About Should You Grade?
The Problem
Grading Pokemon cards is expensive. PSA Priority is $79.99 per card; higher service tiers cost more. Value tiers are paused and Standard is announced for September 14, and most cards don't return a profit after grading fees and selling costs. Before Should You Grade?, the only way to figure out if a card was worth grading was to manually check prices on PriceCharting, look up gem rates on GemRate.com, and do the math yourself — for every single card.
What We Built
Should You Grade? combines data from multiple sources into one platform that instantly calculates the Expected Value (EV) of grading any Pokemon card. We factor in:
- Real market prices — raw and graded card values from PriceCharting
- Gem rates — the probability of getting a PSA 10 (or equivalent top grade) from GemRate.com
- Grading costs — 21 tiers across PSA, BGS, CGC, SGC, and TAG
- Selling fees — configurable platform fees (eBay, TCGPlayer, etc.)
The result: a single number that tells you whether grading a card is a profitable decision or a losing bet.
Our Data
Three numbers describe our coverage, and they are deliberately different. Quoting one of them as “cards” is what makes data claims impossible to check, so here is each population:
- 27,800+ cards catalogued with market prices
- 20,000+ of those also carry PSA population data
- 14,000+ have everything needed for a grading verdict — a raw price, a PSA 10 price, and a real gem rate. This is the number we quote elsewhere on the site, and the set of pages in our sitemap.
That spans 252 sets. Prices come from a weekly refresh; a card page shows the date its own prices last moved. Our data pipeline pulls from:
- PriceCharting — market prices for raw and graded cards
- GemRate.com — PSA grading population and gem rate data
- Pokemon TCG API — card metadata, images, and set information
If you spot incorrect data, use the Report Issue button on any card page and we'll investigate.
Who It's For
Should You Grade? is built for card flippers and investors — people who buy raw Pokemon cards, grade them, and sell the graded copies for profit. If you're running a grading operation (or want to start one), this tool helps you find the cards with the highest return on investment and avoid the ones that lose money.
Contact
Questions, feedback, or partnership inquiries: support@shouldyougrade.com — or visit our contact page.