How to Submit Cards to CGC

To submit cards to CGC: create a free account, fill in the online submission form, sleeve each card and put it in a semi-rigid holder, stack the cards in packing-slip order between two oversized pieces of cardboard, band the bundle loosely, pad it, box it with the packing slips inside and ship it insured to CGC in Sarasota, Florida. Everything below is that sequence with the detail that stops it going wrong.

Two framing facts first. CGC states that "the shipping provider that you select when submitting your order refers to the return shipping from CGC Cards to you" and that "you are responsible for safely shipping your cards to CGC" — so the outbound leg, including insurance, is entirely on you. And CGC notes its packaging instructions are suggestions; the responsibility for secure packaging stays with the submitter.

CGC asks you to "create a free account using our quick and easy form". Paid membership is optional and starts at a published $39 a year, with CGC stating that Associate and Premium members save 10% on grading and Elite members save 20%. On anything above a couple of dozen cards at Bulk pricing, the discount outruns the membership fee, so decide this before you submit rather than after.

Then complete CGC's online submission form, which is where you declare each card and choose the service tier. The tier decision is a declared-value decision — pick the cheapest tier whose cap covers what the card is plausibly worth graded. The table is in CGC grading cost, and if you are heading for the $17 Bulk tier, read is CGC bulk worth it first, because it carries a 25-card minimum and a $500 cap.

Print the packing slip. It is not optional paperwork — the card order on it governs how you physically stack the cards, and the slips go in the box.

1. Place each card into a protective sleeve. A standard soft penny sleeve, card face in, no tape.
2. Place each sleeved card into a semi-rigid sleeve. CGC's wording is that the sleeve "must be sturdy enough to allow us to remove the card safely" — so a flimsy holder is a real rejection risk, and a toploader is the wrong tool because it is not designed to be opened.
3. Stack all of the cards between two pieces of cardboard that are larger than the cards, and place them in the order in which they appear on the submission form packing slip.
4. Secure the cardboard with rubber bands, firm enough to hold the sandwich together and stop cards sliding out, but not tight. CGC warns that cards packed too tightly may be damaged.
5. Protect the bound bundle with packing material — CGC names bubble wrap, Styrofoam pellets or other shipping material.
6. Pack it in a sturdy cardboard box, not packed too tightly, with the packing slips inside, then seal the outside completely with packing tape.
7. If you paid for WalkThrough or Express, write WK or EX respectively on the outside of the box in large, bold letters.
8. Ship to CGC Cards, 6802 Energy Court, Sarasota, FL 34240, United States — insured, with tracking, at your own risk.

Packing-slip order. This is the instruction most often skipped and the one with the clearest downside. CGC asks for the cards in the sequence they appear on the slip so its intake can reconcile a bundle against your declaration without guessing. A shuffled stack of three hundred semi-rigids is somebody's afternoon, and it is the kind of friction that invites queries and delay.

Rubber band tension. The instinct is to make the bundle immovable, and CGC specifically warns against it: the bands should be "just tight enough to hold the cardboard pieces together and prevent the cards from falling out", because "if packed too tightly, the cards inside may get damaged". A band biting into the edge of a semi-rigid for 150 days of queue time is a real risk to the card you are paying to grade.

Every card you pack costs the same fee whatever grade comes back, so the highest-value hour in this whole process is the one you spend deciding which cards go in. Look at centering with a tool rather than by eye, check all four corners under a bright light, and tilt the card to catch surface scratches that are invisible flat on. Anything with a crease is capped low on CGC's scale regardless of how good the rest of the card is — see CGC grading scale explained.

Photograph or scan the cards before they go, too. On a Bulk submission you will not see them again for roughly seven months, and a pre-submission image is the only record you have of the condition they left in. How to scan sports cards covers the method, and what cards are worth grading the selection decision.

CGC does not prescribe a carrier, which means the choice and the risk are yours. Use a service with tracking and insurance to the declared value of the lot, keep the receipt, and do not write anything on the outside of the box that advertises what is inside beyond the WK or EX marking CGC asks for. A plain box is a safer box.

The supplies this whole sequence calls for — sleeves, semi-rigids, rigid boards, bands, mailers — are collected in best CGC submission supplies. The equivalent process for the other graders is in how to ship cards to PSA and how to package cards for PSA; the instructions are similar in shape and differ in detail, so do not assume one set covers the other.

When the slabs come back, the job changes from protecting cardboard to protecting plastic. Slabs scratch, and they are awkward to store loose — how to store graded cards and best slab storage boxes pick that up.