Is grading Pokémon cards worth it? Do the maths first

Grading means sending a card to a company that checks it, gives it a grade on a scale and seals it in a labelled plastic case, often called a slab. PSA, Beckett (BGS) and CGC are well-known examples. Each has its own scale, its own service levels and its own price list, and those change, so check the current list of the company and service you would actually use.

Whichever company you choose, the costs come in the same five places:

Selling the card raw has only one of those costs: the selling fee. That is the number grading has to beat.

The break-even price is the graded sale price that leaves you exactly what selling the card raw would. Below it, grading cost you money. Above it, grading paid. The sum is short:

• Raw: what you keep is the raw price, less the selling fee.
• Graded: what you keep is the graded price, less the selling fee, less the grading fee, postage and insurance.
• Break-even: the graded price at which those two are equal.

An example, not a price. Say a card sells for 100 raw, in whatever currency you sell in. Say your selling fee is 10% (a round number for the example, not any marketplace’s rate), and grading, postage and insurance come to 45 all told. Selling raw leaves you 90. Graded, you need a sale that still leaves 90 after the 45 of costs, so 135 after fees, which is a sale price of 150. The card has to sell for half as much again once it’s graded just to match selling it as it is.

That gap is the point. A card that sells for a little more graded than raw is usually better sold raw, because the costs sit in between. The grading value calculator works out the break-even price from your own numbers.

The break-even price tells you what the card must reach. Whether it will depends on the grade it gets, and a card that looks perfect to you may not grade that way. So work out what each likely grade would leave you, then weigh each by how likely you honestly think it is. The result is a weighted average outcome: what grading leaves you across all the grades you could get.

Continuing the example, still not a price. Say the top grade sells for 300, the next grade down for 140 and a lower grade for 90. After the same 10% fee and 45 of costs, those leave you 225, 81 and 36. If you think the chances are one in four for the top grade, half for the next and one in four for the lower one, the weighted average is about 106: a little better than the 90 from selling raw. Now be less hopeful: one in ten for the top grade, six in ten for the next and three in ten for the lower. The average falls to about 82, and selling raw wins.

Same card, same prices, different answer. Only your guess about the grade changed. That is why the decision rests on looking hard at the card before you send it, and why a card that only pays off at the very top grade is a gamble, not a plan. The calculator shows each grade’s result and the weighted average side by side, so that kind of card is easy to spot.

Many cards worth grading come out of packs, and it’s tempting to keep opening in the hope of one. Before you do, compare two prices: what a pack costs, and what the card you want costs as a single, raw or already graded. Here’s the cheapest price per pack in Australia right now, by product, from any set that’s out.

Every pack you open towards a card costs at least A$7.50 in Australia today. Take the price of the single you’re after, in the grade you want, and divide it by that figure: the answer is how many of the cheapest packs the card is worth. If you would open more than that, buying the single is the cheaper way to own it.

Opening packs is fun in its own right, and nobody can tell you what a given pack holds. Just count it as the fun, not as the route to a particular card. Packs come in loose booster packs, booster boxes and Elite Trainer Boxes, among others; the newest sets out are below.

The calculator is only as good as the prices you give it. For both numbers, use recent sold listings, not asking prices. A listing that hasn’t sold tells you what one seller hopes for; a sale tells you what a buyer paid.

Match the card exactly. The same Pokémon from a different set, a reverse holo instead of a holo, a stamped promo, a first edition or a different language is a different card with a different price. Once graded, the company and the grade become part of the card’s identity too: a card in one company’s top grade and the same card in another company’s top grade sell as two separate things, and so does every grade below. Compare like with like.

For the raw price, match the condition as well. A raw card listed as near mint and one with worn corners are not the same sale. Take several recent sales, set aside any that look unusual, and use the middle one rather than the best. Our guide to checking a card’s value goes through it step by step.

Your guess at the grade is the number that moves the answer most. Look at the card under a bright light, out of its sleeve, before you decide.

The selling fee is charged on the whole sale, so it comes out of both the raw and the graded sale, and it takes more from the bigger one. Use the rate you actually pay in both columns of the sum, and include any postage the fee is charged on.

The selling fee calculator works out what a sale leaves you after fees and postage. For Australia it has presets with eBay’s published rates, checked on 21 October 2026. Your own rate depends on your plan and store, so confirm it in your Seller Hub before you rely on it.

Want a reality check on sealed product instead? The value checker shows what stores in Australia charge for a booster box, Elite Trainer Box or bundle today.

DexCompare puts Australian stores side by side: each one’s own listed price in AUD, excluding shipping, ranked by price and stock. Stores pay nothing to be listed, and commissions never change the order.

Buying from a store you haven’t used before? Check its contact details, delivery costs and returns policy first, and check the shrink-wrap and seals when your order arrives.