Cardboard Journal's Take
PCA Grade
The European default for Pokemon, and largely invisible to the American market.
What Sets Them Apart
The oldest grading company in France, running since 2015, and the default for Pokemon across eBay.fr and eBay.de. Every card is assessed independently by three graders before a number is assigned — a consistency control the American majors do not publish an equivalent of.
Tier
Our rating of how well the resale market actually recognises this grader.
Turnaround
30 days (Fast)
The paid Fast tier quotes 30 business days and independent testing says it holds. The cheap Classic tier is the problem: advertised at roughly four months and widely reported at six to eight.
Backlog
No backlog figure published.
What They Grade
- TCG
Marketplace Acceptance
Strong within European Pokemon circles, where PCA slabs trade normally and are understood. Thin in the United States, which is where most graded-card money moves. A PCA slab is an asset in the market it was built for and a discount elsewhere.
Pricing
Two tiers with very different characters. Classic starts around EUR 10.90 and is the cheapest route to a slab in Europe, but the quoted four-month wait is not what submitters report. Fast starts around EUR 19.90 — expensive against CCC at EUR 15 and Pure at EUR 12 — and is the tier that actually delivers on time. Rates land between EUR 10 and EUR 25 depending on options and volume.
Prices change often, so we link to each grader's own list rather than copying figures that go stale.
The Slab
A compact holder, roughly 125 × 75 × 40mm, lighter and smaller than the American slabs — a real advantage in a European shipping market where weight is cost.
Example slab shown for reference — not a card I personally own.
The Label
SubgradesNone
Widely called the best-looking label in France, and that is not a trivial point for a service whose customers largely buy it to display. Grades run 1–10 with a '10+ Collector' above Gem. There is a public certification lookup, though the card database behind it is dated.
Grader Use Cases
- Resale Value
- Personal Collection
- Protection & Preservation
- Display & Presentation
Resale and display inside France and francophone Europe, where the label is the local currency. If the card is heading to a US buyer, this is the wrong holder.
Known Concerns
NAME COLLISION, UNRESOLVED: eBay's grader list includes an entry reading 'Professional Card Authenticator'. Whether that is this company or a separate entity has not been confirmed, and the two must not be merged into one record until it is. Beyond that, the concern for a US seller is simply geography — recognition drops sharply outside Europe.
On The Wire
What the hobby is saying about PCA Grade, with our read on what it changes for you.
Nothing on the wire about PCA Grade yet — this fills in as it's collected.
History
Founded in Paris in 2015. The leading grader in continental Europe by volume, with heavy Pokemon concentration and a strong presence on eBay's German and French sites.