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Grading & condition

Grading Submission Planner

You have a stack of candidates and a budget that will not cover all of them. This ranks the cards by expected return, assigns each to the cheapest tier its value allows, and draws the line where the budget runs out.

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Your candidates

Candidates ranked by expected gain, with the budget cut-off marked.
CardRawGraded est.TierFeeExpected gainIn?

Rank by gain, not by affection

The cards you most want graded are rarely the ones that pay. Expected gain is the graded value less the raw value less the fee — and on a card where the graded and raw prices are close, that number is negative no matter how much you like the card.

expected gain = (graded value × gem probability weighting) − raw value − tier fee − postage share tier = the cheapest tier whose declared-value ceiling covers the card

Two rules that shape every submission

  • Fill the box. Postage is a fixed cost spread across the submission, so ten cards cost far less each than three. Adding a marginal card that breaks even on fees still lowers the per-card postage on everything else.
  • Do not over-declare. Declared value sets the tier and the fee. Declaring a $200 card at $1,400 to feel safe moves it up a tier and costs real money for nothing.

Questions people ask about this

How do I decide which cards to grade?

Rank by expected gain — graded value minus raw value minus the fee — and submit down the list until the budget runs out. Cards where the graded and raw prices are close produce a negative number regardless of how good the card is, and those are the ones people submit anyway.

How many cards should I put in one submission?

As many as clear the bar, because postage is a fixed cost spread across the box. A three-card submission carries $12 of postage per card at typical rates; a fifteen-card submission carries $2.30. Adding a marginal card that roughly breaks even still improves the economics of every other card in the box.

What declared value should I use?

The honest current raw value. Declaring high to feel protected pushes the card into a more expensive tier for no benefit, and declaring low does not work — graders re-tier cards they judge to be worth more and bill the difference.

Where these numbers come from

Rates on this page were last checked against the published price lists on . Grading companies change fees and pause tiers without notice — confirm the total on the submission form before you pay.