Techniques and best practices for “DIY” card grading before submission

[Belfast1933]

I’ll admit it, I’m a pretty terrible projector of grades before submitting to TPG’s!

I’m wondering if any of you have perfected or at least close to perfected techniques to evaluate potential card grades before going to the trouble of submitting to third-party grading companies.

Maybe this has been covered in other threads, but I don’t recall seeing one recently and I’m guessing others might love to hear from the most successful DIY graders we have out here!

Any tricks or tips (or even video or photos to share??)

Thx all

Jeff

[tiger8mush]

Throw eye appeal out the window. Project the grade based on objective technical standards. Look and feel for creases, wrinkles, stains, paper loss, corner wear, etc.

Remove any bias of it being YOUR card - evaluate as if you were buying the card - as we tend to over grade cards we own, and under grade cards we are buying.

I don't submit, but this would be my approach if I were to do so. Good luck, let us know how you make out with projected vs actual grades!

[butchie_t]

Jeff,

I did ask this question a while ago here and got some suggestions.

Ultimately I ended up with the following:

An Original GradeMaster Card Centering Tool (eBay)
A blacklight flashlight (Amazon)
A loupe that has both a blacklight LED and a regular LED light 10x (Amazon)
A DS-3 Magnifier (Amazon)

So all this stuff above is overkill for sure, but I am somewhat anal too.

I rely on the GradeMaster Centering tool to get a really good idea as to how well the centering T/B/L/R both front and back.

The blacklight flashlight is to look for surface scratches that I cannot see with my nekkid eye.

The loupe with the blacklight lets me see any up close imperfections and any corner problems that I cannot see otherwise.

The DS-3 magnifier has a light in it as well and just serves as an additional aid.

I also have a 30x magnifier (oversize acrylic) that comes in handy at times. (Amazon)

And then, above all else, I hope the TPG sees the same things as I do.
Because frankly the graders are better at this then I am by a huge margin.

This provides me with data that I use to determine if I want to send a card to the TPG (exclusively SGC) to have graded. Ultimately their decision wins obviously.

And then there are some cards that I just do not care about and I just get graded regardless of condition. That is strictly my decision.

Hope this helps some....

Butch

[parkplace33]

Jeff,

Whenever I think about grading, I ask myself these questions:

1. Why am I grading this card? What are my reasons? Value, authentication, protection, registry?

2. What is the total price to grade the card? If you care about ROI (Return on Investment), what will that be?

3. Will I be happy if the card is graded lower than I think (or given an A)?

I believe too often, collectors rush into grading and don't ask themselves these questions.

[Republicaninmass]

If you are hesitant or question anything, dont send it. Tiny bump, indent, wrinkle, etc. 99/100 they catch it

[x2drich2000]

IMO it really just comes down to experience. The more cards you have looked at to see why the card graded such and such the better you will become at accurately grading the card before submitting. If you have only looked at 100 cards, you're not going to have the same eye as someone who is looking at a 100+ cards everyday. You really can't cheat that experience.

Also graders are kind of like meteorologists, they can be off 50% of the time and still keep their job.

[53toppscollector]

do your homework on each card, look at it under magnification, examine it thoroughly, make sure to use a cloth to wipe off any fingerprints or dust. evaluate what grade you think the card deserves, then subtract at least 1 full grade off it. then evaluate whether or not it is worth having it graded. if you are sending it to PSA, you are basically pulling the arm on a slot machine. if you send to SGC, you'll more likely get an accurate and fair grade.

[Belfast1933]

Originally Posted by tiger8mush

Throw eye appeal out the window. Project the grade based on objective technical standards. Look and feel for creases, wrinkles, stains, paper loss, corner wear, etc.

Remove any bias of it being YOUR card - evaluate as if you were buying the card - as we tend to over grade cards we own, and under grade cards we are buying.

I don't submit, but this would be my approach if I were to do so. Good luck, let us know how you make out with projected vs actual grades!

Makes sense... yep, I can totally get the "owner bias" risk.

[Belfast1933]

Originally Posted by butchie_t

Jeff,

I did ask this question a while ago here and got some suggestions.

Ultimately I ended up with the following:

An Original GradeMaster Card Centering Tool (eBay)
A blacklight flashlight (Amazon)
A loupe that has both a blacklight LED and a regular LED light 10x (Amazon)
A DS-3 Magnifier (Amazon)

So all this stuff above is overkill for sure, but I am somewhat anal too.

I rely on the GradeMaster Centering tool to get a really good idea as to how well the centering T/B/L/R both front and back.

The blacklight flashlight is to look for surface scratches that I cannot see with my nekkid eye.

The loupe with the blacklight lets me see any up close imperfections and any corner problems that I cannot see otherwise.

The DS-3 magnifier has a light in it as well and just serves as an additional aid.

I also have a 30x magnifier (oversize acrylic) that comes in handy at times. (Amazon)

And then, above all else, I hope the TPG sees the same things as I do.
Because frankly the graders are better at this then I am by a huge margin.

This provides me with data that I use to determine if I want to send a card to the TPG (exclusively SGC) to have graded. Ultimately their decision wins obviously.

And then there are some cards that I just do not care about and I just get graded regardless of condition. That is strictly my decision.

Hope this helps some....

Butch

Great ideas and tips! About to make my orders to Amazon... kind of fun new toys, too.

[mintacular]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

Great ideas and tips! About to make my orders to Amazon... kind of fun new toys, too.

I use a very simple lighted magnifying glass that cost $5 on Amazon. I don't think all that other stuff is necessary

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by butchie_t

Jeff,

I did ask this question a while ago here and got some suggestions.

Ultimately I ended up with the following:

An Original GradeMaster Card Centering Tool (eBay)
A blacklight flashlight (Amazon)
A loupe that has both a blacklight LED and a regular LED light 10x (Amazon)
A DS-3 Magnifier (Amazon)

So all this stuff above is overkill for sure, but I am somewhat anal too.

I rely on the GradeMaster Centering tool to get a really good idea as to how well the centering T/B/L/R both front and back.

The blacklight flashlight is to look for surface scratches that I cannot see with my nekkid eye.

The loupe with the blacklight lets me see any up close imperfections and any corner problems that I cannot see otherwise.

The DS-3 magnifier has a light in it as well and just serves as an additional aid.

I also have a 30x magnifier (oversize acrylic) that comes in handy at times. (Amazon)

And then, above all else, I hope the TPG sees the same things as I do.
Because frankly the graders are better at this then I am by a huge margin.

This provides me with data that I use to determine if I want to send a card to the TPG (exclusively SGC) to have graded. Ultimately their decision wins obviously.

And then there are some cards that I just do not care about and I just get graded regardless of condition. That is strictly my decision.

Hope this helps some....

Butch

Wow! What are you doing on this site?

You are clearly the only member here who is not a better grader than the TPGs.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[KCRfan1]

Post clear images of the cards, front and back, and we will tell you what grades to expect.

[JollyElm]

I picked up this lighted (3 different settings) 30X magnifying lens off of Amazon this week for $8 and change, and it's a beast!! There was an identical one for fifty cents cheaper, but it didn't have a wipe cloth and carry pouch, so I dropped the extra four bits to live in high style...

maglens.jpg

Of course, as I was checking on the status of my order the next day, (as what regularly happens there) I saw the price on the site had increased to almost $20. Got it just in time, I guess. LOL.

ETA: The pictures were taken by me.