Measure the borders, check every line the app is unsure about, then decide whether the card is worth the grading fee.
CenterMint is an iPhone app for trading-card and sports-card collectors. It measures left/right and top/bottom centering from a photo of a raw card, compares the result with the published PSA, BGS and CGC centering references, and helps you decide before you pay to grade. It is an independent tool: it measures centering only and does not predict a full grade.
Measuring that tells you when to look closer
Step 1 of 5
Take the card out of its sleeve and lay it flat on a plain mat that contrasts with the border. Photograph it in even light, or import a photo or scan.
Raw cards only. Cards in sleeves, top loaders or graded slabs are measured by lining up the four edges yourself. When the app detects a sleeve, it tells you and switches to manual alignment.
Step 2 of 5
CenterMint suggests the outer card edge and the printed inner border. If any line is uncertain, it walks you through those lines one by one with the loupe and tells you why.
Automatic measurement for raw cards, with edge-by-edge sub-pixel fitting on gold and silver borders and a more reliable outer edge on cloth and patterned mats.
Step 3 of 5
Confirm or nudge each line. The left/right and top/bottom ratios update as you go.
Loupe 2.0 shows real pixels with a pixel grid and an edge profile, and links opposite edges so you can compare both sides.
Every measurement uses the full-resolution photo, in the free version too.
Step 4 of 5
Measure the back as well and compare both sides with the PSA, BGS or CGC reference.
Step 5 of 5
Before you submit, look through the corner and edge close-ups and run Worth Grading? with recent sold prices.
Version 1.9 adds tools for the decision that costs money: is this card worth sending in?
New in version 1.9
When a line needs a second look, the editor takes you through the least certain lines one at a time. The loupe jumps to each line; tap “Looks Right” to move on, or drag the line where it belongs.
Each step says why in plain words: glare, blur, a dark or low-resolution photo, a mat close to the card’s edge color, or no printed border found. If a retake would fix it, the app says so.
Enter the raw, PSA 9 and PSA 10 sold prices (or the BGS and CGC equivalents), your grading fee and the selling fee. CenterMint shows how much more or less you would make than selling raw, and the lowest top-grade price that breaks even. Grades your centering cannot reach are left out. You type the prices; in Japan, one tap opens Mercari and Yahoo! Auctions sold listings.
Crops all four corners and the middle of all four edges from the original photo at full resolution, so you can zoom in for whitening and dings and share a collage. The app shows the close-ups; it does not score corners or surface.
Crops from the Charizard photo at full resolution: four corners, four edges. You judge the whitening; the app does not score it.
Record each submission, what it cost and the grades that came back. See your top-grade rate, total grading fees, and whether returned grades stayed within the centering ceiling the app measured.
Share images put your card photo first, with a small logo in the corner.
Batch 2.0 (Pro): shoot a stack in a row, show only the cards that need checking, sort by centering and save in one go. The decision assistant sorts cards into Submit, Fix first (such as an unmeasured back) and Below target, and exports a submission checklist PDF.
Submission checklist PDF
The loupe travels around a real card. Each line settles on the inner edge of the printed border, then the ratios are checked against the PSA 10 front reference.
Charizard, Pokémon Base Set (1999), from a scan. In the app you measure your own card from a photo.
Pro is offered as monthly or yearly subscriptions or a one-time purchase; plans and local prices are shown in the app. Subscriptions renew automatically until canceled in your Apple Account settings.
Measurement runs on your iPhone and needs no account. Card photos leave the device only if you opt in: correction sharing is off by default, and batch import asks once before uploading, which you can decline. Prices you enter and your Submission Log stay on the device. See the privacy policy for details. Privacy policy (English)
The app is available in English, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
Automatic measurement works on raw cards only. A sleeve, top loader or slab adds its own edges and glare, so the app would be measuring plastic instead of the card. When it detects a sleeve, it tells you and switches to manual alignment, where you line up the four card edges yourself. For the most accurate result, take the card out and rescan.
It depends on the photo and on the lines you confirm. Small shifts matter: with 3 mm borders on each side, going from 50/50 to 55/45 moves the artwork only 0.3 mm. CenterMint fits gold and silver borders edge by edge at sub-pixel level and flags the lines it is unsure about, but it does not claim a single accuracy percentage. Check flagged lines in the loupe and retake blurry or glary photos.
PSA’s published Gem Mint 10 guideline is approximately 55/45 or better on the front and 75/25 or better on the back. PSA 9 is approximately 60/40 on the front and 90/10 on the back. BGS and CGC publish their own scales, and some figures apply only to certain card categories. Centering is one of several criteria, so good centering alone does not guarantee a grade. Check the official pages before submitting.
For each grade it calculates: extra money = (graded price − raw price) × (1 − selling fee) − grading fee. The selling fee is paid whether you sell raw or graded, so only the price difference is reduced by it. The break-even top-grade price is raw price + grading fee ÷ (1 − selling fee). If even the second grade (such as PSA 9) makes money, the answer is worth grading; if only the top grade pays, it depends on corners and surface; if no grade pays, or centering rules out the grade that pays, it is not worth grading. The app never estimates the chance of a 10.
No. The app does not connect to eBay or any price service and does not guess prices. You enter recent sold prices yourself, and they are saved on your device for that card. In Japan, buttons open Mercari sold listings and Yahoo! Auctions closed listings for the card name and number.
No. Corner & Edge Close-ups crop the four corners and four edges from your original photo at full resolution so you can inspect them yourself. The app does not score them, and a phone photo can miss tiny flaws, so check doubtful spots under a loupe and bright light.
Free: centering measurement at full resolution, the loupe, the guided line check, PSA/BGS/CGC reference comparison, one batch of up to 5 cards, and the pre-grading check (Worth Grading? and close-ups) on one card of your choice. Pro adds those pre-grading tools for every card, the Submission Log, batch scanning, the decision assistant with a submission checklist PDF, CSV and 4K exports, presets and no ads.
No. CenterMint is an independent app. Its centering references follow the companies’ published standards for comparison only, and an actual grade can differ.
Measurement runs on your iPhone without an account. Photos are uploaded only if you opt in to correction sharing (off by default) or accept the one-time batch learning notice, which you can decline. Prices and the Submission Log stay on the device.