Card grading glossary

The words on a slab, on a grading form and in a sold listing — each in one sentence, most with a page of figures.

On the label

Half grade: A grade between two whole numbers, such as an 8.5 — and not every company gives a 9.5.
Pristine 10: A label word that means a different 10 at two companies: Beckett’s plain 10, and CGC’s 10 with every subgrade perfect.
Black Label: A BGS 10 whose every subgrade is also perfect — the same number on the slab as a plain BGS 10, sold as a separate, rarer card.
Raw card: A card no grading company has slabbed — it sells on its condition, from Near Mint down to Damaged.

Declared value: What you write on a grading form as the card’s worth — it decides which tier you can use and what the card is insured for.
Upcharge: An extra charge for a card declared above what its tier insures, billed on top of the tier fee.
Turnaround: How long a company takes to grade a card and send it back — set by the tier you pay for.
Bulk minimum: The fewest cards a grading tier accepts in one submission — its price per card is on offer only to a box that size.

Crossover: Sending a card already slabbed by one company to another, which re-slabs it only at the same grade or better.
Crack and regrade: Breaking a card out of its slab and sending it back for a new grade — which can come back lower as well as higher.
Reholder: A new case for a card that is already graded: the same grade in a fresh slab, with no re-grade.
Pop report: A grading company’s count of how many copies of a card it has graded, at each grade.

Borrowed price: When your company has no sale at a grade, SlabScore fills that one grade from PSA’s market and marks it everywhere it shows; the fee stays your company’s.
Price inversion: A lower grade or a worse condition selling for more than the one above it — shown as it is, never smoothed away.
Signed and error slabs: A slab marked signed, or as an error card, is a market of its own, kept apart from the plain grade it shares a number with.