Certified Guaranty Company
CGC
The strongest alternative to PSA for Pokémon and Magic, and the last major grader not owned by Collectors Holdings — though its slabs still trade a little under PSA.
Our score67/100TierANo. 3 on the scorecards
Resale standingAcceptedSells normally, with some discount to the top labels.
Cheapest way in$17Bulk, 25-card minimum, cards up to $500
Typical turnaround90 days (Economy)Reader reports →
BacklogNone published
Cert lookupPublicVerify a cert →
Owned byBlackstoneFounded 2000 · What else it owns →
The short version
2 min to read it all, belowWhy it scores 67
The full breakdownWhere the slab sells
- eBay Authenticity GuaranteeCovered
- Major US auction housesStandard inventory
- Public cert lookupYes
What to watch
CGC slabs still sell slightly below PSA equivalents for the same card and grade — narrowing, but real money on a high-value card.
All known concernsPricing
Official price listThe interesting gap is between the two cheapest tiers. Bulk is $17 but demands 25 cards, so it costs $425 to start; Economy is $20 with no minimum at all.
| Tier | Price | Minimum | Card value up to | Quoted turnaround | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk | $17per card | 25 cards | $500 | 150 working days | |
| Economy | $20per card | — | $1,000 | 90 working days | No minimum |
| Standard | $55per card | — | $3,000 | 10 working days | |
| Express | $100per card | — | $10,000 | 5 working days | |
| WalkThrough | $300per card | — | $100,000 | 2 working days | |
| Unlimited Value | $300per card | — | — | 2 working days | $300 plus 1% of fair market value; no value limit |
Prices as checked on 9 Oct 2026. They change often; the grader's own list is the final word.
For three dollars more you drop the minimum and cut the wait considerably — Bulk runs about 150 working days against Economy's 90. Bulk only pays off at genuine volume. Above that, pricing is by declared value and climbs fast: $55 at $3,000, $100 at $10,000.
The full file
What sets them apart
The strongest TCG grader in the hobby, with a Pristine 10 grade sitting above Gem Mint 10 and a full competitive registry with sets, awards and rankings.
It is also the only major still independent of Collectors Holdings, majority-owned by Blackstone — which some collectors now weigh deliberately. No standard subgrades.
Where the slab sells
The qualifier is price rather than acceptance: CGC slabs generally trade slightly below PSA equivalents for the same card and grade.
eBay
One of only four graders covered by eBay's Authenticity Guarantee, giving CGC slabs the same $200-and-above buyer protection as PSA, SGC and BGS.
Auction houses
Accepted at Goldin, Heritage and PWCC. CGC's comics heritage means it is also long established with auction houses outside the card market.
Card shops and general resale
Cert lookup and population reports are public, and CGC is widely recognized in Pokémon and Magic, where it competes with PSA directly rather than trailing it.
Turnaround
Economy; Bulk runs about 150
Promised waits since Oct 2024
CGC's promised wait for Bulk has gone from 15 working days in Oct 2024 to 150 working days today.
| Tier | First promise we hold | Latest promise | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk | 15 working days1 Oct 2024 | 150 working days30 Oct 2026 | 10× longer |
| Economy | 15 working days1 Oct 2024 | 90 working days30 Oct 2026 | 6× longer |
| Standard | 10 working days1 Oct 2024 | 10 working days30 Oct 2026 | Same |
| Express | 5 working days1 Oct 2024 | 5 working days30 Oct 2026 | Same |
| WalkThrough | 5 working days1 Oct 2024 | 2 working days30 Oct 2026 | shorter |
| Unlimited Value | 2 working days18 Feb 2025 | 2 working days30 Oct 2026 | Same |
From archived copies of CGC's price page and our own records. The latest promise is the one on the page the last time we saw it, and a range such as 20–30 days is compared at its upper end.
Price history
CGC has raised prices on 6 separate dates since Oct 2024. The steepest climb is Express: up 100%, from $50 to $100.
Show the price history: 6 tiers, 22 changes
92 sightings come from archived copies of its pricing page; the rest are from our own records. Small ticks are sightings where the price held. A line ends where the evidence ends.
Bulk$17 up 70%
Economy$20 up 54%
Standard$55 up 83%
Express$100 up 100%
WalkThrough$300 up 100%
Unlimited Value$300 up 20%
Every change
| Date | Tier | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Oct 2026 | Unlimited Value | $275 → $300 up 9.1%Our current price table ($300 plus 1% of fair market value; no value limit) | Our price table |
| 12 Apr 2026 | Bulk | $15 → $17 up 13% | Archived page |
| 12 Apr 2026 | Economy | $18 → $20 up 11% | Archived page |
| 13 Jan 2026 | Bulk | $14 → $15 up 7.1% | Archived page |
| 13 Jan 2026 | Economy | $17 → $18 up 5.9% | Archived page |
| 13 Jan 2026 | Standard | $45 → $55 up 22% | Archived page |
| 13 Jan 2026 | Express | $85 → $100 up 18% | Archived page |
| 13 Jan 2026 | WalkThrough | $275 → $300 up 9.1% | Archived page |
| 8 May 2025 | Bulk | $12 → $14 up 17% | Archived page |
| 8 May 2025 | Economy | $15 → $17 up 13% | Archived page |
| 8 May 2025 | Standard | $40 → $45 up 13% | Archived page |
| 8 May 2025 | Express | $75 → $85 up 13% | Archived page |
| 8 May 2025 | WalkThrough | $250 → $275 up 10% | Archived page |
| 8 May 2025 | Unlimited Value | $250 → $275 up 10% | Archived page |
| 18 Feb 2025 | Bulk | $11 → $12 up 9.1% | Archived page |
| 18 Feb 2025 | Economy | $14 → $15 up 7.1% | Archived page |
| 18 Feb 2025 | Standard | $30 → $40 up 33% | Archived page |
| 18 Feb 2025 | Express | $50 → $75 up 50% | Archived page |
| 18 Feb 2025 | WalkThrough | $150 → $250 up 67% | Archived page |
| 18 Feb 2025 | Unlimited Value | New tier at $250 | Archived page |
| 7 Nov 2024 | Bulk | $10 → $11 up 10% | Archived page |
| 7 Nov 2024 | Economy | $13 → $14 up 7.7% | Archived page |
An archived page shows the price on the day it was saved, so a change happened somewhere between that page and the one before it.
The slab and the label
Subgrades: None
Transparent on every side rather than frosted at the edges, so the card can be inspected from any angle, and a little thicker than a PSA slab — close enough that PSA protectors fit, loosely.
Example slab shown for reference, not a card the editor owns.
CGC seals the holder by ultrasonic welding and says security features in the holder and label guard against tampering.
A restrained white label carrying the full Certified Guaranty Company wordmark, barcode and cert number, scannable straight to the lookup. One overall grade only: CGC asks to be trusted rather than showing its work.
What they grade
- Sports Cards
- TCG
- Non-Sports & Entertainment
- Comics
- Magazines
Who it's for
- Resale Value
- Long-Term Investment
- Personal Collection
- Authentication
- Trading & Liquidity
- Set Completion
Resale, long holds and set completion, strongest in Pokémon and Magic where it competes with PSA directly. Not the pick for condition documentation, since no subgrades are assigned.
Known concerns
CGC slabs still sell slightly below PSA equivalents for the same card and grade — narrowing, but real money on a high-value card.
The independence advantage carries its own asterisk: Blackstone is a private-equity owner rather than a rival grader, but it is still a financial owner with its own timeline. Sports coverage remains thinner than the TCG strength.
History
CGC came to trading cards from an established position elsewhere. Operating since 2000 under Certified Collectibles Group, it spent two decades grading comics and pop-culture collectibles, where its standards were already the reference point, before turning that apparatus fully toward cards and absorbing the CSG sports brand in 2023.
Blackstone holds a majority stake in the parent group.
Its differentiator sits at the top of the scale: a Pristine 10, on a gold label, ranks above Gem Mint 10 and is reserved for cards flawless under 10x magnification with 50/50 centering front and back — a distinction PSA's scale doesn't make.
That has landed hardest in TCG, where CGC has taken meaningful share in Pokémon and Magic and is notably popular with collectors entering the hobby now. As consolidation swallowed SGC and Beckett, it also became the only major grader left outside Collectors Holdings.
Score breakdown
Five parts, each scored 0 to 100 and weighted. Market acceptance carries 60 of the 100, because the point of a slab is what the market pays for it.
Market acceptance 60 / 100 (weight 60). The other four parts together 76 / 100 (weight 40).
Market acceptance
60 / 100weight 60adds 36.0
Sold-price evidence: a CGC 10 sells for about 40% of a PSA 10 of the same card (11,164 Pokémon cards, TCGCharts). Sports cards have no equivalent sample yet.
Unverified, scored as zero: Recognised in a major non-US market.
Trust and verifiability
100 / 100weight 15adds 15.0
Holder and label
75 / 100weight 10adds 7.5
+3 Transparent on every side, so the card can be inspected from any angle.
Turnaround and access
60 / 100weight 5adds 3.0
Pricing
50 / 100weight 10adds 5.0
Unverified, scored as zero: Limits on that tier; No price rise over 25% in the last 12 months.
Weighted total 66.5, shown as 67 out of 100.
Scored on 10 Oct 2026. 3 inputs could not be verified and score zero. How we score
On the Wire
All 7 CGC stories- Grading hits a record 3.87 million cards in October as PSA and CGC both set highs
- A grader should grade the card, not charge you for what it's worth
- Nobody can prove PSA is better than anyone
- eBay UK will send cards from £250 to PSA for checks, down from £500
- CGC now takes cards at 20 FYE stores. It has not said what the counter costs.
- CGC posts a record month as the market's last major independent keeps growing
- The CGC-to-PSA price gap on modern Pokémon has quietly narrowed
Reader reports
Report yoursNo reader reports for CGC yet.
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