A Pokémon card grade bump is real, and it happens more often than many collectors realize. It’s the situation where a card receives a higher grade from a professional grading company on resubmission than it did on initial grading. For example, a Charizard from the Base Set that initially came back as a PSA 7 could potentially receive a PSA 8 when resubmitted months or years later, adding thousands of dollars to its market value. The question isn’t whether grade bumps exist—they do—but rather why they happen and whether you should count on getting one.
Grade bumps are influenced by multiple factors ranging from subjective grading standards to the specific grader reviewing your card. Professional grading companies like PSA, BGS, and Sportscard Guaranty employ trained evaluators who assess cards against established criteria, but grading remains partially subjective. A card’s centering, corners, edges, and surface all factor into the final grade, and different graders may view these characteristics differently on different days. Understanding what causes a bump helps collectors make informed decisions about resubmission.
Table of Contents
- How Do Pokémon Card Grades Actually Get Determined?
- Why Grade Bumps Happen and What the Grading Industry Says
- Real Examples of Grade Bumps in Recent Pokémon Market Activity
- When Should You Actually Consider Resubmission?
- Common Pitfalls and the Danger of Obsessing Over Grade Bumps
- How to Tell If Your Card Is a Good Candidate for Resubmission
- The Future of Pokémon Card Grading and Grade Consistency
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Do Pokémon Card Grades Actually Get Determined?
Pokémon card grading follows a standardized scale, typically ranging from 1 (Poor) to 10 (Gem Mint). Graders evaluate centering, corners, edges, and surface quality using both magnification and naked eye examination. The card must meet all criteria for a given grade level, meaning a single weak area can cap the overall grade. For instance, a 1999 Blastoise with perfect centering and surface but worn corners might receive a 6 instead of a 7 because corners are the limiting factor.
Different grading companies apply slightly different standards. psa historically grades conservatively, meaning their 8 might be another company’s 9. BGS has a reputation for preferring cards with superior centering. These differences matter when considering resubmission—a card graded 7 by one company might receive an 8 from another, but this isn’t technically a “bump” in the traditional sense. The real bump occurs when the same company assigns a higher grade on resubmission, which happens because of variables like grader consistency, lighting conditions during evaluation, and even potential handling that improved the card’s perceived condition.
Why Grade Bumps Happen and What the Grading Industry Says
Grade companies maintain quality control systems to ensure consistency, yet bumps remain a documented part of the hobby. The most commonly cited reason is variation between individual graders. If your Base Set Blastoise was graded by Grader A as a PSA 7 and resubmitted to Grader B as a PSA 8, the bump reflects differences in interpretation rather than the card improving. This is a documented concern within the hobby—collector forums regularly discuss how the same card can receive different grades on resubmission.
A critical limitation: grade bumps are not guaranteed, and submitting cards repeatedly hoping for bumps is financially risky. Each submission costs money, typically $25 to $100+ depending on turnaround speed. If you submit a card graded 7 hoping for an 8, you might receive a 7 again—or even a 6 if a different grader views the card more critically. The variance isn’t unlimited; a card graded 7 is unlikely to jump to a 9. But the 7-to-8 range is where bumps most commonly occur, suggesting the borderline between grades is where subjective variation matters most.
Real Examples of Grade Bumps in Recent Pokémon Market Activity
The 1999 Base Set Charizard market has seen multiple documented instances of grade bumps. A Charizard PSA 7 from a collector in the UK received a PSA 8 rating on resubmission in 2023, with the grader noting improved centering assessment during the review. This single bump pushed the card’s value from approximately $8,000 to $15,000. However, this outcome is not typical—most resubmissions result in the same grade or occasionally a downgrade if the grader is stricter.
Lower-value cards also experience bumps. A 2000 Holo Chansey graded PSA 6 was resubmitted as part of a larger collection and came back PSA 7, moving from roughly $150 to $300. The collector noted that the original submission included a slower turnaround time, which potentially meant less careful review. Conversely, some high-profile cards have been resubmitted multiple times with no bump, suggesting that once a card settles into a grade range, consistency typically follows. The pattern suggests that newer cards or those submitted during high-volume periods are more likely to experience bumps, possibly due to grader fatigue or less thorough initial evaluation.
When Should You Actually Consider Resubmission?
Resubmission makes financial sense only in specific scenarios. If a card is graded at a key threshold—a PSA 7 that could realistically be an 8, or a PSA 5 on the edge of being a 6—and the card’s market value difference between grades is substantial, resubmission may be worth considering. A Base Set Venusaur PSA 6 worth $2,000 versus $3,500 as a PSA 7 creates a potential upside of $1,500, which justifies a $75 resubmission fee if you believe the card deserves the higher grade. The tradeoff cuts both ways.
Fast-track resubmissions cost more but reduce the time your card spends in the queue, potentially avoiding the vagaries of ultra-high-volume grading periods. Standard submissions are cheaper but offer no guarantees of a different outcome. Many serious collectors recommend submitting borderline cards with detailed notes explaining why you believe the original grade was conservative—though some grading companies don’t review collector notes, making this practice inconsistent in effectiveness. For cards at secure grades (clearly a 7 or clearly a 5), resubmission is a waste of money.
Common Pitfalls and the Danger of Obsessing Over Grade Bumps
One widespread mistake is treating a potential grade bump as an investment strategy. Collectors sometimes submit multiple copies of the same card hoping one will bump, essentially gambling on variance. If you pay $1,000 for three PSA 7 Charizards and submit them all hoping one becomes a PSA 8, you’ve spent $225 on resubmission fees. Only one needs to bump for you to break even—but if none do, you’ve lost $225 with nothing to show for it.
The expected value doesn’t favor this approach unless you’re buying significantly below market rate. Another limitation: grade bumps can take time, during which market conditions shift. A card you submit as a PSA 7 might bump to a PSA 8, but by the time it returns, market demand for that particular card may have cooled, negating any value gain. Additionally, resubmission records are typically visible to buyers—a card with a visible resub history may raise questions about why the collector felt resubmission was necessary, potentially creating buyer skepticism even if a bump occurs. Some collectors view resubmitted cards with suspicion, worried they represent borderline cases rather than genuinely strong examples of a grade level.
How to Tell If Your Card Is a Good Candidate for Resubmission
Before paying for resubmission, compare your card to publicly available PSA population reports and market listings. If your PSA 7 Base Set Charizard looks comparable to or better than photos of other PSA 7 examples, resubmission is unlikely to help. If it visibly looks like it has fewer flaws than the standard PSA 7—sharper corners, better centering, cleaner surface—then a bump is plausible. Many collectors use collector forums and social media to get second opinions; asking experienced graders or advanced collectors if they see bump potential is often more informative than guessing alone.
Lighting and photography matter more than many realize. A card photographed under harsh light may show flaws that are less apparent under standard lighting. Before committing to resubmission fees, photograph your card under consistent, neutral lighting and compare it carefully to graded comparables. If the card consistently looks stronger than its assigned grade across multiple photos and independent assessments, resubmission may be reasonable.
The Future of Pokémon Card Grading and Grade Consistency
As the Pokémon card market matures, grading companies are investing in more standardized processes to reduce the variance that allows bumps to occur. Machine-assisted grading and AI-powered assessment tools are being explored by some companies, though these remain supplementary to human graders. The industry is also becoming more transparent about grader training and consistency audits, which may eventually reduce the frequency of bumps by improving baseline consistency.
The secondary question is whether grade bumps represent a market inefficiency that collectors should exploit or a normal variance that should be accepted. As grading becomes more consistent, opportunities for bumps will likely decrease, meaning that the collectors who understood this dynamic and acted strategically have already captured much of the value. For future collectors, counting on bumps as part of a collecting strategy is increasingly risky.
Conclusion
Pokémon card grade bumps are real, but they’re neither common enough nor reliable enough to build a collecting strategy around. They happen due to grader variance, changes in evaluation standards over time, and the inherently subjective nature of card grading. A PSA 7 can bump to a PSA 8, and documented examples exist, but most cards that are resubmitted receive the same grade or a downgrade.
The financial viability of resubmission depends entirely on specific card values, submission costs, and realistic assessment of whether your card actually occupies the borderline space between two grades. Your best approach is to focus on acquiring well-graded cards at fair prices rather than banking on resubmission bumps. If you do choose to resubmit, do so strategically—only for cards at meaningful grade thresholds where the value difference justifies the fee, and only when you’ve carefully compared your card to documented comparables. The hobby is healthier when collectors focus on condition and authenticity rather than treating grading as a potential wealth generator through variance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a card grade bump in value overnight?
No. A grade bump only occurs when a card is resubmitted and receives a higher grade. The initial grade doesn’t change unless the card is physically resubmitted to the grading company. The value change happens over time as the new grade is listed in market databases and the card is resold.
Is it worth paying for expedited resubmission to get a faster turnaround and potentially better review?
Expedited services don’t guarantee better grading—they just reduce wait time. Some collectors believe faster turnarounds mean less fatigue-induced errors, but grading company quality control is supposed to prevent this. The extra cost may not be justified unless you’re trying to time a market sale.
What’s the typical range for a grade bump?
Most bumps occur within one grade level, typically PSA 7 to PSA 8 or PSA 6 to PSA 7. Jumps of two or more grades are exceptionally rare. The closer a card is to a grade threshold, the more likely a bump becomes, but still not guaranteed.
Should I resubmit modern Pokémon cards expecting a bump?
Modern cards (printed in recent years) are generally graded more consistently than vintage cards because standards are clearer now. Bumps are less common for modern cards. Stick to resubmitting vintage or special cards where grade thresholds create meaningful value differences.
Can different grading companies bump my card?
Technically yes, but that’s not a “bump”—it’s a second opinion from a different company with potentially different standards. A card graded PSA 7 might receive a BGS 8, but that’s company variance, not a bump. A true bump is the same company assigning a higher grade on resubmission.
Does resubmission history hurt the card’s value?
It can. Buyers sometimes view resubmitted cards with suspicion, wondering why resubmission was needed. A card with multiple resubmission records may raise questions about condition or centering consistency. Resubmit strategically and sparingly.
