PSA: Should You Grade Your Pokemon Cards in Ireland?

If you've ever wondered if you should PSA grade your Pokemon cards in Ireland then you're at the right place! First off, PSA stands for Professional Sports Authenticator and is a way to potentially increase the value of your card.

Here are some considerations:

1. What is the ungraded value of your card -- you can check online (e.g., pricecharting.com).

   1. How does the value of a ungraded card compare some of the higher grades (e.g. Grades 7, 8, 9, 9.5, or 10) keeping in mind that Grade 10 is essentially perfect condition with no printing irregularities and therefore fresh out of the booster pack -- note that not all fresh cards are even a PSA Grade 10!

      1. Charizard # 4 from Pokemon Base Set (1999) in which grading the card would be beneficial due to the large potential upside:

         

         
         

2. Assess how the ungraded value of a card compares to the cost of PSA grading, which is around 30 euros per card (Update August 2026: 90+ euro per card now!).

   1. Charmander # 46 from Pokemon Base Set (1999) in which grading the card would not be beneficial due to grading cost (unless you have a perfect condition card from 1999, which is highly unlikely!):

      

3. What is your time horizon? In Ireland, the turn around times between sending your card to be graded and receiving your graded card can take several months. You can even read accounts online of people waiting upwards of a year! Therefore, are you looking to sell quickly or are you happy to wait a while for a potentially higher value?

   
   

4. Consider if there is a market to sell by looking at the number of sales per unit time -- even if you sell to a company as companies that buy Pokemon cards from customers are operating within the same market conditions as below.

   1. Blastoise # 2 from Pokemon Base Set (1999) with a good market interest (1 sale per day and a handful of posts per day):

      

5. What is your personal purpose of grading? This question is very important. If you wish to grade you cards to keep in your own collection then the only variable is what you're willing to pay; especially for some older cards in your collection it may be nice to have them graded to be preserved and immortalized for your enjoyment! On the other hand, if you wish to grade to make a profit, you indeed have to really consider the above points otherwise you have the potential to not only be wasting your time but also your money, considering the increased price of getting your card graded by PSA.

Conclusion, most cards in your possession probably do not meet the criteria to be graded, but it is worthwhile to assess the small fraction of cards in which grading could be highly beneficial, either as a way to rubber stamp the quality of the card in your collection or are providing a market value for a potential sale. It cannot be understated that taking the time to assess your cards could be highly valuable as it only takes one rare or 'tail-end' event to completely skew your outcome (example below!).

Dylan