Before you send out your cards for grading, one of the best things you can do is clean your cards.
Sending your cards to be graded without cleaning them is a bit like going on a date without brushing your teeth – it just needs to be done.
No matter if you have a newer card or an older card, you will benefit from cleaning your cards, I promise you.
In this article, you’re going to learn how to clean sports cards for grading to get the highest grade possible.
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How to Clean Sports Cards for Grading
In short, here is how you clean your sports cards for grading, step by step:
- Take your card out of the cardholder and penny sleeve carefully
- Take a microfibre cloth or round cotton wipe (and some Windex or alcohol solution if cleaning old, dusty, or dirty cards)
- Start cleaning the surface of your card carefully by making circular motions all over the card
- After cleaning, inspect the card carefully with a magnifying lamp or glass
- If everything’s in order, place the card into a new penny sleeve
- Prepare the card to be sent out for grading and send it
This is the process of cleaning your sports cards for grading in short. We’ll now go into a bit more detail through every step to help you make sure you get everything right.
Step 1: Gather Everything You’ll Need
Before you start cleaning your sports cards and send them to be graded, you’ll want to gather everything you’ll need for cleaning the card.
It’s not much, but being prepared will help you clean the card faster and more efficiently, and get higher grades more easily.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A microfibre cloth or cotton round wipes – a microfibre cloth will do best here because these don’t leave any traces behind as you clean the surface of the card, which is the key. Note that the cloth should be new and completely clean. Alternatively, you can also use round cotton wipes.
- Windex or alcohol solution – for newer cards, you might not need anything additional to a microfibre cloth. But for older and dirtier cards, you might want to use an alcohol solution of something like Windex to clean your card.
- A magnifying lamp – ideally, you’d want to have a magnifying lamp before you send out your cards to be graded. This will be used to inspect your card for any faults before applying for grading. You can use a magnifying glass but it just won’t be as effective as a lamp.
- Brand new cardholders and penny sleeves – this is more important than you might think. Get new cardholders and especially penny sleeves, which will help you make sure your card stays beautiful and clean inside the packaging.
- (Optional) Corn flour or baby powder – these two solutions are great for old cards especially, but might not be as effective for newer cards.
Once you have everything you need, move onto the next step.
Step 2: Take Your Card Out of Penny Sleeve
The next step is to carefully take your card out of your penny sleeve and cardholder. At the same time, you’ll want to be careful not to damage the surface of your card.
Try holding your card by its edges, but make sure that you don’t blunt the edges too much or at all.
If you have an older card, you can use something like a pincer to hold your card.
If you intend to use the same penny sleeve for shipping, be careful not to leave any smudges on the sleeve.
However, I do not recommend using the same penny sleeve. It’s always better to use a new one for sending the card to be graded as it’s inexpensive and easy to do.
Step 3: Clean Your Card Using a Cloth
Now you’re ready to start cleaning your card.
Depending on which type of cloth you’ve picked for cleaning your card, you’ll want to start slowly and systematically.
I’ve found microfibre cloth to be the best for cleaning your card, but round c