Considering Getting Your Baseball Cards Graded? Here Are the Pros and Cons to Consider
If you have a collection of valuable baseball cards sitting in boxes or binders, you may be wondering if it makes sense to have them professionally graded. Baseball card grading is a service provided by expert third-party companies that examine cards and assign them numerical grades based on their condition and quality. This grading process can potentially add significant value to cards deemed in top condition by increasing their desirability to collectors. The process also comes with costs that must be considered. In this in-depth article, we’ll explore the key pros and cons of getting your cards graded to help you decide if it’s the right move for your collection.
Potential Upside of Grading Cards
Condition is everything when it comes to the value of vintage baseball cards. Cards that are near-mint or in completely pristine condition are considered very rare and desirable, commanding a significant premium from serious collectors. Having cards professionally graded by a respected company like PSA, BGS, or SGC provides an impartial, permanent record of the card’s condition using their standard 10-point numeric scale. A high grade from one of these companies gives buyers confidence that a card is exactly as the holder claims and has not been tampered with in any way. This third-party grading increases demand by widening the potential audience of interested buyers beyond just those you could prove the condition to directly. According to Beckett Media, cards that grade PSA/BGS/SGC 7 or higher often sell for 2-5X as much as raw, ungraded cards in similar visual condition. For rare, valuable cards where even tiny imperfections can squash value, grading may be necessary to realize maximum returns.
It’s important to have realistic expectations for potential grading outcomes because not every card will come back with that coveted “gem mint” grade of 10. Older cards are more susceptible minor production flaws or issues from poor storage over many decades. Even the slightest flaw like a small crease, off-centered printing, or touched corners can result in a vastly lower grade than you may have expected just from casual visual inspection. You’ll want to carefully examine cards under good magnification before submitting to assess their true chances of achieving top grades. Cards in sub-optimal condition may not gain enough value from a middle-of-the-road service grade to cover costs, so be objective in your analysis.
Authentication Benefit of Grading
In addition to providing an impartial condition assessment, the grading process also serves to authenticate cards. This is especially important for highly valuable vintage cards where fraudulent reproductions may be used to dupe buyers. By encapsulating a card within tamper-proof plastic with a numbered hologram, grading verifies that the card has not been tampered with or replicated. This additional layer of authentication gives buyers confidence they are getting the real thing which seasoned collectors strongly value. Counterfeiting has become rampant enough in the hobby that some high-end collectors will only purchase cards that have achieved certification through one of the major third-party authenticators. If you’re worried about authenticity being called into question down the line, grading protects the integrity and provenance of your all-star cards.
Potential Costs to Consider
While professional grading has clear potential to drive value for the right cards, there are also fees involved that offset some of those gains:
Submission Fees – Base fees for mainstream cards currently range from around $15-$30 per card to have them slabbed depending on promotion/member pricing tiers from the different grading services. Higher end cards have premium rates.
Turnaround Times – Most standard service levels report 3-6 months of wait time at peak submission seasons, and faster express options are multiples higher in cost per card.
Resubmission Costs – If you’re unhappy with the initial grade, regrading the same card comes with another fee which can surpass the value gained for borderline cards.
Shipping/insurance costs – Sending valuable cards must be done securely which adds to expenses.
Storage Costs – Once slabbed, cards lose some flexibility for organization which creates more need for higher-cost graded card storage solutions like portfolios, cabinets, or safes.
So be sure to do the math on realistic expected grade premiums versus costs to determine if grading truly makes financial sense for your particular cards. Especially for more common cardboard, raw condition may carry little risk of authenticity issues and raw resale remains a viable option without slabbing overhead. Costs eat significantly into gains for bulk modern collections too that lack strong single card value drivers as well.
When Grading Makes the Most Sense
Based on the pros and cons, the best candidates for grading are usually high-value vintage cards:
Premium Hall of Famers from the pre-1970s in true gem condition. Grading is almost mandatory to realize full potential price appreciation over time as condition is critically analyzed for these investment-caliber pieces.
Key rookie cards of all-time greats like Mantle, Mays, Aaron etc. that could eclipse $10,000 PSA 10 value down the road if in pristine shape. Maximum authenticity/condition verification is essential here.
Autograph/relic cards when provenance is important to ensure authenticity of signatures/fragments for commanding premiums.
Errors/variants of cards numbering under 100 population reports and priced over $1000 PSA 10 where condition is hyper-scrutinized and small faults matter greatly.
Personal collection highlight cards you plan storing/displaying long-term to preserve condition/integrity and maintain resell premiums when passing along collection.
For most other cards, raw trading/selling suffices unless a card comes back with that highly coveted PSA/BGS/SGC 10 rating where condition outweighs grading costs. Storage/resale flexibility is largely retained as well. Cost-benefit analysis is key factor in the “grade or not” decision process!
Making an Informed Choice
When determining whether to invest in grading your baseball card collection or selling cards raw, it’s important to evaluate the true benefits versus total costs involved on a card-by-card basis objectively. While grading maximizes condition-based value for the cream of the crop rare cards, costs siphon away profits for more common cards.
Research population reports, verify card conditions thoroughly, set realistic grade expectations, and calculate hard grading/shipping numbers to see grading profits clearly. Remember that liquidity and flexibility are retained by leaving cards raw as well. An impartial cost-benefit analysis tailored to your individual needs will yield the wisest path forward in enhancing or preserving your collection’s long-term value.
