How to pre-grade Pokémon cards, in 4 steps.

Step 1 — Set up your lighting.

Lighting is the single biggest factor in a useful pre-grade. Most beginners shoot under overhead kitchen lights and end up missing surface flaws that any professional grader sees instantly. Use diffused natural daylight — near a window on a cloudy day is ideal. If you must shoot indoors at night, use a soft lamp at a 30–45° angle to the card, not directly overhead.

Test your setup by photographing a card you know has surface flaws (a played holo from your bulk box). If you can see the flaws on the photo, your lighting works. If not, reposition your light source until you can.

Step 2 — Photograph front and back.

Two photos: front and back, both filling ~80% of the frame. Shoot the card raw (not in a sleeve or toploader — they cause glare and refraction). Use macro mode if your phone has it, or tap-to-focus on the center of the card.

• Distance: 6–10 inches above the card for a phone camera.
• Background: plain dark surface for holo cards, plain white for matte.
• Angle: phone directly above the card, parallel to the surface. Any tilt distorts centering measurements.
• Focus: tack-sharp; if any part of the card is blurry, reshoot.

Step 3 — Inspect the four axes.

Centering

Look at the card under good light. Is the printed image roughly equidistant from each edge? PSA's 10 standard is 55/45 or better on both axes. If centering is visibly off — like 60/40 or worse — you're capped at a PSA 9, possibly an 8.

Corners

Use a jeweler's loupe or your phone's macro camera. Look at each of the four corners. Any visible whitening, rounding, or chipping caps your grade. A single whitened corner drops a PSA 10 to a 9. Two whitened corners typically means an 8.

Edges

Tilt the card slowly under direct light. Look along each of the four edges for nicks, chips, or — on holo cards — silvering (the silver edge of the holo layer showing through where the front print has worn). Silvering on multiple edges is a 7 or 8.

Surface

Tilt the card so light glances across the surface (not straight on). Look for scratches, print lines, holo scratches, or orange-peel texture. Surface flaws are the most subjective axis — if you have to look hard, you might still get the grade. If they're obvious, you won't.

Step 4 — Make the submission call.

Two things determine whether to submit: predicted grade and raw value. The math is simple:

• Predicted PSA 9.5+ AND raw value $40+? Send it. The slab premium will easily exceed the $42 PSA fee.
• Predicted PSA 9 AND raw value $80+? Marginal but usually worth it. Confirm with recent comps.
• Predicted PSA 8 or below? Skip. The slab premium won't justify the fee.
• Predicted PSA 7 or below? Definitely skip. Sell raw if you want to move it.

The 6-second shortcut

Self-grading by eye works but it's slow and inconsistent. SnapGrade measures the same four axes pixel-by-pixel and returns a predicted PSA grade with confidence per aspect — in under 6 seconds, for $1–$2 per card. New accounts get 2 free credits.

Use self-grading to triage your collection at the first pass. Use SnapGrade for the final go/no-go before you commit $42 per card to PSA.