Getting your cards graded is the best way to preserve their value!
If you grew up in the late 90’s & early 2000’s you probably remember your parents talking about “Cabbage Patch Kids” or “Beanie Babies” and how they became such popular and sought after collector’s items. My mom always told me to keep good care of my Pokémon cards because she (like many other parents) believed that they would be worth something someday...
And she was right! Earlier this year, a 1st Edition Holographic Charizard card sold for over $200,000! That’s because not only is this an incredibly rare card, it’s also a PSA10 - the best condition a card can get!
So... What does PSA10 mean? Well, PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) is the most popular grading company among collectors for trading cards and sports memorabilia. They use a 1-10 scale to give each item a “grade” that determines what condition that card is in.
The scale starts at 1 (Poor) and goes all the way up to 10 (Gem Mint). Of course, a PSA10 is the most sought after grade but even getting a PSA 6 ~ 9 will still bring much more value to your cards than if you kept them ungraded. If you want to learn more about how PSA grades cards, click here to visit a page on their website for further reading.
Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Beckett Grading Services (BGS) who offers the same service. So for the sake of brevity, you can assume everything that I’ve talked about also applies to Beckett.
Getting cards graded can be quite expensive though. The standard grading process can cost a significant amount of money once you include the shipping fees. Here at Elite4 Games, we send in bulk submissions to PSA which cuts the cost down tremendously! Because we’re regularly doing bulk card submissions, we’re happy to extend a discount to you. So you can submit your card(s) through us for only $40.00 CDN. If that piques your interest, you can check out our submission form by clicking here.
Have any questions or think you have a “treasure trove” of old Pokémon & Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards but don’t know how to tell if they’re worth anything? Shoot us a message! We’ll gladly help you figure out what your collection is worth.
