SBM LabsTCG
The card comes first
A slab's number is shorthand. Centering is something you can see and measure, front and back, so that's where it starts, on every card it checks.
Invite-only beta · the Smart Buyer's Mate
Buy the card, not the grade
The number on a slab doesn't tell you how good the card inside is. SBM Labs TCG looks at the card itself. On the eBay listing it finds the slab's cert, reads its grades and subgrades from the grading company's record, and measures the card's centering, front and back, from the grading company's own images. Whether you just want a well-centred card or you're weighing up a crossover, you see the evidence before you pay.
Free during the beta Join with your Google account Google Chrome on a computer
The card, not the labelHow well centred it really is, front and back, measured from the images
No slab in hand neededEverything comes from the listing and the grading company's own records
Finds the cert for youFrom the item specifics, the slab's QR code, or its printed label
Grades and subgradesSurface, Centering, Edges and Corners at a glance
Who it's for
Two kinds of buyer, one question
Is this card as good as it looks? Some people want a card they'll be happy to own. Others want to know whether a slab could get a better grade from another company. Both start by looking hard at the card.
Buying a card to keep
- See how well centred the card really is, front and back, before you pay, not just the number on its label
- Two cards with the same grade can look very different: compare the cards themselves
- Grades from different companies, and from different years, don't promise the same centering. A measurement does
- Raw cards next: an ungraded card's centering from the seller's photo, in testing now
Buying to cross
- Whether a slab could get the grade you're after from another grading company, and why
- Its grades and subgrades from the grading company's own record of the cert, not the seller's description
- What's holding a card back, the centering or a subgrade, with the numbers to show it
- Rule out the slabs that won't make it before you spend on fees: more for cross-graders
The thinking behind it
Look past the number on the label
A grade is one grader's summary of a card on one day. What you're actually buying is the card. SBM Labs TCG, the Smart Buyer's Mate, puts the evidence about that card in front of you before you spend.
Standards aren't all the same
Each grading company sets its own centering limits, and they change over time. A top grade from one company, or from years ago, isn't always better centred than a 9 or 10 from another company graded today.
Evidence, not promises
It doesn't predict grades. It shows what can be checked from a listing, with the numbers and pictures behind them, and says plainly what it can't check yet.
Raw or slabbed
Slabs today, with raw cards in testing: the same careful measuring whether the card is in a slab, a sleeve or a toploader.
For cross-graders
Better information before you cross over
Sending a graded card to another company is a bet on how a second grader will see the same card. SBM Labs TCG doesn't predict the new grade, and nothing honestly can. What it does is put everything that can be checked from a listing in front of you, whichever crossing you're weighing up, so your grading fees go on the slabs with the best chance.
What it tells you
- The slab's grades and subgrades, from the grading company's own record of the cert, not the seller's description
- The centering, front and back, measured on the grading company's high-resolution images pair by pair and at the worst point, the way the company you're crossing to judges it
- What's holding a card back, the centering or a subgrade, with the numbers to show it
- When the cert doesn't match the listing's card or number, so a mix-up doesn't cost you
What it can't tell you
- Surface flaws such as faint scratches, print lines and dents: not yet, it's on the roadmap
- The back's condition, such as whitening and marks: not yet, that's on the roadmap too
- How another grader, on another day, will judge the same card
- Whether the slab that arrives matches the listing's photos
Rule outSlabs whose subgrades or centering already fall short of the grade you're after: they rarely make it, so skip them and save the fee.
Look closerOpen a candidate's centering pictures, front and back, check a close call yourself in the Adjust editor, and study the seller's photos.
DecidePut your money on the slabs that pass, and choose how you'll send them.
Crack it, or send it in its slab?
Many cross-graders crack a slab open and send the card raw, so the new grader judges the card itself, with no other company's label and grade in view to anchor their opinion. Others send the slab as it is for a crossover, where the grading service offers one: the card stays protected, and if it doesn't reach the grade asked for, it comes back in its original slab.
Cracking takes care: a card can be marked coming out, and the old grade goes with the slab. Whichever way you send it, SBM Labs TCG helps you pick the slabs worth the attempt.
Buy the card, not the grade
See how good a card really is before you pay, whether you're buying it to keep or to cross. Join the waiting list with your Google account: we'll let you in as places open.