How are cards graded? The short version
A grader examines the front and back of the card, measures centering, inspects corners and edges under magnification and looks at the surface under light. Each flaw is compared with the company's published standards for each grade. The card gets the highest grade whose standards it meets in every area, so one weak area can hold back an otherwise perfect card.
That last point is the one that surprises people. Card grading is not an average. A card with flawless corners, edges and surface but poor centering grades like a card with poor centering.
Centering
Centering is the balance of the borders: left against right and top against bottom, written as a ratio such as 55/45. It's the most objective of the four factors, because you can measure it. PSA describes its method as comparing the border measurements left to right and top to bottom, at the most off-center part of the card.
What graders look for: the ratio on both axes, on both sides. The back almost always gets more tolerance than the front. For a Gem Mint 10, PSA's standard is approximately 55/45 or better on the front and 75/25 on the back. BGS is stricter at the top: its Pristine 10 calls for 50/50 all around on the front, and its Gem Mint 9.5 calls for 50/50 one way and 55/45 the other. TAG's rubric lists roughly 55/45 on the front for a Gem Mint 10, with different back tolerances for sports cards and trading card games.
What drops it: anything past the tolerance for a grade caps the card at the next grade down. PSA's limits widen to roughly 60/40 for a 9, 65/35 for an 8 and 70/30 for a 7 on the front. Full-art and borderless cards are harder, because graders judge centering against printed features instead of a clean border. Our card centering guide explains how to measure those, and the card centering calculator does the arithmetic.
Corners
Corners take the most abuse. Every time a card is shuffled, slid into a sleeve or dropped on a table, the corners absorb it.
What graders look for: four sharp, square corners on each side. Under magnification they check for fraying (fibers lifting off the stock), white showing through on colored borders, softness, rounding, dings and, in worse cases, layering where the card plies separate.
What drops it: PSA's 10 calls for four perfectly sharp corners. Its 8 allows "the slightest fraying at one or two corners," its 7 allows slight fraying on some corners and its 6 allows slightly graduated fraying. Beckett's scale is similarly specific: a Gem Mint 9.5 must be Mint to the naked eye with slight imperfections allowed under magnification, while an 8 can be sharp to the naked eye with slight imperfections under close examination. In practice, one soft corner is often the difference between a 10 and an 8.
Edges
Edges are the four sides of the card between the corners, and they're where factory cutting and handling wear both show up.
What graders look for: clean, smooth, even edges. Common flaws are chipping (small white flecks where the colored ink has come off, very visible on dark borders), notching (small nicks), roughness from the factory cut and layering.
What drops it: Beckett spells edges out grade by grade. A Pristine 10 is perfect to the naked eye and virtually free of flaws under magnification. A 9.5 can have a speck of wear under intense scrutiny. A 9 allows unobtrusive specks of chipping, and an 8 allows specks of chipping visible to the naked eye. PSA's 6 description mentions very slight notching on edges and its 5 allows minor chipping. If you can see white along an edge without a loupe, a 10 is very unlikely.
Surface
Surface covers everything on the face and back of the card that isn't a border measurement or an edge: gloss, scratches, scuffs, dents, stains, print quality and focus.
What graders look for: full original gloss and a clean surface with no scratches, indentations, staining or marks. On holos, foils and chrome they look closely for scratches and clouding, which often only appear under raking light.
What drops it: PSA's 10 must be free of staining of any kind and have full original gloss. Its 9 allows only one minor flaw, such as a very slight wax stain on the back or a minor printing imperfection. Its 7 allows slight surface wear visible on close inspection and says most of the original gloss is retained, while its 6 allows a very light scratch detectable on close inspection. Beckett's 9.5 surface standard allows only a few extremely minor print spots detectable under intense scrutiny, with perfect gloss and no scratches or metallic print lines. Creases are serious: PSA's description first mentions a light crease at grade 4.
Print defects and factory issues
Some flaws happen before the card ever reaches you. Graders still count them, because the grade describes the card's condition, not how it got that way.
- Print lines. Thin lines running across the card from the printing process, most visible on holo and chrome finishes. Beckett allows one faint, unobtrusive metallic print line at 9 and none at 9.5 or 10.
- Print spots and ink specks. Small dots of ink or missing ink. Beckett's scale counts print spots at every level.
- Out-of-register printing and focus. When the color layers don't line up exactly, the image looks soft. PSA's 10 calls for sharp focus, and its 7 allows focus that is slightly out of register.
- Roller marks and indentations. Lines or dents in the surface that weren't caused by handling. Under angled light they look like any other indentation, and graders judge them as surface flaws.
- Miscuts and diamond cuts. An atypical factory cut can leave the design off-square or cut part of it off. Beckett's centering standards mention "diamond cutting" (a card cut slightly off-square), allowing very slight diamond cutting from grade 7. PSA uses an MC qualifier for miscut cards, and lists a factory cut that is abnormal for the issue as a reason a card may not receive a numeric grade.
Eye appeal
Grading is mostly measurement, but not entirely. PSA's standards say directly that while a large part of grading is objective, part of it is subjective, and graders reserve the right to make a judgment call based on the strength or weakness of a card's eye appeal. PSA's example is centering: a card with low contrast between the border and the image may get some leeway, while a card whose dark image makes off-centering obvious may be held back even if it technically measures within tolerance. PSA notes this is rare. The practical lesson is that borderline cards are a gamble, so don't count on a judgment call going your way.
What drops a card a grade, factor by factor
This table summarizes the typical flaws that take a card out of the top grades. The figures and wording come from PSA's and Beckett's published standards.
| Factor | Needed for the top grade | What typically drops it a grade |
|---|---|---|
| Centering | PSA 10: ~55/45 front, 75/25 back. BGS Pristine 10: 50/50 front | Front past ~55/45 (PSA 9 range is ~60/40), back past 75/25 |
| Corners | Four perfectly sharp corners (PSA 10) | Slightest fraying at one or two corners (PSA 8 description), any visible white or ding |
| Edges | Perfect to the naked eye (BGS Pristine) | A speck of wear under scrutiny (BGS 9.5), visible chipping (BGS 8) |
| Surface | Full original gloss, no staining (PSA 10) | A very light scratch, loss of gloss, wax stain, dent or crease |
| Print quality | Sharp focus, at most a slight imperfection that doesn't hurt appeal (PSA 10) | Print lines, print spots, out-of-register focus |
| Cut | Square factory cut | Diamond cut or miscut, possible MC qualifier on PSA |
How PSA combines the factors
PSA gives one overall grade from 1 to 10 with no subgrades on the label. Each grade has a written description covering centering, corners, surface, focus, gloss and staining, and the card gets the grade whose description it fits. PSA also awards half-point grades between 2 and 9 to cards with high-end qualities within a grade, with a clear focus on centering.
PSA can also add a qualifier instead of lowering the number. Its standards list these:
- OC (off center): the card is off center for its grade. PSA says off-center cards will either get "OC" or a numerical grade that reflects the minimum centering allowed for that grade.
- ST (staining): the card has staining beyond what the grade allows.
- PD (print defect): the card has print defects beyond what the grade allows.
- OF (out of focus): the image is out of focus or out of register.
- MK (marks): writing, ink or pencil marks, or the impression left from writing.
- MC (miscut): an atypical cut for the issue, which may cut off part of the card or show part of another card.
Separately, PSA won't give a numeric grade to cards that show evidence of trimming, restoration, recoloring, cleaning or other tampering, or whose authenticity is questionable. Pressing out creases and applying substances like wax count as altered stock.
How BGS combines the factors
Beckett grades centering, corners, edges and surface separately and prints all four subgrades on the label. Beckett's grading FAQ explains that the overall grade is not a simple average. The lowest subgrade is the most heavily weighted, and the final grade rarely, if ever, exceeds two levels above it. Beckett gives two examples: subgrades of 9.5, 9.5, 9 and 8 produced an 8.5, because the strong centering and corners lifted the card above its weakest area, while 9.5, 9.5, 8.5 and 9 produced a 9, because the card could only rise half a grade above its lowest subgrade.
Beckett also states that to reach Gem Mint, a card needs at least three subgrades of 9.5 and the fourth no lower than 9. Its labels are color-coded: black for Pristine 10s with perfect subgrades (the "Black Label" collectors chase), gold for Pristine 10 and Gem Mint 9.5, and silver for other grades. BGS grades in half-point increments.
How TAG combines the factors
TAG describes its approach as a "multi-patented technological grading system" that scores cards on a precise 1,000-point scale and translates the score into a standard 1 to 10 grade. Its imaging uses what TAG calls Photometric Stereoscopic Imaging. On TAG's published scale, a Gem Mint 10 is a score of 950 to 989, and Pristine is 990 to 1000, which TAG says exceeds the industry standard for a Gem Mint 10. A Mint 9 is 900 to 949, and half grades such as 8.5 have their own bands.
Every TAG slab links to a Digital Imaging and Grading (DIG) report that includes eight subgrades: front and back centering, corners, edges and surface. TAG's rubric sets separate back-centering tolerances for sports cards and TCG cards. If you want to know whether the technology approach holds up in the market, read is TAG grading legit?
CGC and SGC
CGC grades on a 1 to 10 scale and separates two kinds of 10. Its Pristine 10 is virtually flawless to the naked eye with 50/50 centering and flawless color and registration. Its Gem Mint 10 is a card that earns a 10 overall but misses one Pristine requirement, with front centering not exceeding approximately 55/45 and back centering not exceeding 75/25. SGC publishes its own grading scale as well. For pricing, turnaround and how the labels compare, see our card grading companies guide.
Using the criteria before you submit
Knowing the criteria is most useful before you pay a grading fee. Work through the four factors yourself with a loupe and a single angled light, find the weakest one, and set your expectations from there. Our step-by-step guide on how to pre-grade cards walks through the full routine. If a 10 is the only result that makes grading pay, compare the premium in our PSA 10 vs PSA 9 guide.
For a faster first pass, Binder AI scores the same four factors from photos of the front and back and returns a grade estimate on the PSA, BGS or TAG scale, with subgrades and written condition notes for each area. It's an estimate, not an official grade, but it's a quick way to spot the weak area before you spend money. Learn more about how AI card grading works.
Sources, checked October 2026: PSA grading standards (grade definitions, half-point grades, qualifiers, no-grade reasons, eye appeal), Beckett grading scale, Beckett grading FAQ: how final grades are determined, Beckett grading label colors, Beckett card grading standards, TAG grading scale, TAG grading rubric, TAG grading technology, TAG DIG report, CGC grading scale.
