Worth Grading
The grading maths works on the Illustration Rare Whirlipede from Black Bolt. The gap between the $6.59 raw price and the $195.00 PSA 10 price gives a 102% Return on Grading. Condition still decides the outcome, so only send copies you'd back for a 10.
Most grading maths asks you to guess your odds of a PSA 10 first. This works backwards from the prices instead and tells you what those odds would have to be.
The number is different on every card. It's how confident you'd need to be that this copy gems before grading pays for itself, so 20% means roughly a 1 in 5 shot and 50% means a coin flip.
Grade it if you rate your copy better than that, leave it raw if you don't.
It assumes a 9 is the worst you'll get. Centering and edge whitening send plenty of modern cards back at 8 or lower, and that's not priced in here, so treat this as the floor of the bar rather than the whole of it. Selling fees aren't counted either.
(cost - PSA 9) ÷ (PSA 10 - PSA 9)
You need at least
a 1-in-2 shot (45%) at a PSA 10 for this to pay off.
A PSA 10 puts you $98.41 ahead. A PSA 9 still sells for $16.92, so a disappointing grade costs you $79.67 rather than everything you put in.
Among the 100 cards in Black Bolt with PSA 10 sale data, Whirlipede ranks 52nd for Return on Grading and 57th by PSA 10 price. Of the 69 Illustration Rare cards with PSA 10 sales, it is 51st for Return on Grading. The median PSA 10 in this set sells for $221.16. 53 of the 100 clear a 100% Return on Grading.
