Updated October 2026
Cards headed for grading get packed differently from cards headed to a buyer. Graders reject toploaders, so each card travels in a semi-rigid card saver the grader can slide it out of cleanly.
Raw cards going to a grader are packed for the grader's intake desk rather than for a buyer. Each card is:
We ship your cards to the grader. Grading and authentication are the grader's work, and the submission itself is yours.
By The Fulfillment.com team
A card going to a buyer is packed to stay put. It rides in a toploader or a magnetic one-touch and stays there until the buyer opens the parcel. A grader needs the reverse. To slab the card, the grader has to take it out of whatever it arrived in, so the holder has to let go of it easily.
Graders reject toploaders for this reason. A card has to be forced out of a rigid toploader, and the damage happens during that handling at intake. A semi-rigid card saver flexes just enough for the grader to pull the card without bending it. Send the wrong holder and you can end up with a rejected submission or a lower grade.
We pull the card you want graded and scan its barcode against the record, once at the shelf and again at the packing table. Some parallels and print runs look almost identical. If the wrong one slips into the batch, you pay a grading fee and wait out a turnaround on a card you never meant to submit. Checking at the shelf and again at packing gives us two chances to stop that swap while the card is still with us.
First the card goes into a penny sleeve, which protects its surface. Then it goes into a semi-rigid card saver, the holder graders accept for submissions. A card saver gives a little, so at intake the grader can slide the card out without bending it. A rigid toploader would have to be forced. Cards we ship to buyers get a toploader or a magnetic one-touch instead, as part of how we pack cards for customers.
A grading submission is a batch of cards rather than a single one. The grader expects them to arrive with the submission form and any required inserts, so each card can be matched to the slot and service tier you chose when you created the submission. We group the sleeved cards with that paperwork as a kitting step. The grader then opens one complete submission in order, with no loose pile to sort out.
The batch goes into a rigid mailer, with an overbox on higher-value batches. It's packed to keep the card savers from flexing, sliding or taking a crush on the way. Damage picked up in transit shows up in the grade. On a high-value batch, carriers also cap what they will pay and offer adult signature, and our guide to coins and bullion gives the limits. Settle with our team how a valuable batch will be declared and routed before it ships.
We're a 3PL. When your cards go out for grading, we:
The grader grades and slabs the cards. By default, the submission is yours: you create it, choose the service tier and pay the grading fees, and we don't submit on your behalf. If you'd like us to take on more of the build, tell our team.
No. We're a 3PL. We can pull your raw cards, sleeve them in the right semi-rigid card savers and ship the submission out to a grader such as PSA, BGS, SGC or CGC. We don't grade, authenticate or slab cards. You create the submission, choose the service tier and pay the grading fees. If you'd like us to take on more of the build, tell us.
Graders reject toploaders on submissions. A semi-rigid card saver flexes just enough for the grader to slide the card out without bending it. A rigid toploader has to be forced, and that handling at intake is when cards get damaged. What graders accept is a penny sleeve inside a card saver. A card going to a customer gets a rigid toploader or a magnetic one-touch instead.
We pull the raw card and scan it against the record. It goes into a penny sleeve, then a semi-rigid card saver, and joins the rest of the submission. We add the submission form and any required inserts. The whole batch then goes into a rigid mailer with an overbox, packed so the card savers stay put.
We scan each card's barcode against the record twice, once at the shelf and again at the packing table. Checking at both points is how a look-alike parallel or print run gets caught before the parcel leaves. Sending the grader the wrong parallel costs you the grading fee and the turnaround, which is why we check twice.
Submissions go out in a rigid mailer, with an overbox on higher-value batches, packed to keep the card savers from flexing or shifting. Carriers offer adult signature on high-value parcels, and you set the level with our team. Once the carrier takes the box, the carrier's own limit on what it pays applies. Before a high-value submission ships, agree with our team how it will be declared and routed. While the cards are in our warehouse, you insure them on your own policy.
Slabbed cards from the grader come in the same way as any other graded slabs. We receive them, count them, scan them and shelve them. When one sells, it ships to the customer in rigid, cushioned packaging, with an over-sleeve to keep the case from getting scratched. Slabs come in different sizes, so we pack each one to its case, and our graded-slab guide covers the sizes.