True Grade Authentication
TGA
Competes on price and speed rather than reputation — the wrong trade if you ever intend to sell the card.
Our score30/100TierDNo. 21 on the scorecards
Resale standingRaw valueOn a high-value card, expect a buyer to cut it out and regrade it.
Cheapest way in$16Value, 15-card minimum
Typical turnaround5 daysReader reports →
BacklogNone published
Cert lookupPublicVerify a cert →
Owned byIndependentFounded 2021
The short version
2 min to read it all, belowWhy it scores 30
The full breakdownWhere the slab sells
- eBay Authenticity GuaranteeNot listed
- Major US auction housesNot standard inventory
- Public cert lookupYes
What to watch
Price and turnaround are what TGA competes on, and neither affects what a graded card sells for. Secondary-market liquidity is minimal against the majors, and there is little independent coverage of its grading standards, so consistency has not been externally tested.
All known concernsPricing
Official price listPriced on speed with no declared-value tiers, so what a card is worth never changes what grading costs.
| Tier | Price | Minimum | Quoted turnaround | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $16per card | 15 cards | — | |
| Standard | $20per card | — | — | No minimum |
| Express | $40per card | — | 5 business days | |
| Same-day | $55per card | — | Same day | Bulk rates quoted on request |
Prices as checked on 8 Oct 2026. They change often; the grader's own list is the final word.
Value at $16 is the only standing tier with a minimum, at 15 cards; Standard at $20 has none, which makes it the practical entry for a small submission. Express is $40 at five business days and same-day service is $55; bulk rates are quoted on request. Operating out of Surrey, British Columbia, so this is a domestic option for Canadian submitters and a cross-border one for everyone else.
The full file
What sets them apart
Canadian, founded 2021 in Surrey, British Columbia, competing on price and turnaround. Flat pricing with no declared-value tiers, and a published certification lookup so a buyer can confirm a slab is genuine.
For Canadian submitters it removes cross-border shipping, customs and exchange from the equation entirely.
Where the slab sells
Verification and acceptance are different things: being able to check a TGA slab is real does not make the market pay more for it.
eBay
TGA does not appear on eBay's professional grader filter list and is not covered by the Authenticity Guarantee, so its slabs get neither grader searchability nor eBay buyer protection.
Auction houses
Not accepted as standard inventory at Goldin, Heritage or PWCC.
Card shops and general resale
Minimal recognition beyond a niche following, though the company does publish a certification lookup, which allows a buyer to at least confirm a slab is theirs.
Turnaround
on Express; Value and Standard not stated
Price history
TGA 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.
Value$16 unchanged since 26 Oct 2026
Standard$20 unchanged since 26 Oct 2026
Express$40 unchanged since 26 Oct 2026
Same-day$55 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
An ordinary clear holder with a grey inner mat. TGA describes the slab as sealed and tamper-evident.
Example slab shown for reference, not a card the editor owns.
A minimal label with the card description and an orange grade block, and no cert number visible on the front at all — which removes the one thing a second-hand buyer would want to check.
What they grade
- Sports Cards
- TCG
- Autographs
- Specialty Formats
Who it's for
- Personal Collection
- Protection & Preservation
- Authentication
Protection, personal collections and authentication where price and speed are the point. $15-19 a card.
Known concerns
Price and turnaround are what TGA competes on, and neither affects what a graded card sells for. Secondary-market liquidity is minimal against the majors, and there is little independent coverage of its grading standards, so consistency has not been externally tested.
On a card with real value the saving on submission is likely to cost more than it saves at resale.
History
True Grade Authentication began grading in 2021 and operates out of Surrey, British Columbia, serving the Canadian market first.
It differentiates principally on price and turnaround rather than on methodology, technology or track record — a flat per-card rate with no declared-value tiering, ranging from a fifteen-dollar value tier up to same-day service, plus bulk rates on request.
It remains small, with brand recognition confined to a niche collector base, and it has not established authority in the sense the resale market recognizes.
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 10 / 100 (weight 60). The other four parts together 60 / 100 (weight 40).
Market acceptance
10 / 100weight 60adds 6.0
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
70 / 100weight 15adds 10.5
Unverified, scored as zero: Public population report.
Holder and label
35 / 100weight 10adds 3.5
Unverified, scored as zero: Standard footprint that fits hobby cases.
Turnaround and access
40 / 100weight 5adds 2.0
Unverified, scored as zero: Days on the cheapest open tier.
Pricing
80 / 100weight 10adds 8.0
Unverified, scored as zero: No price rise over 25% in the last 12 months.
Weighted total 30.0, shown as 30 out of 100.
Scored on 10 Oct 2026. 6 inputs could not be verified and score zero. How we score
On the Wire
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