Ryan Barone (@ballcardgenius, Card Expert) is a lifelong member of the hobby. He has been quoted in PSA Magazine, and his content has regularly been mentioned in “Quick Rips” (the Topps RIPPED Newsletter) and across other hobby publications. hello@ballcardgenius.com; Last Time Ago LLC dba Ballcard Genius.
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As of December 2023, of the major card grading services, SGC currently offers the cheapest card grading service, which is $15 to grade a single card at the “Standard” level. This is $1 less than BGS’ “Collector’s Special” (no subgrades), and $10 less than PSA’s “Value” service.
Here is a grading cost calculator to help you compare services:
Card Grading Calculator
Now, with that said, there are some caveats and things to consider. One, the $16 BGS grading is for a rating without subgrades. While the other mentioned companies don’t grade with subgrades, this is the BGS differentiator, so it feels like we aren’t comparing apples to apples by quoting the cost without subgrades. SGC is cheaper anyway, so perhaps it doesn’t much matter right now.
And again, these are the most popular card grading services out there; each with its own specialties, turnaround times, slab designs, and other unique offerings.
Are there other options? There are, and if they aren’t among these top four, you’d expect them to be much cheaper, right? ISA is also $18, but HGA $25. GMA is a low $15/card, but again, requires a 10-card minimum.
At this point, I can launch into cheaper isn’t always better, nor is it always worse. There are a number of things to consider when grading cards, and much of it might come down to personal preference. If you’d like to continue with additional resources, I recommend these:
