Trying to get cards graded at any point in the last two years was less than pleasant and predictable. Costs, wait times, service tiers, bulk orders and the like. It was all skewed in the favor of grading companies and the dealers and collectors were at their mercy. Does a cost of hundreds of dollars and a one-year wait time sound familiar? Perhaps you have noticed that wait times are now way down. The cost of grading has also come way down. It’s not back to pre-pandemic costs yet, but…

Most grading companies have announced deals with auction houses in 2022 that have greatly streamlined their services. A new partnership between SGC and PWCC was announced on November 30, 2022 as the latest streamlining effort. And the vaulting services are also being extended to each one of PWCC’s authentication partners.

There is also an announcement that raw trading cards which are submitted for authentication services in a submitter’s PWCC Vault Account. That is Beckett (BVG/BGS), CSG and CGC, MBA, and SGC.

As for the deal announcement with SGC, the new grading cost per card with the PWCC service is $20.00. Here is where that gets interesting though. That $20 grading fee includes any genre, category, or value of each card. And now PWCC is allowing clients authenticated cards to either be sent directly to auction (and have the fee taken out of the final sale price) or the newly authenticated cards can be sent directly into the PWCC Vault (and customers can just pay the grading fees after the item is back in the vault). The SGC service through PWCC also does not require upfront fees or forms that have to be filled out.

A press release identified the cost breakdown and terms (verbatim) below:

• Beckett: $25 per card. Grading service. Includes subgrades and auto grading. 10 day estimated turnaround.
• CSG/CGC: $20 per card. Grading service. Includes auto grading. 10 day estimated turnaround.
• SGC: $20 per card. Grading service. Includes auto grading. 10 day estimated turnaround.

PWCC’s prices and terms with MBA were also updated. This is $6.00 per card if stored in the Vault or $3.00 per card if the card is committed to auction or sold within 30 days of curation in the Vault. For the portfolio and authentication service, each card also receives a custom condition report card and is security sealed in a custom toploader.

A more recent feature is that PWCC is allowing its customers to store their cards in the PWCC Vault after they arrive or they can be entered for an upcoming Weekly Sunday Auction upon arrival.

Additional terms and mechanics of grading through SGC, Beckett (BVG/BGS), CSH/CGC and MBA terms are also available.