Oct 6, 2026 · 30 min · 8 segments
Thinking about grading cards? Start here. After 1,500+ submissions across PSA, Beckett, SGC, and CGC, I break down what each grader actually costs, how long it really takes, where each one wins…
First of all, preparing and sending your cards.
I'm going to do this really quickly, but for anyone that has never sent cards before, the process is pretty simple and easy.
First, prepare your cards.
Make sure that they don't have any dirt, smudges, fingerprints on them.
Wipe them off with a microfiber cloth.
You'd be surprised how many cards I've seen undergraded because someone left a fingerprint on there.
Once your cards are all ready to go, you're going to put them into semi-rigid holders.
These aren't the top loaders that you're used to.
They're the little plastic envelope looking things.
I always make sure to use a clean penny sleeve that I put the card in first, then into a clean semi-rigid.
Just because I think human nature, if a grader sees a clean penny sleeve and a clean semi-rigid, that's going to prime them towards seeing the card itself to be clean.
Remember, in all of this, we are human beings and so are the graders.
We act like human beings do with our faults and our idiosyncrasies.
So with all my cards in their penny sleeves and their semi-rigids, I now go on to whatever grading site I'm using.
and I input all of the cards.
There's going to be various options on there as to where you send the cards afterwards.
If you have a vault somewhere, sometimes it's necessary or at least convenient for you to send to there.
Or of course, you can send back to your house.
Once everything's inputted, you're simply going to put Ding Defends on the either side of about every 10 cards.
Make sure to wrap all those together with rubber bands carefully.
Pack them securely in either a box or a padded envelope.
using plenty of bubble wrap, and make sure there's no space for things to move around.
When it comes to shipping out, they're going to give you an address to send to, and I usually use a third-party service to send out because it's much cheaper than using their pricing.
They'll save addresses for you, they'll save you money, and you can print out your labels directly from there.
First of all, preparing and sending your cards.
I'm going to do this really quickly, but for anyone that has never sent cards before, the process is pretty simple and easy.
First, prepare your cards.
Make sure that they don't have any dirt, smudges, fingerprints on them.
Wipe them off with a microfiber cloth.
You'd be surprised how many cards I've seen undergraded because someone left a fingerprint on there.
Once your cards are all ready to go, you're going to put them into semi-rigid holders.
These aren't the top loaders that you're used to.
They're the little plastic envelope looking things.
I always make sure to use a clean penny sleeve that I put the card in first, then into a clean semi-rigid.
Just because I think human nature, if a grader sees a clean penny sleeve and a clean semi-rigid, that's going to prime them towards seeing the card itself to be clean.
Remember, in all of this, we are human beings and so are the graders.
We act like human beings do with our faults and our idiosyncrasies.
So with all my cards in their penny sleeves and their semi-rigids, I now go on to whatever grading site I'm using.
and I input all of the cards.
There's going to be various options on there as to where you send the cards afterwards.
If you have a vault somewhere, sometimes it's necessary or at least convenient for you to send to there.
Or of course, you can send back to your house.
Once everything's inputted, you're simply going to put Ding Defends on the either side of about every 10 cards.
Make sure to wrap all those together with rubber bands carefully.
Pack them securely in either a box or a padded envelope.
using plenty of bubble wrap, and make sure there's no space for things to move around.
When it comes to shipping out, they're going to give you an address to send to, and I usually use a third-party service to send out because it's much cheaper than using their pricing.
They'll save addresses for you, they'll save you money, and you can print out your labels directly from there.
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