iCollecta Introduces the APG Passport™, a Permanent Record That Follows a Trading Card
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Opened by a six-second estimated pre-grade, the record is designed to tell collectors which cards deserve a grading fee and to keep what they learn with the card for life.
BLUFFTON, S.C., Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- iCollecta, LLC today detailed the APG Passport™, a permanent, time-stamped record for a trading card that begins with a six-second estimated pre-grade and follows the card from owner to owner.
The timing follows a year of strain in card grading. According to GemRate, the major grading companies graded 26.8 million cards in 2025, a 32 percent increase. In May the largest grader paused its lowest-priced service tiers behind a backlog that later peaked above 12 million cards; it reopened one tier on Oct. 29 at a higher price, with 7.2 million cards still waiting, The Athletic reported. Fees are paid before a collector knows the grade, and a graded card carries exactly one fact about its past: the number on the label.
iCollecta's approach changes the order of operations. SlabVision™, the computer-vision engine inside the iCollecta web application, reads the front and back of a card in about six seconds and returns an estimated pre-grade with sub-grades for centering, corners, edges and surface, a plain-language explanation of each, and a value ladder showing what the card is worth at each likely grade. SlabVision™ returns an estimated pre-grade, not official grading; iCollecta does not grade cards and does not issue grades.
APG stands for Accurate Pre-Grade. Once a card is pre-graded, the collector can open an APG Passport™: a record with a serial number and QR code that logs every scan, estimate, ownership transfer and verification event in order, each entry time-stamped and none of them editable after the fact. A public panel, readable by anyone with the serial, covers identity, scan history and estimates. A private panel, controlled by the owner, holds purchase price and personal notes.
Steps 1 to 5 of the nine-step process, from scan through estimated pre-grade, sub-grades, Passport creation and re-scan comparison, are live today in the iCollecta application. Steps 6 to 9, covering third-party verification, tamper-evident sealing and the transfer of a sealed card, are in design and development with partner facilities, and iCollecta publishes their status rather than announcing them as complete.
"Most cards sent for grading should never have been sent. A six-second estimate with reasons tells a collector which ones deserve the fee, and the Passport makes sure whatever they learn stays with the card," said Patrick Daniels, Founder and CEO of iCollecta, LLC and SlabLab Kiosks, LLC.
The same scan is designed to run in the SlabLab Kiosk™, an in-person pre-grading station for card shops and venues, now in development by sister company SlabLab Kiosks, LLC.
SlabVision™ is available in the iCollecta web application at icollecta.com/slabvision. A press kit with the full feature article, both releases, a 54-second explainer and imagery is at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f2jedf7ztEMzDjdDBDTN3XLXLVPO7lxr/view.
About iCollecta, LLC
iCollecta is a collector-management web application built in Bluffton, South Carolina. Collector. Management. System.™ Organize. Value. Pre-Grade. Connect.™ icollecta.com
Media Contact
Patrick Daniels, Founder and CEO
[email protected]
843-707-2542
SOURCE iCollecta, LLC