One of the most influential trends of the last five years has been the advent of professional, or third-party grading. The reason for its popularity is simple: a card receiving a high grade from a reputable company such as Beckett Grading Services, PSA or SGC often sells for considerably more than a card that has been graded. Not surprisingly, everyone is pretty happy with using a method that helps them make more money when they sell their collectibles!

So what’s the secret?

Grading involves submitting your card to an experienced professional. He examines your card down to the finest detail, inspecting corners, edges, centering and surface before assigning it a final score and encasing it in a plastic slab that will preserve the card in that condition.

The protection and preservation aspect is great, but more important is that an unbiased third-party sets the grade, which makes trading of cards sight-unseen over the Internet so much more palatable, as the buyer knows exactly what he’s getting, based on the reputation of the grading company.
So why should you consider having your cards graded?

Grading Cards Increases Value: Compare the secondary market prices of your favorite cards in raw (meaning: straight out of the pack) and graded forms. Graded cards are usually valued higher and, for the highest grades, much, much higher.

Preservation/Protection: Your graded cards are well preserved in a unique, protective cardholder. You won’t have to worry about them getting damaged.

Greater Resale Potential: On today’s secondary market, especially online where many collectibles are traded sight unseen, graded cards are easier to sell. With grading, collectors can be confident in the quality of the card being bought.

Authenticity: You can be assured that you have the real deal, and not a counterfeit. Some of the hobby’s most popular cards have been faked, but you can rest assured if you purchase a BGS card. As part of the grading process, BGS cards are routinely authenticated.

Tamper Proof: Once a card has been graded and slabbed by BGS, the integrity of the card is protected from all kinds of tampering. There’s no way to slip a card of lesser quality into the holder undetected, so the card you buy is the card that was advertised.

Display: The BGS cardholder is attractive, sturdy and stackable. It provides unobstructed viewing of your card from all angles.

The Reputation of the Beckett Name: BGS operates with the same honesty, integrity and excellent hobby knowledge you have come to expect from Beckett. Reliability and consistency are the hallmarks of Beckett Grading Services. BGS has been honored as Best Grading Service for five years running (2000-2004) as voted on by readers of Card Trade magazine, and we are continually striving to keep that streak going.

What Do Those Numbers Mean?

Beckett Grading Services was recently recognized as the hobby’s best grading firm for the third consecutive year. As the industry’s standard, we’ll use them as the example.

BGS uses an easy-to-understand 1 to 10-point grading scale, with descending increments of one-half point (for example 10, 9.5, 9, 8.5, etc.).  Those numbers also correspond with grades. Pristine (10) is the highest mark a card can receive. This is a card that is flawless under the closest examination. Very few cards receive this prestigious mark, so prices tend to rise astronomically for them on the secondary market.

Gem Mint (9.5) cards are also tough and very desirable, but are a little more attainable as they might have one very minor flaw. Mint (9), Near-Mint Plus (8.5) and Near Mint (8) are strong sellers as well.

Why did your card receive a certain grade? Since you are provided with a detailed report on your card’s key attributes right there on the back of the slab, there are no questions when the card is in your hand! Beckett Grading Services is the first to use this unique system that assures accuracy in grading.

Want to know what grades other cards in the market have attained? You can see every card that’s ever been graded by BGS online. Go to the Beckett-dot-com website, and click on the Population Report tab on the left side of the page, enter the information of the card or player you’re looking for and press enter. Yep, it’s that easy!

Have questions about grading? Visit us on the Beckett website, click on the Grading tab and shoot us an email!

Beckett Grading Service (BGS) is a division of Beckett Media LP, a well recognized authority on sports cards. It uses a 10-point scale with half grades, with a 9.5 Gem Mint and 10 Pristine as the top grades. BGS provides subgrades for corners, edges, centering and surface, and also offers a protective inner sleeve, distinctive foil labels, a free online Population report and Registry, and a money-back guarantee on turnaround times. Beckett Media also launched BVG, or Beckett Vintage Grading, in 2001. It is the only grading service dedicated exclusively to vintage cards, while still offering the a leader in grading vintage cards. Many people believe that BGS and BVG grade more strictly than their competitors, but this results in higher average resale values on Beckett graded cards. eBay also teamed with Beckett to develop a "Value Guide" for sports cards, available at Beckett's Web site.

Search for BGS graded cards on eBay!