Card grading is always going to be subjective. However, many companies offer guides to help you in grading. Sportlots has reviewed many of these guides and have come up with one that seems to best fit our needs.
As a buyer, please understand that many sellers are loading thousands of cards daily. In order to get these listed online, it's just not feasible and cost effective for sellers to closely look at each and every common card. For this reason, we don't have grades listed higher than NM, so in many cases buyers may actually obtain cards in higher grades, but buyers may also find some common cards that are slightly below grade. Sportlots asks sellers to generalize the overall condition of common cards from the set they are loading. We suggest that the sellers grade on the conservative side to prevent or minimize issues. Also, Sportlots also expects that sellers more carefully grade star cards that are worth more money.
NM - Near MintThis is the highest grade allowed on Sportlots. Cards at this grade can actually be considered NM or better, since no higher grade is available for seller.
Sportlots does not grade cards below GOOD. Any cards purchased that are in GOOD condition should not have any expectations and should just be purchased as set fillers. If the grades between GOOD, FAIR and POOR are important to you as a buyer, you should first contact the seller for more information regarding the cards condition before purchasing.