In most cases, regrading a BGS 8 Lapras is not financially worth it. The grading costs alone—ranging from $19 for basic service up to $250 for premium tiers—would need to be offset by a significant jump in the card’s market value. Since market values for BGS-graded cards are often lower than their PSA equivalents at the same numeric grade, a BGS 8 Lapras typically won’t command enough premium to justify the regrading expense.
For example, if your BGS 8 Lapras is worth $300 on the market, the grading fee plus return shipping could consume 10-20% of that value, and there’s no guarantee the card will receive a higher grade upon resubmission. The core problem is that BGS grading standards are stricter than PSA’s, particularly on sub-grades. A collector might hope their BGS 8 Lapras will be bumped to an 8.5 or 9, but more often the card comes back at the same grade or potentially lower. Unless you have specific reason to believe the card was undergraded—or you’re submitting for authentication reasons rather than grade improvement—the financial math simply doesn’t work in your favor.
Table of Contents
- What Does BGS Regrading Actually Cost?
- Why BGS Regrading Often Disappoints Collectors
- Understanding BGS Sub-Grades and Their Market Impact
- The Real Value Math: When Regrading Makes Financial Sense
- Common Regrading Mistakes Lapras Collectors Make
- Service Tiers and Turnaround Times for Your Decision
- The Future of Pokemon Grading Standards
- Conclusion
What Does BGS Regrading Actually Cost?
The most transparent way to evaluate this decision is to understand exactly what you’ll spend. BGS charges a base grading fee that depends on the service tier you choose. Standard service costs between $34.95 and $50, while Express service runs $79.95 to $150. If you opt for their fastest Premium tier, you’re looking at $250 or more. For a standard Lapras card with no special characteristics, Standard or Express service are the realistic choices for most collectors.
Beyond the grading fee itself, you’ll encounter additional costs. Return shipping alone runs $10 for orders under five cards. If your Lapras happens to be signed or oversized (unlikely for most Lapras cards), you’d add $5 or $8 respectively. This means a typical regrading submission costs between $45 and $60 just to get the card back to you. For a BGS 8 Lapras valued between $250 and $500, that’s a meaningful percentage of the card’s worth before you even see if the grade improves.
Why BGS Regrading Often Disappoints Collectors
The harsh reality is that BGS and PSA grade differently, and BGS tends toward the stricter side. A card that achieves a PSA 9 might return from BGS as an 8.5, which negatively impacts resale value significantly. This isn’t random variation—it reflects genuine differences in how these grading companies evaluate card condition. When collectors submit a BGS 8 card for regrading, they’re often hoping for an 8.5 or even a 9, but the statistical likelihood is that it comes back at 8 again, or possibly even lower if there’s been any damage during shipping or if the original grader was generous.
The limitation here is crucial: you have no control over which grader reviews your card on resubmission. Different graders within the same company can have slight variations in how they interpret centering, corners, and other factors. The only thing you’re truly betting on is that the original grader missed something obvious. For most BGS 8 cards already in circulation, that’s a risky assumption. You’re paying $45-60 with a downside scenario where you get a lower grade and have essentially thrown money away.
Understanding BGS Sub-Grades and Their Market Impact
BGS includes sub-grades automatically with every grading—no additional cost. This means your BGS 8 Lapras comes back with individual grades for corners, centering, and surface, like 8, 7, 8, 8. These sub-grades are visible on the label and heavily influence what savvy buyers will pay. A BGS 8 with weak sub-grades (like 8, 6, 8, 7) will sell for significantly less than a BGS 8 with strong sub-grades (8, 8, 8, 7 or better).
When you submit for regrading, you’re hoping that either the overall grade bumps up or the sub-grades improve, which might command a premium even if the overall grade stays at 8. However, this is where BGS’s strictness becomes a real issue. A collector might feel their card deserves better sub-grades, but if BGS already gave it an 8 overall, there’s limited room for significant improvement in the sub-grades. You might see one sub-grade move from 7 to 7.5, which is meaningful but rarely worth the $50 submission cost. The warning here is that you cannot cherry-pick which card you’re submitting for regrading based on sub-grade potential alone—you’re submitting the whole card and taking whatever comes back.
The Real Value Math: When Regrading Makes Financial Sense
There are rare scenarios where regrading a BGS 8 Lapras actually pencils out financially. If your card is a high-value variant—a first edition or shadowless Lapras, for example—and you genuinely believe it was undergraded, the potential upside might justify a $50 gamble. A BGS 9 first edition Lapras could be worth 30-50% more than a BGS 8, which would easily offset your submission cost. In this situation, you’d want to submit during Express service so you get feedback quickly and can relist if the grade improves.
For more common Lapras printings or unlimited editions, the math works against you. You’d need to be confident that moving from an 8 to an 8.5 or 9 would generate at least $100-150 in additional resale value. Most condition improvements in the BGS 8 range don’t generate that kind of premium. The comparison worth making is simple: estimate what your card would sell for at the current grade, then estimate what it would sell for at the next grade up. If the difference is less than $75, don’t submit.
Common Regrading Mistakes Lapras Collectors Make
The biggest mistake collectors make is assuming that regrading is a form of card improvement. It’s not. Regrading doesn’t clean the card, sharpen its corners, or fix centering issues. It’s purely a re-evaluation of the existing condition. Many collectors submit cards hoping BGS will be more generous on a second look, but BGS is actually known for being consistent or even stricter on resubmission. If your BGS 8 Lapras was honestly graded the first time, it will likely come back a 8 again.
Another critical warning: shipping damage is a real risk. The card goes through the postal system twice—once to BGS and once back to you. While grading companies ship carefully, there’s always a small chance of damage in transit that results in a lower grade on resubmission. You’re accepting this risk for a reward that’s statistically unlikely to materialize. The third mistake is not researching the specific Lapras variant before submitting. If your card is already a common version that doesn’t command high prices, regrading is almost certainly a waste of money.
Service Tiers and Turnaround Times for Your Decision
BGS offers multiple service tiers, and choosing the right one impacts your total cost and risk calculation. Standard service typically takes 30-45 days and costs $34.95-$50 per card. During that time, your Lapras is out of circulation and you can’t sell it. Express service costs nearly triple ($79.95-$150) but gives you results in 7-15 days, meaning you can quickly relist if the grade improves or cut your losses if it doesn’t.
Premium service at $250 is only relevant if your Lapras is extremely valuable or time-sensitive. The practical tradeoff is between cost and speed. For a BGS 8 Lapras worth $300-500, Express service makes more sense than Standard because you reduce the time your capital is tied up in the regrading process. However, this higher cost also raises the bar for what grade improvement would justify the expense. If you’re leaning toward Standard service because of the lower price, you should probably reconsider regrading entirely—the slower timeline means your opportunity cost of holding the card increases.
The Future of Pokemon Grading Standards
The Pokemon card grading landscape is gradually shifting toward stricter standards across the industry. BGS’s already-strict approach may become more mainstream as collectors demand consistency and authenticity verification. This trend actually makes regrading less attractive in the near term, because future graders are unlikely to be significantly more generous than current ones.
Your BGS 8 Lapras is probably graded according to current standards, which means regrading it won’t benefit from any future inflation in grade standards. However, the alternative—holding onto raw cards or lower-grade slabbed cards—comes with its own risks. The long-term value of a BGS 8 Lapras is more stable than an ungraded or undesired-slab version. From a collection perspective, you’re better off accepting the current grade and adjusting your pricing expectations rather than chasing incremental grade improvements through repeated regrading.
Conclusion
Regrading a BGS 8 Lapras is worth it only in specific, limited circumstances: when you have a high-value variant that you genuinely believe was undergraded, or when potential value gains would exceed $100-150. For the vast majority of Lapras collectors, the math doesn’t work. The combination of BGS’s strict grading standards, the possibility of the same grade on resubmission, and the real cost of submission and return shipping creates an unfavorable risk-reward scenario.
Your best approach is to have your BGS 8 Lapras authenticated by an expert outside the grading company before deciding to resubmit. Check the market value for your specific card variant—the price guide or PokeScope can help with current pricing data—and calculate whether a realistic one-grade improvement would justify the expense. In most cases, you’ll decide to hold the card as-is and adjust your asking price accordingly, which is the financially prudent move.
