As of October 2026, PSA grading costs $59.99 per card at the cheapest open tier, called Standard, for cards worth up to $1,000 after grading, with an estimated 90-100 business days. Priority is $79.99 (up to $1,500), Express $199 (up to $2,500), Super Express $349 (up to $5,000) and Premier $599 (up to $10,000). PSA's cheaper Value tiers are paused, and shipping and insurance come on top.
That makes PSA grading a decision about money, not just about protecting a card. At $60 or more a card plus postage, grading only pays when the slab adds clearly more than it costs, which in practice means a card already worth around $100 or more raw that has a real chance at a 9 or a 10.
Quick answer
- PSA's open tiers as of October 2026: Standard $59.99, Priority $79.99, Express $199, Super Express $349, Premier $599 per card. Value tiers (previously about $25-65) are temporarily paused.
- The tier is set by declared value: what you expect the card to be worth once graded, not what you paid. Under-declare and PSA can upcharge you to the right tier.
- Return shipping and insurance are added at checkout, and you pay to send the cards in.
- For comparison: CGC starts at $17 (bulk, 25 cards minimum), SGC at $50, and Beckett's cheapest open tier is Express at $79.95.
- Grading usually pays only for cards worth about $100 or more raw with clean corners, edges, surface and centering.
How much does PSA grading cost per card?
PSA charges a flat fee per card, and the fee depends on the service level you choose. Each level has a maximum value, which PSA's pricing page now calls Max Insured Value, and an estimated turnaround in business days. These are the levels PSA lists for trading cards as of October 2026:
| PSA service level | Fee per card | Max value per card | Estimated turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value tiers | Paused | n/a | n/a |
| Standard | $59.99 | $1,000 | 90-100 business days |
| Priority | $79.99 | $1,500 | 70-80 business days |
| Express | $199 | $2,500 | 20-30 business days |
| Super Express | $349 | $5,000 | 10-15 business days |
| Premier | $599 | $10,000 | 7-10 business days |
| Premium tiers | From $999 | Above $10,000 | Shorter |
Express went up from $149 to $199 in September 2026, and Priority and Premier are the former Regular and Walk-Through tiers, so older fee tables use different names and prices.
Turnaround figures are PSA's estimates, not promises. Business days exclude weekends and holidays, so 90-100 business days is roughly four to five months on the calendar.
The Value tiers were the entry point for most collectors until PSA paused them in 2026. Third-party fee trackers recorded them at about $24.99 to $64.99 before the pause. Until they return, the cheapest way into a PSA slab is Standard at $59.99, which changes the math for low-value cards considerably.
How to work out your PSA grading cost, step by step
- Price the card raw. Look up recent sold prices for your exact card, set, number and version, filtered to sold listings. A scanner app or a price guide gives a starting point, but sold results are the evidence.
- Check the card under one light. Look at all four corners, all four edges, the surface at an angle for scratches and print lines, and the borders for centering. Our guide to grading a card at home explains what PSA looks for.
- Estimate the grade you will realistically get. Be strict. A pack-fresh modern card often grades 8 or 9, not 10, and a vintage card with soft corners is a 5 to 7.
- Look up sold prices at that grade. The number that matters is what a card in that grade sells for, not the PSA 10 headline.
- Set your declared value. PSA bases the tier on what you expect the card to be worth after grading. If you think it will be a 9 worth $1,800, declare about $1,800 and choose a tier whose maximum covers it.
- Pick the tier. The tier is the higher of the one your declared value requires and the one your patience requires. A slow tier saves money; a fast one costs it.
- Add the extras. Count shipping in with insurance, PSA's return shipping and insurance, and any autograph authentication if the card is signed.
- Compare the total with the gain. If the expected graded price minus the raw price is not clearly above the total cost, keep the card raw.
What does declared value mean, and when does PSA upcharge?
Declared value is your estimate of what the card will be worth after it is graded. It sets the minimum service level and acts as the maximum for insurance if something goes wrong in PSA's care. It is not what you paid, and it is not the raw value.
If a card comes back worth more than the maximum of the tier you chose, PSA can move it to the correct tier and charge the difference. That is the upcharge. It does not change the grade; it is purely a billing adjustment. The reverse does not apply: if you declare high and the card grades low, you do not get money back.
The practical rule is to declare honestly at the grade you expect. Under-declaring to save $20 risks an upcharge of $100 or more on a card that grades well, and it leaves the card under-insured on the way back.
A worked example: an Unlimited Base Set Charizard
Say you find a 1999 Base Set Charizard, card 4/102, with a shadow along the right edge of the art box and no 1st Edition stamp. That is the common Unlimited print. Clean near mint copies sell for about $300-500 raw, and PSA 9 copies sold for roughly $3,400-4,300 in mid-October 2026, according to completed sales logged by PriceCharting and Card Ladder.
The corners are sharp and the surface is clean, but the left border is a little wider than the right. You honestly expect an 8 or a 9. If it gets a 9, the card is worth more than $2,500, so the right tier is Super Express at $349, whose maximum is $5,000. Submitting it at Express ($199, up to $2,500) would save $150 up front, but if the card does come back a 9, PSA can upcharge it to Super Express anyway. If you honestly expect an 8, which sells for far less, Express or Priority may fit.
Now the decision. At a PSA 9 you turn a $400 card into a $3,400-plus card for about $349 plus shipping, which clearly pays. At a PSA 8 or lower the gain is much smaller, and at a 6 the slab may add little over raw. The grade odds decide it, which is why step 3 matters more than any fee table. For the full version of this decision, see whether grading Pokemon cards is worth it.
How does PSA compare with BGS, SGC and CGC on cost?
PSA is not the cheapest grader, but its slabs sell for the most on most cards. This is what the other three charged for their entry tiers as of October 2026, taken from each company's own pricing page:
| Grader | Cheapest open tier | Max value at that tier | Estimated turnaround | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | Standard, $59.99 | $1,000 | 90-100 business days | Highest resale for most cards |
| CGC Cards | Bulk, $17 (25-card minimum); Economy $20 | $500; $1,000 | 150; 90 working days | Low cost, strict grading |
| SGC | Standard, $50 | $1,500 | 40+ business days | Vintage sports, value for money |
| Beckett (BGS) | Express, $79.95 (Base and Standard paused) | Not stated per tier | 15 business days | Subgrades, Black Label chances |
Beckett listed Base at $14.95 ($17.95 with subgrades) and Standard at $34.95, but paused both again on September 26, 2026, leaving Express as the cheapest way in. CGC's own page says that if it judges a card's market value to be higher than declared, it moves the card to the correct tier and bills the difference, the same principle as PSA. Which grader to choose for which card is covered in our PSA vs BGS vs CGC guide.
What changes whether grading pays?
| Factor | Pushes toward grading | Pushes against grading |
|---|---|---|
| Raw value | About $100 or more | Under about $30 |
| Grade odds | Sharp corners, clean surface, even borders | Whitening, scratches, off-center, any crease |
| Gap between grades | Big jump from 8 to 9 to 10 | Graded copies sell near raw |
| Fakes in the market | Heavily copied cards, where a slab proves it is real | Cheap cards nobody fakes |
| Your plan | Selling, especially online | Keeping it in a binder |
| Era | Vintage, where even mid grades carry a premium | Recent print runs with huge supply |
Common mistakes
- Declaring what you paid. Declared value is the expected graded value. A $20 pull that becomes a $1,200 PSA 10 should have been declared near $1,200.
- Using an old fee table. Many guides still quote $19.99 or $24.99 PSA grading. Those tiers are paused as of October 2026.
- Ignoring the calendar. 90-100 business days is months. If you want to sell into a hot market, the slow tier can cost more than it saves.
- Grading every card in a box. At $59.99 a card, ten common cards cost about $600 to grade and may come back worth less than that combined.
- Forgetting the round trip. Insured shipping to PSA and PSA's return shipping and insurance are both on you.
- Expecting a 10 from a pack. Factory cuts, print lines and centering keep many fresh cards at 8 or 9.
How WorthPic reads card photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. For a card it reads the name, set symbol, card number, copyright line, edition stamp, holo pattern and the visible state of the corners, edges and borders, and gives an honest value range raw, with what the card tends to bring at the grades that are realistic. That answers the first question in this guide, which is whether the card is worth enough to think about grading. What it cannot know is what a grader sees under magnification: a hairline surface scratch, a soft corner tip or a trimmed edge. It identifies and estimates. It does not grade or authenticate, and it cannot tell you what grade PSA will give.
What to photograph
- The front straight on, in daylight, filling the frame, so the borders and centering can be judged.
- The back straight on. Back whitening on edges is one of the most common grade killers.
- Each corner close up, focused, against a dark background.
- The surface at a low angle under a single light, which shows scratches, print lines and dents.
- Any stamp or copyright line close up, since it decides the version and therefore the declared value.
When to get it looked at in person
A local card shop or a show is the quickest second opinion on whether a card is a realistic 9 or 10, and many will look at a card at no charge. For any card you expect to be worth more than a few hundred dollars graded, that look is worth more than any fee table. For high-value vintage, consider a dealer who submits regularly; they know where each grader is strict. And if the raw value is under about $30, skip grading and sell or keep it raw.
Sources
- PSA trading card grading services and pricing: fees, maximum values and estimated turnaround for Standard, Priority, Express, Super Express and Premier, and the Value tier pause, as of October 2026.
- CGC Cards services and fees: Bulk, Economy, Standard and faster tiers, and CGC's declared value tier move policy.
- Beckett card grading pricing: Base, Standard, Express and Priority fees. The late September 2026 pause of Base and Standard was reported by The Card Shop Finder.
- SGC card grading services and fees: Standard and expedited fees by declared value.
- PriceCharting: Base Set Charizard #4: raw values and October 2026 PSA 9 completed sales for the Unlimited Charizard used in the worked example.