By Ethan Lee
Cards and Collectables trading card event -graded slabs vendor
On February 16th 2026, YouTuber Logan Paul set a brand new record for the highest-selling Pokémon card of all time. He sold the ‘holy grail’ of Pokémon cards, that being the 1998 Japanese Promo Pikachu Illustrator card.
However, it wasn’t just any 1998 Japanese promo Pikachu Illustrator card; no, it was the only one in the world that managed to get a PSA grade 10. Overall, selling the card for a whopping $16.492 million.
This is an increase of 16 million dollars compared to its ungraded version, which usually sells for roughly 400 to 500 thousand dollars.
Now obviously, this is an extreme example, but how much power should these grading card companies really be allowed when it comes to card value and more importantly, can they be trusted?
I’ll begin by breaking down the exact role of grading card companies and what they offer for the trading card community.
What do grading companies do?
The first step is picking which exact company works best for you. Each company, while they essentially do offer the same service, varies quite a lot depending on price per card, slab design, wait time and return value.
Once you’ve chosen your ideal company, you pay them per card you want graded and send the cards to their address.
Then comes the wait time, which can take anywhere from two weeks to six months, depending on your chosen company. During the wait, your cards will be authenticated and then closely examined by professionals who check every part of the condition of your cards.
Once all categories of grading have been completed, your card will then be given an overall condition grade out of ten, one being the lowest and ten being the highest.
A label will be printed with the details of the card and its grade, then placed above your card in a protective plastic slab. Often, companies will also include a QR code on a part of the label, which you can scan to view the exact details of every category for the card.
Eventually, your cards will all be sent back to you for you to do what you like with.
Grading services for sellers are great, as prices for high-grade cards are often a huge jump from their original ungraded price. For collectors, grading companies offer the ability to own your favourite cards in the best, rarest and most exclusive version you can get.
Can we trust them?
So far, so good, right? Grading companies benefit both sellers and buyers by allowing higher rarities for dedicated fans and larger profits for businesses. To sum it up, grading companies are super important for card communities, but with such high importance comes a lot of trust, which is where some companies fall under controversy.
Let’s return to Logan Paul’s sixteen-million-dollar card sale. If you remember correctly, it was PSA graded in a 10 – the highest it can be – yet some eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed something, some believe its quality doesn’t appear to be a 10.
A large majority of people seem to be in agreement that the card looks to be roughly in the quality of a grade 8, not a 10.
Collectors and sellers alike were quick to rush to social media to share their perspective on the card. Some claim that the card had originally been given a grade 10 before PSA’s standards got harsher, others believe that Logan may have paid extra to get a higher grade, and some say that the card was once a 10 but had taken damage inside the slab after Logan attached it to a chain to wear around his neck.
Which exact one is true, we will most likely never know, and no matter which one you choose to believe, it doesn’t matter; the card went on to sell for a monumental amount of money.
Now this case is an extreme one due to Logan’s status and name, but it does bring up the question of just how much power are we giving to these grading companies, and is it possible that people are more bothered about the number the grade says instead of the actual card beneath it?
What do collectors and grading companies themselves say?
Jack Wright, a Pokémon card collector local to Manchester, says he doesn’t even get involved with graded cards. Despite him being a collector for many years, he said he doesn’t “get them graded because I prefer having them all in my binder.”
He went on to say that he also doesn’t buy them already graded “I just prefer raw cards (a term used for ungraded cards), plus I don’t have to trade an arm and a leg for them”, he laughed.
Evidently, not all collectors are interested in the services grading companies offer.
Next, I spoke to Amy, a UK manager at TAG grading, about the effects grading companies are having on card communities.
Amy pointed out that there is no deniability for huge profit on these graded cards, but she insists that the main reason people grade is still for “validating your collection, protecting your collection and also depending on how smart you are, profit.”
That being said, she’s not blind to the people who are primarily in it for the money, claiming “money is in the slabs and that’s just how it is.”
Finally, I was intrigued by what Amy thought about Logan’s card and what exactly it could mean for grading companies. “Without slating other companies, there are a couple of things that turn people off certain services,” she said. “All I can do is concentrate on what TAG do and I would rather the Pikachu Illustrator in a TAG 10 than a PSA 10.”
Graded Pokémon card slabs with TAG Amy interview
After my conversation with Amy, it was clear that these companies, like TAG grading, are driven by a real passion for the card collecting community.
While it’s undeniable that these graded cards can increase profit massively, perhaps the reason for this, can be chalked up to the investor side of Pokémon cards.
Investors influence
It’s common knowledge that the Pokémon card community has expanded beyond imaginable growth compared to what it was a decade ago.
Cards being a prime opportunity for investors to take advantage of rare and expensive cards isn’t a new concept; however, the rise of grading culture mixed with the rise of Pokémon cards has perhaps shifted the original aims grading companies originally wanted for card collectors.
Ultimately, the issue does not lie within the true collectors or companies, but rather the unfortunate influence that may be leading card communities to treat the cards much more as an investment potential instead of a collecting hobby.
Reporters Ethan Lee and Mike Harrison discuss the process and effects of card grading.
