I’ve spent a considerable amount of time and money grading cards with as many of the “new UK grading companies” as I could. It is also worth noting, that you can grade your cards with these new companies, and then get them regraded with another company down the line. I'm going to do my best here to describe things, but you might not believe me unless you experience the PSA and CGC slabs for yourself. All I could find were gimmicky 3D printed ones, that never really held the card properly – they would always tint forward so you couldn’t see the artwork very well. All PSA graded cards come encapsulated in tamper evident PSA cases to preserve your cards and help them maintain their awesome conditions.

Now I want to take this opportunity to say a massive shout-out to their entrepreneurs who took a risk, started their own grading companies and have a strong desire to serve the Pokemon community. One commenter on a YouTube review of GetGraded says they were disgusted at these “back bedroom graders”.A lot of thought has gone in to the design and manufacturing; everything from the crystal clear polished surface to the small notches that help the card tilt backwards slightly for better visibility. And though a collector knows that a grader will be looking at things like edges, corners, centring, colouring, whitening on the cards’ blue backs, silvering – where the glittering foil layer extends slightly past the paper layer – and general damage like scratches and stains, there are no videos of these companies carrying out this examination. What seems certain is that not all of these new companies will succeed, and that’s important to people who want a perishable thing to last forever. You’re looking to sell the card straight after grading– again they won’t be as valuable compared to the established grading companies, but if the grade comes back a 9 or a 10, you could still potentially cash in for a profit. In this article, I'm going to share my experience and opinions while trying to back it up with pictures and data.

The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business, science to design. To an outsider, this level of vitriol seems bizarre: although grading by one of these companies won’t increase the value like a rating from one of the big three, they still seem to offer a quicker, cheaper way of getting the condition checked and the card sealed in a slab. These are big, billion-dollar companies,” says Charlie Hurlocker, a Pokémon TCG expert who has personally graded more than a quarter of a million cards. Whether your Pokemon cards are graded, raw, or in binders, it’s a shame if you can’t regularly appreciate them for their brilliant artwork.When you stack CGC slabs and PSA slabs together, the width and height are nearly identical to the eye. He thinks the situation suits big companies, who he claims create an illusion that the skill is deep and difficult to learn, by starting rumours about flashy new technology and posh grading schools. We regularly update this section with new Ultra Rare, Rainbow Rare and Secret Rare Pokemon cards and are looking to further expand our offerings with more retro graded cards. It was only recently that the Pokémon Trading Card Game, or TCG, had been brought under the auspices of this process. Graham has been up front that he can’t offer an increase in card value like the other big companies, so evidently people are angry about more than just money (though they are, undoubtedly, angry about that too).

Another criticises PokéGrade’s scoring system: “don’t just pluck numbers from thin air because I can get my 84 year old nan to do that at bingo when it re-opens!I also think that people feel strongly that this is a skill and that the reason that they’ve paid for this is because they believe that these companies will do a better job. Pokégrade is just one of a new wave of UK grading companies set up in the last year to take advantage of a renewed round of Pokémon mania. Grading is a billion-dollar industry dominated by three American players – PSA, Beckett and CGC – and a good rating from one of these big firms can send a card’s value soaring.