Pokémon Card Condition Guide: Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played and PSA Grades

Two copies of the same card can sell for wildly different prices, and condition is usually why. A near-mint copy might sell for ten times a heavily played one, and a professionally graded gem mint copy for many times that again. This guide explains the condition scales buyers and sellers use, how professional grading works, and how to judge a card yourself before you price it, sell it or send it off to be graded.

Two systems: raw conditions and numeric grades

Cards are described in two different ways, and it helps to keep them apart.

Raw condition is a descriptive label for an ungraded card: "Near Mint", "Lightly Played" and so on. The seller assigns it, and marketplaces such as TCGplayer use it to sort listings. It's quick and free, but it relies on the seller's judgement.

Graded condition is a number from a professional grading company, such as PSA, Beckett (BGS) or CGC. The card is sealed in a tamper-evident plastic case, often called a slab, with a label showing the grade. Grading costs money and takes time, but the grade is consistent and the slab also proves the card is genuine.

The market prices on MyTCGValue describe ungraded cards. Graded cards trade in their own market, often at very different prices.

Raw condition labels

Most US marketplaces use five condition labels. Exact definitions vary slightly between sellers, but they broadly mean:

When people quote "the price" of a card, they almost always mean near mint. A lightly played copy commonly sells at a noticeable discount to near mint, and heavily played copies for a fraction of it. The size of the gap varies by card and game: for valuable vintage cards, collectors will pay well for any presentable copy, while for modern cards the near-mint premium is often steeper because near-mint copies are easy to find.

How professional grading works

You send the card to a grading company with a fee. Graders inspect it under magnification and controlled light, check it's genuine, and give it a grade. It comes back sealed in a slab with a label and a certificate number you can look up online.

PSA

PSA is the largest grading company for trading cards, and its grades are the ones you'll see most often in listings. It uses a 1 to 10 scale:

PSA gives a single overall grade. It also publishes centering guidelines for each grade. For a 10, the front needs to be centred to roughly 55/45 to 60/40 or better, and the back to around 75/25 or better.

Beckett (BGS)

Beckett grades on a 1 to 10 scale in half-point steps, and its distinguishing feature is subgrades: separate scores for centering, corners, edges and surface, printed on the label. The overall grade is derived from them. Two named grades sit at the top: Pristine 10 and, rarer still, the Black Label, awarded only when all four subgrades are a perfect 10.

Subgrades are useful because they show why a card got its grade. A BGS 9 with three 9.5 subgrades and one 8.5 tells a buyer far more than a single 9.

CGC

CGC also grades on a 1 to 10 scale with half points, and it has two different 10s: Pristine 10 for a card that is essentially flawless and Gem Mint 10 for one that is very close. CGC's grades, like PSA's, appear on the label as one overall number, with optional subgrades on some services.

Why the same grade sells for different prices

A PSA 10, a BGS 10 and a CGC 10 of the same card do not usually sell for the same price. Buyers have preferences, and for many popular cards a PSA 10 sells for more than other companies' 10s. Some collectors pay a premium for BGS Black Labels in particular. When you compare prices, compare the same grade from the same company.

The four things graders look at

Every grading company assesses the same four areas. Learning to check them yourself is the single most useful skill for valuing cards.

1. Centering

Centering is how evenly the printed image sits within the card's borders. Measure the border on the left and right (and top and bottom) and compare. A card with a 3mm left border and a 2mm right border is centred 60/40.

Centering is the one flaw you can't cause or fix: it's set at the factory. It's also the easiest to check, which makes it a good first filter. If a card is visibly off-centre, it won't get a top grade however clean it is otherwise.

2. Corners

Look at each corner closely. A perfect corner is sharp and square, with no white showing. Wear starts as tiny white specks and progresses to rounding, fraying and dents. Corners are where most cards first show handling.

3. Edges

Run your eye along each edge, front and back. Look for whitening (chipping of the coloured border that shows the white card stock underneath), nicks and roughness. On cards with dark or coloured backs, like Pokémon's blue backs, edge whitening is easy to spot and very common, even on cards straight from a pack.

4. Surface

Tilt the card under a single bright light so it reflects. That reveals scratches, scuffs, dents, fingerprints, print lines and indentations that are invisible head-on. Holographic and foil cards show surface wear most clearly, and they're often where a card that looks perfect loses its 10.

How to check a card at home

You don't need expensive equipment. A good routine:

1. Wash and dry your hands, or handle the card by its edges.
2. Use one bright light source, such as a desk lamp or your phone torch, rather than diffuse room lighting.
3. Check centering first, front and back. A cheap centering tool or a ruler helps, but your eye is often good enough to rule out a 10.
4. Inspect each corner and edge with a magnifier or your phone camera zoomed in. Photograph anything you find.
5. Tilt the card at several angles under the light to check the surface.
6. Be harsher on yourself than feels fair. Almost everyone over-grades their own cards. If you're torn between two grades, the lower one is usually right.

When is grading worth it?

Grading costs money, sometimes a lot for valuable cards or fast service, and it isn't the right call for most cards. As a rule of thumb, grading tends to make sense when:

• The card is valuable raw. If a near-mint copy sells for a few dollars, grading fees will rarely pay off.
• You expect a high grade. For many cards, most of the graded premium sits in grades 9 and 10. A modern card that comes back a 7 can be worth less than the cost of grading it.
• Authenticity matters. For expensive vintage cards, a slab reassures buyers that the card is real, and that can be worth paying for even at a modest grade.
• You plan to sell. Graded cards are easier to sell at a fair price to buyers who can't inspect them in person.

Before you send anything, look up recent sales of your card at the grade you realistically expect, subtract the grading fee and shipping, and compare that to what it sells for raw.

Protecting condition you already have

Condition only goes one way. A few habits keep cards from losing grades:

• Sleeve valuable cards immediately, ideally straight out of the pack, then put them in a rigid top-loader or a card saver.
• Don't use rubber bands or paper clips, and don't store cards loose in a box where they can slide around.
• Keep them dry and out of direct sunlight. Humidity warps cards and sunlight fades them.
• Avoid binders with PVC pages, which can damage cards over time. Look for acid-free, PVC-free pages.
• Ship properly: sleeve, top-loader, and a rigid mailer, not a plain envelope.

Condition and MyTCGValue prices

The market price on each card page is an estimate based on recent sales of ungraded cards on TCGplayer. Use it as a guide for a card in good, near-mint-ish condition, and adjust down for visible wear. For graded copies, check recent sales of that exact grade from that exact company.

If you're still working out which printing you have, our first edition guide and what makes a card valuable are good next reads.