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Verify your slab.

A cert number is the only thing standing between you and a re-holdered fake. Before you buy, before you trust a listing, check it. Here are the direct lookups, and what a slab that won't verify is really telling you.

First Print Research·Cert-lookup tool
The manga cert lookup
CBCS cert verification
Free, official, and where real graded manga resolves, even when the slab reads "Beckett" on the front. Enter the cert number from the back of the slab.
Open CBCS lookup →

Not CGC, not PSA. Neither certifies manga today, so a slab sold as "graded manga" in a CGC or PSA holder is a reason to slow down and scrutinize, not to trust the label. Link opens CBCS's official verification page in a new tab; First Print isn't affiliated with any grader.

A slab is a promise: that an independent grader saw this exact book, assigned this grade, and sealed it. The cert number is how you check the promise is real. Skipping that step is how people buy re-holdered books, swapped labels, and grades that were never actually assigned. It takes thirty seconds. Do it every time.

The one thing that trips everyone up first

Most graded manga verifies on CBCS, even though the slab says "Beckett" on the front. Beckett launched manga grading through its comics-and-books arm, CBCS, so the cert underneath resolves on the CBCS database, not under "BGS." If you punch a graded-manga cert into the wrong lookup and it fails, that's usually not a fake. It's the wrong database. Start with CBCS and you'll clear most manga in one try. For the full, current picture of who grades what, read Who actually grades manga?

How to verify, step by step

  1. Flip the slab over and find the cert number on the back label.
  2. Open the matching lookup above and enter it. For existing manga, that's almost always CBCS. Verify on whichever system actually resolves the number, don't assume from the front branding.
  3. Confirm the returned record matches the exact title, volume, and grade shown on the slab and in the listing. A cert that resolves to a different book is a red flag, not a rounding error.
  4. Inspect the physical holder for cracks, signs of re-holdering, or a label that looks off against the grader's real ones.
  5. If a cert won't resolve anywhere, contact the grader's customer service with photos before money changes hands.
"If a cert won't verify anywhere, the answer isn't "probably fine." Uncertainty isn't a discount. It's a pass."

What a failed verification is telling you

A cert that doesn't resolve has a small number of explanations, and only one of them is innocent. You may be using the wrong database (the common, fixable case, usually CBCS-vs-Beckett confusion). The number may be mistyped. Or the slab is re-holdered, relabeled, or outright counterfeit. Work through them in that order, but until the number resolves cleanly to the exact book, you don't have a graded book. You have a plastic case with a claim on it.

Buying from a listing you can't hold

On a marketplace, ask the seller for the cert number before you commit, and run it yourself. A legitimate seller has it on hand and shares it without friction. Hesitation, a "trust me," or a cert that resolves to a different grade than the listing claims, are all reasons to walk. This is doubly true in the Japan-sourced market, where copied listings are common and the person "selling" may not be holding the book at all.