PSA or CGC: which grading should you choose for a Pokémon card?

Grading a card means having it authenticated and scored from 1 to 10 by a third party, then sealed in a holder (a "slab"). Two companies dominate Pokémon: PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) and CGC Cards. Beckett (BGS) remains relevant for sports and vintage but has become marginal on Pokémon. The real question is not "which one is best" but "which one pays the most for this card, and should I grade at all".

What the grade does to the price

Grading does not create value, it reveals and certifies it. A buyer pays a premium for three things: certainty that the card is genuine, certainty about its condition, and the rarity of the grade. That is why the price curve is so steep: on a sought-after vintage card, a PSA 10 often sells for 3 to 10 times a PSA 9, which itself sells for barely more than a clean raw copy. Between a PSA 8 and a raw card, the gap is small or nil once fees are deducted.

On our price pages, the value shown is for a raw card. For a Base Set Charizard 4/102, the raw value says nothing about a PSA 10, which trades in another dimension. That is exactly the data Kardz separates in the app: raw sales, PSA 9, PSA 10 and CGC 10, with the number of sales behind each median.

PSA versus CGC: the differences that matter

Exact fees change regularly and depend on the declared value of the card: figure, as an order of magnitude, $15-30 per card on standard service, more for high-value cards, plus insured shipping both ways. Check the current fee schedule before sending anything.

The three questions before grading

1. Does the card have a serious shot at a 10? Look at it under good light, front then back. Perfectly white corners with no lifted fibers, a surface with no scratches or print lines, clean edges, and proper centering: PSA tolerates roughly 55/45 to 60/40 on the front and 75/25 on the back for a Gem Mint 10. One flaw visible to the naked eye and you are aiming for a 9 at best.
2. Does the PSA 10 / raw gap cover the fees several times over? If the raw card is worth $15 and a PSA 10 sells for $60, the margin after grading (≈ $25 in fees) and selling fees is thin, and you carry the risk of a 9 that is worth little more than raw. Under $30-40 of raw value, grading only makes sense for your collection, not for resale.
3. Is there a market for the grade? Check the number of recent graded sales. A card with no PSA 10 sold in six months has no price, only a hope.

Special case: mass-printed modern cards (a common ex from a 2024 set) get 10s easily, but the PSA 10 population explodes and the premium collapses within months. Grade fast, or do not grade.

When to choose PSA, when to choose CGC

• PSA if the card has high value and an international market: the PSA 10 is the grade buyers search for by default, it resells higher and faster.
• CGC if you grade mid-value cards in volume, if turnaround matters, or if you are aiming for a CGC 10 Pristine on a flawless card (rare, but highly valued).
• Neither if the raw card is worth less than $30, if it has a visible flaw, or if you do not know yet whether you will sell. A raw card sells in one click; a card graded 8 sells poorly.

Regrading, or arbitrage on grades

Some collectors buy clean PSA 9s to have them regraded, hoping for a 10. It works at the margin, on cards where the 9/10 gap is huge and the copy is objectively flawless. It is a craft: you need to read centering to a tenth of a millimeter and accept losing the fees seven times out of ten. Kardz flags slabs sold below the median for their grade, which is the starting point of that strategy, but does not replace your eye.

In short

Grading is a bet on the grade. It pays on expensive, flawless, in-demand cards and costs money everywhere else. Before sending anything, measure the real gap between raw, PSA 9 and PSA 10 on completed sales: that is what the app shows for every scanned card. Read next: how to find the value of a Pokémon card.