Should I grade my card?

How the grading ROI is actually computed

Most "should I grade this" answers are a general-purpose model reasoning from whatever it remembers about card prices. That reads fluently and is worth nothing, because the decision turns on four numbers that change weekly and are specific to one card: what the raw copy sells for, what it sells for at each grade, what the submission costs, and how often that card actually comes back at the grade you are hoping for.

CardChain computes before it explains. should_i_grade reads the current raw value and the graded value at each grade level for that exact card and parallel, subtracts the submission cost, and puts the result next to the real population from PSA, BGS and SGC — so the fourth number, the odds, comes from how many copies have already been graded at each level rather than from optimism. What comes back is a verdict with the figures behind it.

That last part is the piece a plain price feed cannot do. A card whose PSA 10 sells for four times raw is still a bad submission if the population says nine out of ten copies come back a 9.

The four numbers that decide it

• Raw value — what an ungraded copy of this exact card and parallel sells for right now, not what it sold for last season.
• Graded value at each grade — a PSA 10 and a PSA 9 are frequently different businesses. The gap between them is the whole trade.
• Submission cost — the grader's fee plus shipping both ways plus insurance. It is the number people leave out, and it is rarely under $25 a card.
• The odds — how often this card grades 10, from the real population, not from how clean it looks in your hand. A card with 40,000 PSA 9s and 3,000 PSA 10s is telling you something specific.

When the answer is usually no

• The raw card is worth less than about twice the submission cost. The math almost never closes.
• The PSA 10 premium is thin. If a 10 sells for 30% over a 9, you are betting a fee on a coin flip for a small edge.
• The population is already enormous. Supply at that grade is the reason the premium is thin, and it is not coming back.
• You can see an edge or corner issue without magnification. The grader will too.

How to check a card in about thirty seconds

1. Photograph the cardIn the CardChain app, or by sending the picture straight into ChatGPT or Claude with the connector on. find_card_for_grading identifies the exact card and parallel from the image.
2. Say what grade you expectshould_i_grade takes the grade you are targeting, so the answer is about the bet you are actually making rather than a best case.
3. Read the verdict and the numbersRaw value, graded value at that level, the submission cost, the resulting profit or loss, and the population behind the odds — all in one answer.

Free AI grading before you spend a cent

Separately from the ROI math, CardChain will pre-grade the card itself. Photograph it and the app assesses surface, corners, edges and centering and returns a condition estimate, so you can see the likely grade before you pay anyone to confirm it, free. It is the cheapest way to avoid a submission that was never going to work.

It knows what you own

A connector that can only look cards up is answering a question anyone could ask. The questions collectors actually have are about their own cards: what is my collection worth now, which of these is worth grading, what did I pay for this.

CardChain's portfolio is one portfolio. The cards you add in the iOS or Android app are the cards get_portfolio returns in ChatGPT, and a card you add mid-conversation with add_to_portfolio is in your phone before you put it down. Values refresh against the same market data everything else on the platform reads, so the app and the chat never quote you two different numbers.

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