Guide
PSA Grading Cost
PSA grading costs $59.99 a card at Standard (90-100 business days) and goes up to $599 at Premier (7-10 business days). Which tier you need depends on what the card is worth once it's graded. PSA's Value and bulk tiers are closed to new submissions right now.
Below: every open tier, what shipping and fees add on top, how PSA compares to BGS, SGC and CGC, and a calculator for the question we get most: is my card worth grading?
PSA tiers and prices
PSA's prices as of October 2026, per card. The tier you need is set by what the card is worth after it's graded, not what you paid.
| Tier | Price | Card value up to | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
PSA's Value, Value Plus, Value Max and bulk tiers are closed to new submissions right now. We'll add them back here when PSA reopens them.
How PSA picks your tier
You declare what the card will be worth once it's graded, and the tier has to cover that value. If you send a card at Standard and it comes back worth more than $1,000, PSA moves it up a tier and bills the difference. So declaring low doesn't save money on a card that grades well. It only matters for turnaround, since a faster tier costs more up front.
What grading really costs, door to door
The PSA fee is only part of it. Here's one card at Standard through GradingPrep, in a box of 10 cards:
- Pre-grade and prep$10
- PSA Standard fee$59.99
- Data entry$1
- Your shipping to us (÷ 10 cards)$1.20
- Insured shipping to PSA (÷ 10 cards)$4
- PSA return shipping (÷ 10 cards)$4.50
- About$80.69
Shipping gets cheaper per card the more cards share the box. If you're selling, the marketplace takes its cut on top: eBay charges 13.25% on trading cards. You don't need your own PSA account when we submit for you.
How PSA compares to BGS, SGC and CGC
PSA isn't the cheapest place to grade right now. BGS's Base tier is $14.95 a card. What a card sells for in each company's slab differs too, so the cheapest grade isn't always the best return. Here's each company's cheapest and fastest open tier, and one card door to door through us.
| Company | Cheapest tier | Fastest tier | One card, door to door |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | Standard: $59.99 90-100 business days | Premier: $599 7-10 business days | $80.69 |
| BGS (Beckett) | Base: $14.95 75+ business days | Priority: $124.95 5 business days | $37.70 |
| SGC | Standard (<$1,500): $50 40+ business days | Expedited (<$3,500): $150 2-3 business days | $66.20* |
| CGC | Bulk: $15 80 business days | Walk-Through: $300 2 business days | $31.20* |
Door to door is one card at the cheapest tier in a box of 10: our $10 prep, the grading fee, $1 data entry and a share of the shipping, plus Beckett's insurance for BGS. *Not counting SGC and CGC return shipping, which we don't estimate yet. PSA and SGC tiers have card-value limits; BGS fees are paid at checkout, before the cards ship.
Is my card worth grading?
Three quick questions and one price. We estimate the rest, compare PSA, BGS, SGC and CGC for the same card, and show you every number so you can change it.
- Goal
- Card
- Price
- Result
Why are you grading it?
Grading to sell vs. grading to keep
Selling. The real comparison isn't against what you paid. It's against selling the card raw today. Grading only makes sense if the slab, after grading costs and selling fees, brings in more than the raw card would. What you paid tells you your overall profit, but that money is spent either way.
Keeping it. For your personal collection the math is looser. You're paying for protection, a grade you can trust, and a card that's easier to sell or insure later. If a top grade adds more value than the grading cost, it pays for itself. If not, it's still a fair price for a card you care about.
Either way, the expensive mistake is paying to grade a card that comes back a 6. A $10 pre-grade and prep catches the soft corner or surface scratch first.
Timing the market
Sports cards sell best while the sport is being played. Football peaks from the playoffs to the Super Bowl, basketball through the playoffs in the spring, baseball from Opening Day through October. A card that leaves for PSA at Standard today won't be back for a few months, so think about where the season will be when the slab lands. Pokémon and other TCGs don't follow a season. Their prices move with new sets and the holidays.
A player's value can also move a lot while the card is at the grader, in either direction. Grading a rookie mid-hype is a bet that the hype is still there when the slab comes back.
Common questions
How much does PSA grading cost?
PSA grading costs $59.99 a card at Standard (90-100 business days) and goes up to $599 at Premier (7-10 business days). Which tier you need depends on what the card is worth once it's graded. PSA's Value and bulk tiers are closed to new submissions right now.
What happens if my card is worth more than the tier I picked?
PSA moves it up to the tier that covers its graded value and bills you the difference. A card sent at Standard that comes back worth more than $1,000 gets billed at the next tier up. Declaring low doesn't save money when the card grades well.
What does grading a card cost all in?
Through GradingPrep, one card at PSA Standard in a box of 10 comes to about $81: the $10 pre-grade and prep, PSA's $59.99 fee, $1 data entry, and a share of the insured shipping both ways. If you plan to sell, take the marketplace fee off the sale price too.
Is PSA the cheapest grading company?
Not right now. BGS's cheapest open tier is Base at $14.95, SGC's cheapest open tier is Standard (<$1,500) at $50, CGC's cheapest open tier is Bulk at $15, against $59.99 for PSA Standard. A PSA slab usually sells for more, so the cheapest grader isn't always the best deal. The calculator on this page runs the same card through all four.
Is my card worth grading?
If you plan to sell, grading pays when the slab sells for more than the raw card plus everything grading cost, after selling fees. For most modern cards that means it has to come back at the top of the scale. If you're keeping it, the question is whether protection and a known grade are worth the cost to you. The calculator on this page runs both, for PSA, BGS, SGC and CGC.
Find out before you pay to grade.
We pre-grade, clean and sleeve every card for $10, then submit only the ones you approve, to PSA, BGS, SGC or CGC.
Get PreppedFind Me Elsewhere
Let's connect
beyond the portal.
Discord Community
Great Discord for buying, selling, and trading. I'm active here too.
Join The DiscordStay In The Loop
Get grading tips, market insights, and exclusive offers.