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There are very many Pokémon grade companies nowadays, in this blog we are going to highlight some of them. A very useful blog if you are planning to grade your Pokémon cards. The value of Pokémon cards is very important to many people. We can divide these into two categories. The value in money and emotional value. The first one in particular is very important to many people, but how exactly do you calculate what a Pokémon card is worth? Through a Pokémon grade company, you can have the condition of your card determined by experts. As a result, one part of determining the price is already done. Now you just have to start researching exactly how much the card is worth. You do this by looking at soldlistings of the same grade and card on Ebay, for example. But remember, prices are not fixed in the Pokémon world. These can go up as well as down and it remains a matter of supply and demand. The most well-known and valuable grader is PSA, followed by Beckett (BGS). This is followed by a lot of other players like CGC, Degree, AP and many others that are a lot smaller. We put all five in a table so you can easily compare them.

PSA Cards

Surely the largest grading service provider in the Pokémon world is PSA. They are far in the lead and have a lot of experience, very many cards already graded and give considerable value to special Pokémon cards and high grades (gem mints). The beauty of PSA Pokémon cards is also that they are highly sought after by collectors. When you put a few of them up for sale, you will get them sold in no time because they are extremely in demand. Even the very lowest grades such as a PSA 1 of a desirable ticket often still go out for a lot of money. You can sell these on Ebay, Marketplace or Facebook Pokémon groups, for example. But, of course, there are downsides to PSA. The biggest drawback to this company is the duration of the degrees. People who sent in their cards to be graded in early 2021 are only now getting them back or still don’t have them back. In fact, PSA is completely overflowing with entries and simply cannot handle it. So keep that in mind when you are going to send your cards, you will lose them for quite a long time. So you have to be patient for it. But then when they come back, it’s extra special and your cards have gained a lot of extra value.
PSA’s website: https://www.psacard.com/

Beckett (BGS)

Beckett (BGS) is known for its rigor. A 10 is also really a very strong ten. Most people say a Beckett 9.5 grade is equivalent to a PSA 10. For example, there have been very many collectors in the past who have sent their Beckett 9.5 graded Pokémon cards to PSA for a crossover grade. Indeed, you are then almost guaranteed a PSA 10. The best thing about beckett is another black label score. Then you get one Beckett 10 with all subgrades also on a 10. Then you get your card back with a special black label. This increases the value tremendously and the population of these blacklabels is very low. You can then safely talk about a very rare grade. The labels are also very nice, especially with the sub-grades added. This makes it very easy to see which part you score on which grade. This is not with PSA slabs, which also makes it extra special to have subgrades. The drawbacks of Beckett are the wait times and the prices. It’s a little more expensive than PSA and you have to wait quite a long time. But they are the strictest graders on the market!
Beckett’s website: https://www.beckett.com/grading/

Certified Guaranty Company (CGC)

This company has made a big splash in the Pokémon world, but has been around for 20 years. They are also considered by many collectors to be the 3rd biggest grader for Pokémon cards. The company continues to grow like never before and has done well to make a big name for itself with Pokémon card degrees. The price per card depends very much on which service you take and whether or not you want subgrades added. They grade very fast for Americans, unfortunately for us as Dutch it takes a bit longer. The slabs do look a lot less beautiful and things go wrong quite often at this company. We believe that it is best to send your error cards to this company because this is what they specialize in. So the disadvantages are a less nice label, occasional errors and the value it gives to your cards is a lot lower than with PSA or Beckett.
CGC’s website: https://www.cgccomics.com/grading/trading-cards/

GRADE

Another smaller player is Graad, a company that has been around for a while and is based in Italy. So the advantage of this is that they are based in Europe and you get your cards back in the mail much faster and don’t have to pay any customs fees. We tested it ourselves, the price was per ticket was on the low side. The cards also came back pretty quickly, you have to think about 1 a 2 months max. Compared to PSA’s 1.5 years, that’s very fast. The slabs are also the same size as PSA’s only the label is green. So you just have to love it. The biggest drawback to GRADE is mainly that your cards get little added value. So do you want your cards in a bib quickly? Then we definitely recommend GRAAD. But are you doing it purely for the money? Then I would skip Graad.
GRAAD’s website: https://www.graad.eu/

AP Grading

One of the new emerging grading service companies is AP Grading. The nice thing about this is that they are based in Germany. Very many middlemen drive there to take the cards away and pick them up. Thus, it is quite safe to degree through this company, your cards cannot get lost in the mail. The company is very strict, it reminds us very much of Beckett but a lesser version of course. We are seeing more and more people using AP Grading. It’s very useful if you just want to know what grade your card is going to score, because they are so strict. It will cost you 18 euros per ticket, so the price is quite low compared to the other grading companies. The slabs look nice and sturdy too, you just have to love that they are black. Again, you get subgrades just like with Beckett which makes it a very nice bib. Again, the biggest drawback with this company is that it adds little value to your cards. This is because the company is still new and has little name within the Pokémon world.
AP Grading’s website: https://www.apgrading.nl/

Closing

We hope you find some use for this blog about Graded Pokémon cards. The best tip we can give is try them all out? What do you have to lose? Because at the end of the day, it’s also a lot of personal taste and the labels differ quite a bit. Should you do it for the money? Then, of course, we recommend you go for PSA and Beckett. But give the others a chance to grow as well, I would say send a few tickets to the somewhat less popular ones because this will last much shorter anyway. And who knows, you might be amazed by the results. Are you still looking for Pokémon packs to pile up cards that you can start grading? Then check out our Pokémon booster boxes and Pokémon Elite Trainer Boxes!