For a collector inside the European Union, PCA removes customs and intercontinental shipping in one move — and the months-long wait too, if you pay for its one-month tier. The question is what the slab is worth on resale.
PCA (Professional Card Authentication) is a French grading company founded in 2016. Its scale runs from 1 to 10+, where 10+ means a card with no apparent defect, above the 10 (Gem Mint) and the 9.5 (Mint). Each card is reviewed by several experts in sequence. Pricing depends on the declared value and on speed: up to €249 of declared value, the Classic tier costs €12.90 per card (€10.90 from 10 cards) but takes six months, Fast costs €19.90 for one month and Fast+ €49.90 for one week (official grid as archived on 25 July 2026). The advantage is decisive for a submission from within the EU — no customs, no intercontinental shipping — at the cost of lower international liquidity than PSA.
01 — Key facts
02 — Data
The French scale runs higher than PSA's: a 10 is not the ceiling.
| Grade | Label | What it implies |
|---|---|---|
| 10+ | Collector / Pristine | No apparent defect on either face |
| 10 | Neuf Sup' / Gem Mint | One minimal, barely perceptible defect |
| 9.5 | Neuf / Mint | Several minimal factory defects, or light handling |
| 9 and below | Excellent to Poor | Visible defects, with wear becoming the main criterion |
03 — Details
A domestic shipment: no customs declaration, no transatlantic transport risk, no import VAT on the return — and, at the Fast tier, a one-month turnaround rather than several. On a mid-value card, the avoided costs often exceed the difference in grade value.
International liquidity. A PCA slab sells well on the French market and reasonably across French-speaking Europe, but it does not have PSA's global audience. On a card headed for an international sale, the price gap can exceed the extra cost of a PSA submission.
The more the card is worth, the stronger the PSA argument: on a four-figure piece, the liquidity premium dwarfs shipping costs. On a batch of cards worth a few tens of euros each, PCA is almost always the winning calculation.
If the cards are not for sale, liquidity is irrelevant. What remains is price, turnaround and slab quality — three areas where PCA is competitive from within Europe.
04 — Questions
No, and the two grades do not cover the same thing: the PCA scale has an extra step above 10 with the 10+. At equal condition a PSA slab resells higher and faster internationally; a PCA slab holds its value well on the French market.
PCA prices by declared-value band. Up to €249: Classic €12.90 per card (€10.90 from 10 cards), Fast €19.90, Fast+ €49.90. From €250 to €999: Classic €24.90 (€22.90 from 10 cards), Fast €39.90, Fast+ €99.90; higher bands cost more. The grid does not say whether VAT is included. These figures come from PCA's official grid as archived on 25 July 2026, since the live page could not be read at our check on 29 September 2026: PCA's current grid is authoritative.
PCA states six months at Classic, one month at Fast and one week at Fast+ (Excelsior, in one day, is for cards handed over in person). Its cheapest tier is therefore slower than PSA's European Standard level, at 80 to 90 business days stated; for speed, the fair comparison is Fast, at €19.90 for one month.
Not as standard: the label carries an overall grade. A subgrade option has been introduced, but the detailed display is not the default. If criterion-level detail is your priority, BGS remains the most legible.
Yes, several French-speaking and European players have launched in recent years. The criterion to look at is not price but how well the slab is recognised on resale: a company with no secondary market removes most of the point of grading.
05 — Read next
The report places the card on the criteria every scale shares.