How to submit cards to CGC: account to slab

To submit cards to CGC Cards, open a free account, give each card a declared value and pick the tier whose limit covers it, list the cards on CGC’s online form, then pack them and mail the box to CGC in Sarasota, Florida. CGC bills your credit card when the box arrives, shows progress in your account, and ships the finished slabs back by FedEx for a fee set by card count and declared value. Each step has a rule that can cost money or time if you miss it.

What do you need before you start?

An account. Collectors no longer need a paid membership to submit, so a free account is enough. Paid tiers lower the grading fee:

Is a paid membership worth it?

It comes down to fee math. Associate’s 10% covers its $39 once your grading fees in a membership year reach $390. Twenty-five cards at the $17 Bulk rate come to $425, so one 25-card Bulk order clears it. Premium’s $150 credit goes on your submissions automatically until it runs out, and it expires with the membership. If you would use all of it, Premium costs $9 more than the credit it carries, with 10% off grading on top. On the discount alone, Elite’s extra 10% over Premium makes up its $170 higher fee only from $1,700 of grading fees in the year.

Check the card is one CGC takes, too. It grades cards in every language, up to 2-5/8 by 3-3/4 inches and 7.25mm thick, and lists the cards it refuses. It also offers a $20 Jumbo Card level, so ask CGC before sending a card larger than that. It does not certify counterfeits. CGC gives two answers on altered cards: an altered card gets no numeric grade, yet it grades artist alterations.

Which tier should each card go in?

CGC prices each card by its tier, and the tier depends on the card’s declared value and how fast you want it back. If you send several tiers in one box, mark the box for the fastest one.

CGC warns that a box with the wrong marking will be delayed. Our guide to how long grading takes sets out each tier’s estimated wait.

How should you set the declared value?

CGC wants your best estimate of what the card would sell for now, from a recent purchase price, a comparable sale or a price guide. For a raw card, use an ungraded copy. For a slab, use a copy in the same grade. Three things hang on that number:

• The fee. If CGC judges a card worth more than you declared, it moves the card up a tier and bills the difference, even when the card turns out to be fake or altered. A card declared at $900 at Economy that CGC values at $1,200 moves to Standard, at $35 more.
• Cover while CGC has the card. A card lost or damaged at CGC is compensated at its fair market value in the condition CGC received it, as CGC judges it, but never above your declared value.
• The trip back. CGC prices the box it sends you by declared value, as the table further down shows.

Our guide to finding what a card sold for shows how to price it, and the glossary defines declared value and service level.

How do you fill in the submission form?

CGC’s online form lists each card and the services you want. Some rules shape it:

• Describe every card fully. A card not fully described costs $5 more.
• Or use Quick Submit. CGC said in January 2025 that Bulk and Economy cards can skip the card details. You choose Quick Submit as the main service, pick the tier, give the number of cards in each category and declare each card’s maximum value, up to $500 for Bulk and $1,000 for Economy. It cannot be used for JSA or Signature Series autograph orders.
• Keep it to 300 cards or fewer. That is the limit on one invoice.
• Add extras only if you want them. A pedigree adds $5 a card, high-resolution images $5 a card on every card in the order, and a custom DC Comics label $8. A card with a printing error must go under the Error service, which costs nothing extra.
• Already slabbed? A card in another company’s holder goes as a CrossOver at its tier. Our guide to how crossover grading works explains the terms.

The shipping service you choose on the form covers only the trip from CGC back to you. To collect the order at a FedEx location, enter that location’s address, with your name, as the return address.

How do you pack the cards?

CGC suggests this method:

1. Put each card in a protective sleeve, then in a semi-rigid sleeve that is sturdy enough for CGC’s staff to take the card out safely.
2. Line the cards up in the order of the packing slip from your online form, and place the stack between two pieces of cardboard that are bigger than the cards.
3. Bind the cardboard with rubber bands that are snug enough to keep the cards from slipping out. Too much pressure can damage them.
4. Wrap the bundle in bubble wrap or similar packing material, and set it in a sturdy box that is not packed too tightly.
5. Put the packing slip in the box, then seal the outside completely with packing tape.

The packing is up to the sender. CGC does not send back the sleeves, card savers, backing boards or other materials you include, and it asks you not to enclose a certificate of authenticity, because it cannot promise to return one.

Where do you send the box?

To CGC Cards, 6802 Energy Court, Sarasota, FL 34240. The trip there is yours to arrange, and its safe arrival is your responsibility. The shipper will reject and send back any package that arrives damaged, unsealed or poorly sealed, so use strong tape. Once the box is on its way, CGC will not change or cancel the order.

Sending from abroad? You must name yourself the importer of record. If CGC is charged customs duties for your box, it bills you for them plus a $25 fee.

CGC also takes submissions at select shows, and its events page has a filter for the events that accept them. Collectors cannot hand cards in at its office.

What happens once CGC has the cards?

CGC charges a credit card when the submission arrives. CGC gives two answers on checks, saying both that it does not take them and that you should send one with the cards. Plan on a card.

Inside CGC, an order goes through eight stages:

1. Receiving and logging under camera
2. Checking each card against your description, after which graders no longer see who sent it
3. Authenticity review
4. Grading by several graders who agree a final grade
5. Sealing the card in a holder with its label
6. Imaging the slab
7. Quality control of the card, label and holder
8. Counting, packing and shipping

The order shows up in Submission Tracking (My Submissions, under your profile) once CGC has checked the contents and entered them. Grades and card details appear once the status reads Shipped. CGC’s customer service will not give grades by phone or email.

What does the trip back cost?

CGC ships to US addresses by FedEx by default, insured up to $100,000 a package. Its card rates, effective August 5, 2025:

Treat the declared value as the order’s total to be safe. Higher values cost more and need a signature. A US PO Box gets USPS at the same rates. Shipping on your own FedEx, UPS or USPS Express Mail account costs $4 a shipment, needs a shipping form on file first, and is not insured by CGC.

CGC will not change the address once the box has left, and a package that comes back undelivered costs more to send again.

What does a whole order cost?

Take 25 cards, each declared at $60, so $1,500 in all, sent at Bulk:

The membership pays for itself inside this one order. Whether grading the cards makes sense at all is a separate test, set out in whether a card is worth grading. Rip.fan’s grading cost calculator takes one card’s declared value and the number of cards, and shows each company’s cheapest and fastest level with its estimated wait. It does not include shipping both ways, insurance or membership fees, so add those as above.

What should you check when the slabs arrive?

Look up each cert number in CGC’s Verify tool. CGC images every card after sealing it, so compare its pictures with the card in your hand, not just the grade. Our guides to reading a CGC label and spotting a fake slab cover what to look for, and storing graded cards covers what comes next. Weighing CGC against its rival first? See CGC vs SGC, or how to submit cards to SGC.

Frequently asked questions

Can every CGC office take a Quick Submit order?

No. Quick Submit works on CGC's US, London and Hong Kong sites, but a submission made in Munich through CGC's German site cannot use it.

What happens if you crack a card out of its CGC holder?

CGC's guarantee on that card ends. You can mail the label back so the card leaves CGC's population report, and to be slabbed again the card must go in as a raw card.

Does CGC insure return shipments outside the US?

Yes, up to $50,000 a package, sent by FedEx by default. An international submitter who asks for USPS Mail instead gets the package back uninsured.

Who decides a card's fair market value at CGC?

CGC does, at its own discretion, from the sales data it trusts, including that card's own past sales. Its figure is binding on every party.