Diamond Service Grading
DSG
A young grader punching well above its weight on documentation — a 32-subgrade report at one flat price — but the resale market hasn't caught up to it yet.
Our score41/100TierCNo. 8 on the scorecards
Resale standingRaw valueOn a high-value card, expect a buyer to cut it out and regrade it.
Cheapest way in$12Standard, over 100 cards
Typical turnaround10 daysReader reports →
BacklogNone published
Cert lookupPublicVerify a cert →
Owned byIndependentFounded 2021
The short version
2 min to read it all, belowWhy it scores 41
The full breakdownWhere the slab sells
- eBay Authenticity GuaranteeSearchable, not covered
- Major US auction housesNot standard inventory
- Public cert lookupYes
What to watch
Recognition, not infrastructure, is the limitation. There is no meaningful independent coverage of grading consistency, so its accuracy claims rest on its own published standards.
All known concernsPricing
Official price listOne flat price per card with no declared-value tiers at all — a $5 card and a $5,000 card pay the same.
| Tier | Price | Minimum | Quoted turnaround | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard, over 100 cards | $12per card | 101 cards | 10 business days | Flat per card; 32-subgrade report included |
| Standard | $15per card | — | 10 business days | Flat per card; 32-subgrade report included |
| Express | $35per card | — | 3 business days | |
| Expedited | $50per card | — | 1 business day |
Prices as checked on 9 Sept 2026. They change often; the grader's own list is the final word.
Standard is $15 at ten business days, dropping to $12 per card above 100. Express is $35 at three days and Expedited $50 at one. Vintage, oversized and authentication-only services are all $15, and reslabbing is $10. Every tier includes the 32-subgrade report.
The full file
What sets them apart
A 32-subgrade report — every corner, edge and surface zone scored separately, with HD imaging of both faces reachable by QR from the holder.
More granular than anything the majors publish. Pricing is one flat fee with no declared-value tiers at all, so a $5 card and a $5,000 card cost the same. Founded 2021.
Where the slab sells
The infrastructure is ahead of the recognition. DSG has built the tooling buyers would need to price its slabs, but not yet the market awareness that would make them bother.
eBay
Listed in eBay's professional grader filter, so DSG slabs are searchable, but DSG is not covered by the Authenticity Guarantee and carries no eBay buyer protection.
Auction houses
Not standard inventory at Goldin, Heritage or PWCC.
Card shops and general resale
Little presence in current hobby discussion, consistent with a grader founded in 2021, though DSG publishes a live searchable population report and QR-verified grade reports — more transparency infrastructure than most graders its size offer.
Turnaround
1–3 days on paid tiers
Price history
DSG has not raised a listed price since Oct 2026.
Show the price history: 4 tiers, 0 changes
These come from our own records. Small ticks are sightings where the price held. A line ends where the evidence ends.
Standard, over 100 cards$12 unchanged since 26 Oct 2026
Standard$15 unchanged since 26 Oct 2026
Express$35 unchanged since 26 Oct 2026
Expedited$50 unchanged since 26 Oct 2026
Every change
| Date | Tier | Change | Source |
|---|
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
A conventional clear holder with a dark inner mat. DSG says every card goes into a fully sealed holder, without saying how it is sealed.
Example slab shown for reference, not a card the editor owns.
An iridescent header strip above the card details and a cert number, backed by a public card search. The foil treatment is the only real point of difference, and it is a cosmetic one.
What they grade
- Sports Cards
- TCG
- Autographs
- Specialty Formats
Who it's for
- Personal Collection
- Protection & Preservation
- Authentication
- Condition Documentation
Documentation, protection, personal collections and authentication. The report is the reason to choose it, and the flat fee makes high-value cards unusually cheap to grade.
Known concerns
Recognition, not infrastructure, is the limitation. There is no meaningful independent coverage of grading consistency, so its accuracy claims rest on its own published standards.
It does not currently authenticate aftermarket autographs, which must be certified by JSA first. The open question is whether a four-year-old label will ever carry weight with buyers.
History
Diamond Service Grading was founded in 2021 by a group of collectors who wanted more transparency than the established graders offered.
Its model is unusually simple for the category: one flat price per card regardless of declared value, so a five-dollar card and a five-thousand-dollar card cost the same to grade. That removes the declared-value tiering every major grader uses, and with it the incentive to inflate what a card is worth at submission.
The technical offer is more ambitious than the price suggests. Every card returns a 32-point subgrade report covering centering, corners, edges and surface across eight zones, with HD imaging of both faces and a QR code on the holder that pulls up the full report. The slab itself is marketed as shatterproof.
As a 2021 entrant it has no long resale track record, and that remains the constraint.
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 18 / 100 (weight 60). The other four parts together 76 / 100 (weight 40).
Market acceptance
18 / 100weight 60adds 10.8
Unverified, scored as zero: Sold-price parity with the leading label, same card and grade; Recognised in a major non-US market.
Trust and verifiability
90 / 100weight 15adds 13.5
Holder and label
50 / 100weight 10adds 5.0
Unverified, scored as zero: Standard footprint that fits hobby cases.
Turnaround and access
80 / 100weight 5adds 4.0
Pricing
80 / 100weight 10adds 8.0
Unverified, scored as zero: No price rise over 25% in the last 12 months.
Weighted total 41.3, shown as 41 out of 100.
Scored on 10 Oct 2026. 4 inputs could not be verified and score zero. How we score
On the Wire
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