I grew up collecting Pokémon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and every now and again I would get a pack of sports cards. Now that I am older and have adult money, I still like to collect trading cards but I have stepped by game up. Recently I have started to grade my Pokémon cards with a company called Automated Grading Systems (AGS) and my sports cards with Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA)

Most people know who PSA is, as they have been the standard for years for all TCG card grading. But recently I discovered a company called Automated Grading Systems (AGS) that offers very reasonable prices for grading services. AGS prides themselves as “The most accurate, transparent, and fastest way to grade your cards!” They do this by using artificial intelligence (AI) to grade a cards. According to their website “The score of a RoboGraded card is consistent & thus more reliable. It doesn’t change if you grade it twice or if the grader is having a bad day. The AI reads it consistently every single time!”

AGS argues that other card grading companies like PSA use humans to grade cards and because of this there is going to be human error when grading. But when grading a card with AI, robots don’t make mistakes. AGS has evidence of their AI regrading the same card multiple times and the same card gets the same grade. But when the same card is sent to other companies the card comes back with inconsistent grades.

I started grading with AGS a few years ago and my lowest graded card serial number is in the two thousands. Their current serial numbers are in the 120K mark. Here are a few things that make AGS the best card grading company for beginners like me and want to start getting back into the TCG world.

AGS Pricing & Transparency For All TGC Collectors

Pricing was a big reason I chose AGS over the competition. Their 30-business day turn around starts at $14 per card VS PSA $25 per card and Beckett $20 per card. AGS tends to run sales on their social media, and I have gotten as low as $10 per card. Also, they offer some upfront payment discounts as well.
Additionally their transparence of grading is something I fell in love with. You can scan any graded AGS card slab and see exactly why it got the grade it did. Most other card trading companies don’t tell you this information. So, you can see the consistency in card grading by just scanning the QR code on the back on the card slab.
My only concern is that people look at AGS as a cheap alternative to the big boys. Yes, their prices are much lower and yes, their transparency is great but at the end of the day if you are looking to buy the best of the best you are going to go with the best of the best. PSA still own the market and is known as the best of the best. Recently a PSA 10 Pokémon 2021 Celebrations Venusaur 15/102 Holo Rare 25th Anniversary sold for $50 where the same AGS card sold for $30

My Overall Thoughts On AGS

If you are like me and want to start getting back into Pokémon cards and collecting TCG that AGS is a great place to start. You can grade your TCG cards with AGS at a great price to help protect the value of the card. If you have a card that you believe is worth a lot of money I would recommend working with a grading card company like PSA or Beckett as they are the more reputable source for grading cards.