What does PSA Mean in Pokemon Cards and How do I get my Pokemon cards graded?

If you are new to collecting Pokemon Cards or have just returned to the hobby after owning Pokemon cards when you were a kid you may have heard the term PSA banded around quite a bit - but what does PSA mean in terms of Pokemon cards?

PSA stands for Professional Sports Authority and they are the primary authority on card grading for Pokemon cards and other trading cards on the planet earth. There are other grading services but these are the bigboys if you like. If a card has been assessed and encased by PSA then it becomes a PSA card. So if you send your Charizard 4/102 from Base set to be graded by PSA you have sent off what we'd call a 'raw'' or ungraded card but after the service provided by PSA your card will have ascended into the ranks of PSA Graded Pokemon Cards. Looking to buy some? check out our PSA Graded Pokemon Cards section.

What is card grading for Pokemon Cards?

Ultimately sending your card to PSA will mean it gets professionally evaluated by the PSA Grading Team. Their team will inspect your card using specialised equipment and their own expertise to evaluate all of the following

• Cornering - is there any damage to the card corners?
• Edges - any frayed edges or damage around the card?
• Centering - are the graphics on the card properly aligned, or do they go off to one side, or perhaps the top or bottom?
• Eye appeal - how good does the card look at a glance? 
• Surface - does the card surface have any knicks, indentations, dirt, marks etc.

Based on the outcomes of all of the inspections above the PSA Grader will then award your card a Grade based on a grading scale of 1-10 to tell you how good your card is, or isn't. The higher the grade you get, the more the card will be worth to buyers and collectors and the happier you'll be when it eventually returns.

Next the card will be encased in a special airtight, tamper evident case to keep its condition intact. Within this case you will also have a printed PSA Label. Check out an image example and a little more info below on PSA's encasing and labels.

Once your card has been graded, labelled and encased it will be returned to you. Congratulations, you then have a graded Pokemon card to add to your collection, trade or sell.

Another interesting little note, you see that barcode number in the bottom right of the label? This can be entered at PSACARD.com and it will have a summary of information about your card, the year its from, its grade, the set its from and something even better - the POPULATION for that card. Is the population field says 11 it means there are 11 of that card with the same grade. So if you have a PSA 8 Charizard 4/102 card from base set and population says 2 it means there are only 2 of that card in the world at a grade 8 etc.

How do I get my Pokemon cards graded?

1. Head over to the official PSA website where you can start a submission online when submissions are open (they often close to deal with backlogs). It can be tricky submitting to PSA the first time but their are intermediary services such as Ludkins Collectables or GradedGem who streamline the process and make it a little more user friendly.

2. The customer who wants to get their Pokemon card graded prepares a shipment to send to PSA. There is a guide on how to do this safely and securely here.

3. A spreadsheet should also be prepared just for your own reference so you know what you have sent for your own records.

4. Cards should be in clean individual sleeves inside cardsaver semi rigids.

5. Once you've paid for the submission and followed the process on the PSA website you will want to ship your cards securely via an insured courier service. If using one of the PSA intermediaries (which unfortunately at the moment at not accepting submissions) this is easier as you only have to send it within the UK and they will deal with the export leg for you.

6. Once your cards get to PSA its a waiting game. More often then not its a very long waiting game at that, but be patient and once your card has finished its journey with PSA and you've compeltely forgotten you even sent them off you'll be overjoyed to get an unexpected package containing your newly graded Pokemon cards.

Whats the point?

People grade Pokemon Cards and other Trading Cards with PSA for numerous reasons.

1. The cards might have sentimental value, and the submitter literally just wants them graded and securely cased as a matter of preservation. A popular Poketuber recently had a Pokemon Card from Team Up graded with no intent to sell just literally because the card was a gift from his girlfriend last valentines day. It was the Latios & Latias GX Tag Team card with the heart. A valentines staple in the Pokemon card world I guess!

2. You might want to get your old collection graded from the 90's so you can retire early.

3. You might just be a collector who simply enjoys getting their cards graded to keep and display.

4. More often than not, getting your cards graded by an authority such as PSA will increase their value, but if this is your sole reason for submitting do take into account the grading costs, and the extra fees you might pay to a market place to sell the higher value version of your card.

Originally PSA was setup to authenticate signed baseball cards, but is now the respected global authority in the evaluation and grading of many different types of Trading Cards from Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! to all kinds of sports cards.

Should I get my Pokemon cards or other trading cards graded?

It really does come down to the individual and their motives for getting the cards graded vs. the cost and the time it takes for the process (which at the moment is an extremely long time!). PSA have an article here that will explain the benefits of having your cards graded in certain situations that can help you decide whether to get your cards graded and how it could be of benefit to you based on various different circumstances.

I hope this article helped someone - Thanks for reading!