Restoration & Card Grading
Restoration and grading are related, but they are not the same thing, and they're not decided by the same people. Here's how they actually connect.
What Restoration Controls
Restoration works on a card's physical condition: creases, indents, warping and surface wear, the specific defects covered on Understanding Card Damage. That's the part we're responsible for, and the part we can meaningfully improve.
What Grading Controls
Grading is a separate assessment, carried out independently by a grading company. It looks at a card's overall condition: centering, corners, edges, surface, whitening, print quality and any remaining damage, only some of which restoration is able to touch.
Improving one defect through restoration can improve a card's overall condition. It doesn't mean every other factor a grading company weighs has also improved, and it doesn't mean a specific grade is guaranteed.
On Altered or No-Grade Outcomes
Full Restore Cards cannot guarantee how a grading company will assess a restored card. While we have not experienced issues with our restored cards being returned as altered, there is always a possibility that a grading company may assess an individual restored card differently. Customers acknowledge this risk through our terms and conditions before submitting a card.
Improvement, not perfection, is the standard we work to. What a grading company ultimately decides is theirs to make, not ours.