PSA paused its Value tiers in June, so the cheapest way in is now $79.99 a card. That changes the answer for most of what people were submitting.
For years the standard advice was that grading paid for itself on almost anything with a decent chance at a 10. That advice was written when the entry fee was around $25 and turnaround was measured in weeks. Both of those things have changed.
On June 2, 2026, PSA paused all four of its Value service tiers, against a submission backlog reported at roughly 14 million cards. Those tiers were the ones that made bulk and mid value grading viable.
With them gone, the cheapest orderable PSA service is Regular at $79.99 per card, with a $1,500 declared value ceiling and a turnaround around 40 to 50 business days.
| PSA service | Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Value Bulk | $24.99 | Paused |
| Value | $32.99 | Paused |
| Regular | $79.99 | Open, about 40 to 50 business days |
| Express | $149 | Open, faster |
| Super Express | $349 | Open |
| Walk-Through | $599 | Open |
A useful working rule circulating since the pause: a raw modern card wants roughly $150 to $200 of post grade market value before submitting at $79.99 makes sense.
That threshold is not arbitrary. Submitting costs you more than the fee:
A raw card worth $60. You believe it grades a 10, where it sells for $220. Compare net to net, since selling raw costs you a marketplace fee as well.
Sell it raw. $60 less the eBay fee of $8.25 leaves you $51.75.
It comes back a 10. $220 less the $29.45 eBay fee, the $79.99 grading fee and $22 of shipping leaves $88.56. You are $36.81 ahead.
It comes back a 9 and sells for $95. After the same costs you are at minus $19.88. You spent about $102 to sell a $95 card, and against the $51.75 you would have had by selling raw you are roughly $72 worse off. One grade is the whole decision.
Forty to fifty business days is two to two and a half months of calendar time, before shipping in either direction. For a collector that is patience. For anyone buying and reselling, it is capital you cannot use.
Money in a submission is money not buying the next drop. If you turn inventory even monthly, a card at PSA has skipped two or three cycles. That opportunity cost rarely appears in grading calculators and it is often larger than the fee.
SGC and CGC generally price below PSA, and Beckett offers lower tiers as well. But a cheaper slab is only better if the market pays similarly for it, and for Pokemon the PSA premium is real. The correct comparison is not fee against fee, it is fee against the premium that specific grader earns on that specific card. Sometimes a $79.99 PSA beats a cheaper alternative comfortably. Sometimes neither is worth doing.
Holomint's Slab Math compares a raw card against its graded outcomes using current grading fees and turnaround times, net of the marketplace fees you would pay on the sale. It shows you the 9 case alongside the 10 case, which is the comparison that actually decides most submissions.
Open HolomintRegular is $79.99 per card with a $1,500 declared value limit and roughly 40 to 50 business days. The Value tiers at $24.99 and $32.99 were paused on June 2, 2026.
As a rule of thumb, about $150 to $200 of post grade value on a modern card. Below that, fees, shipping, marketplace commission and grade risk usually consume the premium.
A submission backlog reported around 14 million cards. Pausing the cheapest tiers reduces intake volume.
Rarely on modern cards. The gap between 9 and 10 prices is usually where the entire economics of the submission lives, which is why honest self assessment of centering and surface matters more than optimism.
Often, yes, especially under the threshold. Selling raw is immediate, carries no grade risk, and frees capital for the next buy. Marketplace fees still apply, so run that number too.