My 2 cents on this topic
I agree with those who posted.
I have my modern graded cards in BGS and vintage in PSA.
Before you send any cards off to be graded, invest in a loupe of a minimum of 10X magnification. I prefer the type that has a light. I bought mine on ebay for $10.00 3 or 4 years ago. Or, you can scan cards at a 200% to 300% magnification with a piece of graph paper behind a card to get a more exacting view of a card to see any faults.
BGS can be brutal in terms of finding imperfections not visible to the naked eye. A lot of people send in centered cards assuming these cards are a 9.5 or better, disappointed when they discover their gem is an 8.0. A lot of collectors are not aware that the back of the card is also graded, but not as strictly. You will notice that a lot of folks grade chrome issues because these raw cards do hold up better in terms of condition.
Finally, I have heard from numerous folks why one grading service is better than another. Rumors abound. Some claim one company grades certain player or teams much more strictly or lax than another company. I have a friend who is absolutely convinced when a player takes a jump in popularity, grading of their cards will only net lower grades. I do not take stock in these claims.
Do your homework. Check population reports of players you want to grade and examine your cards carefully before you submit them. The market is conditioned to have cards graded 9.5 or 10 hold a valuation multiplier premium. I have found cards with grades of 9.0 or less sell at times for less than raw issues of the same card. I believe some of these are great sleeper buys.
Packing your cards for submission is important. I will not detail how to ship because Beckett illustrates how to do this well on the website. The only thing I add is to clip or open the edge of a soft plastic sleeve about a 1/4 of an inch prior to inserting a card. The opening of a soft plastic sleeve can actually clip an edge or corner of a card causing slight damage that will effect grading. Opening the edge of the plastic sleeves reduces, doesn't eliminate, chances of this damage happening as you carefully slip your card into the soft sleeve.
The following links are neither an endorsement or advertisement for Beckett Grading:
Beckett's Grading Standards
Beckett's Instructions How to Pack Cards Safely
I hope you find this helpful. Best of luck in your grading.
Steve
need help on who and how to send a card in for grading... i really need specifics and also was wondering should the first card i send in for grading be an 07 topps jeter/mantle/bush errorr card or should i send in a common player from the 60's or should i send in a mantle or something that could pass probably for like a 7
thanks for the input guys
