Card grading near me
There is no grading company down the road from you — and that is true for everyone, everywhere. Grading is a mail-in service by design. Here is what your local shop actually does with the cards you hand over, and what going direct saves you.
Almost certainly not, and that is not a limitation of your area. Every recognised grading company — PSA, Beckett, SGC and MPE included — grades at a single secure facility. Cards are inspected under controlled lighting by graders who do nothing else, logged against a serial number, and sealed in a slab that is sonic-welded shut. None of that is something a retail counter can do while you wait.
So when a shop near you advertises grading, it is almost always acting as a middleman. It collects cards from customers, waits until it has enough to justify a shipment, and forwards the batch to one of the same mail-in companies you could have used yourself.
Dropping cards at a shop is genuinely convenient, and for some people that is worth paying for. Just know what you are trading away:
Going direct removes all five. You choose the tier, you keep the tracking, and you pay one published price — which on MPE's cheapest tier is $5 a card.
Because grading is mail-in, geography has no effect on price. The cheapest grading service near you is simply the cheapest grading service — a grader four states away costs you exactly the same as one in your city. Here is where the field sits on each company's own cheapest published tier:
| Company | Cheapest tier | Price per card | Stated turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| MPE Grading | Bulk (100+ cards) | from $5 | 90 days |
| Beckett | Base | $14.95 | 75+ business days |
| SGC | Standard | $15 | 75+ business days |
| PSA | Regular | $79.99 | 40–50 business days |
Competitor pricing is taken from each company's public price list and can change at any time — always check their current rates before you submit. Prices are per card and exclude shipping.
See how the graders stack up on more than price in our comparison of card grading companies.
The part people worry about with mail-in grading is the mailing. Do it this way and cards arrive in the same condition they left:
Shipping from outside the US? See the international submissions page for customs guidance.
Submitting directly takes a few minutes and replaces the entire local trip:
Not sure which cards are worth sending in the first place? The 1–10 grading scale shows what separates a 9 from a 7, and the grading cost breakdown covers when a card is worth the fee.
Almost certainly not in the sense you mean. Card grading isn't a local service — every recognised grading company, MPE included, grades at a single secure facility and works by mail. A card shop near you may accept cards over the counter, but it's forwarding them to one of those same companies rather than grading them itself.
It's convenient, and it's worth it if you'd rather someone else handled the packing and the paperwork. Understand what you're paying for, though: the shop adds its own handling fee on top of the grading fee, you lose direct tracking because the submission is in the shop's name, and the round trip gets longer because your cards wait for the shop's next batch.
Directly with a grading company, online. You build the submission on the company's site, print a packing slip, and ship the cards yourself. With MPE that takes a few minutes, starts at $5 per card, and you can track the submission live from the moment it arrives until it ships back.
Put each card in a penny sleeve, then a semi-rigid holder such as a Card Saver, and never use a top loader with tape across it. Bundle the holders with a rubber band around a piece of cardboard, sandwich that between two more pieces of cardboard, and use a rigid box rather than a bubble mailer. Include your printed packing slip and buy tracking and insurance for the declared value.
Because grading is mail-in, distance doesn't affect the price, so the cheapest service near you is simply the cheapest service. MPE grades from $5 per card on Bulk submissions of 100 cards or more, and $7 per card on the Premium tier, compared with $14.95 at Beckett, $15 at SGC and $79.99 at PSA.
At MPE it depends on the tier you choose: 2 days on Diamond, 10 days on Express, 30 days on Premium and 90 days on Bulk, measured from when your cards arrive. Add shipping time in both directions. Going through a local shop adds however long it takes them to fill their next batch.
