PSA has quietly begun shutting down its Value submission tier — the $19.99-per-card entry point that millions of collectors rely on to grade their cards without breaking the bank. The move comes as the grading giant battles unprecedented backlogs, ballooning turnaround times, and a $200 million expansion that was supposed to fix everything.

Instead, things are getting worse.

The State of PSA Grading in May 2026

PSA's turnaround times have been quietly updated — and not in a good direction. What was once a 45-business-day Value tier is now stretching into 65-90 business days in practice, with some submitters reporting waits exceeding four months. The $200 million expansion announced last year was supposed to double PSA's grading capacity. Instead, submissions have more than doubled, and the bottleneck has simply moved downstream.

The Value tier shutdown isn't a formal announcement. It's happening through a series of quiet policy changes: Value-tier availability windows that open and close unpredictably, per-account submission limits that keep dropping, and dealer accounts getting priority while individual collectors wait.

What This Means for Collectors

The practical effect is a two-tier grading market. Dealers and high-volume submitters with PSA's top-tier dealer accounts can still get cards graded at reasonable turnaround times and bulk pricing. Everyone else — the collector sending in 5-10 cards a month — is being pushed toward more expensive service levels or left waiting indefinitely.

This isn't just an inconvenience. It's reshaping the economics of the hobby:

  • A card that costs $20 to grade at Value tier might cost $40-75 at Regular or Express
  • For cards worth under $100 raw, the math no longer makes sense — you're grading at a loss
  • The population gap is widening: cards from dealer-accessible athletes get graded heavily while mid-tier stars see fewer submissions

The Bigger Picture

PSA graded over 15 million cards in 2025 — a staggering number that dwarfs every competitor combined. But that volume is the problem. The company's infrastructure, even with the expansion, can't keep up with the flood of modern ultra-modern submissions driven by breakers, flippers, and the relentless churn of new product releases.

Other grading companies smell blood. SGC has been aggressively courting PSA defectors with faster turnaround times and competitive pricing. Beckett's subgrades remain the gold standard for collectors who want precision over speed. TAG's AI-driven grading is gaining traction with tech-forward collectors tired of subjective human grading.

But PSA's brand power — and the premium PSA-graded cards command at auction — means most collectors will wait rather than switch. And PSA knows it.

The Bottom Line

PSA's Value submission tier was the backbone of accessible card grading. Its quiet disappearance is a signal that the company is prioritizing profit-per-card over collector access. If you have cards you want graded before the year ends, submit them now — the window isn't getting wider.