For a collector inside the European Union, PCA removes customs, intercontinental shipping and a months-long wait in one move. The question is what the slab is worth on resale.
In short
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. Standard pricing sits around €10 to €30 per card depending on level and volume, with turnaround measured in weeks. 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.
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 |
A practical consequence: a PCA 10 is not the equivalent of a PSA 10. Comparing the numbers without comparing the scales leads straight to a valuation error.
A domestic shipment: no customs declaration, no transatlantic transport risk, no import VAT on the return, and turnaround measured in weeks rather than months. 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.
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.
Expect roughly €10 to €30 per card depending on the service level and the number of cards, with discounts from around ten cards. These figures are indicative and checked on 29 July 2026: PCA's official grid is authoritative.
In the region of four to eight weeks on a standard service, with faster options. That is well below a PSA submission from Europe, which runs into months once the dealer batching cycle is included.
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.
The report places the card on the criteria every scale shares.