Card cleaning & grading prep

Cleaning is our most-booked service, and the one place where professional treatment directly supports a grading submission. Surface grime, fingerprint oils, sleeve residue, and light storage haze all cost eye appeal — and eye appeal is real subgrade money at PSA, BGS, and CGC.

Our cleaning and grade prep is non-invasive: we remove contamination sitting on top of the card without touching the printed surface or altering the card's structure. That distinction is what separates cleaning from restoration in the eyes of the grading companies.

What cleaning & grade prep involves

• Surface cleaning and decontamination front and back
• Light press and humidity treatment to correct minor storage warp
• Centering and edge review under magnification
• A pre-submission checklist covering what we'd expect graders to flag

What to expect

Cards that have been stored loose, handled unsleeved, or kept in smoky or humid environments show the biggest improvement. Cleaning removes what's on the card; it doesn't repair what's happened to the card — scratches, whitening, and creases need our repair services instead, and we'll tell you if we see them during prep.

Is cleaning safe for grading?

Non-invasive surface cleaning is standard collection care, not alteration. We never add material, recolor, or rebuild any part of the card during cleaning — and if a card needs work that would cross that line to look its best, we'll flag it and let you decide with full information.

Pricing

Cleaning and grade prep starts at $20 per card, with typical turnaround of one to three weeks. Submitting several cards ahead of a grading deadline? Mention it in your quote request and we'll confirm timing up front.