How much does CGC grading cost in 2026?

Those figures are from cgccards.com on 21 October 2026. CGC moved Bulk to $17 and Economy to $20 on March 24, 2026, up from $15 and $18 in January, so guides that still quote $15 a card are out of date. All prices here are for US submissions by a free Collector member.

How much does CGC charge per card?

CGC charges a flat fee per card from $17 to $300, and the tier you can use is set by the card’s value. Here is every grading tier on its card fee page.

The Bulk minimum is 25 cards per order, and you can mix games and card types to reach it. For Express, WalkThrough and Unlimited Value you mark every side of the box with EX, WK or UV in large letters, or the order sits in the slow queue. CGC’s page doesn’t list a handling fee for cards; it dropped its old $5 fee when CGC Cards launched in July 2023.

What does the value cap mean?

It’s the most the card can be worth to stay in that tier. If CGC decides a card’s fair market value is higher than you declared, it moves the card up a tier and bills you the difference. Declare what the card will sell for at the grade you expect, not what it’s worth raw.

How long does CGC grading take?

From 2 working days in WalkThrough to 150 in Bulk, with Economy at 90 and Standard at about 10. These are CGC’s current estimates, not promises, and CGC updates them as its queues grow and shrink, so check the fee page on the day you send.

• The clock starts on delivery. CGC counts working days from the day the box arrives, so add your shipping time on both ends.
• Holidays don’t count. National holidays and the Fridays before big conventions aren’t working days.
• New cards can take longer. Cards that aren’t yet in CGC’s database may run past the estimate, which matters for a set that just came out.

Standard is the standout. At $55 for about two weeks, it’s cheaper than PSA’s slowest open tier, Standard at $59.99 and 90 to 100 business days. Our PSA grading cost guide has every PSA tier for comparison.

What does CGC charge on top of the grading fee?

Postage both ways is the main extra. CGC publishes its return rates, which few graders do, and they start at $25 an order.

Shipping to CGC

You pay to send the box to CGC Cards in Sarasota, Florida, and CGC says you’re responsible for getting it there safely. Its packing guide asks for each card in a sleeve and a semi-rigid holder, the stack between two pieces of cardboard, then bubble wrap and a sturdy box. Insure it with your carrier: CGC’s insurance covers the return trip.

Return shipping

Return postage is one charge per order, set by the number of cards and the total declared value. Up to $5,000 it goes FedEx Ground with no signature; above that CGC adds a signature and, past $50,000, overnight delivery. Returns are insured up to $100,000 a package in the US.

You can use your own shipping account instead, but CGC then charges $4 a shipment and doesn’t insure the package.

Does CGC offer subgrades?

No. CGC stopped offering subgrades in July 2023, saying fewer than 5% of submissions asked for them, and its current fee schedule lists no subgrade option. A CGC slab shows one grade. If you want the grade broken down, Beckett prints four subgrades on the label and TAG’s report scores each category front and back; see our Beckett grading and TAG grading guides.

Crossover, reholder and other add-ons

• CrossOver: send a PSA, Beckett or SGC slab and pay the normal tier fee. By default CGC only cracks it if it expects the same grade or higher; if not, the card comes back in its old slab and the full fee still applies. Write “Cross at any grade” to have it slabbed regardless.
• ReHolder: $10 a card, about 20 working days, for a card still in its original CGC or CSG holder. The grade doesn’t change.
• Custom label: the tier fee plus $8. Pedigree: the tier fee plus $5.
• Error cards: no extra fee, but you must request it for any card with a printing error.
• Pre-grading: CGC’s card fee page lists no pre-grade or review service, so the crossover rule is the closest thing to a minimum-grade option.

Do you need a paid CGC membership?

No. The free Collector membership lets you submit at the full prices above. Paid tiers take 10% or 20% off grading, but not off shipping or reholders.

The math is simple. Associate pays for itself once you spend $390 a year on grading: about 23 Bulk cards or 20 in Economy. A single 25-card Bulk order saves $42.50, just over the $39 fee. Premium’s $150 credit covers most of its price if you grade enough to use it.

How much does it cost to grade one Pokémon card with CGC?

About $60 to $70 for one card sent alone in Economy. Here is the sum for a modern ultra rare you expect to sell for under $1,000 graded. The grading fee and return postage are CGC’s published rates; the postage to CGC is our estimate.

Postage is most of that bill, so the cost per card drops fast as the order grows. Using the same estimates for postage to CGC:

What’s the difference between CGC Pristine 10 and Gem Mint 10?

Both are 10s, but Pristine is the rare one: flawless under 10x magnification with 50/50 centering, and it gets its own Pristine 10 label. A Gem Mint 10 looks perfect to the naked eye but falls short of Pristine on one thing, usually centering.

For a Gem Mint 10, CGC also wants corners that look perfect to the naked eye and pass as Mint+ under 10x, and a surface free of print spots with full gloss. CGC gives half grades, including the 9.5 that PSA doesn’t, so a card with one tiny flaw can land on 9.5 instead of dropping to 9. The PSA grading scale guide shows how PSA handles the same card.

The gap between the two 10s is where the money is. Few cards measure 50/50, and those few points are the difference between a Pristine label that outsells a PSA 10 and a Gem Mint 10 that sells for less than half of one.

How much is CGC worth compared to PSA?

Less, unless it’s a Pristine 10. On two of the most graded modern cards, a CGC Gem Mint 10 sold for 42% to 45% of a PSA 10, while a Pristine 10 sold for about 1.3 times a PSA 10.

Pristine 10s can carry a card to the very top of the market. A CGC Pristine 10 Gold Star Rayquaza from EX Deoxys sold for $1,020,000 at Fanatics Collect on August 28, 2026, the first English Pokémon card past $1 million and, per CGC’s population report, the only Pristine 10 copy. Our list of the most valuable Pokémon cards has the rest of the record sales.

Now put the fees against it. Take the 151 Charizard ex, worth $329 raw. Graded alone in CGC Economy for about $63, a Gem Mint 10 at $584 leaves about $520 before selling fees, roughly $190 more than selling raw. The same card at PSA for about $100 all in leaves about $1,280 as a PSA 10. If the card has a real shot at a 10, PSA’s bigger fee usually pays; if it’s more likely a 9 or 9.5, CGC’s small fee loses you far less.

When is CGC the right grader?

When the fee matters more than the label: cards for your own collection, mid-value cards likely to land on a 9 or 9.5, cards you need back fast, and the rare card with true 50/50 centering.

1. 1Collect cards you’ll keep. At $17 to $20 a card, CGC is the cheapest way to protect and authenticate a binder’s worth of cards.
2. 2Grade cards that won’t be 10s. If a 9 or 9.5 is the likely result, CGC’s fee is a third of PSA’s, so there’s less to lose.
3. 3Pay for speed at Standard. $55 for about 10 working days is less than PSA, SGC or Beckett charge for anything close to that speed.
4. 4Send near-perfect centering. A card that measures 50/50 front and back has a shot at Pristine 10, which outsold PSA 10s on the cards above.
5. 5Send likely PSA 10s to PSA. For a card you’ll sell with a real chance at a Gem Mint 10, a PSA 10 sold for more than twice a CGC Gem Mint 10 on the cards above.

Before you send anything, check the card is genuine, or you pay postage both ways for nothing. Our guide to spotting a fake Pokémon card covers the checks. For the bigger picture, see whether grading Pokémon cards is worth it, the best grading company for Pokémon cards and where to get Pokémon cards graded.