{"id":194,"date":"2025-05-27T11:08:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T09:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"?p=194"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:53:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:53:52","slug":"grading-companies-psa-cgc-bgs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collectoapp.com\/en\/blog\/grading-companies-psa-cgc-bgs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Main Grading Companies (PSA, CGC, BGS\u2026) and How They Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In card and comic collecting, grading is the standard. It doesn\u2019t just guarantee authenticity\u2014it assigns an official condition score that directly impacts value. In a market defined by subtle but critical differences, grading is what makes a card or comic truly collectible and globally tradable.<\/p>\n<h2>PSA \u2013 Professional Sports Authenticator<\/h2>\n<p>Founded in 1991, PSA is the world\u2019s leading authority for grading collectible cards (Pok\u00e9mon, Magic, sports, Yu-Gi-Oh\u2026).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Scale from 1 to 10 (Poor \u2192 Gem Mint)<\/li>\n<li>PSA 10 cards represent just 1\u20133% of all submissions<\/li>\n<li>Every slabbed card has a serial number and public verification database<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>PSA leads in volume: in 2023 it surpassed 40 million graded cards worldwide. Its database is a reference for collectors, dealers, and auction houses.<\/p>\n<h2>BGS \u2013 Beckett Grading Services<\/h2>\n<p>Renowned for technical precision, BGS uses a decimal scale (e.g., 9.5, 9, 8.5\u2026) with subgrades for centering, edges, corners, and surface.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>BGS 9.5 is often seen as the technical match to a PSA 10<\/li>\n<li>Black Label cards (10 in all subgrades) are extremely rare and valuable<\/li>\n<li>Highly respected in the world of sports and Magic the Gathering cards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>CGC Cards &amp; Comics<\/h2>\n<p>CGC (Certified Guaranty Company) started with comic grading but later expanded to cards.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Comics: scale from 0.5 to 10<\/li>\n<li>Cards: similar system to BGS with technical subgrades<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CGC Comics is now the standard for Marvel, DC, and vintage U.S. comics. CGC slabs are used by major auction houses like Heritage, Goldin, and PWCC, and are considered museum-grade for resale and archiving.<\/p>\n<h2>Why grading changes everything<\/h2>\n<p>A Pok\u00e9mon Charizard PSA 10 may sell for over $300,000. The same card in PSA 8 drops below $20,000. Comics follow the same pattern: Amazing Fantasy #15 (first Spider-Man appearance) graded CGC 9.6 reached $3.6 million, while a CGC 6.0 copy struggles to fetch $150,000.<\/p>\n<p>Grading isn&#8217;t just about condition\u2014it&#8217;s a global passport that makes the item liquid on the secondary market.<\/p>\n<h2>How much does grading cost?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>PSA: $19 to $300+, based on declared value<\/li>\n<li>BGS: $20 to $250+<\/li>\n<li>CGC Comics: ~$25\u2013$75 per comic, depending on value and turnaround<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Turnaround times vary from 2 weeks to 3 months, with express services available at premium prices.<\/p>\n<p>In a market that rewards accuracy, transparency, and traceability, grading is the starting point for any serious collector. Collecto offers only slab-certified cards and comics, verified by PSA, CGC, or BGS, so you can collect with full confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PSA, CGC, BGS: learn how the top grading companies for cards and comics work, how they assign grades, and why it matters in the collecting world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cards-and-comics","category-guide-cards-comics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Main Grading Companies (PSA, CGC, BGS\u2026) and How They Work - collecto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PSA, CGC, BGS: learn how the top grading companies for cards and comics work, how they assign grades, and why it matters in the collecting world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/collectoapp.com\/blog\/certificazione-carte-comics-psa-cgc-bgs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Main Grading Companies (PSA, CGC, BGS\u2026) and How They Work - collecto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PSA, CGC, BGS: learn how the top grading companies for cards and comics work, how they assign grades, and why it matters in the collecting world.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/collectoapp.com\/blog\/certificazione-carte-comics-psa-cgc-bgs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"collecto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T09:08:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T10:53:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/collectoapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled_design_84912bac1a.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"collecto\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"collecto\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/collectoapp.com\\\/blog\\\/certificazione-carte-comics-psa-cgc-bgs\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/collectoapp.com\\\/blog\\\/certificazione-carte-comics-psa-cgc-bgs\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"collecto\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/collectoapp.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/229736a722883c11f1c6312281651b4d\"},\"headline\":\"The Main Grading Companies (PSA, CGC, BGS\u2026) and How They Work\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T09:08:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-28T10:53:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/collectoapp.com\\\/blog\\\/certificazione-carte-comics-psa-cgc-bgs\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":382,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/collectoapp.com\\\/blog\\\/certificazione-carte-comics-psa-cgc-bgs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/collectoapp.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Untitled_design_84912bac1a.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Cards &amp; 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