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Posted By: JK

Its funny that these same questions seem to get asked over and over. I cross every card I buy to sgc (assuming its not already graded by them) and thus have a lot of experience with their crossover service. So its all in one place:

1. If you dont specify, SGC will only cross to an equivalent grade. Thus, if you have a psa 4, it will only cross if it meets the qualifications for a 50. If you have a 4.5, it will only cross if it meets the qualifications for a 60 since there is no SGC equivalent to a 4.5.

2. If you dont care about the grade, you can send in your cards slabbed with "no minimum" written in the section for comments (or for that matter anywhere on the submission form that it will be seen) and the card will be crossed assuming its authentic and unaltered. If the card is potentially altered and you want it slabbed regardless, you must specify that you want it to be graded authentic if it is deemed to be trimmed, etc.

3. If you care about the grade but you are nevertheless willing to accept a lower grade (for example, if you have a 4.5 and are willing to accept the half point downgrade to a 50) you need to state the minimum grade you are willing to accept (i.e. "do not cross if lower than a 50").

4. If the card is valued at greater than $500, you can still send it in slabbed - you just have to pay the fee for the normal grading tier as if it were not sent in raw. For example, if the card is worth between 1 and 2.5k, you have to pay the $20 fee for the Grand Slam service level (5 business day turnaround) or for a higher service level (with shorter a shorter turnaround) in place of the $7 crossover fee.

5. You do not have to crack the card out to get a better grade. I have received upgrades on several occasions despite the card being sent in the slab.

6. SGC does not ignore qualifiers when determining grades. They simply evaluate the card based on their own criteria. Therefore, if PSA deems the card OC and SGC doesn't deem the centering to severe to knock it down it will receive the same grade. However, I can assure you that if a card is high grade but has writing on the back getting a MK from PSA, SGC will knock it down to a 30 in most instances. There are certain overstamps that SGC does not penalize - such as "toy town" stamps. Therefore, in most instances, a card with a qualifier will not cross unless you specify a lower grade that you would accept (because, as stated by Glynn, SGC does ignore the qualifier for purposes of determining what an equivalent grade is for purposes of crossing cards over to SGC).

Edited for clarity, spelling.