Is it worth grading a Pokémon card? Costs, timing and when it makes sense

Having a card graded makes sense when a grade 10 is worth far more than the raw card, when the card is vintage and in genuinely excellent condition, or when you need proof of authenticity to sell it. It makes no sense for common cards, for cards that are already marked and for anyone unwilling to wait weeks. The rest is arithmetic, and it is done before shipping.

When grading makes sense

The first case is the card that in 10 is worth a figure out of all proportion to its ungraded price. The clearest example in our catalogue is the Mewtwo 10/102 from the Base Set: an ungraded copy is worth between €25 and €80, a PSA 10 about €4,200 according to PriceCharting in October 2026, that is 155 times the raw card. It is an extreme case, but it explains the logic: the value is not in the card, it is in the grade, and the grade is only obtained by grading.

The second case is the expensive modern card. The Umbreon ex 161/131 from Prismatic Evolutions is worth between €1,000 and €1,700 ungraded and about €4,600 in PSA 10, 4.4 times. Here grading also serves to protect: a thousand-euro card circulates better in a sealed holder, with a verifiable certificate, than in a sleeve.

The third case is authenticity. A valuable vintage card without a certificate sells with difficulty, because the buyer has to trust the seller; with the slab, the trust is provided by the grading company.

When it makes no sense

A common card, even in 10, remains a common card: the cost of the service often exceeds the final value. A card that is already marked, with white borders, a bent corner or scratches on the holofoil, will come back with a 7 or an 8 that adds almost nothing to the price and takes away weeks of waiting.

And then there is time. Anyone grading in order to sell straight away needs to know that weeks pass between sending and return, sometimes months, and that the market moves in the meantime.

How to send a card for grading from Italy

PSA is based in the United States and, more recently, has offices in Europe; from Italy the usual route goes through a European intermediary, a shop or a service that collects the cards, ships them in bulk to the grading company and brings them back. You fill in a declaration with the card, the set, the number and the declared value; the value determines the service level and the cost.

The card travels in a soft sleeve inside a semi-rigid holder, never in a rigid toploader closed with tape, and in a padded box. It is sent insured, with tracking, and you keep a photograph of the card before it leaves.

How much it costs and how long you wait

Price lists change often and depend on the level chosen, so we do not reproduce them: as an order of magnitude, the basic service costs a few tens of euros per card, and rises for valuable cards, because the service level is tied to the declared value. To this you add the intermediary's commission and insured shipping there and back.

Waiting times run from a few weeks for the higher levels to several months for the economy one. Anyone sending ten common cards out of curiosity pays ten times over and waits just as long.

The risk of a disappointing grade

This is the point people underestimate. A card that looks perfect to the naked eye can come back with a 9 for a millimetre of centring, or with an 8 for a scratch invisible without raking light. On vintage it is the norm: 10s are rare precisely because the printing of the time was not precise. On the Base Set Mewtwo, to stay with the example, a 10 is worth 11.4 times a 9 according to the same data: the difference between the two grades is almost the whole value.

Before shipping, it is worth pre-grading at home, with a loupe and raking light, and accepting the idea that the 10 is not guaranteed. If the difference between 9 and 10 is the whole reason for sending, you have to ask yourself what you will do with a 9.

The alternative for buyers: the double check

If you are buying rather than selling, the problem is different: you do not need to obtain a grade, you need to trust one already issued. On Pokechrono every card is PSA 10, the certificate is on the listing, and our expert has checked the slab and the number before the auction, as described in how we verify.

For the cards that matter, at payment you can ask for the double check: a second independent inspection, by another expert or a partner grader, before shipping, at €29 per card. It is the cheapest way to have two opinions on a card worth thousands of euros. And if instead you have a PSA 10 graded card to sell, you can offer it with no commission charged to the seller.