SlabScore vs CGC Pregrade
CGC Prescreen ships your card to CGC for a paid look. SlabScore runs the math instantly without ever leaving the calculator. Here's how they compare.
CGC Prescreen is a paid CGC service ($5/card, requires tier minimum) where CGC reviews your card before final submission and rejects it (returns ungraded) if it won't hit a minimum grade you specified. SlabScore is a free ROI calculator that uses live market prices to tell you whether grading is profitable across PSA, CGC, TAG, BGS, and ACE — without ever shipping a card. Different products solving overlapping parts of the same decision.
What each one is
Submit-or-return based on a min grade
You ship your card to CGC and specify a minimum acceptable grade. If CGC believes the card won't hit that grade, they return it ungraded for the prescreen fee only. If it will, they grade it normally. You still pay the prescreen fee regardless.
An algorithm scores the math
You paste a card name. SlabScore pulls live PriceCharting data, runs the ROI math at every grade outcome, and tells you whether the submission is profitable. Free for 100 scans/month.
Head-to-head
| CGC Prescreen | SlabScore | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $5/card prescreen + standard tier fee | Free (100/mo) or $10/mo Pro |
| Speed | Days to weeks (you ship the card) | 5 seconds (you paste a name) |
| What it answers | Will my card hit the minimum grade I specified? | Is grading this card profitable, and where? |
| Graders covered | CGC only | PSA, CGC, TAG, BGS, ACE |
| Includes ROI math | No | Yes — net profit per grader/tier |
| Grade prediction accuracy | Best in class — it's a human CGC grader | Era-bracket statistical model (you can override) |
| Risk of physical damage | Yes (you ship the card) | None (you don't ship the card) |
| Bulk submission support | Multiple cards per submission | CSV import, 500+ cards in parallel |
| Portfolio tracking | No | Yes (Watchlist → Raw → At Grader → Graded) |
| Live market prices | No | Yes — PriceCharting integration |
When each is the right call
Use CGC Prescreen when:
- • You have a card with a meaningful grade-8 vs grade-9 (or 9 vs 9.5) value cliff
- • You've already decided to submit to CGC (not comparing graders)
- • You want CGC to quietly return the card if it won't hit your minimum
- • You're comfortable with the prescreen fee being non-refundable either way
Use SlabScore when:
- • You have multiple cards and need to triage which to grade
- • You want to compare PSA vs CGC vs TAG vs BGS vs ACE economics for the same card
- • You're shopping eBay/TCGPlayer and want a real-time grade-or-not verdict (Chrome extension)
- • You want to track a portfolio across the full pipeline (Watchlist → Graded)
- • You don't want to ship a card or pay any fee just to find out it's not worth grading
They're not mutually exclusive
For high-stakes single CGC submissions, the right workflow is often SlabScore first, then CGC Prescreen. SlabScore filters the obvious losers in seconds and tells you whether CGC is even the cheapest grader for your card. If CGC is the call AND there's a meaningful grade-8-vs-9 cliff, paying for Prescreen on top is reasonable. Most cards never need that step.
Try SlabScore free.
100 free scans/month. No credit card. No card-shipping required.
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