I sent in 8 cards to ludkins that had basically perfect center but all 9 of them came back with a pregrade of 9 with the comment “slight edge wear” or “slight corner wear”
How were your submissions and were they always pretty accurate? I’m curious if any of them could potentially be 10s.
How were your ludkins pregrade experiences?
Perfect centering doesn’t make your card a 10 @poodlemuffins,
Considering the volume they go through I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet to trust them. Everyone hopes for 10’s but sometimes it just ain’t in the cards for you. Good luck!
Pretty spot on most of the time, you´ll not be disappointed with a lower grade than their pregrade usually.
So since Ludkins is generally harsher than PSA, and CGC is generally harsher than PSA, is Ludkins pretty close to CGC for pregrade?
Can´t speak for that, did not sub through Ludkins to CGC yet 
I would say Ludkin averages about 0.5-1 grade below the actual PSA grade (don’t hold me to this though). This is my experience from grading ~200 cards across multiple submissions with them so far.
It appears Ludkins undershoots the pregrades like I would do if I were them. The last thing they’d want to listen to is, “but you said it was a 10” lol
This. My experience has always been that the majority of their pre-grades were 1~ grade below what the cards actually got. Of course every now and then there would be some wider ranges, but they’re usually pretty good at it. (Ludkins UK)
I stopped opting for the pre-grade when I found out I could save money on doing so tho, lol.
This is what I’m hoping for. Literally all of them got 9s so maybe I’ll get a 10 somewhere in there. I’d definitely be happy if they were all 9s but maybe I’ll get lucky! Who knows with PSA lol!
Thanks for all the replies everyone!
My last express, 3 of the 5 came back lower than they expected 
Usually its right or higher tho
Edit- my opinion, don’t ship express. Ship bulk, and pay the upcharge. Of my 100 express cards, i can only say ive ever been happy with a handful of them. They are the most picky here, which makes sense as they deal with more expensive cards typically.
To each their own.
Important to remember that grading companies don’t have a perfect, objective standard that other people hope to get close to. Everyone is giving an honest opinion/assessment and the variation within that is a matter of subjectivity.
When you say pay the up charge, what exactly are you referring to?
If you submit a lower tier submission, and then a card grades higher than you thought and it passes the threshold into the next submission tier, PSA can charge you for the difference after the fact
Do y’all, or PSA, use a grading rubric that’s publicly available?
No
@poodlemuffins, If you are confident in your submission then why do pregrades at all? I did them the last 2 years and decided this year to scrap having them do it. They always did a nice job, but my cards always got the grades I expected and tended to be a grade higher than the predictions.
Remember, when it comes to a psa 10 it can really go either way. A near flawless card can come back as PSA 9 still. I had Ludkins predict a “possible 10” for 2 cards a couple years ago and they both got 9, but then one card that was stated as a psa 9 candidate got the psa 10. It’s really impossible to judge when you get to the 9-10 range sometimes.
Given how inconsistent PSAs grade can be, im surprised ludkins can be as accurate as they generally are.
Submit it and forget it. There is no scale and no time line its all luck. If its pristine, it will be 8 to 10 if its not it will be a 1 thru 10. You’ll know forsure in 9 to 11 months