How to Track Grading Submissions Like a Pro

Sending cards to PSA, BGS, or SGC for grading is one of the best ways to increase their value — but it's also one of the easiest parts of the business to lose track of. Between varying turnaround times, multiple service levels, shipping costs, and the wait to find out your grade, it's common for sellers to have tens of thousands of dollars floating in grading limbo with no clear picture of where things stand.

A proper grading submission tracker takes the guesswork out of the process and helps you make smarter decisions about what to grade, when, and with whom.

Why Tracking Submissions Matters

Costs Add Up Fast

Grading isn't just the service fee. It's the fee plus shipping to the grading company, plus return shipping, plus insurance, plus any upcharges for declared value. A "simple" $30 PSA submission can easily cost $45-50 all-in when you add shipping and insurance. Send 50 cards a quarter and you're looking at $2,000-2,500 in grading expenses. Without tracking, you can't calculate whether those expenses are actually generating profit.

Turnaround Times Vary Wildly

PSA's "Regular" service might say 65 business days, but real-world experience ranges from 30 to 120+ days depending on volume and backlogs. BGS and SGC have their own fluctuations. If you're trying to grade cards before a player's season starts (to capitalize on demand), timing matters — and you need historical data on actual turnaround to plan effectively.

Cert Numbers Are Important

Once a card is graded, its certification number becomes its identity. You need that number for eBay listings, for your inventory records, and for customers who want to verify authenticity. Losing track of cert numbers means manually looking them up on the grading company's website — one card at a time.

What to Track Per Submission

Every card you send out should have these data points recorded:

• Grading company — PSA, BGS, SGC, CSG, HGA, etc.
• Card details — Player, year, set, card number, variant
• Service level — Economy, Regular, Express, Super Express, etc.
• Declared value — Affects insurance and upcharges
• Grading fee — The base cost for that service level
• Shipping cost (outbound) — What you paid to send it
• Shipping cost (return) — What they charge to send it back
• Insurance — Additional coverage if applicable
• Date submitted — When you shipped it out
• Status — Where it is in the process
• Grade received — The final grade (once complete)
• Cert number — The certification/serial number on the slab
• Date returned — When you got it back
• Raw card cost — What you paid for the card before grading

Tip: Track your total all-in cost per card (purchase price + grading fee + shipping + insurance). This is your true cost basis for the graded card, and it's what you use to calculate profit when you sell.

The Submission Lifecycle

Every grading submission moves through distinct stages. Tracking status at each stage tells you where your money is and when to expect cards back.

1. Preparing — Card is selected for grading, paperwork is being completed
2. Shipped — Package is in transit to the grading company
3. Received — Grading company has confirmed receipt of your order
4. In Grading — Cards are in the grading queue or actively being graded
5. Graded — Grade has been assigned, awaiting return shipment
6. Returned / Shipped Back — In transit back to you
7. Complete — Card is back in your possession, grade and cert recorded

Most grading companies provide online order tracking, but they only show you one submission at a time. If you have cards spread across multiple orders, multiple companies, and multiple service levels, you need your own system to see the full picture.

Savage Sports Cards Manager includes a grading submissions tracker that follows this exact lifecycle. Each card gets a status that you update as it progresses, and you can filter your entire grading queue by status, company, or service level to see exactly what's outstanding at any given moment.

Calculating ROI on Grading

Not every card is worth grading. The math needs to work. Here's how to evaluate:

Total grading cost = Grading fee + outbound shipping (per card) + return shipping (per card) + insurance

Graded card value = What the card sells for after grading (check eBay sold comps for the specific card and grade)

ROI = (Graded value − Raw cost − Total grading cost) ÷ (Raw cost + Total grading cost) × 100

Let's run a real example:

• Raw card cost: $40
• PSA grading fee (Regular): $30
• Shipping + insurance: $15 (split across the order)
• Total invested: $85
• Card grades PSA 10, sells for $200
• Profit: $115 (before selling fees)
• ROI: 135%

Now the flip side — same card grades PSA 8:

• Total invested: $85
• PSA 8 sells for $60
• Loss: -$25

This is why tracking actual results over time matters. You'll start to see patterns: which players, which sets, and which conditions consistently grade well for you — and which are coin flips that aren't worth the gamble.

Tip: Before submitting a card, check the population report. If there are already 50,000 PSA 10s of that card, grading won't meaningfully increase its value. Focus on cards where a high grade creates real scarcity.

Organizing by Company and Status

If you submit to multiple grading companies (and most serious sellers do), organizing your tracker by company helps you:

• Compare turnaround times — Track actual days from submission to return for each company and service level
• Manage spending — See how much you have outstanding with each company
• Plan strategically — Route high-value cards to the company whose label commands the highest premium (usually PSA), and lower-value cards to cheaper alternatives
• Track pending returns — Know when to expect packages back so you can plan listings

Within each company, sort by status. You want to quickly see: "I have 12 cards with PSA right now — 3 in transit, 5 received, 4 in grading." This tells you what to expect in the coming weeks and helps you plan your listing schedule.

Over time, your grading data becomes a decision-making tool. You'll know your average turnaround for each service level, your hit rate on PSA 10s by product type, and your average ROI per submission. This data tells you whether to keep grading aggressively or pull back and focus on selling raw.

Whether you use a spreadsheet, a notebook, or purpose-built software, the key is consistency. Record every submission when you ship it, update it when status changes, and close it out when the card returns. Your future self — and your accountant at tax time — will thank you.