SlabScore vs PSA Pregrade
Two different tools that get conflated. Here's what each one actually is, what it costs, and when each is the right choice.
PSA Pregrade is a paid PSA service ($5–$10/card) where PSA looks at your card before you officially submit and tells you what grade it's likely to receive. 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 the card. They're different products solving different parts of the same decision.
What each one is
An expert eyeballs your card
You ship your card to PSA. A grader looks at it physically. They tell you the grade they'dlikely assign. You decide whether to formally submit. Service is paid per card.
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
| PSA Pregrade | SlabScore | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $5–$10/card | Free (100/mo) or $10/mo Pro |
| Speed | Days to weeks (you ship the card) | 5 seconds (you paste a name) |
| What it answers | What grade will this card likely get? | Is grading this card profitable, and where? |
| Graders covered | PSA 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 PSA 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 | One card at a time | 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 PSA Pregrade when:
- • You have ONE high-value card (typically $1,000+) where the grade matters enormously
- • You suspect a borderline 9/10 outcome and want a human eye on the centering
- • You're comfortable shipping the card, paying the fee, and waiting
- • You're only submitting to PSA (not comparing graders)
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 a fee just to find out it's not worth grading
They're not mutually exclusive
For high-stakes single submissions, the right workflow is often SlabScore first, then PSA Pregrade. SlabScore filters out the obvious losers in seconds and tells you the cheapest grader. If you decide PSA is the call AND it's a borderline grade outcome on a $1,000+ card, paying for PSA Pregrade 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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