Glossary
Gradeon glossary
The Gradeon glossary defines every term used in the app, its pre-grading system and our blog: defect codes like WHT and SCR, sub-grades, the cap rule, price sources and grading industry terms.
Gradeon pre-grades are AI estimates, not official PSA, BGS or CGC grades. Definitions reflect the app as of September 2026.
Grading scale
Cap rule
The guard that stops strong areas from hiding a weak one. A side’s grade can never be more than 1.0 above its lowest sub-grade, and a card’s combined grade can never be more than 1.0 above its weaker side. Three perfect areas and one bad corner still give a 7–8, not a 9.
Combined grade
The single grade of a card: the average of the front grade and the back grade, capped at the weaker side + 1.0, rounded to the nearest 0.5. What the app shows in large type on the result screen and in the collection.
EX (Excellent)
Grade 5–5.5. Surface wear visible, several light scratches, corners starting to round. A played card.
EX-MT (Excellent–Mint)
Grade 6–6.5. Visible wear or a printing defect, some loss of gloss, minor notching on edges. Also the ceiling for any card with a crease on its surface.
Front grade / Back grade
Each side of the card gets its own four sub-grades and its own overall grade. They are shown side by side in the grade breakdown; the back is graded exactly as strictly as the front.
Gem Mint
Grade 9.5–10. Virtually flawless to the naked eye. In Gradeon, 9.5 is the top grade actually awarded (a 10 would need inspection under magnification); a Gradeon 9.5 is the card you submit hoping for a PSA 10.
Good
Grade 2–2.5. Heavy wear: rounded corners, damaged edges, creases, much of the gloss gone.
Grade breakdown
The section of the result screen listing the four sub-grades — Centering, Corners, Edges, Surface — for the front and for the back, with the side grades and the combined grade.
Grade value
Half-point scale
Gradeon grades in 0.5 steps (7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5), like BGS and CGC. A Gradeon 9.5 reads as a “PSA 10 candidate“.
Mint
Grade 9. Sharp to the naked eye; at most a single dot of whitening or one minor surface flaw. Where most well-kept modern cards land.
NM (Near Mint)
Grade 7–7.5. Slight wear visible on close inspection — light whitening on several corners, slight fraying — but most of the original gloss retained. The standard “played but cared for” condition.
NM-MT (Near Mint–Mint)
Grade 8–8.5. Minor whitening on one or two corners, specks of chipping, minor scratches only on close inspection. The most common grade for cards pulled from packs and sleeved immediately.
Poor
Grade 1–1.5. Severe damage: heavy creases, missing material, no gloss.
Pre-grade
Gradeon’s word for its grade: an AI estimate of the grade a professional company (PSA, BGS, CGC) would most likely assign. Not an official grade, never a certification; a decision aid for whether, and where, to submit a card.
Rounding
After the weighted average and the cap rule, every grade is rounded to the nearest 0.5 and kept between 1 and 10. Sub-grades come from the grader already in 0.5 steps.
Sub-grade
VG (Very Good)
Grade 3–3.5. Significant rounding, noticeable edge wear, scuffing, much of the gloss lost.
VG-EX (Very Good–Excellent)
Grade 4–4.5. Visibly rounded corners, light scuffing on edges, a light crease may be visible.
Weights
How much each area counts in a side’s grade: Surface 35 %, Corners 25 %, Edges 25 %, Centering 15 %. Surface weighs most because it hosts the most value-destroying defects and is what a good photo shows best.
The four areas
Centering
How evenly the printed image sits inside the card, measured as the left/right and top/bottom border ratios. Counts 15 % of the side grade and is the one area the user confirms by hand (centering check).
Corners
The four tips of the card. Judged on whitening, softness, rounding, fraying, bends and chips. Counts 25 %.
Edges
The four borders of the card between the corners. Judged on whitening, chipping, nicks, fraying and silvering. Counts 25 %. Rule of thumb: the last few millimetres before a tip belong to the corner, not the edge.
Surface
Everything on the face and back of the card: scratches, print lines, dents, creases, stains, scuffing, loss of gloss. Counts 35 %, the largest share.
Centering
Adjust centering
The tool that lets the user move the eight pins on the photo. The ratios and the centering sub-grade update live; saving recalculates the side grade and the combined grade.
Border
The strip between the physical edge of the card and the printed frame of the artwork. Gradeon measures its width on all four sides; the ratios between opposite borders are the centering.
Centering check
The mandatory confirmation step after every full grade: the user reviews the pins on the front and on the back and confirms (one tap if they line up) or adjusts them. The grade is not final — and cannot be shared — until both sides are confirmed.
Centering feedback
The “Was the AI centering right? Yes / No” prompt in the centering tool. The answer trains the detection model; it does not change the grade.
Centering ratio
Two numbers per axis, written left/right | top/bottom, e.g. 52/48 | 49/51. Each pair adds up to 100 and says what share of the total border sits on each side. 50/50 | 50/50 is perfect.
Centering scale
Gradeon’s mapping from deviation to sub-grade, identical for front and back: ≤ 2 % → 10, ≤ 5 % → 9, ≤ 8 % → 8, ≤ 12 % → 7, ≤ 16 % → 6, ≤ 20 % → 5, then one point less per 5 %.
Deviation (off-centre %)
How far a ratio is from 50/50, taking the worse of the two axes. 55/45 | 51/49 is 5 % off. The centering sub-grade is read straight off the deviation.
Pins
The eight draggable points of the centering tool: four outer pins on the physical corners of the card and four inner pins on the corners of the printed border. The automatic detection places them; the user confirms or corrects them.
Outer corners / inner corners
What the outer and inner pins mark: the card’s real corners and the corners of the printed frame. The distance between the two on each side is the border width.
Defects
Bounding box
The rectangle drawn on the photo around one defect, labelled with its defect code and coloured by severity. Tap it to read the description.
Chip (CHP)
A small piece missing from an edge or a corner: a nick, a bite, a torn-off flake. The outline of the border changes. Not to be confused with edge wear, where the border is frayed but nothing is missing.
Confidence
Crease (CRS)
A fold line: the card was bent. Shows as a line with broken print or white fibres, or as a bent or lifted corner. The most expensive defect: any crease caps the surface sub-grade at 6, two creases at 4.
Defect
One piece of physical damage found on a photo, with a type, a severity, a confidence and a bounding box. Every grade below 9 is backed by at least one defect.
Defect code
The 3-letter label on the photo overlay: SCR scratch, WHT whitening, DNT dent, CRS crease, EDG edge wear, SRF surface damage, DRT dirt, PRL print line, COR soft corner, CHP chip, OTH other. The defect list spells them out.
Defect count caps
The rule that ties a sub-grade to the number of defects in that area: 1 defect → max 9, 2 → max 8, 3 → max 7, 4 or more → max 6. On top of that, any defect of severity 3+ caps the area at 7, severity 4+ at 5.
Dent (DNT)
A pressure mark: a small depression or bump in the surface from a fingernail, a stacked object or a binder ring, visible as a shadow or a shine distortion at an angle. No fold line — with a fold line it is a crease.
Detail defects
Defects found only in the detail shots, after removing anything already seen on the full-card photo. Listed with the others and factored into the side they belong to.
Dirt (DRT)
Something on the card rather than damage to it: a stain, a fingerprint, residue, an ink spot that is not part of the print, a stuck fibre. Dust on the lens or the background is ignored.
Edge wear (EDG)
The border itself is damaged: frayed, ragged, layers visible along the edge — not just whitened. Common on the long edges of heavily played cards.
Factory cut
The straight, uniform marks along the edge of every card left by the cutting machine. Normal on all cards and never counted as a defect, even when the cut looks rough.
Foil scratches
Scratches on the holographic layer of a holo card, visible as lines that break the rainbow pattern. Counted against surface.
Fraying
Glare
A bright, uniform, mirror-like reflection that follows the light and moves when the card tilts. Not a defect; the model is trained to ignore it. The number-one cause of a wrong read on a phone photo — use diffused light.
Holo pattern / print texture
The rainbow, cosmos or textured finish of holographic and full-art cards, plus normal ink variation and print dots. Printing, never a defect.
Other (OTH)
Damage that fits no other type: a hole, a burn, tape residue, writing, a tear.
Print line (PRL)
A perfectly straight, thin line from the printing press, usually running the full height or width of the card and often visible only on holo foil. A factory defect, but grading companies still count it, and so does Gradeon.
Scratch (SCR)
A thin line cut into the surface, straight or curved, usually visible only when the light hits it. Short and light is severity 1–2; across the artwork 3; deep enough to remove ink 4–5.
Scuffing
A field of hairline scratches too many to count, or a dull patch where the gloss is gone. Reported as one surface damage box over the area.
Severity
The 1–5 scale of every defect: 1 minimal (only visible zoomed in), 2 light (visible if you look), 3 medium (noticed at a glance), 4 heavy (spoils the card’s look), 5 extreme (dominates the card). Shown as a coloured number: 1–2 green, 3 orange, 4–5 red.
Silvering
On foil cards, the silver foil layer showing where the printed layer has worn or separated along the edges. Counted against edges.
Soft corner (COR)
A corner that has lost its point: rounded, fuzzy, fibres visible, sometimes layers separating. Usually comes with whitening. Any softness caps corners at 8, on two or more corners at 6.
Surface damage (SRF)
Any surface damage that is not a line: scuffing, a dull patch, holo peeling, ink loss, a factory ink mark, worn print over an area. Used when no more precise type (scratch, dent, dirt) fits.
Type
Which of the 11 categories a defect belongs to (see defect code). The type decides which sub-grade the defect counts against.
Whitening (WHT)
The white cardboard core showing through where the coloured edge or corner layer has worn off: specks, “salt”, or a white stretch along a border. The shape is intact; colour is missing, not material. True whitening shows tan/cream fibres with irregular edges and is visible from any angle — unlike glare. Whitening on one corner caps corners at 9, on two or more at 8.
Scanning and analysis
Analysis mode
The choice made on the review screen before submitting a full grade: Standard or Deep Analysis.
Card identification
The step that reads the card’s name, set and collector number from the front photo and matches them to Gradeon’s catalogue, so the grade comes with the right card and the right prices. “Wrong card?” lets the user correct a match.
Deep Analysis
The Pro analysis mode. Besides reading each photo in full, the model crops every corner and zooms into suspicious surface areas at full resolution before answering — “like a grader with a loupe”. Takes 5–10 minutes; the app notifies the user when the grade is ready.
Detail shots
Optional close-up photos of a corner, an edge or a patch of surface added after the front and back. Worth adding even on a clean-looking card: micro-defects invisible in a full-card photo show in a macro.
Full Grade
The complete scan: front, back and optional detail shots → centering, defects and the four sub-grades for each side, the combined grade, restoration advice and prices.
Quick Price
The instant scan: one photo of the front → card identification and market price in a couple of seconds, no grading. Results can be saved to the watchlist.
Restoration advice
Whether light cleaning or pressing could realistically improve the card (Restorable / Not restorable) and a short tip. Advice, not a promise; whitening, creases and chips are permanent.
Review screen
Where the captured photos are checked before submission: retake any image, add detail shots, pick the analysis mode, see the scan cost.
Scan
One graded card in the account: its photos, sub-grades, defects, centering pins, prices and the date. Scans live in the collection.
Standard
The default analysis mode. Every photo inspected once in full; the grade is ready in about 1–2 minutes.
Pricing
Cardmarket
The European marketplace Gradeon uses as its EU price source for raw cards and for graded (asking) values. Prices in EUR.
eBay sold
Recent actual eBay sale prices for the card, shown on Pro. Sales, not listings — the best read of what a card really changes hands for.
Estimated PSA tier
The PSA grade Gradeon’s grade is closest to, used to pick the graded (asking) price to show: a Gradeon 9.5 maps to PSA 10, 8.5–9 to PSA 9, 7.5–8 to PSA 8, and so on down to 1.
Graded (asking)
The price sellers are currently asking on Cardmarket EU for professionally graded copies of the card, by tier (PSA 10, 9, 8 …). “Asking” because they are listings, not sales. Pro feature.
Price source
The market a price comes from: Cardmarket (EU), TCGplayer (US) or eBay sold. Switchable per user; prices are converted to the chosen currency.
Price trends
The 7-day and 30-day price movement of a card. Pro feature.
Raw value
What the card is worth ungraded, in the condition the scan found (near-mint or mint market price). The number every grade is compared against.
TCGplayer
The US marketplace Gradeon uses as its US price source. Prices in USD.
Uplift
The difference between a card’s raw value and the graded (asking) price at its estimated PSA tier, shown as “PSA 9 would be worth €X (+Y %)”. The key number for deciding whether grading pays.
Watchlist
Where Quick Price scans are saved: a list of cards to track by price, without grading. Pro feature.
Collection
Collection
All graded scans in the account, with card art, grade badge and value, searchable and filterable by name, set, grade or value.
Collection value
The sum of the estimated values of the cards in the collection at the current price source and currency, tracked over time.
Folders
User-made groups inside the collection (by set, type, value — anything).
Currency
EUR or USD, chosen globally; every price in the app is converted to it regardless of the price source.
Industry terms
Altered card
A card that was tampered with to hide wear: inked edges (marker over whitening), trimmed edges, glue, added colour, tape. Grading companies refuse to grade them. Gradeon does not detect alterations — check before submitting.
BGS (Beckett Grading Services)
Grading company known for its four sub-grades (centering, corners, edges, surface — the same four Gradeon uses), half-point grades and the Black Label 10.
Black Label
BGS’s highest grade: a 10 with all four sub-grades at 10.
CGC (Certified Guardians Company) Cards
Grading company that also publishes sub-grades and half points; a growing third option next to PSA and BGS.
Cert number
The unique certificate number printed on a slab’s label, checkable on the grading company’s website.
Gem rate
The share of a submission that comes back Gem Mint (PSA 10). Pre-grading exists to raise it: send only the cards likely to gem.
Grading company / grading service
A third party that authenticates a card, grades it on the 1–10 scale and seals it in a slab: PSA, BGS, CGC and others. Gradeon estimates what they would say; it is not one of them.
Pop report (population report)
A grading company’s published count of how many copies of a card exist at each grade. Low pop at high grade is what drives value.
PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator)
A leading grading company and the reference for the 1–10 scale and its labels (Gem Mint 10, Mint 9, NM-MT 8 …). Gradeon’s scale and labels are PSA-comparable.
Pressing / cleaning
Light restoration a collector can do before submitting: flattening a bow, removing a surface smudge. Legitimate when it removes nothing and adds nothing; the app’s restoration advice says when it might help.
Raw card
An ungraded card, as it comes from a pack or a binder. Gradeon grades raw cards; graded ones are already in a slab.
Slab
The tamper-proof plastic case a graded card is sealed in, with the label carrying the grade and cert number.
Submission
Sending cards to a grading company. Priced per card and by declared value, with turnaround times from weeks to months — which is why knowing the likely grade first matters.
Trimmed
An altered card whose edges were cut to remove wear. Detectable by size; an automatic refusal at every grading company.