What is chain of custody?
In short: A written log of who held your property, where and when, from the moment I receive it to the moment it is returned. It is what lets a record prove a card was not swapped or damaged along the way.
Chain of custody is a term borrowed from evidence handling. It means that at every point in time, someone can say who had the item, where it was and what happened to it, with a record made at the time rather than remembered later.
Why it matters for cards
A video of a pack being opened proves what came out of the pack. It does not prove that the card now in a slab is the same card. A condition sheet proves what a card looked like at intake. It does not prove what happened between intake and a dispute months later. Custody is the thread that connects those records, so that a buyer, a grading company or an insurer can follow one card from the seal to the slab without a gap.
What I log
Client property is logged from intake to return. Each entry records the item, who held it, where it was and when. In practice that covers:
- Intake: boxes and cards are logged into custody when I receive them, and sealed product is weighed and photographed before it is opened.
- Storage: documented cards go into new sleeves and holders, then into locked storage under the custody log.
- Shipping: anything sent to a grading company is packed to its requirements and shipped insured, and the shipment is logged.
- Return: slabs are checked back in, photographed against the outbound record, and the return is logged.
Your property is never mixed with anything the practice or I own. I do not own cards to mix it with; see what I don't do.
What it protects
If a card comes back from grading damaged, the outbound photographs and the custody log show its condition when it left, which is the evidence you need for a claim. If a buyer questions whether a card is really the one pulled on video, the log and the condition sheet connect the two. If you are in a dispute, the record shows exactly what happened and when. See what happens to records during a dispute.
How long the log is kept
Custody logs are kept for seven years, the same as recordings and photographs, under the retention and consent policy. The documented break and the submission hub both run on this log.