The rungs we trade on
Prices are per printing and condition, so the market keeps a separate book for each. A seller declares one of seven raw grades — Mint, Near Mint, Excellent, Good, Light Played, Played or Poor — or a graded slab with its company and grade. The card page opens on the four that carry most of the trade, and any other condition somebody is actually trading gets a book of its own beside them:
| Rung | What you see | Typical of | How sellers declare it here |
|---|---|---|---|
| GD · Good | Visible wear: soft or dinged corners, edge chipping, surface scratches or creases; still complete. | Played, binder-stored for years, older cards. | Declared as GD, with photographs of the card; listed in the GD book only. |
| EX · Excellent | Light wear on close inspection: slight corner fuzz, a small edge nick, minor surface marks; no creases. | Handled with care, no sleeve for a while. | Declared as EX; photograph the back as well, so buyers can zoom the corners. |
| NM · Near Mint | Sharp corners, clean edges and surface, centering within normal range; at most one tiny flaw a grader would note. | Sleeved from the pack. | The usual rung for pack-fresh cards; the counter checks it against the listing at hand-over. |
| Graded | Sealed slab from PSA, BGS, CGC or SGC with a numeric grade; PSA 10 is its own book. | Cards worth the grading fee. | Declared with company, grade and cert number; the slab photo replaces the raw checks. |
The two-minute check
- Corners — hold the card at eye level against light; sharp points, no whitening.
- Edges — run a nail along each edge; look for chipping (dark-bordered cards show it first).
- Surface — tilt under a lamp; scratches, print lines, dimples, gloss loss.
- Centering — compare left/right and top/bottom borders; 60/40 or better reads as NM to most buyers.
Grade this corner
A 20-second self-check — tap the corner that looks most like yours.
Pick the corner that looks most like yours. The answer appears here, with the rung to declare.
Raw vs graded — never the same price
A PSA 10 and a raw NM copy are different products. Population, the grading fee and the certainty of the slab all price in. That is why the market keeps graded books separate and never blends them into a raw trend line.
How this works when you sell here
You pick a rung when you list — one of the seven raw grades, or a slab with its company, grade and cert number. Photograph the front; add the back too, because a listing that shows both faces is the one buyers zoom into. At hand-over a counter operator checks in person that the card matches what was sold, and the finding is recorded against their name. If a buyer disagrees, the money is still held — the order page carries a way to raise it. Declaring one rung lower than you think is the cheapest insurance there is.
Questions collectors ask
Is "Mint" a rung here?
Yes — Mint sits at the top of the raw ladder, above Near Mint. It is a high bar for a card out of a pack, and a card you believe is flawless is usually worth sending to a grader, where the slab settles the argument.
Does a sleeve mark count as damage?
Not by itself. Look through it at the corners and surface; if in doubt, take it out for the photo.
What if my card is between two rungs?
Declare the lower one. Buyers pay more for a card that arrives better than described than for one that arrives worse.