CGC and Mercari Partner to Bring Seamless Grading to Collectors in Japan

Collectors in Japan will soon have a more direct path from discovering a collectible to getting it professionally graded, thanks to a new partnership to connect CGC® grading services with Mercari’s massive consumer-to-consumer marketplace. This alliance will create new opportunities for collectors to purchase CGC-certified collectibles or submit their own cards for grading without leaving the Mercari experience.

Mercari is one of Japan’s leading C2C marketplaces, giving individuals a simple way to buy and sell everything from everyday goods to highly collectible items. For collectors, that environment has also become a place to hunt for everything from newly released Pokémon cards to rare manga. The new CGC relationship is designed to bring grading more naturally into that collecting journey.

A key part of the agreement will give Mercari users greater access to CGC-certified inventory.

Collectors browsing Mercari XB will be able to discover CGC-graded cards (and soon CGC-graded manga!) and then move directly to purchasing those items through Mercari. Dedicated CGC collections and themed pages will further help collectors explore the marketplace, with tools designed to make it easier to narrow searches by grade, rarity, and franchise.

This experience creates a natural progression for collectors: discover a collectible, learn more about it, and purchase a professionally graded example without having to leave the marketplace. The transparency of expert authentication and grading by CGC helps to create a safer and more vibrant environment for collectors.

The partnership connects CGC's grading services, which are respected globally, with Mercari's enormous raw-card marketplace, which has the potential to reach many more collectors around the world as interest in certified collectibles surges. Collectors who purchase raw cards through Mercari will then be able to submit those cards to CGC for grading as part of the buying process. Rather than treating buying and grading as two separate experiences, the partnership creates a path that can carry collectors from one stage to the next.

The agreement also creates opportunities to expand CGC's physical presence in Japan. Nationwide CGC grading submissions will be enabled through Surugaya stores, adding physical retail touchpoints to the digital marketplace experience. For collectors, that means CGC grading can become part of the broader ecosystem in which they already discover, buy, and sell collectibles.

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles, including trading card games (TCGs), sports cards, magazines, video games, and home media. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services. If you collect it, we grade and protect it.

CGC is part of the Certified Collectibles Group, a global provider of expert and impartial authentication and grading services for collectibles. Since 1987, the Certified Collectibles Group companies have certified more than 110 million collectibles, including coins, banknotes, comic books, cards, autographs, and stamps.