How to grade and sell a 1st edition/shadowless collection?

General
1

Hi Everyone,

I was an avid collector of Pokemon cards for a brief period when I was in middle school. Like many others, I have recently discovered that my small collection might have some value. Before I go further, I would like to say that I appreciate any advice you all have, and I respectfully ask these questions knowing many of you are quite dedicated collectors and this is a hobby you cherish.

While I have fond memories of Pokemon, I now enjoy other hobbies and I would love to use a childhood hobby to invest in current interests. I like learning about new things, so I have been reading the last few weeks about the best way to sell my collection. It seems grading them is generally worthwhile, but doing it in a cost effective manner seems tricky given current wait times. I have also tried to pre-screen my cards given online grading guides, but obviously my inexperience here is a hinderance.

I have narrowed the collection to 50-70 cards that I consider “gradeable”. My own estimates put these cards from PSA 5-9.

So my question: How would you go about grading and selling this 1st edition/shadowless collection?

My idea: Send to Ludkins as a middlemen with pregrading → PSA Grading → Sell with a consigner (PWCC, smpratte, others?) Is this reasonable?

Additional Questions:

  1. How does Ludkins pregrading work? Do you pay the whole card fee + $1 even if you DO NOT end up sending it to PSA based on their pregrade?
  2. When submitting to PSA/Ludkins, how do you choose a grading tier for cards that have a wide spread in value that is dependent on their PSA grade? For example a 10 Shadowless Charizard would have a much higher declared value than one graded at a 5.
  3. How does Ludkins keep track of your cards and ensure you get all your cards back when they must be getting a large volume? Are there any best practices when shipping cards to ensure they arrive safely and aren’t lost?
  4. How do BGS grades compare to PSA grades when you go to sell a card? From my research, it seems that high Beckett grades are much rarer compared to high PSA grades, but that Beckett might be more reasonable in the 6-8.5 range than PSA, when you consider certain defects like dents.

I realize this is a very long post, so I do appreciate any thoughts you have! Thank you!

2

with 1st ed and shadowless honestly just send it all to ludkins, choose a grading tier on rough market value of your expected grade, and let them do the rest. Skip the pre-grade, it won’t help you / change anything at all unless I guess it helps define your sub tier if you are on the fence

3

And either expect to pay a decent chunk of change to get those graded ($75 a pop), or have to wait 6+ months for them to return.

The option to sell those raw exists as well

4

What you do is you give me all the squirtles regardless of condition then I use surf and you’ll never see them again. from what I hear with virus thing around it takes 6Months+ not that I’ve graded any of my cards yet.

3 Likes
5

The middle men grading services all have their unique ways of making sure you get your cards back. I don’t know Ludkin’s set up but I use an instagram service that mainly does sports cards and we are put in a google sheet psa subtracker and then after grading is complete they message us asking for the shipment payment and the grading fees as well as the address to ship it too.

I unfortunately don’t know how Beckett grades dents but I know PSA is harsh on them (10/9 becoming a 7/6) but you are correct, high Beckett grades are not as common. PSA is considered the most used in Pokemon tho.

You can search on YouTube for how to send in cards to PSA. You’ll need some extra materials if you don’t have them already such as to-loaders/card saver 1’s and as well as a box and some bubble wrap. I would recommend emailing Ludkins and getting some more info on how to properly insure your package on the way to them. :blush:

6

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. They have been very helpful, and I am all ears if anyone has more advice!

7

Ludkins is very easy to use and they will send you over a spread sheet of everything you sent them. With updates of where in the process your cards are at PSA. But If sending to ludkins/psa do not expect to have your cards back for a long time.