Hot Wheels Grading Scale Explained

The four scales — what they share, what differs

All four scales describe the same condition continuum. AFA / CAS are anchored to industry-shared band labels (Mint, Near-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good) and assign numeric ranges to each. Sellhotwheels and BlisterEye use compressed 0-10 scales that map back to the 100-point bands.

• ↦MINT — AFA 95+ · CAS 95+ · Sellhotwheels 9.5+ · BlisterEye 9.5+
• ↦NEAR-MINT — AFA 85-94 · CAS 85-94 · Sellhotwheels 8.5-9.4 · BlisterEye 8.5-9.4
• ↦EXCELLENT — AFA 75-84 · CAS 75-84 · Sellhotwheels 7.5-8.4 · BlisterEye 7.5-8.4
• ↦VERY GOOD — AFA 60-74 · CAS 60-74 · Sellhotwheels 6.0-7.4 · BlisterEye 6.0-7.4
• ↦GOOD or below — AFA <60 · BlisterEye <6.0 · sell raw / display only

AFA 0-100 — the industry standard

AFA grades on a 0-100 scale with 5-point increments below 90 and 1-point increments at 90+. Most carded Hot Wheels submissions return AFA 75, 80, 85, or 90; the rarer 95 and 100 bands compress dramatically. AFA 100 (Gem Mint) is functionally extinct on modern cards because centering tolerance is ≤52/48 on both axes.

CAS 5-100 — the diecast specialist's scale

CAS uses the same numeric scale as AFA, with two key differences: minimum grade is 5 (not 0), and CAS publishes the card / bubble / paint subgrades on the slab. Buyers see the subgrades immediately, which has driven CAS's adoption for modern Hot Wheels.

Sellhotwheels 1-10 — the buyer's shorthand

Sellhotwheels.com popularized a 1-10 scale (with 0.5-point increments) that traders use in eBay listings and Whatnot streams. It's easier to communicate verbally and converts cleanly to AFA / CAS: multiply the 0-10 score by 10 to get the 0-100 equivalent. A '9.5' on Sellhotwheels = AFA 95 = Mint band floor.

BlisterEye 0-10 — the AI scale

BlisterEye returns five 0-10 axis scores (card, blister, bubble, centering, car) and one rolled-up overall on the same scale. Mapped to AFA / CAS bands: 9.5+ = MINT, 8.5-9.4 = NEAR-MINT, 7.5-8.4 = EXCELLENT, 6.0-7.4 = VERY GOOD. The model also outputs a predicted AFA / CAS grade range explicitly so you don't have to translate the number yourself.

What separates each band — in plain English

Across all four scales, the band-to-band differences are:

• ↦MINT → NM: any one cosmetic micro-defect (visible only under raking light)
• ↦NM → EX: one in-hand visible defect (light scratch, one soft corner, light yellowing)
• ↦EX → VG: multiple in-hand defects, or one major (through-crack, crease, deep dent)
• ↦VG → G: heavy combined damage, multiple major defects
• ↦G and below: display piece only, sell raw at low single-digit dollars