The Scorecards
Every Grader, Same Scorecard
Every grading company gets the same scorecard — what it costs, how long it really takes, who owns it, and whether the resale market actually recognises the slab. Then we say plainly what each one is good for, and what it isn't.
- Graders
- 40
- tracked in full
- Use cases
- 10
- scored per grader
- At resale
- 4
- we'd trust to hold value
Only 4 of 40 carry enough recognition for the market to pay for the grade. Knowing which 4 is the difference between protecting a card's value and paying to lose it.
Why This Site Exists
The Slab That Taught Me This
I bought a card that was already graded, by a company nobody in the resale market recognizes. It looked like a deal — the slab made it feel like a sure thing. It wasn't. The seller was the one making out, because a cheap card in an official-looking holder sells for far more than the same card raw. The grade added nothing a buyer would pay for, and anyone who wants it raw now has to pay to crack it out first.
A name on a label isn't what protects a card's value. Being graded by a company the market actually trusts is.
Before you spend
Guides
The decisions that actually cost money, in plain language: whether a card is worth grading at all, what a population report is really telling you, and how to tell a genuine third-party grader from a plastic case with a sticker on it.
Written to be read before you submit, not after the slab comes back.
6 published
What just changed
The Wire
Grading news as it lands — price rises, backlog figures, ownership changes, court filings. Every item is sourced and dated, and every one ends with Cardboard Journal's Take: a single line on what it changes for you.
The point is finding out before it costs you something.
32 items · newest first
Who owns the graders
3 of the 4 that matter share an owner
These are the only graders eBay will authenticate and the auction houses treat as standard inventory. Everything else in the hobby is competing for what's left.
Collectors Holdings controls 3 of the 4. If you care whether grading is a competitive market, that is the fact to know before you pick one.