How much does it cost to get a card graded, once the postage is in it
- What the submission costs you, all in
- $300
- Cost per card
- $30
- Grading fees alone
- $250
- Extras alone
- $0
Every figure on this site comes out of the prices you type and the arithmetic printed beside them. There is no feed, no price of our own and no third-party data: this site holds no card prices at all, only the method for reading the completed sales you have already found. Each step is written out on the page so you can check it by hand.
The figures above are a worked example ($300). Type the prices you are actually looking at and every line re-computes.
Download the How Much Does It Cost To Get A Card Graded worked example (CSV)
The per-card fee is the figure everybody quotes and it is not what a submission costs. Put in how many cards you are sending, the per-card fee on the service level you chose, any per-card extras you ticked, what insured postage out costs you and what the grader charges for insured return postage, and it gives you the total, the cost per card, and the amount each card has to gain by being graded before the submission has paid for itself. On the worked example ten cards at a $25 fee with $20 out and $30 back come to $300 all in, which is $30 a card: postage alone is $50 of it, and on a submission of two cards the same postage would be $25 a card before a single fee.
Where the method behind this calculator comes from
SGC, Card grading pricing. An example of a grader publishing its service levels and turnaround terms, which is where the per-card fee this calculator asks for is read. Named as an example only; no grader is recommended here. Read 2026-09-11.
USPS, Insurance and extra services. The published insurance and extra services behind the postage figures a submission carries in both directions. Read 2026-09-11.
How Much Does It Cost To Get A Card Graded: the questions readers send about this one
What is the per-card fee I should enter?
The one on your grader's own service-level page, for the level you picked. It is set by the service level and by the declared value of the card, and it changes; this site republishes no grader's price list and recommends no grader.
Why does postage matter so much?
Because it is charged per submission rather than per card. Split across ten cards it is small and split across two it dominates, which is why the cost per card rather than the fee is the number that decides whether a submission is worth making.
What counts as an extra?
Anything you tick beyond the base fee for that service level: oversized cards, autograph authentication, a reholder, a faster turnaround. Add them per card here, because that is how they are charged.
Does the cost change if a card comes back badly graded?
No, and that is the point of reading the cost per card first. The fee is paid whatever grade comes back, so the submission has to make sense against the grade you will probably get rather than the one you are hoping for.