The Grading Premium Index: what a grade is worth for Pokémon cards
The cheaper the card, the less likely grading pays. We priced 1,643 Pokémon cards from the Cardinal catalog at every grade and checked whether grading beats selling raw after the fee. For cards worth $5–$20, most don't pay even if they come back a PSA 10 (57% don't), and a PSA 9 almost never pays (3% of cards). For cards worth $200–$1,000, most pay even with a 9 or lower (67% of cards).
Why: the grading fee is the same whatever the card is worth. A PSA 10 typically sells for 9.8× the raw price, but on a cheap card that gain is too small to cover the fee by a safe margin; on an expensive card even the smaller gain from a 9 covers it easily.
Updated 2026-10-18 · Prices as of 2026-10-17 · Fees: each company's published tiers (oldest entry 2026-06-01)
The premium, and when it pays, by raw price.
| Raw price | Cards | PSA 10 vs raw (median) | PSA 10 vs PSA 9 (median) | Some PSA grade pays | A PSA 9 or lower pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5–$20 | 438 | 12.6× | 4.5× | 43% | 3% |
| $20–$50 | 431 | 9.0× | 5.2× | 73% | 14% |
| $50–$200 | 398 | 7.0× | 4.3× | 87% | 37% |
| $200–$1,000 | 318 | 8.2× | 4.3× | 94% | 67% |
| $1,000+ | 58 | 9.8× | 4.1× | 100% | 85% |
How to read it. "Some PSA grade pays" is the share of cards where at least one PSA grade is worth more than the raw card plus the fee, if the card gets that grade, by the same rule the Cardinal Call uses: the gain has to clear a minimum both in dollars and relative to the fee. Among those cards, 59% need a 10. "A PSA 9 or lower pays" is the share where a 9 is enough. Neither says how likely a card is to get the grade — that depends on the copy in your hand.
The $1,000+ band has fewer cards (58) because few cards in the catalog are priced that high.
How often each company's grade pays.
| Grading company | Cards with prices | Some grade pays | Only a 10 pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,315 | 74% | 44% |
| CGC | 1,297 | 58% | 23% |
| BGS | 1,238 | 89% | 42% |
| SGC | 1,142 | 41% | 31% |
| TAG | 726 | 50% | 15% |
Like the table above, this assumes the card gets the grade. A company's grade pays more often when its fee is low relative to what its slabs sell for. That is why a cheaper grader can come out ahead on low-value cards even though a PSA 10 usually sells for more — and why the answer differs card by card.
How the index was built.
- Sample: up to 600 Pokémon cards drawn at random from each raw-price band of the Cardinal catalog. After removing duplicate listings, non-English printings and cards that couldn't be priced, 1,643 remained — the table shows how many per band. Mostly English printings; some Japanese-market sets may be included because the catalog doesn't record every card's language.
- Prices: each card's raw price and graded prices at every grade, as the Cardinal app shows them, as of 2026-10-17. Graded prices pool all label eras and can come from different market sources at different grades.
- When grading pays: computed by Cardinal's own grading engine — the same rule as the Cardinal Call — using each company's published service levels from Cardinal's fee table (synced daily; the oldest entry is from 2026-06-01). It ignores shipping and how long grading takes, and assumes the grade is known; it does not say how likely any card is to get it.
- Medians are used throughout, so a few extreme prices don't drive the results.
What about your card?
Scan it to see its predicted grade and whether grading pays, with which company. Free on iPhone and Android.