Pokémon Card Conditions & Grading Explained (NM, LP, PSA, CGC)

Two copies of the same Pokémon card can differ in price by 10× — sometimes 100× — purely on condition. Understanding the grading ladder is the difference between paying the right price and donating money to a seller.

The raw-card condition scale

Stores and marketplaces describe ungraded ("raw") cards on a five-step scale. DexCompare shows the cheapest price per grade on every card page so you can see the whole spectrum at a glance.

• NM — Near Mint. Looks unplayed. Clean edges, sharp corners, no scratches visible without tilting under light. This is the default grade prices are quoted in.
• LP — Lightly Played. Minor wear you have to look for: light edgewear, tiny scuffs. Usually 70–85% of NM price.
• MP — Moderately Played. Obvious wear at a glance — whitening on edges, surface scratches, maybe a small crease. Roughly half of NM.
• HP — Heavily Played. Significant damage: creases, heavy whitening, dinged corners. 25–40% of NM.
• DMG — Damaged. Bends, water damage, writing, tears. Worth a fraction; fine for a binder placeholder, terrible as a purchase at any other price.

Rule of thumb: if a listing doesn't state a condition, assume the worst grade the photos allow — and pay accordingly.

What professional grading is

Grading companies — PSA, CGC and Beckett (BGS) are the big three — authenticate a card, grade it 1–10, and seal it in a tamper-evident plastic slab. A PSA 10 ("Gem Mint") commands an enormous premium: it's common for a PSA 10 to sell for 3–10× the raw NM price, while a PSA 8 often sells below raw NM (because the 8 proves the card isn't mint).

• PSA — the biggest brand, the most liquid slabs, generally the highest resale.
• CGC — strong on modern cards, faster/cheaper tiers, sub-grades available.
• BGS — the "Black Label 10" is the rarest flex in the hobby; tougher grading.

When grading is worth it

Grading costs real money (typically US$15–$25+ per card at the slow tiers, much more for fast turnaround). It's worth it when:

1. The card is genuinely valuable — a sensible floor is: only grade cards worth several times the grading fee in NM.
2. Your copy is truly mint — centring, edges, corners and surface all matter. An honest self-check under a bright light saves a lot of wasted fees on cards that will come back a 7.
3. You're selling or holding long-term — slabs sell faster, for more, with fewer disputes. For a binder collection you never plan to sell, raw cards in sleeves are fine and far cheaper.

It is not worth grading bulk, played cards, or modern commons — the fee exceeds the card's ceiling.

Buying graded vs raw

• Buying a slab costs more upfront but removes condition risk and fake risk in one go — you're paying for certainty.
• Buying raw is cheaper and fine for NM/LP collection copies — but apply the fake checks and assume optimistic seller grading.
• A note on our prices: graded slabs trade in their own market, so DexCompare's store comparison deliberately tracks raw singles — the slab keywords (PSA/BGS/CGC) are filtered out so a $2,000 slab never pollutes a $40 card's price.

The takeaway

Condition isn't a detail — it is the price. Learn the five raw grades, check the per-condition prices on the card page before buying, and only pay grading fees on cards where the math works.