PSA Grades Explained for Pokémon Collectors

PSA 10 is the top grade on PSA's 1 to 10 scale. It is printed on the label as GEM-MT 10, and PSA defines it as a virtually perfect card. It means PSA's graders judged the card to have sharp corners, full original gloss, no staining and centring inside PSA's stated tolerance. It is one company's opinion on the day of grading, sealed in a holder with a certification number, and it does not mean the card has no flaws at all.

What does PSA 10 mean?

PSA's grading standards set out Gem Mint 10 in a few parts. The corners must be perfectly sharp, and the image must be in sharp focus with its original gloss intact. The card must be free of staining of any kind, though PSA allows a slight printing imperfection if it does not spoil the card's overall appeal. The image must be centred within roughly 55/45 on the front and 75/25 on the back. The ratios compare opposite borders, so a perfectly centred card is 50/50.

The centring figures are approximate, and a note on the same page lets graders allow a small variance, at their sole discretion, based on overall eye appeal. PSA 10 is the best grade PSA gives, not a promise that nothing is wrong with the card.

Read the grading scale

PSA grades cards in whole numbers from 1 to 10, plus a Fair grade of 1.5, half-point grades for strong cards between PSA 2 and PSA 9, and two labels with no number. Each number comes with a short name, such as MINT for 9 and NM-MT for 8. The table below is our own short paraphrase of PSA's card grade definitions as they read on 17 October 2026. The full wording is on the Grading Standards page at psacard.com/gradingstandards, and that page, not this one, is the standard.

A number can also carry a qualifier. PSA's FAQ describes a qualifier as used when a card meets the criteria for a grade but has one significant flaw, and it lists six. MK (marks) and MC (miscut) are required whenever they apply. OC (off centre), ST (staining), PD (print defect) and OF (out of focus) are optional, and a card with one of those flaws gets either the qualifier or a lower number that reflects the flaw. Read a qualified grade with its letters, because they name the flaw the number leaves out.

Some cards get no grade at all. PSA returns them unencapsulated with an N code, for evidence of trimming, restoration, recolouring, questionable authenticity, altered stock or cleaning. PSA still charges the full grading fee. A slight miscut is different: it gets the MC qualifier on a numbered grade.

PSA 9 and PSA 10 in practice

On paper the gap is narrow. A 9 allows one minor flaw from a short list, a 10 allows only a slight print imperfection, and the centring tolerance tightens from about 60/40 to 55/45 on the front and from 90/10 to 75/25 on the back. A card can drop from 10 to 9 on centring alone, and the back counts as well as the front.

PSA is open that part of grading is a judgement. Its standards say most of the work is objective (finding print defects, staining and surface wrinkles, measuring centring) and part rests on eye appeal, and that a card on the line between two grades is settled on experience and eye appeal. PSA's FAQ says at least two graders review each item and must agree on the grade, and that differences of opinion can occur. If you disagree with a grade, PSA offers a review service.

We will not grade a raw card from a photograph, and you should be wary of anyone who offers to call a 9 or a 10 that way. A photograph can hide a surface scratch or a dent that only shows when the card is tilted under a light. Centring is the one factor a square-on scan can roughly estimate, and even there PSA keeps discretion.

Condition, centering and overall judgement

PSA's Grader Notes, a written explanation it provides on some orders, sorts flaws into four primary categories: corners, edges, surface and centring. The grade definitions also weigh focus and print register, gloss, staining, border colour and creases. Creases first appear in the definitions at VG-EX 4, where a light crease may be visible.

On top of the measurable flaws sits eye appeal. PSA's standards give two baseball card examples. A slightly off-centre card whose borders blend into the artwork can be allowed an unqualified grade, and a card that measures inside the guideline can be held back when dark artwork against white borders makes the off-centring obvious. PSA calls both rare.

Our condition standard works differently on purpose. It uses five words for raw cards (Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged), each with a written test. Those words are not PSA grades and do not predict one. PSA's own labels show why the distinction matters: its 7 is called NM and its 8 is NM-MT. A card we describe as Near Mint has passed our test. Only a grader can say what grade it would get.

Raw cards and graded cards

A raw card is one that is not sealed in a grader's holder. Its condition is whatever the seller says, measured against the seller's own standard, and you can take it out of its sleeve and play with it.

A graded card has been through four separate things, and it helps to keep them apart. The first is encapsulation. PSA has used a tamper-evident holder since 1991, with its two halves joined by a sonic weld. Tamper-evident is not tamper-proof. PSA says it matters that the holder can be opened, so a scratched or damaged holder can be replaced without harming the card.

The second is an authenticity opinion. PSA will not grade or encapsulate a card it judges to be of questionable authenticity, and its Authentic label means the item is real in PSA's opinion, "but nothing more". The third is the grade itself, an opinion against PSA's standards on the day. The fourth is the label, which names the card and carries the certification number that links it to PSA's database.

None of these is a statement by the shop selling the card. When we list graded cards, the grade will be the grader's, and our checks will test that the slab is what it claims to be.

Check the card, label and certification together

PSA's cert verification is at psacard.com/cert, and the PSA app can scan the label or its QR code, or look up a cert number you type in. The lookup shows the certification details PSA holds for that number. PSA's free SecureScan service, which it added in 2019, puts front and back scans of PSA-encapsulated cards on the cert page.

A matching lookup proves the number exists and what it was issued for. It does not prove the slab in front of you is the one PSA made. So check three things against each other. The card should match the card on the cert page in set, number and printing, and where PSA has scans, it should match them flaw for flaw. The label should pass the light test in PSA's buyer's guide: held close to a strong light, a genuine label lets you make out the text on the other side, while a fake front glued over a real label is too thick to see through. The holder should show no frosting or cracks along its edges and should feel rigid, because once the weld is broken the plastic flexes again, even if it has been glued.

PSA's security page lists features of the current LightHouse label, including a UV logo pattern on the back and a QR code to the cert page, and PSA warns that some forgers copy older label styles. If you have doubts about a slab before buying, PSA's buyer's guide says you can contact PSA to arrange a review of the item, and that making a deal conditional on PSA's confirmation is a fair request. Our authenticity page sets out the checks we will run on every slab before it is listed.

Choose based on your collecting goal

If you collect to look at and handle cards, raw cards in a binder or a toploader are the plainer choice. You see the card directly and you pay for the card alone.

If you want a card on a shelf in a hard case, with an independent opinion of its condition printed on it, a graded card does that. The holder keeps fingers off the card, and the cert number lets anyone look it up. A graded copy carries the cost of grading on top of the card, and a higher grade of the same card is usually dearer than a lower one. When we open, every card in our graded section will be checked on the grader's own site and photographed on both sides.

PSA 9 or PSA 10 comes down to the weight you put on the number. If you care about the look of the card in front of you, choose the copy you like through the plastic, since a strong 9 and a borderline 10 can look much the same at arm's length. If you are completing a graded set to a fixed standard, the number is the point. We will not forecast what any grade will do over time.

If you are thinking about sending your own cards off instead of buying graded ones, our grading guide for UK collectors explains how the process works.