PSA Reopens Value Grading at $39.99 With Backlog Still at 7.2 Million Items

PSA is bringing back a lower-priced grading option, reopening its Value service globally on October 29 at $39.99 per card in the United States as the company continues working through a backlog that still stands at 7.2 million items. The Value tier will open at 8 AM PT in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. In the U.S., submissions will have a maximum insured value of $500 and an estimated turnaround time of 90 to 100 business days. Pricing is set at $56.99 CAD in Canada, €39.99 in Europe and ¥5,980 in Japan, where the estimated turnaround will be 120 business days.

PSA is making clear that reopening Value will not move those new submissions ahead of cards already in its system. New Value orders will be processed behind all existing orders, and the company says the launch will not change delivery estimates for customers who currently have submissions at PSA.

“Pausing service levels gave us an opportunity to evaluate and streamline the services we offer, while also steadily moving toward both faster options for those customers who need expedited service and, as of this week, Value service that will open grading to the many customers awaiting lower-priced options,” said Ryan Hoge, President of PSA and Grading at Collectors. “We have added an incredible amount of capacity, but we still have work to do, both on existing orders and ensuring our estimated turnaround times are accurate. Feedback from collectors is heard and directly informs how we are reopening our value services.”

At the same time, PSA is cutting its estimated turnaround times for two of its higher service levels. Standard is moving to an estimated 70 to 80 business days, while Priority drops to 50 to 60 business days. Both estimates have been reduced by 20 business days for orders submitted beginning October 28 at 8 AM PT.

The changes come while PSA is still dealing with a surge of submissions that pushed many orders beyond their estimated turnaround times earlier this year. According to PSA, submissions during April and May were 2.5 times higher than during the same two months in 2025. More than half of the orders currently past their estimates were submitted during a five-week stretch in the spring when PSA received 165% more items than during the comparable period a year earlier.

CollectiblesNews.com has been following PSA’s effort to bring that backlog under control throughout the summer and fall. In August, PSA reported that its backlog had fallen to 11.85 million items after reaching 12.4 million, and two weeks later the total had dropped again to approximately 10.9 million. In September, PSA introduced its new $59.99 Standard grading tier while keeping Value temporarily closed. The newly reported 7.2 million-item backlog shows that PSA has continued making progress, although it remains above the 5 million target the company previously set before fully reopening its grading services.

PSA acknowledged the delays directly in announcing the reopening. “Too many orders are past their estimated turnaround time, and we owe an explanation,” the company said. PSA says it will contact customers with delayed submissions by email with updates on their orders. The company also says its grading output has increased substantially as it adds capacity. PSA reports that graded-item output is up nearly 50% in 2026 and is 150% higher than its average weekly output from 2020 through 2025. The scale of PSA’s recent growth is reflected in another number disclosed by the company. PSA says it graded 59 million items during the past three years, more than the 57 million items it graded during the preceding 23 years combined.

Even with that additional capacity, PSA is not ready to reopen every lower-priced service level. The company says the current backlog remains at 7.2 million items. In May, PSA had set a target of 5 million before fully reopening its grading services, and it plans to continue moving toward that number before bringing back additional options such as Value Bulk.

Rather than reopening everything at once, PSA says it will continue using a phased approach so it can monitor submission demand and adjust capacity throughout the grading process. PSA Value grading opens October 29 at 8 AM PT, with Value Bulk and other lower-priced grading options expected to return later as the company continues reducing its backlog.