In this modern time there is a lot more grading happening to preserve the quality of the cards. In the time of the Pokemon hype, when the base set graded cards where sold for a lot of money. Grading cards became more common. A lot more people want to grade. If the card gets the highest grade the card becomes more valuable. Then there is a question of which company you should choose to grade your cards.

What grading company to choose?

The topic of choosing the “right” company to grade the cards is a never ending story. Now that many have started to grade their cards, people want to know which company to choose.

I guess if you want a quick flip of the card you are grading, you probably want to choose Beckett or PSA. But then if you are located in Europe like us it may take a while until the graded cards arrive. You may want to choose a company that’s in Europe. There are also many grading companies here in Europe, but with a shorter turnaround time. Some of the companies are PCA and Cardmarket grading. PCA have 120 days turnaround time and Cardmarket grading has up to 40 days.

Cardmarket is a well known company where you can sell and buy different well known TCGs mostly in Europe. They have a grading service, with great responding support. They have beautiful slabs. You get gold colour label if you get the grade 10. The label is silver if you are under the grade 10. At the time of writing this post no one has ever graded a perfect 10 card. So we don’t know how that looks like. Also it’s awesome that there is an only 4-5 weeks turnaround time.

Cardmarket grading is great. We have recently graded with Cardmarket. Their support and communication are great. We love their slabs. It looks awesome. We would recommend their service.

Selling graded cards

People are also making money grading cards. You have to know the condition of your cards and only send them in for grading if they are of great quality. If you looking to make money out of it. Grading cards cost money that is why you have to send in great quality cards to get the return of investment.

It’s important to inspect the cards before sending them to the grading company. There are Loupes you can use to look more closely on the cards. A lot of TCG cards today have great art on them. We can look at them as art pieces. When we encapsulate them, the conditions are preserved. Pieces with the highest grade might go up in price because that card/art might have a limited printing. Do you grade your cards a lot?

If you have questions or something else you want to talk about, please feel free to send us an email, Contact – TCG Time.