By Ethan Lee
In today’s card-collecting, where people pay thousands for the right Pokemon, FIFA or similar card, grading companies are the talk of the town.
Sending in your favourite (or more accurately, most rare) cards to a company to have them analysed by professionals, given a number out of ten for their condition, then sent back to you in a nice, safe plastic slab has been very fashionable over the last decade.
Graded cards have created quite a large craze, particularly for the investment side of card collecting, where people buy and sell cards to make huge profits.
A graded card in high condition can go for hundreds to thousands to even tens of thousands of pounds more than the card’s ungraded base price. This huge spike in value within graded cards has created a money-oriented stigma around graded cards. Many Pokemon fans, for example, are angry when their favourite cards become unaffordable, as they’re treated like stocks by scalpers with no interest in the franchise.
Despite grading originally being created as something to get your best cards evaluated and protected, now graded cards are largely seen as an investment rather than a hobby.
Many grading companies identified this market and have matched it, asking high costs to grade each card and many additional charges.
Who is ACE Grading?
UK-based grading company ACE Grading, however, heavily challenged the investor’s side of grading.
Founded by UK YouTuber and Pokémon collector Randolph (or for his real name, Andrew John Shane), ACE was created as a more affordable option to grade in the UK that still comes with the high standards and professionalism that the top US grading companies offer.
They also provide card owners with the option to buy a custom, ACE-designed, grading label which matches their card.
ACE’s main idea was to provide collectors and fans with a much better option to grade cards in the UK. It was established in 2021 and, ever since, has been slowly building up its brand and connections within the hobby, making sure not to lose its identity as a brand oriented as the best option for collectors.
Price change?
That was until the 26th of May, when the company made an announcement that upset collectors across the UK and beyond.
They announced that all of their grading services will be increasing in price. These new prices vary widely depending on which tier of grading you buy (higher tiers shorten the wait time to get your cards back graded). Prices range from a 50% increase all the way to a 140% increase in price per card.
Basic tier (45 day wait): £12 to £18 (50% increase)
Standard tier (30 day wait): £15 to £25 (67% increase)
Premier tier (15 day wait): £18 to £32 (78% increase)
Ultra tier (7 day wait): £25 to £60 (140% increase)
Luxury (2 day wait): £50 to £120 (140% increase)
For each of these options there would be an additional £3 charge per card if the customer opted for a custom-designed label.
Included in these changes was a new membership option. This membership costs £199 per year and allows people to send in their cards in the basic and standard tier levels at the original lower price (£12 and £15).
These tiers are now under a new name, called Core and Value. They have an extended 95 and 75-day wait time.
The membership also includes 100 pounds of in-store credit to get cards graded. In effect, this brings the cost of the first year’s membership to only £99.
ACE’s reasoning for these changes was to reduce the volume of cards being submitted.
Throughout the early months of 2026, ACE had to constantly increase the wait time for cards to be graded and returned due to there being way too many submissions to handle. Between March and May, each of their grading tiers slowly got closed as they reported having a large backlog of cards that they couldn’t keep up with.
Backlash
Of course, these cost increases were received extremely poorly by collectors and fans. Many argue ACE has been consumed by greed.
Some even decided that they were no longer going to use ACE’s services at all.
-Journalist Ethan Lee and Pokémon card collector Karmen Domotor discussing ACE Grading’s new prices
Elite 4 Trading & Grading –the biggest Pokémon card shop in Northern Ireland was once a close affiliate to ACE.
Based in Belfast, Elite 4 Trading and Grading acted as a submission point for ACE, where people could pay to drop cards off and have them sent to ACE for grading. Since the new price changes, the store has decided to cut all affiliation and support with the company until meaningful changes are made.
However, not all shops are as willing to cut ties.
Waterlooville TCG, based in Waterlooville, Hampshire, has sought other ways to stay loyal to their customers while still offering ACE services.
Similar to Elite 4 Trading and Grading, collectors could send their cards through Waterlooville TCG to get their cards graded at ACE.
When ACE upped their prices, Waterlooville TCG decided that it was in the best interest of the community that they would pay the annual £199 membership on behalf of their customers, allowing people to continue to send card submissions through them at the original £12 and £15 price range.
Stuart Reed, the owner and founder of Waterlooville TCG, said that while he “understands that businesses need to review their pricing structures from time to time, we recognise that the recent ACE grading changes may make grading less accessible for some collectors.
“We wanted to find a way to help reduce that barrier for our community,” Reed said.
“For many collectors,” he added, “particularly those who submit occasionally, this provides a more affordable route into grading while still benefiting from ACE’s service. We believe grading should remain as accessible as possible for collectors who wish to use it”
It’s clear that while some collectors and businesses like Elite 4 Trading have decided that parting ways with ACE is the best option for their communities, others like Waterlooville TCG have taken on the ACE membership to help provide and facilitate those in their community who wish to continue using ACE’s services.
-Journalist and Pokemon card collector Ethan Lee discusses the price rises
Were the changes effective?
Despite the major backlash, on June 1st, when the new prices went live, ACE put up a queue on their site to submit. ACE received tons of card submissions, with the reopening being arguably one of their most successful to date.
ACE’s continued strong business hasn’t stopped many card collectors from feeling betrayed.
Once considered by collectors to be a community-driven grading company, unlike anything else in the UK, many now feel like profit is ACE’s sole priority.
Some card businesses have moved on from the company. Others have had to swallow ACE’s new prices.
The commercial success of the reopening has highlighted the control ACE has over the UK grading scene, showing just how much market power they have to implement negative changes with little impact on their services, and no threat to their profits.
These controversial changes have left thousands of people worried about the future of UK grading for collectors.
