★ Raw singles · graded by hand
Condition, in plain words.
Every raw single is graded by hand at the table before it's listed. Near Mint is the default — a chip on a card means it's the exception, and it's priced accordingly.
The five grades.
Each chip below is rendered exactly the way it appears on a listing, so what you see here is what you'll see in the shop.
- Near Mint
- Looks pack-fresh. Minor print imperfections at most — nothing you'd catch without going looking for it.
- Lightly Played
- Light edgewear or minor whitening you'd see on close inspection. Sleeve-ready — it just isn't pack-fresh.
- Moderately Played
- Visible wear — scratches, whitening, or a light bend you can see without hunting for it.
- Heavily Played
- Heavy wear: creases, deep scratches, serious whitening front and back. A card that's clearly been played.
- Damaged
- Major damage — tears, water damage, deep creases, or writing. Sold as a filler copy and priced like one.
How we grade.
Worst feature wins. A card is graded by its worst flaw, not the average — a clean front with a scuffed back grades on the scuffed back, and if a card sits on the line between two grades, it gets the lower one.
A played card never hides it: the grade is stated right in the listing title, on its chip, and in the description — no surprises in the mailer.
Graded slabs are different.
A graded slab carries the professional grader's grade — PSA, BGS, or CGC — not ours, and the cert is verifiable on the grader's site. This guide covers raw singles only.
And when it ships.
Each single ships in a penny sleeve and a rigid toploader inside a bubble mailer, so it arrives the way it left the shop.