A ladder of abbreviations, used mostly for cards, comics, coins and records. Roughly, best to worst:
- M — mint. Perfect. Rare, and claimed far more often than it is true.
- NM — near mint. Essentially perfect with one tiny flaw.
- EX — excellent. Light wear, obvious on close inspection.
- VG — very good. Clear wear, still sound.
- G — good. Heavily worn. In collecting, "good" is a low grade, which catches everybody out once.
- F / P — fair, poor. Damaged.
Plus combinations: NM- is a shade below near mint, VG+ a shade above very good.
The trap: "good" is bad
In ordinary English, good is good. In grading, G is near the bottom of the ladder — two full steps below excellent.
So a card described as "good condition" by a non-collector usually means they think it looks fine, and by a collector means it is visibly worn. If a listing says good and the photographs look clean, ask which they meant.
The bigger trap: the letters are category-specific
The same abbreviation does not mean the same severity everywhere. Comics, cards, coins and records each have their own tradition, and coins have a numeric system of their own that does not map onto letters at all.
Which means a seller's NM and your NM may be a grade apart in good faith. None of these is a Metzee term; they are the trade's vocabulary, and Metzee does not police or convert them. Condition words across every category
What to do instead of trusting the letters
Ask for the specific flaw. "What is the worst thing about it?" is the single most useful question you can ask in a show, and a good seller answers it straight.
Ask for the corners and the edges, on anything flat. That is where wear lives and where photographs hide it.
Ask them to tilt it to the light. Surface scratches and creases are invisible head-on and obvious at an angle. This is the thing live video does that a photograph cannot. How to describe condition
When letters are not opinions
If a card or coin has been graded by a third-party service, it arrives sealed with a number on the label, and that is a different kind of claim — somebody staked their reputation on it. What is professional grading?
For sellers
Use the letters, then say the flaw in words. The letter sets the expectation; the sentence prevents the return.
And grade down rather than up. A buyer who receives better than they expected leaves a good review. A buyer who receives an honest NM they read as mint opens a case — and the case is decided on the description, not the letter. How to write a condition description
More: what does deadstock mean, what is professional grading, condition words.