded - and that’s on the good side. Some companies like PSA and CGC have lead times of 90+ business days simply because they can’t keep up with the demand and are trying to clear their backlogs.
So, while it’s important to consider how to grade Pokemon cards, you have to think if you can wait that long - do you want to be without your potentially valuable cards for months on end?
Potential value of the card
Ultimately, sending your Pokemon cards to be graded is a gamble and you may not even get a graded card back that’s worth more than you spent to get it traded.
For example, the 1999 1st Edition #41 Seel Base Set Card is worth the following:
- Ungraded - $1.40.
- Grade 9 - $34.10
- Grade 10 - $103.53.
If you spend $50 to get the card graded, it has to come back a Grade 10 otherwise you are making at least a $16 loss. Therefore, always think about the potential value of the card in its ungraded form, and the different grade ratings - you can then see if the grading cost is worth it or not.
A look at the top five Pokemon grading services
Similar to what we said for our guide on how to grade sports cards yourself, you cannot grade your own Pokemon cards to any meaningful degree. Instead, you need to use a reputable grading service. Currently, there are five operators who control the market and offer the best Pokemon grading services:
| Grading Company | Shorthandle | Price Per Card | Current Lead Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Sports Authenticator | PSA | $59 minimum | 90-100 business days |
| Beckett Grading Services | BGS | Unknown | Not available for standard submissions |
| CGC Comics | CGC | $17 minimum | 150+ business days |
| SGC Grading | SGC | $50 minimum | 40+ business days |
| Technical Authentication & Grading | TAG | $149 minimum | 5+ business days |
PSA - the long-held “standard” for Pokemon card grading
Most graded Pokemon cards you will see will be in a nice shiny PSA slab. Professional Sports Authenticator, or PSA is undoubtedly the most popular and best-known of the Pokemon grading services. They have been around forever, their slabs look great, and they are known for their rigorous testing process and most collectors hold them in high regard.
However, because of their popularity, our PSA card grading review showed that their lead times have exploded, and they are a little on the expensive side for individual submissions. For example, for a standard submission, it’s $59.99 per card, and the lead time is 90-100 business days.
Beckett - currently not accepting base and standard grading submissions
Beckett or BGS is right up there with PSA in terms of popularity and it’s often the second preferred option for Pokemon card grading. Currently though, because of the sheer backlog they have, at the time this how to grade Pokemon cards guide went live, they were not accepting standard grading submissions.
Instead, the Expression submission is the only option available until further notice as we spoke about in our BGS card grading review. As a result, details on their current price structure and grading fees are relatively different to find.
CGC - fully transparent grading scales
We noted in our CGC card grading review that we like how they provide a grading scale so you can see what your 1-10 score means. For example, there is a difference between a Pristine 10 and a Gem Mint 10. We also think that the CGC slab style is one of the better ones available - the grade scale icon looks cool, and we like the gold background and how they display the card name.
While CGC does Pokemon card grading, it is also better-known for being one of the few operators to grade comic books. Additionally, it offers a bulk grading submission service which drastically reduces the price of individual cards to around $17 each.
SGC Grading - grading cards since 1998
SGC Grading is one of the oldest card trading services and they’ve been in the game since 1998. They do specialize in sports trading cards and this is what their services are mainly used for. However, they also grade Pokemon cards and each slab has a standard 1-10 grade rating and quality report.
They have both a standard and expedited service depending on how fast you want your Pokemon cards back. For instance, in our SGC card grading review, we noted that for a card with a max declared value of up to $3,500, the standard lead time is 40+ days at $85, whereas the expedited process is 2-3 days and costs $250.
TAG Grading - a relatively new grader with transparent slabs
As we stated in our TAG card grading review, we think TAG should get more press as it undoubtedly has the coolest-looking slabs available. Instead of a printed rating label inside the slab, TAG has created a patented transparent engraved slab - the rating, QR code, and name of the Pokemon card are engraved directly on the inside of the slab and it looks superb.
Because of this, their Pokemon grading services are a little more expensive, but because they are one of the newer services, their lead times are also much better than their competitors.
Alternatives to grading your Pokemon cards
Grading is not for everyone. That’s cool though, as there are alternatives - card rip sites. These operators offer randomized packs containing Pokemon cards that you can get shipped to your home address.
The great thing about these sites is that most of the cards are graded already! As a result, you are cutting out half of the process and the associated costs. We’ve got a selection of card rip sites on banners here that you can check out.
Conclusion - grading your Pokemon cards is not a simple decision
That’s our guide on how to grade Pokemon cards completed! In short, graded Pokemon cards are where the action is at, and the Grade 9 and Grade 10 cards have the highest potential resale value. However, you need to think about the pointers we discussed such as the cost, the lead times, and the potential value of your graded cards.
A great alternative if you don’t want to go through the hassle of grading is to use card rip sites - most of these have packs with pre-graded cards, and you can check out our recommendations on the banners on this page.
Pokemon card grading FAQs
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