Check a card you might buy or build a grading shortlist within your budget. Compare the costs and lower-grade downside before you commit money.
Return to saved researchIllustrative example · not a card recommendation
Hypothetical example using a $10 card, $25 grading cost (not a current PSA quote) and 13% selling fee:
Assumes 20% PSA 10 and 80% PSA 9. Shipping, taxes and other costs reduce these results further. Your card's condition determines whether these assumptions are reasonable.
Try your own numbers →You're checking PriceCharting for prices, PSA's pop report for gem rates, then doing the math by hand for every card. We pull all three data sources together and calculate your Expected Value instantly.
Reference raw and graded prices across catalogued cards. We track what PSA 7s through 10s actually sell for — plus BGS, CGC, and SGC prices — check exact edition, condition and recent sold listings before purchasing.
Historical grading populations describe submitted cards, not your individual card. Inspect front and back, confirm the variant, and test lower-grade outcomes before relying on a model.
Pricing tiers across PSA, BGS, CGC, SGC, and TAG. See which company and service level gives you the best margin on each card — because a lower-cost service may leave a larger margin than an express tier.
Expected profit weighs grade outcomes using historical population shares and market prices. Your card's condition, acquisition price and selling costs can change the result. Use the model to compare decisions, then verify the assumptions before buying.
When a grade has no market price, the model uses raw value as an assumption. That value is not a guaranteed resale floor. Inspect missing data and recent sales before relying on a result.
Historical population shares describe submitted cards, not the condition of your inventory. Repeated submissions do not guarantee the modeled return. Review actual outcomes against your assumptions as you build a repeatable process.
A card can have positive EV and still be a bad submission. Low sample size, illiquid market, volatile pricing — we check for all of it before giving you a verdict.
80% gem rate sounds amazing — until you realize that’s 4 out of 5 submissions. Small sample sizes are misleading. We require 100+ graded copies before giving a confident “Grade it” verdict, and flag everything below that threshold.
Your PSA 10 is only worth $500 if someone actually buys it. Sales-volume signals help flag thin markets; confirm recent comparable sales before relying on a price.
Our EV formula includes lower-grade outcomes and flags missing price assumptions. Getting a PSA 8 on a card you paid $200 for can mean losing money — we factor that in.
Cards from sets released in the last 6 months have unstable pricing. Today's $100 card could be $40 by the time your slab comes back from PSA.
Search a card and compare modeled returns using your own assumptions. Or browse our weekly-updated research candidates — sorted by ROI, filterable by set, company, and price range.
Work through the sale alternative, grade risk and cost of tying up your money.
Compare a submission with the cash you could receive by selling the card today.
Read the sample size and grade distribution before modeling a grading return.
Choosing a submission service? Read the PSA prices and turnaround guide before committing your inventory.