Whats a good rule of thumb for grading?

[raulus]

Good luck!

Hopefully you don't get the grader of death...

I will observe that I do grade cards, but rarely for resale with a need for a specific grade, so my approach tends to be different. Almost all of my graded cards have been rare oddball pieces with only a very few ever having been graded, and where I needed them to round out my personal set registry collection.

In a few cases, I do acquire some rare oddball pieces not for my own collection, but because I figure I can use them as trade bait for a similarly rare piece that I actually need, or else make some money off of them, assuming the right player collector comes along who is willing to pay handsomely for it. But usually the grade isn't that important, since usually the stuff that I pick up with this strategy is difficult to find in any condition. Whether I get a 3 or a 5 often doesn't make a huge difference in the price if there are only 3 others that have ever been graded, and they all graded at a 1.