In an October that has been full of dominating pitching performances, it is perhaps card-grading giant PSA that has thrown the biggest curveball.
The company, which began a pause on all value grading services under $80 in early June amid a 10-million-card backlog and then added a $60 tier back just last month, unexpectedly announced Wednesday the return of one of its value tiers. Starting at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 29, collectors can start submitting cards for value grading at $39.99 per card—half of the lowest price available to them for most of the summer.
Although PSA had originally indicated that it expected the pause to last four months—meaning value tiers would have been back up and running in early October—surging demand for grading even without value tiers caused continued setbacks. As of the company’s last update on Oct. 20, the backlog was at 7.2 million, still a ways away from the “below five million” metric established in late May for reopening any value tiers.
Even at the faster rate at which PSA has been grading recently, the company was not expected to reopen value tiers again until around Thanksgiving. That’s what made Wednesday’s announcement even more shocking.
“I have been hoarding a grading pile of cards, and I have been waiting for one of these value tiers to open up, so I’m very excited and pleasantly surprised,” said Zack Eustis, a Minnesota-based card dealer and social media personality. “I am in the process of trying to make cards a long-term, sustainable, full-time thing, and being able to grade cards below $80 a card is a critically important part of that business model.”
The service level opening Thursday, simply called “Value,” has an estimated turnaround time of 90 to 100 business days, or roughly four and a half to five months. That turnaround time is about what collectors saw previously for value tiers, but the price is higher than the $32.99 price point for the comparable service before the June shutdown.
PSA says that any Value submissions sent in through the new tier will take a backseat to all submissions currently in its queue.
PSA’s announcement also confirms that its other value tier, Bulk Grading, will be returning eventually as the company continues to make progress on the backlog, likely as it gets even closer to that five million level. Prior to the shutdown, Bulk Grading was available to PSA members at $24.99 per card, with a minimum of 25 cards per submission.
Additionally, PSA announced reduced turnaround times for two of its grading tiers starting today. The company’s $79.99 “Priority” level, which had been its cheapest option from early June until mid September, will see turnaround times reduced to 50-60 business days, down from 70-80 days. And the $59.99 “Standard” level, introduced just last month, will see its turnaround times reduced from 90-100 business days to 70-80.
The company says that all current submitted orders will still see the former turnaround times, not the new ones, as will any orders currently making their way to PSA. Orders still on their way may wind up seeing faster completions.
In late May, PSA announced a full moratorium of its two value-card grading tiers amid what was then a 10 million card backlog and a $200 million expansion project. With the pause, its least expensive grading option changed from $24.99 to $79.99. PSA told collectors they would reopen value tiers once the backlog was under five million.
A flurry of last-minute submissions before the early June deadline pushed the backlog up to 14 million, and it has been slowly decreasing since then. In mid September, the company introduced the $59.99 grading tier as a slightly less expensive option as the backlog continued to dwindle.
The company’s next biweekly backlog update is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Even amid the value-tier moratorium, PSA has remained the king of card grading. A perfect PSA 10 score on a card can increase its value exponentially. In Wednesday’s announcement, PSA mentions that it has graded 59 million cards in the past three years, which is more than the 57 million it graded in its first 23 years combined.
“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 lower-priced options,” PSA President Ryan Hoge said in Wednesday’s announcement. “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.”
The decision to reopen one of its value tiers before reaching the five-million mark could potentially be tied to the attention the company has received since reports that a FedEx truck was robbed of 6,451 graded items not far from PSA’s Santa Ana, California, facility. PSA is currently working with FedEx and the authorities to track down the items, and PSA is communicating with affected customers to make sure they are compensated in the meantime.
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