10 Common Card Grading Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Avoid these 10 common card grading mistakes that cost collectors money. Learn how to grade cards properly and pre-screen before submitting.
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Avoid these 10 common card grading mistakes that cost collectors money. Learn how to grade cards properly and pre-screen before submitting.
In short: The most costly card-grading mistakes are submitting without pre-screening, ignoring centering, and mishandling surfaces. Catching these issues before you pay $79.99+ per card is exactly what AI pre-grading is built for — 60 seconds, no guesswork.
Every year, collectors waste thousands of dollars submitting cards that come back with disappointing grades. These card grading mistakes are almost always preventable. Whether you are new to the hobby or an experienced collector, understanding what goes wrong and why can save you significant money and frustration.
Here are the 10 most common card grading mistakes and exactly how to avoid each one. Learning how to grade cards properly before submitting is the difference between a collection of high-grade slabs and a box of expensive disappointments.
Our State of Card Grading 2026 study analyzed 32,000+ cards and quantified just how costly blind submissions are: most cards grade below the PSA 8 threshold, meaning the grading fees exceed the value a slab adds. With grading companies processing 12.5 million cards in 2025 across a $187M-$312M industry, a significant share of that spending goes toward submissions that never return a profit. The study confirmed that pre-screening saves money by filtering out cards below the breakeven point before you spend $15-$25+ per card on fees.
The mistake: Sending cards to PSA, BGS, or CGC based on a quick visual inspection or gut feeling rather than a thorough evaluation.
Why it hurts: Grading fees range from $15 to $200+ per card, plus shipping and insurance. Submitting a card that comes back as a PSA 7 when you expected a PSA 10 means you have spent $25-40 on a slab that may be worth less than the raw card. Multiply this across a batch of 20 cards, and you could be looking at hundreds of dollars in wasted fees.
How to avoid it: Pre-screen every card before submission. Use CardGrade.io's free AI grading to get predicted grades in 29 seconds. CGI Vision AI analyzes 47 inspection points with 92.8% accuracy, giving you a clear picture of what grade to expect. With 3 trial credits and free 3-day trial, cancel anytime, there is no reason to skip this step.
The mistake: Focusing only on corners and surface while overlooking centering. Many collectors assume centering is "close enough" without measuring it.
Why it hurts: Centering is one of the most common reasons cards miss a PSA 10 or BGS 9.5. A card with 65/35 front centering cannot earn a PSA 10 regardless of how perfect everything else looks. For BGS and CGC, centering requirements are even stricter for top grades.
How to avoid it: Measure centering before submitting. Use CardGrade.io's centering analysis or a precision ruler to check both front and back centering ratios. Know the tolerance for your target grade at your chosen grading company.
The mistake: Touching card surfaces with bare fingers during evaluation, sorting, or preparing for submission.
Why it hurts: Fingerprints leave oils on the card surface that graders can detect under magnification and specialized lighting. Surface contamination can drop a card from a 10 to an 8 or 9. Oils from skin can also cause long-term damage by attracting dust and causing discoloration.
How to avoid it: Always handle cards by the edges while wearing clean cotton gloves or nitrile gloves. Keep a pair near your sorting area. If you must touch a card without gloves, hold it only by the very edges and avoid contact with the front or back surface.
The mistake: Grading cards worth $5-10 raw because they might be a PSA 10.
Why it hurts: Even at economy pricing, grading costs $15-25 per card plus shipping. If a card is worth $10 raw and $25 in a PSA 10, you are spending $25 in grading costs to gain $15 in value at best. And if the card comes back as a PSA 9, it might only be worth $12-15 in a slab, meaning you actually lost money.
How to avoid it: Calculate your break-even before submitting. The general rule: only grade a card if the graded value at your expected grade is at least 2-3x the combined cost of the raw card plus grading fees. Use CardGrade.io's value analysis to estimate graded values and make this calculation before committing.
The mistake: Defaulting to PSA for everything or choosing the cheapest option without considering market dynamics.
Why it hurts: A PSA 10 sports card might sell for $200, while the equivalent CGC 10 sells for $120. Conversely, in the Pokemon market, a BGS Black Label can command 2-3x the price of a PSA 10 on the same card. Choosing the wrong company leaves money on the table.
How to avoid it: Research which company commands the highest premium for your specific card type and category. PSA typically leads for sports cards, BGS and CGC are competitive for Pokemon and TCG, and CGC offers the best value for bulk submissions. See our detailed comparison of card grading companies to find the right fit.
The mistake: Evaluating edges with the naked eye and missing micro-chipping, whitening, or separation that graders will catch.
Why it hurts: Professional graders use 5-10x magnification and specialized lighting. What looks like clean edges to you may reveal tiny chips, whitening along the cut line, or delamination under magnification. These edge flaws commonly drop grades by one to two points.
How to avoid it: Invest in a jeweler's loupe (10x magnification, available for under $10) and examine all four edges carefully. Pay special attention to the corners where edges meet, as this is where chipping is most common. CardGrade.io's AI analysis also evaluates edges at high resolution, flagging issues you might miss with the naked eye.
The mistake: Assuming a card's surface is clean because it looks fine under normal lighting.
Why it hurts: Surface scratches, print lines, and roller marks are often invisible under direct overhead lighting but become obvious under angled light or side lighting. Graders examine surfaces under multiple lighting angles specifically to find these defects. A single scratch across a holo surface can drop a card from a 10 to an 8.
How to avoid it: Examine your card's surface by holding it at various angles under a bright light source. Tilt the card slowly and watch for light catching on scratches, print lines, or surface imperfections. Holo and foil cards require extra scrutiny because their reflective surfaces show scratches more readily. CardGrade.io's surface analysis uses AI to detect surface defects that can be difficult to spot with the naked eye.
The mistake: Taking blurry, poorly lit, or angled photos when using AI grading services.
Why it hurts: AI grading tools like CardGrade.io rely on clear, well-lit images to analyze card condition accurately. A blurry photo can obscure edge defects, a shadowed image can hide surface scratches, and an angled shot distorts centering measurements. Poor photos lead to inaccurate predictions, which defeats the purpose of pre-screening.
How to avoid it: Follow these best practices for AI grading photography:
The mistake: Giving corners a quick glance instead of a thorough examination under magnification.
Why it hurts: Corner wear is the second most common reason (after centering) for cards missing top grades. Micro-fraying, dings, and soft corners are nearly invisible to the naked eye but immediately apparent under magnification. A single dinged corner can mean the difference between a PSA 10 and a PSA 8.
How to avoid it: Examine each of the four corners under 5-10x magnification. Look for:
Rotate the card to examine all four corners from multiple angles. Cards from older sets are especially prone to corner wear from factory handling and packaging.
The mistake: Using worn penny sleeves, oversized top loaders, or inadequate packaging for grading submissions.
Why it hurts: Cards can shift inside oversized holders during shipping, causing new edge and corner damage. Scratched or contaminated penny sleeves can transfer marks to card surfaces. Poor outer packaging can result in crushed or water-damaged submissions.
How to avoid it: Use these packaging best practices:
Each grading company has specific submission guidelines. Follow them exactly to avoid processing delays or damage.
Let us quantify what these mistakes cost. Consider a typical 20-card submission:
| Scenario | Cost | Return | Net Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| No pre-screening, mixed quality | $500 grading + $30 shipping | 5 high grades, 15 disappointments | -$200 net loss |
| Pre-screened with CardGrade.io | $300 grading (12 cards) + $20 shipping | 10 high grades, 2 surprises | +$400 net profit |
| Pre-screened + proper handling | $300 grading (12 cards) + $20 shipping | 11 high grades, 1 surprise | +$550 net profit |
By pre-screening and avoiding the mistakes listed above, you can cut your submission size while improving your hit rate dramatically.
The single most impactful thing you can do to avoid card grading mistakes is to pre-screen with CardGrade.io before every submission. CGI Vision AI analyzes 47 inspection points in under 29 seconds, evaluating centering, corners, edges, and surface quality with 92.8% accuracy.
CardGrade.io predicts grades for PSA, BGS, and CGC, helping you not only decide which cards to submit but also which grading company to use for each card. Start with 3 trial credits, free 3-day trial, cancel anytime, and join the 540+ teams already using CardGrade.io to make smarter grading decisions.
The 10 most common card grading tips to remember:
Knowing how to grade cards correctly before submitting saves money, protects your investment, and leads to a collection full of high-grade slabs. Use CardGrade.io's AI grading to catch issues before grading companies do, and submit with confidence every time.
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Founder, CardGrade
Jamie Budesky is the founder of CardGrade and the engineer behind its AI vision grading pipeline. An Army veteran and IT specialist (DoD, since 2017), he writes about card grading, AI/ML grading technology, and collecting strategy — grounded in CardGrade's own grading data.
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