I am looking to grade my cards, and I live in Germany. However, there are a million middleman services, and a lot of them are connected to content creators, I’m a bit unsure of who is trustworthy. Does anyone have any experiences?
Hey!
I’ve used S.L.A.P Auctions for both grading services and consignment services. Luckily for you they are also in Germany.
They seem to offer the best rates in europe with €16.50 for bulk tier.
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CGC has an office in Munich.
Why not submit directly yourself?
I can’t answer for OP, but unless you’re submitting 100s-1000s of cards its just cheaper to use a middleman from outside of the US.
After shipping fees insurance customs etc it just isn’t economical to send yourself.
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The break even point is probably closer to 50 cards than 1000. The service you recommended costs an extra $300USD per 100 cards more than doing it yourself.
For 50 cards @ a service charges $3 extra per card is $150 - extra assuming no additional taxes or charges from them. Shipping is less than that, PSA charges $75 return shipping internationally ($55 more than domestic).
The customs charge should be 0 because you’re getting your own items returned back to you but if for some that’s not true for Germany, you’re then obligated to pay customs whether you ship yourself or through a middleman service. If you ship yourself, you have full control over declared value in both directions.
Not to mention that if things ever go bad with your middleman company you have basically no control or recourse: Graded Gem - UK Graders - No communication / Outstanding PSA Orders with Ludkins Collectables USA
Overall, unless you’re sending in a trivially small number of card, like 1-10, it’s probably worth doing it yourself regardless of where you live.
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Where did you find the rates for 16,5€
All I could find was 22€ which is definitely more expensive then sending it in yourself.
Assuming you pay $3 extra per card (and you don’t need to pay return shipping with this service), then the break even point is around 30 cards, where PSA return shipping costs $89.99 and the middleman fee is $90.
Maybe it ends up being a bit closer to 40 cards if you calculate the difference of cost shipping to the middleman (and back) vs shipping directly to PSA.
I’m really not TOO informed about customs, but they can be a bit finnicky. It’s basically luck of the draw sometimes. I’ve ordered stuff (and even won stuff) from Japan, and still had to pay customs. So I can totally understand people don’t wanna have to deal with it. I’ve had bad experiences myself. Especially, since you have to physically go to customs, then bring home the package yourself.
I think it is different situation when you are importing stuff from Japan and need to pay customs (which is standard practise) compared to getting your own cards back from PSA after grading services. While visiting some card conventions in Netherlands I checked with some middleman services and they were very clear that you don’t have to pay additional custom duties on getting your grades back. It makes sense to me but I cannot confirm if this is a fact.
I know @Mussundwerdich and @CJ_Pokemon and @Ratequaza are fellow E4 members and are from Germany and are very knowledgeable so they may provide better insight on what is easier and cost effective in terms of grading. Also, @rainbowgym is from the Netherlands and grades a lot of cards and I believe she sends it herself.
Cheers!
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In the last two years I’ve sent 50-60 orders to PSA and I’ve never had to go to customs physically. Fedex does all the paperwork automatically and delivers the card back to you.
You have to pay VAT though but only on grading service fee which ist 19%. Basically you’re paying 16.49€ + shipping.
The most difficult part is the export: If the value of your package to PSA exceeds a certain value you need anexport declaration (Ausfuhranmeldung). But if you ship through Jumingo for example you can just let them do it for you or you could use an ‘‘liberal estimate’’ of the value and circumvent the declaration.
I’d recommend doing it yourself if you plan on submitting more cards. It really isn’t as difficult as people think it is. If you do it yourself and need some help you can just dm me.
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In ireland you pay a percentage of value of the service to customs plus a few additional fedex fees like handling charges when going direct.
Hi,
I’m also from Germany and faced the same decision: using a middleman or sending in myself. Here are the bureaucratic hurdles you need to be aware of:
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Passive Processing (Passive Veredelung) : When having trading cards graded, it is considered a type of passive processing. This means a service is added to an existing product in a different country, increasing its value. You only need to pay taxes on the cost of this passive processing (-> the grading costs) + a small fee from the shipping company for the handling of the taxes
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Export Declaration for High-Value Cards: For items (in this case trading cards) valued over €1,000, you must officially file an export declaration with German customs. This adds another layer of bureaucratic effort. Additionally, there are relatively few shipping services that offer insurance over €1,000 for shipping to the USA. Most people use a separate insurance for this.
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Potential Classification as Commercial Activity: Depending on the number of trading cards you import, customs might quickly classify your actions as commercial activity.
Of course, you can file an appeal, but if there’s one thing you don’t want in Germany, it’s stress with the tax office over an allegedly unregistered business. This can quickly escalate to accusations of tax evasion.
Overall, I am happy to pay a few extra euros for a middleman, as this saves me the hassle of export fees, insurance, and potential stress during import.
Personally, I have had good experiences with S.l.a.p.
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I also live in Germany and have used different middleman services here already. If you want, send me a message and I can give you all the details 
Very well put.
I don’t think people in the US realise the amount of extra steps regarding customs and taxes we have in comparison.
I get import fees on deliveries with value below $100 
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I’m in Canada, I deal with the same problems.
In this case I’ll defer to what someone with plenty of experience:
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It’s not the same.
I lived in the UK and never had to worry about customs. Everything was straight forward.
Since moving to Spain its hell. So many random charges and taxes that often don’t even have a good explanation. Theres a reason why comps for cards are often higher in europe than anywhere else in the world.
Again I’ll defer to someone with actual experience in Germany.
If you’re doing 1-10 cards a middleman is best. 20-50 it doesn’t make a big difference. If you plan on doing more than 50 it’s beneficial to learn to do it yourself.
If you want to do 100+ cards through a middleman, all the power to you. But you’re probably spending more than you need to.
I get import fees on deliveries with value below $100
I think it’s hard to top the >$7 import & handling fee I had to pay once for cards worth 48 cents 
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I’ve sent around 30 cards with them and it was a great service. They are in the Netherlands, but accept submissions from all europe.
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