How to prepare cards for gradingGet your cards ready in six steps.

1. Pick the cards worth grading

A grade reflects condition, so look closely before you pay to grade a card. Under bright light, check the centering front and back, the corners, the edges, and the surface for scratches or print lines. Our Grading Scale shows what each grade allows, including centering ranges.

2. Don't try to fix a card

Send cards as they are. A card that has been altered, trimmed, or recolored won't get a standard numeric grade.

3. Check the thickness

Right now we can only take standard-thickness cards up to 35pt. Thick cards, like jersey and manufactured patch cards, would be returned unprocessed, so leave them out for now.

4. Sleeve and protect each card

• Put every card in a soft sleeve first.
• Then put it in a semi-rigid holder (sometimes called a soft loader) made for 35pt or thinner cards. We prefer these over hard top loaders.
• Don't put tape on a card or holder where it could cause damage when it's removed.

5. Submit your order and print the packing slip

Fill out the order form with Manual or Quick Submission and pay for your prepaid USPS label. Print the label for the outside of the box, and print your packing slip for the inside. The slip's QR code tells us which order the box belongs to.

6. Pack and ship

• Ship in a sturdy, rigid box. Don't use a bubble mailer or an envelope: cards damaged in a mailer may not be covered by shipping insurance.
• Pack the cards so they can't move around inside.
• Don't include cash or anything that isn't a card.
• Attach the prepaid label and drop the package off with USPS. It's tracked the whole way.

After your cards arrive

We email you at each step. When grading is done, you pay the grading fee, and your cards ship back by USPS Priority Mail with signature confirmation. Questions? Email support@vcgcards.com.