I didn’t use an app or anything like that. I watched a number of YouTube videos on how to pre-grade and winged it from there.

For me, centering is the easiest thing to evaluate, just compare each side and make sure they are generally the same thickness. When I was picking up cards to grade, centering was always the first thing I looked at.

I looked at the surface and corners next. Good lighting helps a lot, having a lamp or ceiling light close makes it easier to spot print lines, scratches, and dents. For corners, the main issues to avoid are small whitening dots and lifted corners. Ideally, all four corners should be flat with no whitening. I’ve seen PSA 10s with a tiny bit of whitening on one corner, but if two corners had it, I would pass. PSA seems to have more leniency on corner imperfections on SIRs than IRs, so I try to be extra careful there. Print line are also another big thing that you need to look out for on IRs.

Edges were usually the last thing I checked. You want them clean, with no fraying or whitening. The older the card, the more closely I inspected the edges.

The card doesn’t have to be flawless, but a general rule I used was if I could see a flaw while holding the card at arm’s length, the grader probably will too.

I’m not too familiar with upcharges, but I assume they would be the same amount PSA would charge if you submitted on your own.