PSA grading standards explained: what separates a 10 from a 9

PSA's grading standards page is short. Each grade gets a paragraph, the centering tolerance is stated as a ratio, and the rest is left to the grader. That brevity is why the same card can look like a 10 to its owner and come back a 9. This article walks the scale from the top, quoting PSA's wording for each grade, then translates it into things you can check on your desk.

The four things PSA looks at

PSA's standards describe cards in terms of corners, edges, surface and centering, plus a general sense of eye appeal that can move a borderline card either way. Centering is the only one with numbers attached. Corners are judged on sharpness and fraying, edges on chipping and notching, surface on gloss, scratches, print defects and staining.

PSA 10, Gem Mint

PSA's wording: "A PSA Gem Mint 10 card is a virtually perfect card. Attributes include four perfectly sharp corners, sharp focus and full original gloss. A PSA Gem Mint 10 card must be free of staining of any kind, but an allowance may be made for a slight printing imperfection, if it doesn't impair the overall appeal of the card. The image must be centered on the card within a tolerance not to exceed approximately 55/45 percent on the front, and 75/25 percent on the reverse."

Read that paragraph as a checklist. Four perfectly sharp corners means no whitening under magnification. Full original gloss means the surface has not been wiped, handled with damp fingers, or stored face down against something abrasive. The printing allowance is the one soft spot: a small print line or speck that does not draw the eye can survive. Centering of 55/45 on the front is tight enough that most cards fail here before they fail anywhere else.

PSA 9, Mint

PSA's wording: "A PSA Mint 9 is a superb condition card that exhibits only one of the following minor flaws: a very slight wax stain on reverse, a minor printing imperfection or slightly off white borders. Centering must be approximately 60/40 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the reverse."

The important word is one. A 9 has a single minor flaw from that short list. Two of them, or any flaw not on the list (a soft corner, a surface scratch), and the card is an 8 or lower. The centering step from 55/45 to 60/40 is also where most modern cards land: a card that measures 58/42 is a 9 on centering alone, regardless of how perfect the corners are.

PSA 8, Near Mint-Mint

PSA's wording: "A PSA NM-MT 8 is a super high-end card that appears Mint 9 at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the card can exhibit the following: a very slight wax stain on reverse, slightest fraying at one or two corners, a minor printing imperfection, and/or slightly off-white borders. Centering must be approximately 65/35 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the reverse."

This is the first grade where corner fraying is allowed, and only the slightest, on one or two corners. An 8 is still a card that looks mint at arm's length. Centering tolerance widens to 65/35 on the front; the reverse stays at 90/10 all the way down to PSA 4.

PSA 7, Near Mint

PSA's wording: "A PSA NM 7 is a card with just a slight surface wear visible upon close inspection. There may be slight fraying on some corners. Picture focus may be slightly out-of register. A minor printing blemish is acceptable. Slight wax staining is acceptable on the back of the card only. Most of the original gloss is retained. Centering must be approximately 70/30 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the back."

Surface wear enters the description here, which is why a card with a visible scratch cannot be an 8 no matter how good the corners are. Fraying may be on some corners rather than one or two. Front centering tolerance is 70/30.

PSA 6, 5 and 4

PSA describes a 6 (EX-MT) as a card that may have visible surface wear or a printing defect that does not detract from its overall appeal, a very light scratch detectable only on close inspection, slightly graduated corner fraying, some loss of gloss, very slight edge notching and off-white borders, with centering 80/20 or better on the front.

On a 5 (EX), PSA says very minor rounding of the corners is becoming evident, surface wear or printing defects are more visible, there may be minor edge chipping and several light scratches, and centering must be 85/15 or better on the front. A 4 (VG-EX) may have slightly rounded corners, noticeable but modest surface wear, light scuffing or scratches, slightly off-white borders and a light crease, with the same 85/15 front tolerance.

PSA 3, 2, 1.5 and 1

From 3 down the standards describe wear rather than flaws: some rounding of the corners, loss of much of the gloss, yellowed or discolored borders, creases, and for a 2, accelerated rounding with several creases and possibly no gloss at all. Centering must be 90/10 or better front and back for a 3 and a 2. A 1.5 (Fair) must be fully intact; PSA says a card cannot achieve this grade if it is missing solid pieces. A 1 (Poor) may be missing one or two small pieces or have creasing that nearly breaks through the cardboard.

Half points, qualifiers and the no-grades

Since 2008 PSA has also assigned half-point grades: 1.5, 2.5 and so on up to 8.5, for cards that exhibit high-end qualities within their grade. PSA's announcement of the system says a 9.5 was deliberately left out because Mint 9 and Gem Mint 10 already cover the top of the scale, so no PSA 9.5 exists. Half-graded 9.5 slabs you see on the market are Beckett's, not PSA's. The same announcement says centering may be the most important factor in earning the half point, and that a card usually has to measure five to ten percentage points better than the tolerance for its grade.

Qualifiers are letters that follow the grade when a single attribute would otherwise sink it. PSA's half-grades announcement lists OC (off-center), PD (print defects), ST (stain), OF (out of focus), MK (marks) and MC (miscut), and notes that a qualified card is excluded from half-point consideration until it is regraded unqualified. MK on the standards page itself is applied to any card with writing, ink or pencil marks, or the impression left by writing.

A card can also come back with no numerical grade at all. The standards page lists the N codes: N1 through N3 for evidence of trimming, restoration or recoloring, N4 for questionable authenticity, N5 for altered stock, N6 for undersized cards, N7 for cleaning, N8 for miscuts and N9 for issues PSA does not grade. For the alteration codes the page notes a card may instead be encapsulated as Authentic Altered (AA) if AA was requested on the submission form, and that you are charged the grading fee either way. A hand-cut card whose cut exceeds the visible border is encapsulated as Authentic only.

Where owners misjudge their own cards

• Centering is measured on both sides. A card with a 55/45 front and an 80/20 back cannot be a 10 because the reverse exceeds 75/25.
• Print lines count as a flaw for a 9 even when they are faint. A 10 has an allowance for a slight printing imperfection; a 9 can only carry one minor flaw in total.
• Gloss loss is invisible in a photo taken straight on. Tilt the card under a single light and look for dull patches before you assume the surface is clean.
• Edge chipping on dark-bordered cards (black Pokemon borders, many Prizm parallels) is the most common reason a card that looks a 10 comes back an 8.
• Eye appeal cuts both ways. PSA's page describes a small variance at the grader's discretion. Do not count on it; do not be surprised by it.

How GradePeek uses these standards

GradePeek measures the border ratios on your photo, scores corners, edges and surface, and maps the result onto the tolerances above to produce an estimate with a breakdown. It is an estimate, not a grade, and we are not affiliated with PSA. The value of the estimate is that it tells you which attribute is the limiting one before you pay a grading fee, so you can decide whether the card is worth submitting at all.

Upload a card at /scan to see where it lands on this scale. Three estimates a month are free.