CGC Cards Population Report Scraper

Extract the official CGC Cards population report — the census of every card graded by CGC (Certified Guaranty Company). Get per-card grade-by-grade counts across sports cards, Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, and other TCGs.

What this scraper does

CGC Cards is one of the four major trading card graders (alongside PSA, BGS/Beckett, and SGC). Their population report shows exactly how many copies of each card have been graded at each grade level — data used by slab investors, dealers, scarcity analysts, and collectors chasing "pop 1" cards.

This actor scrapes the underlying JSON API that powers the CGC Cards population report website, returning structured records with full grade-by-grade breakdowns.

One record = one card variant (base, parallel, autograph, memorabilia, etc.)

Features

• Two modes: walk the entire category tree (category_walk) or fetch specific sets directly (set)
• Covers all CGC card types: Sports cards (baseball, basketball, football, hockey, ...), TCG (Pokemon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, ...), Non-sport cards
• Full grade breakdown: Perfect 10, Pristine 10, Gem Mint 10, Mint+ 9.5, Mint 9, NM-Mint+ 8.5, NM-Mint 8, NM+ 7.5, NM 7, EX-NM+ 6.5, EX-NM 6, lower grades, AU (Authentic), AA (Authentic Altered)
• Card metadata: card name, card number, parallel/variant description, autograph flag, memorabilia flag
• Set metadata: brand/manufacturer, year, set name, CGC set ID
• Direct report URLs for citation

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	category_walk	category_walk = walk all sets; set = fetch specific set URLs
apiPath	string	sports-cards	Which CGC category tree to walk: sports-cards, trading-cards, non-sports-cards, or all
categoryId	integer	0	Filter to a specific category ID (0 = all)
subcategoryId	integer	0	Filter to a specific subcategory ID (0 = all)
setUrls	array	—	For mode=set: list of CGC population-report URLs
maxItems	integer	0	Maximum cards to return (0 = unlimited)

Example: Fetch a specific set

{
  "mode": "set",
  "setUrls": [
    "https://www.cgccards.com/population-report/sports/baseball/1/2020-present/13/2020-allen-and-ginter/10235/"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}

Example: Walk all baseball sets

{
  "mode": "category_walk",
  "apiPath": "sports-cards",
  "categoryId": 1,
  "maxItems": 1000
}

Example: Walk all Pokemon cards

{
  "mode": "category_walk",
  "apiPath": "trading-cards",
  "maxItems": 500
}

Output

Each record in the dataset represents one card variant:

{
  "api_path": "sports-cards",
  "category": "Baseball",
  "category_id": 1,
  "sport_or_subcategory": "2020-Present",
  "subcategory_id": 13,
  "brand": "Allen & Ginter",
  "year": "2020",
  "set_name": "2020 Allen & Ginter",
  "set_id": 10235,
  "card_id": 6271760,
  "card_name": "Lou Gehrig",
  "card_number": "11",
  "parallel_or_variant": null,
  "autograph": false,
  "memorabilia": false,
  "total_graded": 1,
  "count_perfect_10": 0,
  "count_pristine_10": 0,
  "count_gem_mint_10": 0,
  "count_mint_plus_9_5": 0,
  "count_mint_9": 1,
  "count_nm_mint_plus_8_5": 0,
  "count_nm_mint_8": 0,
  "count_nm_plus_7_5": 0,
  "count_nm_7": 0,
  "count_ex_nm_plus_6_5": 0,
  "count_ex_nm_6": 0,
  "count_lower_grades": 0,
  "count_aa": 0,
  "count_au": 0,
  "report_url": "https://www.cgccards.com/population-report/sports/baseball/1/2020-present/13/2020-allen-and-ginter/10235/"
}

Use cases

• Slab investing: Identify undergraded or high-pop cards before bidding
• Scarcity analysis: Find "pop 1" or low-pop cards across sets
• Cross-grader comparison: Pair with PSA population data (same schema shape) to compare CGC vs PSA submission volumes
• Market research: Track which sets and cards are being submitted most frequently
• Price modeling: Correlate population counts with sale prices on marketplaces

Notes

• The CGC Cards population report is publicly accessible without authentication
• Data updates daily as new cards are graded and returned to submitters
• Full category walks (all sports + TCG + non-sports) return millions of records; use maxItems and category/subcategory filters for targeted runs
• The CGC grading scale includes half-grade increments: Perfect 10 and Pristine 10 are distinct grades (Pristine requires all subgrades at 10; Perfect allows one subgrade at 9)