Question 1

How does a grading verdict work?

Accepted Answer

Verdicts cover Pokémon cards. A verdict compares grading with selling the raw card today. For each result (PSA 10, PSA 9, PSA 8) it takes the sale price, subtracts selling fees, the grading fee for that value and shipping, and compares the expected net with what the raw card nets now. The break-even is the PSA 10 chance at which the two are equal. CardIntel does not estimate your chance of a PSA 10: you set it, and the page shows the result at your chance. A miss is assumed to grade mostly PSA 9 (85% PSA 9, 15% PSA 8) unless you choose another split. The scale is "Grade it" when the break-even is 15% or lower, "Grade clean copies" up to 40%, "Only flawless copies" below 85%, and "Sell it raw" at 85% or higher or when even a PSA 10 nets less than selling raw. Default costs are PSA Standard ($59.99), $10 shipping and insurance per card, and eBay selling fees of 13.25% plus $0.40 per order; you can change them on the grading costs page. Grading fees include PSA upcharges for results worth more than the tier limit.

Question 2

Which graded prices does a verdict use?

Accepted Answer

Graded prices come from completed eBay sales of the exact card printing, aggregated by PokemonPriceTracker and bound to the card by an independent product mapping. A grade uses its seven-day median when at least three sales fall in that window. Otherwise it may use a longer-run price, labelled as such: the lower of the supplier's market price and the median of every sale, only with 5 or more sales on record and a sale and a source refresh within 30 days. A verdict needs usable PSA 10 and PSA 9 prices and a current raw price. When PSA 10 sales sit below the raw price, the prices likely describe different versions and no verdict is given ("Prices disagree"). Card pages flag recent prices more than double or under half the long-run median, older and promo sets, and sets out for less than 13 weeks. Home and set rankings use the default costs and a 30% PSA 10 chance for expected gains. Home rankings include modern sets only (Sun & Moon onwards) and cards whose PSA 10 and PSA 9 prices rest on ten or more sales without a recent spike or slump.

Question 3

Which grading fees does a verdict use?

Accepted Answer

As of October 17, 2026, the cheapest open PSA tier for a single card is Standard at $59.99 for cards worth up to $1,000 (90–100 business days); the Value tiers are paused. A card worth more than its tier's limit after grading is moved up to the first open tier that covers it, and PSA bills the difference: Priority $79.99 up to $1,500, Express $199 up to $2,500, Super Express $349 up to $5,000. Confirm current fees on PSA's site before submitting.

Question 4

Where do card prices come from?

Accepted Answer

CardIntel imports provider catalog snapshots and separately records supported market evidence. A reference quote is not a purchasable listing or a completed sale. Product identity, printing, currency, method and source date determine whether evidence can be used together. Unsupported mappings and quarantined evidence are excluded from supported calculations.

Question 5

What does the source date mean?

Accepted Answer

A source date belongs to the provider evidence. Fetch time, job completion and publication time are separate timestamps; downloading an unchanged source does not make its prices newer. Scheduled jobs validate their inputs before a publication becomes visible. Pages show missing or stale states when eligibility or freshness requirements are not met.

Question 6

How is observed history handled?

Accepted Answer

Dated observations are shown only where supported evidence exists. Missing days are not zero prices, and fetching the same source repeatedly does not establish more independent history. Comparable points must describe the same asset and price basis. Historical charts are not proof of executable prices or trading volume. A new publication does not justify rewriting a frozen historical report.

Question 7

How are price comparisons calculated?

Accepted Answer

The comparison is (observed 30-day daily mean − current reference) ÷ observed 30-day daily mean × 100. Eligible USD catalog quotes require at least seven distinct source dates in 30 days for the same provider, product, printing and method. The latest unambiguous observation on each UTC date counts once. Every eligible candidate participates before sorting and limiting results. The default threshold is 5%; zero is permitted. There is no weighted conviction score, and observed-date sorting does not measure completed-sale volume.

Question 8

How does the Set EV calculator work?

Accepted Answer

Set EV is a manual scenario: expected value equals the sum of a pool’s reference value multiplied by its expected card count. You explicitly define each pool and expected count, including fractional counts. The calculator uses one published price generation and reports missing prices. These inputs do not establish verified pack odds. A set, rarity distribution or generic pack size alone cannot prove a sealed product’s slot model.

Question 9

What does the grading costs page set?

Accepted Answer

Grading costs holds the numbers every verdict uses: the PSA tier you submit at, shipping and insurance, selling fees and an expected change in graded prices while you wait. Only open tiers can be chosen; paused tiers are listed but never used. The grader board shows PSA, BGS and CGC tiers as reviewed on October 17, 2026. These settings stay in your browser.

Question 10

What do market indexes describe?

Accepted Answer

Market indexes summarize their disclosed baskets and observed coverage. Their publication, base period and source dates matter when comparing changes. Missing category history is shown explicitly. An independently dated index value is not subtracted from a portfolio return to imply benchmark outperformance. Market context does not determine a personal trading action.

Question 11

How are holdings and returns calculated?

Accepted Answer

You enter actual acquisition costs and quantities. Supported current raw or graded evidence determines a holding’s valuation; unsupported or expired evidence remains unknown. Coverage is shown separately from known values. Sales record actual proceeds, fees and quantity changes; an immutable ledger records changes. Editing a holding does not turn a past cost into a market quote or recreate a missing historical valuation.

Question 12

What do selling-fee estimates include?

Accepted Answer

Fee scenarios depend on the selected marketplace, seller profile, currency and fee base. Enter item price, shipping, tax and other relevant costs explicitly. Where a verified fee profile is available, its effective rules and source are shown; otherwise use a manual scenario. Missing costs are not silently converted to zero. Estimates do not establish the fee charged to a particular seller account.

How CardIntel verdicts and prices work