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 errors and therefore fresh out of the booster pack.

      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.

   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. 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):

      

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