FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS

You may want to get your cards graded for several reasons. By grading your cards, you can:

 Provide authenticity that a card is legitimate.

 Increase the card’s value to buyers and collectors.

 Get peace of mind that your card will be protected forever as once the card is returned, it will be encapsulated in a secure casing.

Of course, there are many other reasons you may wish to grade your cards. 

Both Beckett and PSA are based in America and both offer authentication and grading services. 

Beckett and PSA both provide a grade on a scale of 1-10. Beckett in addition provides sub-grades, offering a more detailed report upon return. 

PSA charges additional fees based on the cards value. If your card’s declared value is higher than you expected, you may incur an extra fee. 

Beckett’s pricing is solely a cost per card, and you will NOT incur any additional fees based on the card’s value.

Black Label Grading work as an official intermediary for Beckett. 

To grade your cards, using Black Label Grading services, simply follow the steps below:

1) Decide which cards you would like to submit for grading.

2) Choose your service level .

3) Place your order through our online ordering portal

4) Package your cards securely.

5) Send your cards WITH your order number to the address provided.

6) Once we receive your cards, we will send an invoice with instruction for payment. 

All submissions need to be sent with an order number. Please note we will only ask for payment once your cards have been received and processed. If you need further advice, please contact us. 

Yes, we welcome submissions from customers outside of the UK.

For customers submitting cards from Europe, please visit our European Hub page for further information. 

For customers outside of Europe, please get in touch for further information. 

Black Label Grading accept any legitimate gaming or sports trading cards. If you are unsure about whether your card is fit for submission, please contact us.

Currently the following cards are not graded by Beckett: 

Pokemon Ultra Premium Collection – Metal Charizard & Pikachu
DBS – Any Pre-release Holo Promo cards

Black Label Grading will insure parcels when in transit to and from Beckett, up to the value of £50,000. This covers theft, loss or damage of items whilst in transit. The declared value of the contents of the parcel will not exceed £50,000.

Each individual card within a parcel sent to Beckett is insured for its ungraded value. Items returning from Beckett are insured for their graded value (up to a maximum value of £1000 per card).

Black Label Grading use Fedex shipping to and from America. 

Items returned to customers in the UK will be sent via Royal Mail signed for delivery.

Items returned to customers outside the UK will be sent via Royal Mail International Tracked.

Please note a compulsory £15 / card excess is applied to each card during transit to and from America and to the customer in the UK. This excess is passed onto the customer in the event a shipment is lost or stolen. 

Black Label Grading can offer enhanced UK delivery options. For more details contact us: info@blacklabelgrading.com 

Dependent on the service level you have chosen, your cards may take 3 weeks to 3 months to be returned to you. We endeavour to process your cards as quickly as possible, however we must also consider seasonality and volume. We will communicate with you throughout the process, to ensure you know at what stage your cards are in their journey.

Below outlines the core Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for each step in our process:

1.   Processing

We aim to process all our orders within 5 working days after the submission deadline.

2.   Shipping to Beckett

We allow 3-5 working days for shipping.

3.   Beckett Grading

Dependent on the service level chosen – turnaround is estimated by Beckett. Please check here for the current estimated time. 

4.   Shipping back to BLG

We allow 5-10 working days for shipping back to the UK.

5.   Returns

We will ship your cards back to you within 5 working days.

We are committed to adhering to strict SLAs to get your cards back to you as soon as possible. However, sometimes there are delays in the grading process. As we are working as an intermediary, Black Label Grading cannot be held responsible for any delays due to Beckett’s turnaround times.

We are an official independent UK intermediary for Beckett Grading Services. 

Please see our authorisation letter from Beckett here.  

Yes, we offer payment plans through Klarna. There is a minimum spend of £300 to use this service and all terms can be found here. 

Each customer gets a status update on where their cards are in their journey. This update is sent via email on a monthly basis.

There are 6 stages we report on. Please find a description on each below. Please note timings at each stage varies and we cannot say when your submission is likely to progress.

1. Shipped to BGS

The cards have left our facility and are on their way to Beckett.

2. At BGS awaiting processing

The cards have been received by Beckett and have been logged onto the system.

3. At BGS in verification

Here each card is verified i.e. experts ensure they are correctly identified. Paperwork is then created based on the identification, submission number and due date. Personal information is removed at this stage to ensure anonymity when grading.

4. At BGS awaiting grading

Cards are sent to a secure repository (the vault) to sit and await grading.

5. Graded

Well, this one is fairly self-explanatory. Your cards have been graded and will be returned shortly after.

6. Shipped back to BLG

The cards have been shipped back to Black Label Grading. You will get a notification once we have received them. Although this is exciting, please do not contact us to check if we’ve received the cards – this is done automatically on the day they arrive at our facility.. 

The Opal Service is Beckett’s Collector’s Special Service. This is our most affordable service and has the same turnaround time as the Pearl Service (Bulk BGS Service). However to be eligible for this service, your ungraded card value must have a maximum value of $400. 

If your ungraded (raw) card is worth more than $400, BGS or BLG will automatically upgrade your service to Pearl and you will be charged the additional fee. 

We recommend looking at eBay sold listings to identify the cards value before submitting.