How do the subgrades effect an item’s overall grade?
The overall grade is not really an average of the subgrades. In actuality, the subgrades point to where the greatest flaws are, i.e. what has gone into determining the overall grade. Sub-grades are used to better illustrate the overall grade an item receives. They are not averaged to determine the main grade. They are meant to further inform the buyer about the weakest and strongest points of the overall grade. (For example, an ATi 8.0 item can have sub-grades of C8.0, B8.5, F8.5 showing the card as the weakest point which caused the overall grade to be an 8.0. An ATi 85 can have the exact same sub-grades, but in this particular case, the card flaws which justify the 8.0 card grade do not justify an overall grade of 8.0. They do however show a buyer that the card is lower than average for an 8.5 and is the weakest of the 3 aspects of the item.
