Card grading has become a major part of today’s hobby, but with so many companies, grading scales, slab styles, turnaround times, and pricing structures, how do you decide which option actually makes sense for your collection?

In the first episode of The Collector’s Corner, host Collector Charles breaks down some of today’s most recognizable grading options and looks at what collectors should consider before sending cards in. Charles discusses PSA, Beckett, CGC, SGC, and C3 Grading, exploring everything from resale value and liquidity to turnaround times, slab design, grading transparency, and overall collector experience. Each company brings something different to the table, and the right choice often depends on what matters most to you as a collector.

The conversation also looks at why grading has become such an important part of the modern hobby. Beyond potentially increasing a card’s value, grading can help authenticate, protect, preserve, and document the condition of a card - but that doesn’t mean every card needs to be graded.

Intentional collecting means understanding why you’re grading a card in the first place. Is it for resale value? Long-term preservation? A personal collection? Authentication? Presentation? Or simply because it’s a card that means something to you?

Charles also gives a hands-on review of a C3 Grading slab featuring a Matt Shaw rookie card, breaking down the look, feel, presentation, subgrades, and overall quality of the slab. C3 uses five grading categories - corners, surface, edges, centering, and fading - providing collectors with additional detail around how a final grade was determined.

As the presenting sponsor of The Collector’s Corner, C3 Grading offers another option for collectors looking for affordable grading, transparent grading criteria, and accessible turnaround times. Through the Collectors MD partnership with C3 Grading, collectors can use code CMD to grade cards for $8 per card.

Most importantly, this episode isn’t about telling collectors there is one “right” grading company. Different collectors have different goals. One person may prioritize resale value. Another may care more about aesthetics, turnaround time, transparency, affordability, or simply protecting a card they love.

The goal is to understand your options and make the decision that makes the most sense for your collection, your priorities, and your budget. Grading should support your collection - not complicate it.

Subscribe, comment, and join the movement. And remember: collect with intention, not compulsion. #RipResponsibly.

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This Episode of The Collector's Corner is sponsored by C3 Grading. Built by collectors for collectors, C3 focuses on accurate grading, a collector-first mentality, competitive flat pricing, and hands-on customer service. Use code CMD to grade for just $8 per card at c3grading.com.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfi6Vw8yNWY

July 24th. 38 bids. A 2025 One Piece OP11-119 3rd Anniversary Gold Luffy, PSA 10, listed "In the PSA Vault" on PSA's own eBay account. Supposed to be the safest purchase in the hobby. The buyer asks for it to be shipped, PSA reroutes it, Brand Protection investigates, and over a month later Collectors confirms it: counterfeit slab, fake label, unauthorized reprint inside. PSA says it never graded it, never encapsulated it, never vaulted it.

And here's the part that should bother every single one of us: the cert number on that fake label (118457608) doesn't exist in PSA's system. The most basic check in the hobby would have flagged this before a dollar changed hands. Nobody ran it. Not before the listing, not before 38 bids, not before $18,500.

Now the context, because this didn't happen in a vacuum. PSA's backlog went from a late-July peak near 12.4 million cards to 9.9 million on September 8th to 9 million on September 22nd. 3.4 million cards in under two months. New $59.99 Standard tier launched September 14th, Express jumped $149 to $199, the Value tiers stay paused until 5 million. Beckett reopened cheap tiers September 15th and re-paused them September 26th. Eleven days. At the National, PSA suspended on-site Express on opening day because demand crushed them.

I'm not saying the backlog caused the vault fake. PSA never touched that card. This was an intake failure, not a grading room failure. But everything in this industry right now is optimized for throughput, and the fakes aren't slowing down: last year over half of submitted '52 Mantles were rejected as inauthentic, and nearly 25% of submitted '86 Fleer Jordans were counterfeit.

Add the July 28th class action (188 pages, RICO claims, alleging grading is marketed as objective but run subjectively) and December's buyback regrade mess, and it's been a brutal stretch for trust.

So here's my question: is the machine moving too fast to check its own work? And what do you do about it?
I run the cert on everything now.
Every card.
Every seller.
Even PSA.

This is Hobby IQ, co-produced by Hobbycomp and the CTCA, the Certified Trading Card Association.
Know more. Collect smarter. Stay ahead.

I have this Charizard EX but I don’t know if I should grade it or not. Give me your opinions. It has a small white spot on the bottom and the centering is what I’m worried about.

Submit cards today and use code MINT10 for 10% off. No minimums. Send a couple of cards and see what you think. mintauthentication.com

Have some thoughts about grading and costs these days...with the obvious about PSA and the cost to grade even I just am holding onto so much until things die down.

But got me thinking of things:

1) What if … someone started a group or business that covered the the grading cost.

2) What if … PSA not only offered to buy your card after it’s graded and if it gets uncharged they bake that up charge fee into the card purchase offer.

3) What if … when we send our grades in we also provided similar graded slabs out there that we expect our cards to be graded. Based on similar, exact, or even worse conditions. (centering, surface, etc

I feel like it helps with grade expectations on both sides. It also helps with quality control and showing them their own approved examples to assist with our submissions.