Grading & Condition Guide

How we describe condition, and what it means

Condition is the single biggest driver of what a card is worth, and the place where online buying most often goes wrong. Here's exactly what our descriptions mean so there are no surprises when the envelope lands.

Raw cards

Every ungraded single is assessed by hand against the standard scale used across the hobby.

• Near Mint (NM) — Looks like it came out of the pack. Sharp corners, clean edges, no surface wear. Minor factory imperfections may be present, as they are on plenty of cards straight from a booster.
• Lightly Played (LP) — Minor wear visible on close inspection. Slight edge whitening or a light surface scratch. Still presents very well in a sleeve.
• Moderately Played (MP) — Obvious wear. Noticeable whitening, minor creasing, or scuffing to the surface. Structurally sound and perfectly playable.
• Heavily Played (HP) — Significant wear. Creasing, heavy whitening, possible minor damage. Priced accordingly.

Where a card sits near the boundary between two grades, we round down, not up.

Graded cards

A graded card has been sent to a third-party grading company, authenticated, assessed on a numerical scale and sealed in a tamper-evident holder. The grade on the label is that company's assessment, not ours.

We sell slabs from ACE, PSA, BGS, TAG and CGC. Each grading company uses its own scale and its own standards, and a 10 from one is not automatically equivalent to a 10 from another.

Check the cert before you buy

Every graded card we list carries its certification number, and every listing links to the grader's own public lookup. That means you can confirm, independently of us, that the card exists, that the grade matches, and that the slab hasn't been tampered with.

We'd encourage you to do it. On a card costing several hundred pounds, it takes ten seconds and it's the single best protection a buyer has.

Photographs

Graded cards and higher-value singles are photographed individually — the card in the picture is the exact card you'll receive. Lower-value singles may use a representative image of that card and printing, with condition stated in the listing.

If we've got it wrong

We grade thousands of cards and we're not infallible. If a card arrives and you don't think it matches the description, email contact@mintcollectablestcg.com with a photo and we'll sort it — refund, replacement or partial, whichever suits you. That's on top of your legal right to return an online order, which is covered on our Returns page.