Sending Mr. Hockey To KSA Grading

A little while ago, I did an article on where to get hockey cards graded. One of the companies that we included was KSA Grading. I mentioned that I would be giving KSA a test drive. I did and this is how it went. Included are some screen prints from their website and how to go about the process.

First off, their website can be found here: KSA Grading. It is a very easily navigated website – if you are simply wanting to get a card graded, select ‘Card Grading’ from the top navigation bar, as shown in the image above.

What you’ll get is the screen shot below. There are several service options. I had one card and I didn’t want to break the bank so I chose ‘Regular Service’. From that point, you click on the ‘click here’ link to go direct to the online submission form. You can also get to the submission form through the ‘Resources’ option on the home page upper navigation bar.

The form is standard. Fill out your vitals and tell them how you’re going to pay. They do not need to know what you are sending them at this point. They just need to know how many cards and what level of service.

Shortly after, you will receive an email/invoice with the amount owing and instructions on how to go about getting your card to them. This basically involves Canada Post or U.S. Mail with their service that at minimum includes tracking. I believe with Canada Post it’s called ExpressPost.

For me, it was sent via Canada Post in a padded envelope at a cost of $12.20. Of course, I could have drove from Orangeville to Elmira on less than $12 in gas but that’s besides the point.

I submitted the request to KSA at 10:20 am on Monday, February 1. I received my email and invoice at 10:20 am the following day. The envelope was dropped off at Canada Post at 1:55 pm on Tuesday, February 2. My payment to KSA was $36.16, which included return shipping and all taxes. Which means, it was a little over $48 for the whole process. By the way, the shipping from KSA to me was $12.60 of that $36.16.

This process would of course make much more economic sense if you were sending cards in bulk. The price goes down, the more cards you send and obviously shipping is going to be combined and at a lower per card rate.

My card came back on February 23, 2016. It should be noted that Family Day fell in between so there was one less business day during the process.

What was the card? I was going to send a 1968-69 Topps Derek Sanderson until I realized I’d be spending much more than the actual card was worth. I switched up to a 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee Gordie Howe – Mr. Hockey with no number. The card came back packaged beautifully and rated a 4 (pretty heavy corner damage).

Your card is on permanent record with KSA Grading. You are given a certification number, in my case if was 60208027. If you click on ‘Resources’ (see screen print below), you can then select ‘certification lookup’.

Selecting ‘certification lookup’ will get you to the screen below.

After entering my eight digit number in the ‘verify grading certification numbers here’ slot, you get this:

Would I use KSA Grading again?

First of all, I’m not affiliated with KSA and I am not getting any commission for sending visitors in their direction. I’m just trying to provide as much information about the hobby as possible to the readers of Vintage Hockey Cards Report.

In saying that, I would definitely use this service again. However, unless I’m sending a Gretzky, Howe or Hull rookie, I would not send a single card again. The cost of getting a single card is only practical if the book value is well into the triple digits.  In bulk though, it becomes more feasible.

Of course, if your goal is to simply get the card graded and properly, and professionally, protect it, then maybe it’s worth it to send that 1968-69 Derek Sanderson on its own.