Is WCG Grading Legit? Nope – Find a Better Card Grader

Affiliate Disclosure: When you click links at Only Greats & make a purchase, we may earn a commission. As a free site, we join affiliates like eBay & Amazon to help offset our costs. THANK YOU for your support!

Last Updated On: February 6th, 2024

When it comes to buying and selling sports cards, collectors have to keep their eyes peeled for steals and value upsides.

At first blush, grading a card for $9.00 with World Class Grading (WCG) would seem to qualify as the greatest bargain of all, especially compared to how much more you could easily spend elsewhere. 

But is it really a steal? Because so much more goes into the equation than just price. Value, sell-ability, and turnaround are also critical to this discussion. As we’ll see in this post, WCG grading might be a cheap option to grade, but it’s unlikely to pack much of a value punch. In fact, you could end up losing money when all is said and done.

In this article, we’ll explore WCG – its history, how WCG-graded cards sell, and why it ultimately makes more sense to look elsewhere for a card grade, even if it means spending a bit more cash upfront. 

Let’s dive in!

Overview: Who is WCG?

WCG is an excellent reminder that, frankly, anyone can put the words “World Class” in their name without much to back it up.

Founded in 1998, WCG offers grading services for a wide range of products, including sports and trading cards, pictures, postcards, and antique documents (one has to wonder if its website, which doesn’t look like it’s been updated since the early 2000s, counts as one such “antique document”).

Furthermore, WCG grading is done on the cheap – a four-week turnaround costs just $9.00 per card. In fact, it’s one of the cheaper options on the market today. 

To submit, WCG offers a simple process: 

1. Fill out a submission form (online or print-out version) listing all the cards you are submitting for grading
2. Package your cards in top loaders or semi-rigid holders per the packing guidelines
3. Choose a form of payment: check, money order or credit card
4. Ship your cards to the address at the top of the submission form

Note – if you go the online route to generate a submission form, WCG will auto-create the form and send it to you via email. Thus, you’ll still be required to print out the form and include it with your shipment.

Grading Scale

As you might have guessed, we’re not particularly high on WCG. A common complaint with WCG is that they hand out 10s left and right, with no real explanation or delineation.

The company’s grading scale runs on a half-point system with two “10s” — one for Pristine (a 10*) and another for Gem Mint (a 10) — similar to SGC and BGS, and even CGC with their recalibrated grading scale.

But while the top graders provide clear guidelines for how a card qualifies for a given grade, WCG does not. In fact, the grading scale noted above is the only information WCG shares about their grading standards. There’s nothing about alignment (aka centering), surface quality, edges, etc. Zero.

We might contrast this with, say, the rigid standards outlined by PSA for the cards that pass through its halls:

WCG claims its graders have over 25 years of experience. But when a company isn’t transparent about its grading process beyond a table with scores, it rightfully should raise a collector’s eyebrows.

Pricing

WCG offers four different levels of pricing based on turnaround time:

Any autographed cards cost an additional $1 per card.

Further, an $8 flat-rate return shipping fee is assessed for Standard Ground Shipping (charged by the package, not card), while next-day shipping costs $25.

Keep in mind the flat-rate fee is for return shipping, as you would also have to pay shipping to send the card(s) to WCG in the first place (this is standard for any grading company). Even so, a flat shipping rate is certainly an advantage from WCG, as shipping charges will not escalate whether you’re sending in one card, or hundreds.

As we can see from the table above, the cheapest price to grade a card is $9 before shipping is tacked on. WCG’s pricing is on the lower end of the industry, as PSA charges $14.99/card for its cheapest option so long as you’re a Collector’s Club member (requires an annual fee), and send in at least 20 cards to qualify for that rate. If you’re not a Collector’s Club member, or send in less than 20 cards, $24.99/card is the cheapest option.

When it comes to price alone, WCG is the cheaper grading service option, with better return shipping rates, and no hoops to jump through as far as maximum value per card, or annual membership fees. But price isn’t the only consideration when grading cards.

Do WCG Graded Cards Sell Well?

Typically, WCG cards do not sell well. One of the clearest indicators comes when we run a search on Card Ladder for WCG cards that sell for various tentpole prices:

This table suggests several things. First, the WCG cards hitting the market aren’t selling for much. This could be a product of the poor grading standard, or perhaps another reason for the low prices: collectors don’t trust WCG to grade their high-value cards. You won’t find any Mickey Mantles, Luka Doncics, or Jordan inserts among the bunch simply because collectors know that WCG isn’t a place the hobby takes seriously. 

In fact, a similar search using PSA or BGS at those price points is so high that Card Ladder doesn’t even return a total figure.

Let’s look at a popular card recently sold as a WCG 10: the 1986 Barry Bonds Topps Traded #11T (aka Bonds’ rookie card). 

According to Card Ladder, a raw Bonds #11T can be found for less than $10. That same card sold for $20.50 as a WCG Gem Mint earlier this month. That does not qualify as exceptionally good value.

What’s even worse: if the original raw #11T was purchased for anything over $3.50, it would count as an overall loss to the seller when taking into account the cheapest service level at $9 per card, plus $8 return shipping (also consider the shipping costs to send it to WCG for grading, too). Not much room for a return on investment when grading cards with WCG.

WCG vs. Other Cheap Services

While WCG is one of the cheapest grading options out there, it’s not the lowest. Those honors belong to GMA and GMG, which clock in at $8 per card. 

Keep in mind, GMA requires at least 100 cards be shipped for grading for the $8 price to trigger, while GMG requires a card be valued at $99 or less to secure the $8 price point. Further, at GMA’s $8 price point, you get your cards three days earlier than WCG with its 25-day turnaround. 

In regards to reputation, WCG’s standing isn’t stellar. One review argues that “they aren’t a very reputable grading company,” while another bluntly states that “they suck.” Keep in mind the reviews for many of these cheaper-end grading companies aren’t great either. 

That said, one tried and true strategy behind scouring for lower-end slabs is to find ones that might be worthy of regrading with a premium brand like PSA or SGC.

WCG Grading vs. PSA

There’s no competition between PSA and WCG. If you plan on getting a card graded, you should almost certainly go with PSA, which ranked as our best overall option for grading. Here’s why:

Price & Service Comparison

Let’s get one thing out of the way: PSA costs more than WCG and will likely come with a longer turnaround time than its budget-conscious competitor.

As mentioned, PSA’s cheapest option is $14.99 per card (minimum 20 cards, 45-business day turnaround, $200 max value) and is exclusive to Collector’s Club members. For non-Collector’s Club members, the starting point is $24.99 per card (maximum $500 value, 45-business day turnaround). It’s also possible to find better pricing by using a bulk submission service instead.

But this price packs more bang than just a simple grade. Customers have access to PSA’s Certification Verification database with high-resolution images, a significantly more modern web interface, better slabs, and peace of mind that they’re working with an industry staple. 

WCG, on the other hand, offers no such Cert Verification database. This is where customers would otherwise keep track of a card’s authenticity (i.e., ensure that a card in a slab was actually graded by that company, with the corresponding slab specifications to compare with). Further, the interface is poor and there’s no quality control associated with the brand. 

While the $24.99 per card figure is nearly three times that of WCG, the proof of its value comes in how much PSA slabs sell for in the market.

WCG vs. PSA Slab Values

PSA slabs sell better than WCG slabs. And in many cases, significantly more. 

Let’s return to that Bonds #11T card. Recall that it sold for $20.50 in WCG Gem Mint 10 condition.

Also, take a look at the differences between the PSA 10 and WCG 10. The PSA is crisp, its edges tight, corners sharp, and centering close to perfect. Even the label provides an air of dignity missing from the WCG. 

The same card with a PSA 10 Gem Mint grade is valued at $281, which is 14 times that of WCG. A Mint 9 graded card from PSA (valued at $29) still comes in ahead of the WCG. 

We can run the same test using a recently-sold 2007 Topps Kevin Durant #2 White Border rookie. As a WCG Gem Mint, it sold for 19.99. As a PSA Gem Mint, it’s valued at $152. A Mint PSA 9 still edges the WCG price, coming in at a $30 valuation. 

To add insult to injury, the label on the WCG card looks even worse than the Bonds – it’s crooked, mislabeled as 2008 instead of 2007, with clearly perforated lines around its edges. It all suggests a lack of care about the product (but unfortunately crappy labels are an issue with other graders, too).

Is There any Reason to use WCG Grading?

If there’s any saving grace behind WCG, it’s that the cards nonetheless come back slabbed (although, if the Bonds and Durants are any indication, the slabs might not be that great, either). 

If you have a card that you know isn’t going to grade well and just want it thrown in a slab, it may not matter where you get it graded. Although an off-center and stained card will look strange in a slab reading “Gem Mint.” 

Or perhaps the card is only going into your personal collection. In that case, it also may not matter where the card gets graded. 

You may be noticing a trend: it’s best to use WCG when the actual grade doesn’t matter. But even then, you can find cheaper grading companies with better labels. You could also use magnetic card holders or, if thick plastic isn’t important, you could opt for Card Savers or Top Loaders. 

BCW 10-pack Magnetic Card Holders
Perfect for Standard Size Cards

Shop Now

Summary: Is WCG Grading Legit?

No, WCG is not legit, especially when compared to other grading options on the market. Think of it like the difference between a metal knife and a plastic knife when trying to eat a juicy steak (or, for hobbyists, a Logoman RPA). If you want to truly get the most out of the experience, you’re going to go with the metal knife, right? 

WCG is like trying to eat the steak with a plastic knife. It’s simply not worth it.

Check out PSA, CGC, BGS, or SGC instead. For a few more bucks you’ll likely get more reliable grading results, better value in return, and slabs with some respect in the market when you put them up for sale. The first two — PSA and CGC — even warrant their grades if that’s a key deciding factor for you when choosing a grading service.