Last time, the rumors swirled for about a week. This time, it hit overnight.
If you’ve graded with PSA before, you probably woke up to their email. Citing increased demand, the company has updated pricing and turnaround times… again.
This marks the second price increase in the last six months. The reasoning? It’s familiar by now. Submission volume is high, capacity is strained, and pricing is being used to regulate the flow.
If you currently have an order with PSA, there’s no need to panic. The new pricing is not retroactive. But future submissions will feel the difference.
Here are our biggest takeaways from the latest price hike.
The TCG Discount is Gone
As part of these changes, TCG Bulk and Value Bulk have been consolidated into a single Collectors Club-only service. All Bulk submissions now use a single service level: Value Bulk, which accepts cards from all categories, including TCG.
-PSA via their website announcement
If you were grading TCG in the past, you had a pretty sweet deal compared to the Sports Card graders. But that $18.99 per card bulk deal died today, now being lumped in with all other bulk submissions for $24.99. That’s over a 31% increase.
While this sucks for the collector, from a business standpoint this makes a ton of sense. Despite having “Sport” in their name, TCG has been the bulk of PSA’s volume for quite a while now.
Last week, of the 485.9k submissions PSA received, only 170k of them were sports and miscellaneous items. If even a portion of those 315.9k TCG submissions were graded under the discounted bulk tier, PSA was operating at a materially lower margin than they could have been. A lot of money was being left on the table.
This move wasn’t random. It was inevitable.
Effective Immediately
Back in September, we were given 24 hours notice. Today, we were blindsided by it.
That 24 hour window gave collectors plenty of time to create a ton of submissions before they could be affected by the new pricing. That absolutely put strain on the company’s ability to stick to its turnaround times and likely contributed to the backlog pressure PSA is still managing today.
This announcement suggests PSA learned from that mistake. If pricing is going to be used as a demand throttle, it only works if it’s immediate.
The Language Shift Matters
The difference between September’s announcement and today’s statement is subtle — but telling.
In September, PSA said:
Submission volumes are at unprecedented levels, and we have made the difficult decision to increase estimated turnaround times and pricing for select service levels…
We are actively working to improve estimated turnaround times, keep you informed, and set clear expectations … We’re expanding our team and onboarding new graders to process more submissions while maintaining our trusted grading standards.
They emphasized expansion. They mentioned onboarding new graders. They framed the increase as a temporary response to overwhelming demand.
Today’s language feels different:
To better align submission volume with grading capacity and support more predictable turnaround expectations, we’ve made updates to pricing across select service levels for new submissions…
PSA remains committed to supporting collectors and the long-term health of the hobby. These updates are one step toward ensuring grading remains reliable and predictable as the hobby continues to grow.
The tone has shifted from urgency to control.
Between then and now, PSA’s parent company acquired Beckett. CGC remains independent, but in terms of volume, resale premiums, and brand dominance, PSA operates from a position of clear strength.
When you control the label that commands the highest resale premium, the incentive structure changes. The focus moves from rapid growth to stability and margin protection.
The priority now feels less about speed and more about stability. When you’re the best in the game you don’t need to worry about improving the service. You just need to keep it consistent.
What This Means for the Hobby
Grading is getting more expensive. And there’s little evidence it’s coming back down.
Let’s be realistic:
PSA’s primary responsibility is to maximize revenue.
They operate from a position of market dominance.
A PSA 10 still commands the strongest premium in the hobby. It isn’t particularly close.
As long as that premium exists, PSA controls the pricing power.
Collectors may not like paying more for the same service. But behavior ultimately dictates leverage. If submitters continue chasing PSA 10s because they generate the highest returns, pricing will continue to reflect that demand.
This is the cost of entry into the premium slab market.
The only way to stop this is for collectors to pivot to something else. But this isn’t going to happen at random.
The unfortunate truth is this is the cost to play the game. These prices won’t go down. Why would they?
As long as the PSA 10 holds the highest value, they’ll be able to charge whatever they want.
Final Thoughts
This isn’t the first time grading has gotten more expensive, and it won’t be the last. The market ultimately decides who wins in the long run. If collectors continue to reward PSA 10s with outsized premiums, PSA will continue to price accordingly. If behavior shifts, pricing power shifts with it. For now, this is the new cost of entry.
The only real question is whether collectors adjust their strategy or keep playing the same game at a higher price.
Disclaimer: The content in The Hobby Wire is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Commentary, analysis, and opinions on sports cards, rookies, and the hobby are not financial, investment, or professional advice. Collectors should always do their own research before buying, selling, or trading cards. Market values are volatile and can change rapidly—past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Unless specified, all pricing references are based on the Prizm/Refractor parallels of an athlete's Chrome rookie card, with prices from Market Movers, alt.xyz & 130pt.com.
Any odds mentioned were derived from DraftKings Sportsbook.
Personally, I will be sending a alot more subs to CGC.
I think its up to us collectors to decide where the value is instead of constantly being told.