Pre-grading Sports Cards - How to evaluate and prepare your cards for grading submission 

Thanks for the feedback and for checking out my video!

I was wondering because a lot of prizm parallels sometimes have print scratches I was wondering if it is an automatic 8-9

No, not at all….actually, I’ve seen plenty of cards with print lines grade very high. If your card is in otherwise perfect condition, it could still pull a 10. Some print lines are worse than others…the worse the lines, especially on the front of the card, the more likely they are to lower the overall grade.

You can most certainly submit all types of sports at one time. The thing with PSA is submissions is how fast you want to get them back. If you wanted some cards at a faster service, you would want to separate them within your shipment. I would recommend using a bulk submission service which will save you money on your submission.

@@topchopsc1 Thank you for responding. Yes i am doing a 20 cards or more bulk submission. Comes out cheaper. Yeah the waiting time is pretty long I heard.

TM Ncott that’s a great catch! As I put the slide together, I misread the numbers as I typed. Luckily the ratio would still be similar. The numbers should have been listed as 4 and 2, which would give a 67/33 ratio, still outside the 60/40 requirement. Thanks for the feedback!

8MontaEllis I definitely send in cards for grading with print lines on them. All of the graders appear to be somewhat lenient on print lines this year, especially on the backs of cards. Mosaic has been horrible with print lines this year....if the graders stuck to absolute perfection, 10’s would be a rarity! Print lines on the front will be judged harder, especially if they are apparent without putting the card under light.

@@topchopsc1 Thank you for responding back and I appreciate your suggestions.I definitely will now send in a few of my Mosaic cards to BGS. I was really excited today when I pulled a Justin Herbert Pink Camo Mosaic Prizm👻and then I realize the card was in bad shape🤦🏻‍♂️Multiple printing lines and a long 1 inch scratch from the back.How disappointing☹️Oh well🤷🏽‍♂️ I’ll just sell the card on Ebay as 3 of the identical Herberts cards sold for $100-$170. tonight during MNF. Thank you again😊

I have the same problem haha I have my silver disco nba card and it has 2 print line at the front. Do you guys think its okay to send it to the graders?

taylor5877 it is crazy how many have those lines....I have busted a lot of mosaic this year and rarely find a card without print lines!

@@topchopsc1 if print lines are the only imperfection, what kind of grade should i expect?

@@joshnichols6485 10

Steven Washington black labels are extremely rare. You would have to pull pop report data from the BGS website, which takes a little data mining to do. You can’t just search black labels in their pop report, so you would need to find the card you’re looking for and sort the data in a spreadsheet for cards that have 10’s in all 4 of the grading criteria categories. If I had to put a number of black labels, I would say a small fraction of a percent of all cards graded through BGS receive that label. I don’t want to say winning the lottery odds, but it may not be too far off from that. All it takes is one of those sub categories to be 9.5, which in all seriousness could be the case on any card if the grader deems it so.

@@topchopsc1 I appreciate the info and insight sir. I submitted close to 200 cards to BGS over the last couple of years and have never had a black label. I only had like 7-8 cards grade less than a "9". About 40 or so came back as "9s", about 20 or so "10s" (no black) and the rest were gems. I've also noticed that certain cards are really easy at getting "10s" like Absolute Glass cards and acetate cards. I was at a card show conversing with one of the dealers and he said that his last shipment at the time contained 330 cards and he got (7) Black Labels back. I'm starting to think that the orders must have to be pretty large to score one of these, seeing as how I think I have a decent eye for grading based on my results so far. Again, kind thanks for the reply and will be sure to check out your vides and subscribe. P.S. I'm going to submit close to (50) of the same card in my next order. The 2019-20 Kawhi Leonard Silver Prizm in Raptors Jersey, most of these are in impeccable condition. BGS 10 alone can increase the value of raw 10x, but Black Label Prices are litereally INSANE based on what I've seen. :)

Steven Washington thanks for the feedback and the support for my channel! I have always wondered the same thing on black labels and whether or not the quantity of cards submitted would play into that. In a perfect world, it doesn’t....but at the same time it’s a business, and what better way to award the best customers with a few black labels in their large submissions. The value of black label cards is insane....no doubt about it! All of my orders to BGS have been much smaller than 330 cards, and I have yet to pull a black label. I’ll be honest....it would be difficult for most collectors to tell the difference between a BGS 10 and a Black Label....but collectors will pay the money for them. This is where artificial value comes in and where BGS has been able to carve out a new section of the market. At that point, a person’s not buying the card, they’re buying the label.

Thanks for checking out the video! Many of the things to look for are similar between new and old cards (centering, creases, corners, etc.). The biggest things to look for in the older cards that may differ from newer cards is the surface and edges. Older cards have a greater tendency to be cut rough along the edges. The surfaces are not glossy like newer cards, but they were more likely to have put marks or print defects from the rollers they were printed on. Also, check the card sizes….older cards sometimes vary slightly in size, which can cause them to come back from the grader as a “miscut” rather than a numerical grade. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions topchopsportscards@gmail.com

@@topchopsc1 Thank you!

This one is a little tougher and depends on the company and how much edge material is present. I usually try to run a microfiber cloth gently down the edge to see if I can remove it. I have had cards still get a 10 grade with edge fibers present. The edge grade is supposed to represent the quality of the edge itself, and these paper fibers sticking out usually don’t impact the true “quality” of the edge. I do not recommend pulling them as you can create a small divot on the edge....and running any type of blade along the edge can chance cutting the card. Try the microfiber method to at least smooth them in one direction if they won’t come off.

@@topchopsc1 awesome thanks!

It is a 3 diopter magnifier. I put a link in the video info. It does a good job....when I need to get closer, I use my jewelers loupe.

Thank you!

Addison Christian thanks for watching and for the questions. My magnifier is a 3 diopter, which works very well for me. I can see everything very clear, but if I need to get really close, I use the jewelers loop. For the 60/40 centering, this is what GMA has pre-established as their centering requirement to attain a Gem Mint 10 grade. A 63/37 would drop it down to a Mint 9 with GMA. Each company has their own standards that they publish. SGC for example requires 50/50 for their “gold label” 10, but will accept a 55/45 centering for the standard 10 grade. I recommend you check the grading standards of the company you are using...it can save you some money in the long run and help set expectations for what you will see once they are graded.

TopChop Sports Cards I appreciate the great response and excellent video! Thank you much friend 💯

It depends which grader you use. You are correct....it’s damn near impossible to find this year’s cards without print lines of some sort. There isn’t really a number of print lines that constitutes a lower grade, but rather how visible they are. The rule of thumb is that graders take it easier on print lines that appear on the back of the card than the front. Companies have different standards and each grader within a company may vary slightly on their opinion. You can pull 10’s on cards with print lines, but a significant line on the front of the card will almost certainly affect your grade.

Yeah, quality has not been the best this year for Panini. A lot of issues on most of their products.

james jowl 😂 thanks man!