Hey, so I’m hopeful to find someone from Germany here. I just recently discovered my huge collection of really old cards, all in good condition. I’ve heard that letting them get graded is a good idea, but I don’t know how this would go, considering I’m from Germany and our tolls can be quite crazy. I was hoping for someone German to chime in with their own experience.
My second question would be…if toll is not a problem or worth the investment, How would I determine whether or not a card is worth grading? I’ve looked on eBay but some cards are not sold very often and sources on the internet vary wildly.
I’m sure someone here can chime in about the shipping situation but I can give you a little idea about what to grade.
Since you said old, did you mean like Base-Neo? If so the 1st editions are worth grading if they haven’t been handled and are in mint condition.
How do I know whether or not a card is Mint, Near Mint, or whatever? It’s hard to tell to the untrained eye. And yeah, I’ve got 1st Edition Base Set stuff, Crystals from Skyridge, Grand Party, Pokémon Snap and McDonalds Promo Cards, so I guess it would be worth sending in. But I don’t know how to tell if their grading will be positive for me.
I agree with the others. Some image proof (especially of the Snap) would be nice.
Furthermore, if you got 100+ cards and you wanna grade them do your own PSA subscription. Otherwise www.ludkinscollectables.com/ is a very good service for Europeans.
I’d still appreciate first-hand experience of someone from Germany. I can take pictures of my notable cards, or just my whole collection. Where should I post them? Maybe I’ve got some gems.
Thanks for the Offer, Not Zelda. I’ve got a ton of cards, though. If I’m ever not sure if something is Mint I’ll gladly message you. For now, I’m only interested in knowing whether or not I have some gems in my collection and about the process/value of grading from Germany.
Yes, I have a lot of unidentified Promo/Japanese cards, and it might be useful to have some pro’s look at them to tell me if a card is worth something or not. I can obviously look it up myself, but it’ll take much much longer since you guys already have the knowledge and I’d have to identify card and look up for how much they went.
Do you mean import taxes, custom costs, etc.? If so then as long as you stay within the European Union there’s no issue, it is Ludkins who needs to deal with customs when sending the cards from the UK to US and back.
I’ve been sending cards to PSA myself.
Never had any issue with import fees or other hick-ups.
Maybe it’s because PSA labels the package as a “Return of Product”, which is basically what it is. But I guess I’ve been lucky all the time, it’s not like I am sending in 4x 1st Zards and the package value skyrockets to 2000$
Not sure how much it would differ from NL to Germany, as I personally have never really ordered or sent something out of the EU. But I have heard horror stories about it. Just not sure if they’re made up, or not.
The most important rule you should remember is that anyone living in a European Union member state can import any goods up to € 22,00 without having to pay any import or value added tax. If you pass this € 22,00 it’s going to get complicated.
Anything between € 22,00 and € 150,00 you have to start value added tax (VAT) for the product you import. This includes the shipping costs! So, if buy something for € 120 but the shipping is € 40; you gonna have a bad time.
Anything above the € 150,00 you have to start paying not only VAT but also import fees. The fee is different for every country. But since anything related to Pokémon the Dutch tax bureau will mark as ‘Toys’ I’ll have to pay a 4,7% import fee.
Value of the package received is key. If you are afraid of doing this yourself, a service like Ludkins is the best option.
They bulk send out thousands of cards a month and they have a good system to pay for all import fees when the package comes back to the UK. www.ludkinscollectables.com/assets/public/pdfs/UK_EU_Grading.pdf
For the shipment from Ludkins back to you in Germany, all you pay is shipping costs. Since the item is coming from within the EU you don’t have to pay additional import fees.
Ludkins is good service for now, after the Brexit I doubt they will be able to survive…
Thank you for putting it this clearly. I’m assuming Ludkin’s is very reputable, then? They basically ship your cards for you? How much would that cost per card? I couldn’t find anything on their page.
I’ll also be taking picture of some of my cards from my collection now. Hopefully I have some valuable cards.
