Pokémon Card Grading Explained: PSA vs BGS vs CGC (and Why a 10 Costs 4× a 9)

A graded Pokémon card and a raw one can look identical to the naked eye and still be priced fifty times apart. The difference is a small plastic slab with a number on it — that number is the grade, and understanding what it means is the single biggest unlock for buying graded cards confidently. This guide covers the four graders you’ll actually encounter (PSA, BGS, CGC, SGC), what each grade represents, and the price jumps to expect between adjacent grades.

Why grading moves price so much

Grading does two things at once: it authenticates the card (real or fake) and it locks in its condition. Both are scarce information on the secondary market. A raw "Near Mint" card from an eBay listing could be genuinely flawless, lightly played, or counterfeit — the buyer can’t verify any of that from photos. A PSA 10 is verified pristine and verified real, sealed into a tamper-evident slab by a third party with a reputation at stake. Buyers pay a premium for that certainty.

The scarcer the high grade, the steeper the premium. Modern cards are easier to keep pristine, so PSA 10 populations are large and the 9→10 jump is moderate. Vintage cards rarely survive 25+ years untouched, so PSA 10 populations are tiny and the 9→10 jump can be 5–10×. A 1999 Base Set Charizard in PSA 9 sells around $2,500; in PSA 10 around $15,000–$20,000. Same card, same art — the slab’s number is doing most of the work.

PSA — the default grader

Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) is the dominant grader in the Pokémon market by volume and by liquidity. If you’re buying a graded card, PSA-graded copies usually trade at the highest prices and have the deepest buyer pool. The scale runs 1 to 10 in whole numbers, with a half-grade at 1.5 only for very damaged cards. There are no subgrades on a standard PSA slab — just one overall number.

• PSA 10 (Gem Mint) — virtually perfect. Centering within 55/45 on the front, sharp corners, clean edges, flawless surface. The grade buyers chase.
• PSA 9 (Mint) — one minor flaw allowed (e.g. slightly off-center, microscopic edge wear). Visually indistinguishable from a 10 to most eyes.
• PSA 8 (Near Mint-Mint) — a couple of minor flaws. Still very clean, looks great in hand.
• PSA 7 (Near Mint) — light wear visible on close inspection. The "honest" collectible grade for vintage cards.
• PSA 6 (Excellent-Mint) and below — increasing visible wear. Useful for vintage holes in a set; rarely a flipping target.

PSA also offers a "PSA 10 with qualifier" (e.g. OC for off-center) — this is rare in Pokémon and trades at a steep discount to a clean 10. If you see a qualifier on the label, treat it as roughly a PSA 9 in pricing terms.

BGS (Beckett) — the subgrade specialist

Beckett Grading Services (BGS) grades on a finer 1–10 scale with 0.5 increments, plus four subgrades printed on the label: centering, corners, edges, and surface. The overall grade is roughly the average of the four, weighted toward the lowest. This extra detail matters because it lets buyers see exactly why a card got the grade it did.

• BGS 10 Pristine (black label) — all four subgrades are 10. Extremely rare. Trades at multiples of a standard BGS 10.
• BGS 10 (gold label) — overall 10, but at least one subgrade is below 10. Roughly equivalent to PSA 10 in pricing.
• BGS 9.5 (Gem Mint) — the standard high-end BGS grade. Generally prices slightly below a PSA 10 but slightly above a PSA 9.
• BGS 9 (Mint) — comparable to PSA 9.
• BGS 8.5 / 8 — comparable to PSA 8.

CGC — the fast-growing alternative

Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) started in comics and entered TCG grading more recently. They’ve grown quickly thanks to faster turnaround times and competitive pricing. CGC grades on a 1–10 scale with 0.5 increments, similar to BGS but without subgrades on the standard label.

• CGC 10 Pristine — top tier. CGC actually splits "10" into Gem Mint and Pristine, with Pristine being the rarer top label.
• CGC 10 Gem Mint — the everyday "perfect" CGC grade. Trades close to PSA 10 on modern cards, slightly below on vintage where PSA dominates.
• CGC 9.5 Mint+ — comparable to BGS 9.5.
• CGC 9 Mint — comparable to PSA 9.

CGC slabs trade at a small discount to PSA in the resale market right now — typically 10–20% less for the same grade — purely because PSA has the bigger buyer pool. The card inside isn’t any worse; it’s a liquidity discount that may shrink as CGC’s reputation grows.

SGC, ACE, and the rest

Two other graders show up in Pokémon listings often enough to know: SGC and ACE.

• SGC — Sportscard Guaranty. Long-established in sports cards, smaller presence in Pokémon. Same 1–10 scale. Trades at a modest discount to PSA.
• ACE — Arkhamcards (a newer European-based grader popular for European collectors). Trades at a meaningful discount to PSA outside Europe; comparable inside.

A few smaller graders exist (HGA, GMA, TAG, MNT). Generally, slabs from these graders trade at substantial discounts to PSA — sometimes 40–60% less for the same nominal grade. For an investment-grade card, stick with PSA, BGS, or CGC unless you have a specific reason not to.

The price jumps between grades

Here’s what a typical jump looks like in practice, using a modern chase card (recent Charizard) and a vintage chase card (1999 Base Set Charizard, Unlimited) as reference points. Numbers are 2026 ballparks — actual market shifts constantly:

• Modern Charizard, PSA 8 → PSA 9: roughly 1.5–2× jump.
• Modern Charizard, PSA 9 → PSA 10: roughly 2–3× jump.
• 1999 Base Charizard Unlimited, PSA 7 → PSA 8: roughly 2–3× jump.
• 1999 Base Charizard Unlimited, PSA 8 → PSA 9: roughly 2–4× jump.
• 1999 Base Charizard Unlimited, PSA 9 → PSA 10: roughly 5–10× jump.

For vintage 1st Edition cards, the 9 → 10 jump can be even more extreme — sometimes 15× or more. The driver is always the same: at the top of the grade scale, supply is so thin that any additional demand moves price disproportionately.

How to read a graded card listing

A typical graded listing title looks like: "1999 Pokemon Base Set Charizard #4 Holo PSA 9 MINT". Decoded:

• 1999 — the year the card was printed (often included to disambiguate reprints).
• Base Set — the set name.
• Charizard — the card name.
• #4 — the card number within the set.
• Holo — the variant (Holofoil vs Normal vs Reverse Holo).
• PSA 9 — the grader and overall grade.
• MINT — PSA’s text label for grade 9.

For BGS listings you’ll often see subgrades: "BGS 9.5 (10/9.5/9.5/9.5)". The parenthetical lists centering / corners / edges / surface. A "10" in any subgrade adds a small premium; a low-9 in one subgrade can drag the perceived value down.

Verifying a slab is real

Counterfeit slabs exist. Every graded card has a unique certification number printed on the label — you can verify it on the grader’s website before buying:

• PSA — psacard.com/cert
• BGS — beckett.com/grading/services/card-lookup
• CGC — cgccards.com (Verify Cert tool)
• SGC — sgcgrading.com (Cert Lookup)

If a listing shows a certification number, plug it into the corresponding lookup tool. The result should match the card and grade in the listing. If the lookup fails or returns a different card, walk away — that slab is almost certainly counterfeit.

Should you grade your raw card?

Grading isn’t free. PSA’s economy tier costs $25–75 per card depending on declared value and turnaround time. BGS and CGC are in a similar range. Add shipping in and out, and the all-in cost is often $40–60 per card.

The math: only submit if you believe the graded value is at least 3–4× the raw value plus grading cost. For a $20 raw card, a likely PSA 8 sells for $40–60 — barely covering the round-trip. For a $200 raw card that’s likely a PSA 9, the slabbed copy might sell for $700–1,200, easily justifying submission.

TL;DR

• PSA is the dominant grader by liquidity. BGS, CGC, and SGC are valid alternatives, usually at slight discounts.
• Every grade-point step up roughly doubles modern card price and triples-to-quintuples vintage card price.
• The 9 → 10 jump is the steepest — Gem Mint scarcity is where most of the value sits.
• BGS subgrades (centering/corners/edges/surface) are extra detail PSA doesn’t print on its label.
• BGS Pristine 10 (black label) and CGC Pristine 10 are the top of their respective scales, well above standard 10s.
• Always verify the cert number on the grader’s website before buying high-value graded cards.
• Only submit raws for grading when the expected slabbed value is 3–4× the raw value plus grading cost.

PokéPrice shows live floor prices broken out by grader and grade on every tokenized listing, so you can compare a PSA 9 floor against a CGC 9 floor against a raw market price side by side. Use the grader and grade filters on the tokenized deals page to find what you’re looking for at the grade you trust.