Prepping a grading submission without losing a corner

Clear a table and wash your hands

It sounds obvious. It is also the step people skip. Oil from fingers shows up under grading lights, and a crumb on the table is a dent waiting to happen. A clean microfiber cloth under the cards costs nothing.

Sleeve each card once

Hold the card by the edges and slide it into a fresh 2.6" x 3.6" soft sleeve, bottom first. If it catches, back it out and try again rather than pushing. Do not reuse old sleeves from a binder box; they carry grit.

Into the semi-rigid

With the sleeve on, slide the card into a 3 5/16" x 4 7/8" semi-rigid holder. Leave the sleeve sticking up slightly if you like, so the grader has something to pull. Do not tape the holder shut and do not use toploaders for the submission itself; services ask for semi-rigids.

• One card per holder, always
• Photograph the front and back of each card before it goes in the box
• Write the submission list in the same order the cards are stacked

Stack, sandwich, ship

Stack the holders flat, sandwich the stack between two pieces of cardboard a little larger than the holders, and band it loosely. Fill every gap in the shipping box so nothing slides. When the cards come back slabbed, the semi-rigids and sleeves usually come back too, ready for storage duty.

How many holders to buy

Count the cards in your submission and add a quarter. Holders crack, a card gets swapped at the last minute, a friend adds two cards to your order. Our 100 and 200 sets suit individual submitters; group submitters and shops go for 500 or 1,000.