Terms and conditions

“We”, “us” and “our” means Beyond Card Grading. “You” means the person who creates the submission.

We examine trading cards, decide whether they are genuine, grade their condition against our published grading scale, and seal each graded card in a tamper-evident case with a label and a unique certificate number.

The services we offer, what each costs and how long each is expected to take are on our pricing page. The price and service that apply to your cards are the ones shown when you pay.

• You create a submission on our website, listing each card. Please describe them accurately — we may correct a card’s details to match what the card actually is, and the certificate will say what we find.
• You must own the cards you send, or have the owner’s permission to send them.
• If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must make the submission for you.
• Send only the games we currently grade, listed on what we grade.

Submissions are paid for when you make them, by card through our payment provider,SumUp. We never see or store your full card number. If you chose to bring your cards to us and pay in person, you pay at the counter when you hand them over. Nothing is graded until it has been paid for.

A discount code takes its percentage off the grading fee only, never off postage — postage is money we pass straight to a courier. A code that makes your grading free still leaves the postage to pay unless you collect in person.

Pack each card in a sleeve and a top loader or semi-rigid holder, pad the parcel so nothing moves, and send it by a tracked service. Put your packing slip — or your name and submission number — inside.

Your cards are your responsibility until they reach us. The postage to us, and the choice of courier and cover, are yours. We recommend insuring anything valuable for its full value in transit.

When your parcel arrives we open it, check what is inside against your list, and tell you about any difference before we go further.

Turnaround is counted in working days (Monday to Friday) from the day we book your parcel in — not the day you post it. You can follow each card through every stage in your account.

Turnaround times are our honest estimate and we work to them, but they are not a guarantee. Very busy periods, a query about your cards, or events outside our control can add time. If we are going to be significantly late, we will tell you.

We will not grade a card that we believe is not genuine, has been altered, trimmed or restored, does not fit in our case, or is not a game we grade. Our decision on authenticity is final.

A card we cannot grade is returned to you unsealed, and we refund its grading fee less £5.00 per card. That covers receiving, examining and returning it, which we have done whatever the result.

A grade is the professional opinion of our graders on the day, reached under our published standard and checked by a second person before the card is sealed. It describes the card’s condition. It is not a valuation, and it does not promise what the card will sell for or what another grading company would give it.

Grades are final. But if a label carries a mistake of ours — a wrong name, number or grade that does not match our record — tell us and we will put it right at no cost to you.

Every graded card gets a certificate number that anyone can look up on our website. The certificate page shows the card’s details, its grade and subgrades, and photographs of the sealed slab, and the card is counted in our population report.

Your name and details are never shown — only the card. The record stays online permanently, because it is how a future buyer checks the slab is real.

The certificate describes the card as it was when we sealed it. If the case is opened or damaged, we can no longer vouch for what is inside it.

We pack returns carefully and send them by the tracked service you chose when you paid, to the address on your submission. Please make sure it is right — we cannot redirect a parcel once it has been handed to the courier.

If you chose to collect, we will tell you when your cards are ready and you can pick them up from us in person. Please bring your submission number.

While your cards are with us we keep them secure and handle them with care. If a card is lost or damaged while in our care because of something we did or failed to do, we will compensate you up to the value you declared for that card when you submitted it — so please declare an honest value.

We are not responsible for:

• cards before they reach us, or after we hand them to the courier you chose;
• wear, flaws or damage already on a card when it arrived, including damage we only discover once we examine it;
• changes in a card’s market value, or profit you expected to make;
• delays or losses caused by events outside our reasonable control.

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit, and nothing affects your statutory rights.

You can cancel a submission for a full refund at any time before we receive your cards. Contact us with your submission number.

As a consumer buying online you also have 14 days to change your mind. By sending your cards, you ask us to start work within that period. If you cancel after we have started, we will refund what you paid less a fair amount for the work already done; once a card has been graded and sealed, the service for that card is complete and it can no longer be cancelled.

Keep your password to yourself, and tell us straight away if you think someone else has used your account. We may suspend or close an account that is used to deceive us or other people — for example by submitting cards known to be fake to obtain a certificate.

We may update these terms. The version that applies to a submission is the one in place when you paid for it, and the date at the top of this page shows when it last changed.

If something has gone wrong, please contact us first — most problems are fixed fastest that way.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you can also bring proceedings in your local courts.

How we handle your personal information is set out in our privacy policy.