How to Pre-Grade Pokémon Cards at Home

What does pre-grading a Pokémon card mean?

Pre-grading is your own inspection of a card before you send it for professional grading. You check centring, corners, edges and surface against the grader's published standard, decide which cards have a realistic chance of a high grade, and leave the rest raw. It costs nothing but time, and it is the best way to avoid paying grading fees for disappointing results.

It also helps when you buy. Judging a raw card the same way a grader would makes it much easier to read a listing's photos honestly. Our condition guide explains the raw condition scales that shops and marketplaces use.

What tools do you need to pre-grade cards?

You need a bright, even light, a magnifier, a way to measure the borders in millimetres, and a clean, dry surface to work on. None of it is specialist kit; most collectors already own some of it. What matters more is checking every card the same way, front and back, every time.

• Light: a bright desk lamp you can angle, plus daylight if you have it. A low, raking angle shows scratches and dents that straight-on light hides.
• Magnifier: a jeweller's loupe or a magnifying glass for corners and edges.
• Measuring: a steel ruler marked in millimetres, digital calipers, or a clear centring overlay. A phone photo taken square-on and zoomed in also works for comparing borders.
• Handling: clean, dry hands, a soft cloth or mat to work on, penny sleeves to put cards back into straight away.
• Notes: a simple sheet to record the four results for each card, so you compare cards on the same basis.

How do you measure centring on a Pokémon card?

Measure the border on each side, then divide one side by the total of both sides. If the left border is 2.0 mm and the right is 3.0 mm, the left is 2.0 ÷ 5.0 = 40%, so the card is centred 40/60 left to right. Do the same top to bottom, then repeat on the back, which graders judge separately.

1. 1.

   Sleeve-free, flat, square on

   Take the card out of any toploader, lay it flat and look straight down, or photograph it square-on so the borders are not distorted.

2. 2.

   Measure left and right

   Measure the narrowest point of each side border, from the card edge to the edge of the yellow or printed frame.

3. 3.

   Work out the split

   Divide the smaller border by the two borders added together and multiply by 100. That gives the smaller share; the other side is the remainder.

4. 4.

   Measure top and bottom

   Repeat for the top and bottom borders. Graders look at both directions, and the worse one counts.

5. 5.

   Turn it over

   Measure the back the same way. Back centring tolerances are looser, but a badly off-centre back still limits the grade.

ACE says it measures centring to 1/1000 mm on the front and back, so a home ruler will not match it exactly. Treat anything close to a grade's limit as the lower grade.

Our UK grading guide covers the other graders and their fees. Note that a card can be well centred and still miss a top grade: centring is only one of four checks.

How do you check corners?

Look at all eight corners, four on the front and four on the back, under a magnifier. A top-grade corner is sharp and square with no white showing. Soft or rounded tips, white specks where the blue or coloured ink has worn away, and any bend or ding all count against the card, and the back corners are where wear shows first.

ACE's scale shows how quickly corner wear adds up: its 10 needs "four undamaged corners, sharp edges and a beautiful surface", its 9 allows one minor imperfection across corners, edges or surface, and its 8 allows a few, such as whitening.

How do you check edges?

Run your eye along all four edges on both sides under good light, looking for white chipping, nicks, roughness and any lifting of the layers. Pokémon cards have dark blue backs, so even small chips show up clearly as white flecks along the back edges. A clean, smooth edge with no whitening is what a high grade needs.

Also look at the edge side-on. A clean cut shows an even line; a rough or "fuzzy" factory cut is not damage you caused, but graders still see it.

How do you check the surface?

Hold the card under a lamp at a low angle and slowly tilt it, front and back. Scratches, scuffs, print lines, dents, fingerprints and clouding catch the light as you move. Holo and textured cards need the most care, because scratches on the foil are easy to miss straight on and easy to see at an angle.

• Scratches and scuffs, especially across the holo window.
• Print lines: faint straight lines from the printing process. They are not wear, but they still count.
• Dents and indentations: tilt the card so the light skims across it.
• Creases and bends: any crease will keep a card well away from the top grades.
• Stains, marks and clouding: hazy patches on the gloss.

For comparison, CGC describes its Pristine 10 as "a virtually flawless card to the naked eye", and its NM/Mint+ 8.5 as having "relatively smooth edges with only minor touches of wear". If you can see a flaw without magnification, a 10 is unlikely.

How do you turn your checks into an estimated grade?

Score each of the four checks separately, then let the weakest one set your estimate. A card with perfect corners and surface but 65/35 centring is not a 10 candidate, whatever the rest looks like. Be strict with yourself: if you are unsure between two grades, assume the lower one.

ACE adds an OC (off-centre) qualifier when centring is two or more grades below the overall grade, which shows that graders do assess centring on its own. Other graders treat centring differently, so read the standard of the one you plan to use.

Which cards should you send for grading?

Send the cards that pass all four checks with room to spare and that justify the fee and postage. Keep the rest raw: a card you already know has a soft corner will cost the same to grade as a perfect one. Our checklist on whether a card is worth grading walks through the cost side.

If you would rather not grade at all, you can buy cards that have already been graded from our graded page, or sell cards to us through sell your cards. Before you buy any slab, see how to check a graded card is real. For keeping cards in top condition while you decide, see our storage guide.