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How much does PSA grading cost?
PSA charges per card, and the price depends on the service level. Which levels you can use is set by what the card will be worth once it's graded — PSA calls this the Max Insured Value — not by its condition or which game it's from. These are PSA's US prices, checked on September 19, 2026:
| Service level | Price per card | Max value per card | Est. turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value Bulk Collectors Club members only | Pausedwas $24.99 | $500 | — |
| Value | Pausedwas $32.99 | $500 | — |
| Standard 90–100 business days | $59.99 | $1,000 | 90–100 business days |
| Priority formerly Regular 70–80 business days | $79.99 | $1,500 | 70–80 business days |
| Express 20–30 business days | $199 | $2,500 | 20–30 business days |
| Super Express 10–15 business days | $349 | $5,000 | 10–15 business days |
| Premier formerly Walk-Through 7–10 business days | $599 | $10,000 | 7–10 business days |
| Premium 1 5–7 business days | $999 | $25,000 | 5–7 business days |
| Premium 2 5–7 business days | $1,999 | $50,000 | 5–7 business days |
| Premium 3 5–7 business days | $2,999 | $100,000 | 5–7 business days |
| Premium 5 5–7 business days | $4,999 | $250,000 | 5–7 business days |
| Premium 10 5–7 business days | From $9,999 | $250,001 or more | 5–7 business days |
Source: PSA pricing, United States, cards. Turnaround times are PSA’s estimates in business days, not guarantees.
Standard opened on September 14, 2026. The same announcement renamed Regular to Priority and Walk-Through to Premier, and set Express at $199 a card. Premium 10 starts at $9,999 for cards worth up to $350,000 and adds $399 for each $10,000 of value above that. These are US prices; if you submit through PSA’s Canada, Japan or Europe centers, check that center’s own price list.
Where did the cheaper Value tiers go?
PSA stopped taking new submissions for all four Value levels — Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus and Value Max — on June 2, 2026, after a spike in submissions pushed its grading backlog toward 10 million cards. The pause is tied to backlog targets rather than a date; PSA’s backlog tracker put the queue at 9.9 million units on September 8, 2026. PSA says Standard is not a replacement for the Value levels.
Before the pause, PSA’s February 2026 prices were $24.99 for Value Bulk, $32.99 for Value, $49.99 for Value Plus, and $64.99 for Value Max, with Value Bulk open only to Collectors Club members. When Value reopens, cards worth up to $500 will have a cheaper option than Standard again — PSA hasn’t said at what price.
How PSA upcharges work
Because the value you enter decides your service level, PSA checks it. If graders decide a card is worth more than the maximum for the level you paid for, PSA moves that card — not your whole order — to a level that covers its value and bills the difference (PSA coverage FAQ). Its terms let it charge up to $500 of these adjustments to your payment method without asking again, or less if a lower cap was shown when you submitted. If you won’t pay, the card comes back ungraded and you’re still charged the level you chose.
Example: a card entered at $900 on Standard that PSA values at $1,200 moves to Priority — $79.99 instead of $59.99, or $20 more. Picking a faster level than the value needs is fine: PSA lets you pay for speed. Picking a cheaper one than the value needs only delays the bill. The calculator above works the same way — pick a level whose maximum is below your card’s value and it prices the card where PSA would put it.
How to keep PSA grading costs down
- Value each card for the grade you expect. An optimistic guess pushes you into a pricier level than you need; an understated one gets upcharged anyway.
- Only pay for the speed you need. Priority costs $20 a card more than Standard and is quoted about 20 business days faster (70–80 business days against 90–100).
- Screen cards before you send them. Centering is the easiest flaw to check at home — our card centering checker shows whether a card’s centering even allows a PSA 10, which needs about 55/45 on the front. Don’t send cards you suspect were trimmed, recolored or cleaned: PSA returns them unslabbed and still charges the full fee.
- Batch cards of similar value. Each service level becomes its own order and comes back in its own shipment, and PSA sets return shipping by card count and declared value — fewer, fuller orders mean fewer return shipments to pay for.
- Don’t join Collectors Club just for grading. Membership costs $149 or $199 a year, and its grading perks — Value Bulk access and member-only specials — are both paused, so it doesn’t lower the price of any level you can buy today.
How long PSA grading takes
PSA quotes turnaround in business days, as estimates only: 90–100 for Standard, 70–80 for Priority, 20–30 for Express, 10–15 for Super Express, 7–10 for Premier, and 5–7 for the Premium levels. A hundred business days is about four and a half months. The clock doesn’t start until PSA has received your order and entered it for grading, and PSA says Standard orders are worked on after the Value and bulk orders already in its queue.
When is PSA grading worth it?
Grading pays when the graded card sells for more than the raw card plus everything it took to grade it — the fee, shipping both ways and the months it’s away. At $59.99 a card, a card that sells for $20 raw has to sell for about $80 graded just to break even, before shipping.
So the numbers that decide it are what the card sells for raw and what it sells for in the grade it’s likely to get. Look up recent sales for both — our Pokémon card value lookup or a quick scan in TCG Vault gives you the raw price — then run them through the is-it-worth-it calculator above, once for the grade you hope for and once for a grade lower. If you’re new to grading, the PSA grading scale explained covers what each grade means, and how to grade Pokémon cards walks through preparing and sending a submission.
