GRADING SCALE

10 – Gem Mint

A Gem Mint 10 is the cream of the crop at Factory Direct Grading!  These cards have 4 minty corners, clean edges, a surface free of any blemishes, and centering within the 60/40 range on the front, as well as 75/25 on the reverse.  There may be one very minimal defect that will not take away from the overall eye appeal of the card and still earning a 10 grade.

9 – Mint

A Mint 9 is a card that has some of the qualities of a Gem Mint 10 but contains some type of minor imperfection to either the corners, edges, surface, or centering of the card.  Centering must fall within the 65/35 range on the front and 75/25 on the reverse. 

8- Near Mint-Mint

A NM-MT 8 is a card similar to a Mint 9 but will typically contain a few minor imperfections to the corners, edges, surface, or centering of the cards.  These cards will have centering within the 70/30 window and 75/25 on the reverse.  These cards will commonly have whitening on the corners or edges or both.

7 – Near Mint

A NM 7 is a card that shows slightly more wear compared to a NM-MT 8.  This may include visible wear to the corners, edges, or surface of the card.  There may also be visible blemishes to the surface with the naked eye.  These cards will have centering within the 70/30 window and 75/25 on the reverse.

6 – Excellent-Mint

An EX-MT is a card that may contain some form of damage or defect to the corners, edges, or surface of the card.  These cards will typically have multiple spots of wear or whitening.  The centering must be within the 80/20 window on the front and reverse.

 

** Since our cards come direct from the manufacturer, we do not assign any grades lower than a 6.  Most all of our cards are Ultra Modern so any cards with visible defects typically get returned to the manufacturer for replacement.  This is why you will see a 10 grade on most all of our graded cards.  We do not apply a grade of 10 to every card.  We just return the cards that do not meet this criteria on our grading scale.  Although grading submission are not yet available to the public, when that time comes we will designate the correct grade (6-10) to those cards.