The notebook

Long, numbered and dated pieces on card grading. No generalities: thresholds, prices, and the patterns I keep seeing.

In short

This notebook covers card grading from the decision angle: should this card be submitted, to which company, and when. Every article starts from verifiable facts — published centering tolerances, dated price grids, observed turnaround — and states the date those figures were checked. GradeMate does not sell grading and takes no commission on any company mentioned.

30 July 202612 min read
The 8 mistakes that cost a grade
Seven are avoidable, one is irreversible. What I learned calibrating an AI against graders' criteria.
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30 July 202613 min read
Which cards are actually worth grading in 2026
A card's value is not the number that decides. Here is the one that does, and five card profiles where I ran the maths.
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30 July 202611 min read
PSA opens a European centre: what actually changes
A centre in Frankfurt, and still no direct submissions. I pulled apart the real journey of a card, step by step.
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About the author

Loïc Jané — Founder of GradeMate

I build GradeMate, the pre-grading tool that estimates a card's grade before you pay to ship it. I write here about what I learn calibrating the analysis against the published criteria of the grading companies.

The notebook

The 8 mistakes that cost a grade

Which cards are actually worth grading in 2026

PSA opens a European centre: what actually changes

About the author