PSA grading update: Value is back at $39.99, turnaround times are shorter, and the backlog keeps falling

By Rowan Hale, collector and reseller. Last updated October 29, 2026. This page is updated whenever PSA announces a change.

What did PSA announce on October 28, 2026?

PSA brought back its Value tier at $39.99 a card from October 29, and cut the estimated turnaround for Standard and Priority by 20 business days for orders placed from October 28.

Value includes standard front and back images of the graded card. Orders already at PSA keep the terms they were sent under, though PSA says they may finish sooner too. Turnaround figures are PSA's estimates, not guarantees. The full announcement was covered in detail by Sports Collectors Daily.

When does PSA Value grading reopen?

October 29, 2026 at 8 a.m. Pacific time, in all of PSA's regions: the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan.

Value costs $39.99 in the U.S., $56.99 in Canada, €39.99 in Europe and ¥5,980 in Japan, where the estimated turnaround is 120 business days rather than 90 to 100. It is $7 more than before the pause: Value was $32.99 when PSA suspended it on June 2, after rising from $27.99 in February. Value Plus and Value Max, the other two tiers paused in June, are no longer on PSA's price list.

How big is PSA's backlog right now?

7.2 million cards at PSA's October 20, 2026 update, down from a peak of 12.4 million on July 28. PSA updates its Backlog Tracker every two weeks.

PSA says its weekly output is up nearly 50% in 2026 and has graded 59 million items in the last three years, more than in the 23 years before that combined. The surge that caused the backlog was just as dramatic: submissions in April and May ran at about two and a half times the same months of 2025.

PSA grading in 2026: a timeline

What the PSA update means for Pokémon card collectors

Grading cards worth up to $500 after grading costs about $20 less per card than it did last week, roughly $65 all in through Value instead of $85 through Standard. But a Value order waits behind PSA's whole backlog, so cards you want back soon may be better in Standard.

The tier a card goes in depends on what it will be worth graded, not raw, so check that first: a modern Pokémon card worth $40 raw that would sell for $300 as a PSA 10 fits Value, while a vintage holo that would sell for $800 needs Standard. The cheaper tier also lowers the bar for grading at all. A card now needs to gain only about $65 from grading through Value to break even, before selling fees, which brings many mid-value modern cards into range. Before you send anything, it is still worth knowing the grade a card is likely to get: the checker estimates it from photos and prices the grading at the tier the card would need, and the PSA centering tool shows whether a 10 is even possible.

When will PSA Value Bulk come back?

PSA has tied it to the backlog falling to about 5 million cards, not to a date. At 7.2 million on October 20, that is about 2.2 million cards away.

Value Bulk was PSA's cheapest regular option before the pause, $24.99 a card for Collectors Club members with a 25-card minimum. PSA says it will keep bringing tiers back in phases while it watches demand, so expect another announcement once the tracker nears 5 million. This page will be updated when it happens.

Where these figures come from

Backlog figures are from PSA's Backlog Tracker. Prices, turnaround estimates and the October 28 announcement are from PSA, as reported by Sports Collectors Daily. For every tier, cap and the full all-in cost, see the PSA grading cost guide.

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