Perhaps one of the greatest mysteries in card collecting since 2020 has been “how long is it going to take to get my cards graded and returned to me?” For most, it’s not a great feeling to go from the excitement of the process of sending in a treasured card for grading to getting more and more anxious with each day that passes wondering if and when you’ll ever see your cards again.
Of course, adding some drama for effect as there are far worse things one will have to worry about.
Either way, though, in the moment it’s hard to shake the frustration.
So, let’s take a look at SGC Grading’s stated turnaround times and how that compares to what people are saying of their experiences via social media and various sports card forums.
What is the SGC Turnaround Time?
Currently on the SGC services and pricing page, SGC is stating an estimated turnaround time of 5-10 business days for their cheapest grading option ($24). You can also pay $125 for SGC’s fastest grading turnaround time option of an estimated 1-2 business days. All of this is for cards with a declared value of less than $1,500.
But What is the Actual Door-to-Door Turnaround Time?
It’s anyone’s best guess, right! I mean, I have some answers, but I don’t have all of the answers. But I also have ways to find answers, and by best suggestion is to check-in with those posting in “real time.”
And no, this doesn’t mean calling or emailing the grading company themselves, although, you probably could in order to get more information.
Read More: SGC Pristine Gold Label
But something I like to do is to simply check out social media and different forums to get a better idea of what people are experiencing right now.
I’ve even made it extremely easy for you by posting the search result URLs below. When clicking these, you’ll be taken to each platform’s search results for any posting or thread that contains “sgc” and “turnaround”
Reddit: Sorted by newest; recent post from 4 months ago. Some of the responses included:
- “…they were around 4 weeks from receipt of the cards.” (source)
- “…they received my cards on 9/9, and grades popped on 10/13.” (source)
CSG Forums: Sorted by newest; recent posts include:
- “…I had a $30 SGC submission that was delivered by USPS on May 27th and was graded and shipped back on June 2nd…six days later.” (June 2021, source)
- “…13 cards received back in one week by SGC.” (June 2021, source)
Blowout Forums: Sorted by newest; recent posts include:
- “SGC Bulk is around 5 weeks.” (January 2022, source)
Twitter: Sorted by newest; recent tweets include:
- “…I grade a lot with sgc they’re at about 20 day turnaround right now” (February 2022, source)
- “SGC 16 day turnaround” (February 2022, source)
What About Post-Grading Processing?
What’s funny is that the hardest step of the process to get through is one of the last, as is the case with post-grading processing. At this point, your cards have been graded and are almost ready to be shipped! In fact, just the sight of this near-completed stage is music to the ears of many card graders!
