Before submitting a card to TGA, it's worth knowing what actually disqualifies it from a standard numeric grade. TGA doesn't grade trimmed, miscut, or manually altered cards on its 1-10 scale — these instead receive an Authentic designation, a separate category entirely.
Recognizing these three conditions before you ship a card saves both grading fees and disappointment.
Here's what to watch for in each category.
None of this requires prior grading experience to follow, just a careful eye and a bit of healthy skepticism about secondhand cards.
Trimming involves physically cutting down a card's edges, usually to improve apparent centering or remove visible wear, and it's one of the most common reasons a card lands in the Authentic category rather than receiving a numeric grade. Trimmed cards can be genuinely difficult to spot without close inspection or comparison to a known-genuine copy.
Vintage cards purchased secondhand carry a higher risk of prior trimming than cards pulled directly from a sealed pack.
Miscuts happen during the manufacturing process itself, when a printing sheet is cut incorrectly, resulting in a card with visibly off-center borders or, in extreme cases, part of an adjacent card bleeding into the frame. Unlike trimming, miscuts aren't intentional alteration — they're a factory error.
Whether a specific miscut disqualifies a card from numeric grading depends on its severity, so a minor miscut may still grade differently than an extreme one.
While inspecting cards for these conditions, keeping them properly protected matters just as much as during normal handling. EVORETRO's Plastic Deck Box keeps cards secure while you sort through a collection.
For a larger review process, EVORETRO's 9-Pocket Binder Pages make comparing cards side by side easier.
Recoloring, resurfacing, ink touch-ups, and other forms of manual alteration all fall under this broader category, covering any intentional modification made to change a card's appearance or apparent condition. This is the most deliberate of the three exclusion categories.
Manual alteration is sometimes difficult to detect without professional-grade inspection tools, which is part of why grading companies specifically screen for it.
Comparing a suspect card's dimensions, border width, and surface texture against a verified genuine example is one practical way to catch these issues before paying to submit. Cards acquired from unverified secondhand sources carry higher risk across all three categories than cards from sealed, verified product.
When in doubt about a specific card, researching known trimming or alteration patterns for that particular card and era can help before committing to a submission.
If a submitted card falls into one of these three categories, TGA will still process and return it with an Authentic designation rather than rejecting the submission outright. The card is confirmed genuine, just without a numeric condition score attached.
Understanding this in advance prevents confusion if a submission comes back differently than expected.
A collection containing a mix of numerically graded and Authentic-designated cards isn't a red flag in itself — it simply reflects the natural reality that not every card in a large, varied collection has escaped decades of handling unscathed. Being transparent about this mix, both to yourself and to anyone you eventually sell to, keeps expectations grounded and honest.
Over time, most serious collectors end up holding at least a few cards in this category, and that's a completely normal part of the hobby.
For a genuinely high-value card where trimming or alteration is suspected but not certain, getting a second opinion from an experienced collector or dealer before submitting can save a wasted grading fee. Community forums dedicated to specific TCGs and sports cards often have members willing to review photos and offer an informal assessment.
This extra step is well worth the time for anything valuable enough that a wrong guess would be costly either way.
Trimming, miscuts, and manual alteration.
No, Authentic confirms the card is genuine, just without a numeric grade.
It depends on severity — minor miscuts may be treated differently than extreme ones.
Compare the card's dimensions and borders against a verified genuine example.
Understanding these exclusions helps you avoid unnecessary grading fees on cards that won't receive a numeric score. Browse EVORETRO's toploaders and sleeves collection to protect your genuine submissions.
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