Discuss

https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/superhero/the-amazing-spider-man-300-marvel-1988-psa-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/122613-19530.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

https://comics.ha.com/itm/modern-age-1980-present-/superhero/the-new-mutants-98-newsstand-edition-marvel-1991-psa-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/122613-19621.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

For me there were a few concerns about sending. (1) I am in Canada, and I know people who were charged customs duty coming back on their cards when they sent them in to PSA for grading. The primary reason I waited before sending in some books as a trial was to give them time to sort out issues like that. (2) It costs more even without considering membership discounts from CGC. I am happy to hear criticism about dollars being a factor from people who happily give all their comics away to strangers for free. Everyone else considering being critical of considering cost and value can get bent in advance. (3) The weight of the slabs. I have close to 1k slabs now, and at my age when I have to lug them around the boxes get pretty heavy when I need to do a lot of them. The added weight could finish the job of destroying my back. I am not concerned about the added weight of the slabs on the stands I use at shows since they are heavy duty and can take 100X that weight. (4) PSA slabs are built like tanks and I hear they are tough to crack open. A part of my process in sending books in is to crack open and resub books that I feel were under-graded. It is tough enough with the new CGC slabs, and PSA slabs will be much much worse to get into, which means I am basically stuck with the grade I get on the first try. (5) Stories tell of the grading so far being tougher at PSA. Great for a buyer, but not so hot for people doing the actual slabbing. For instance, if CGC gives a book a 7.5 and PSA give the same book a 7.0, and the difference in value between those two grades is $250, then the person using PSA just lost $250 for making the choice to send there. Similar to point 2 above, money and value is a factor, critical people can get bent in advance, yadda yadda yadda.

On the flip side, there were some positives to sending that were big factors. (1) PSA slabs are build like tanks. I dealt with the negative of this above, but the positive is I can safely take them to shows without worrying about damaging some of them. My process of taking books to shows is loading them on the back of a U-Haul, driving to the show, unloading, carting them to the table, and setting up. All this is in reverse going back. The last time I took slabs to a show two of them ended up being cracked, so I had to sell them at a steep discount to avoid the outrageous cost of re-holdering when sending from Canada. (2) I like to try new things and experiment with them. I was always going to give PSA a try so I could see how their grading, case, process, etc., compares to the other companies out there. (3) The price of PSA slabs is roughly in line with CGC slabs, and PSA slabs seem easy to sell right now before the market becomes saturated past the demand for them. Last time in this post for get bent, yadda yadda yadda.

At the end of the day the decision to send to PSA was based almost entirely on wanting to try them out and see for myself what it is all about.

Linkie:

https://www.psacard.com/pop/comics?cPageSize=500

This does not include any data from the PSA Magazine Population report-just the Comics for now.

Since I have nothing to compare it to, thought I'd report some raw data.

As of 12/31/25 at 5pm EST:

PSA has a Total Comic Population of 12,059

#10's = 313 (2.6% of Total Comic Population)

#9.8's = 4004 (33.2% of Total Comic Population)

That's about a third in 9.8 alone!

Before CGC cut off the data feed in September, they were averaging about 70,000 books per month. Not sure exactly when PSA started accruing their data, but a 12K month is a pretty big bite of the apple for the new guy on the block.

Scanning thru the individual books, it's hard to find any Silver Age entries yet and even common titles like ASM are full of gaps. I expect that as it's pretty much "ground zero" for this business for them. Most must be moderns as I don't recognize the titles.

Gonna mess around more with the raw data, might report some more findings tonight before the Buckeyes - Hurricanes game.

-bc

is PSA this crazy to raise prices on moderns to almost $28

with cbcs going out i think this would end PSA right off the bat of even getting any new orders

Shrug... sure but what am I gonna get signed?

I dunno... why don't we see what's around?

So we went by Zapp and saw a Spawn 1 on the wall.

Why not? I said. Let's see it in hand.

My Wiseman haggled the price for me doing what a Wiseman does.

As noted, this was to test the waters. We had gotten a behind the scenes look and were able to hold their slabbed books in hand so why not try out the new guys.

I opted for a press, a grade, authenticating the signature and signature grading... just to see what it all looks like.

It was about what I expected. I was in on this with a 9.6 / 9... so I was pleasantly surprised when I got this back...

Cracked out and sent to

PSA: Trimmed all 3 Edges. Apparent 9.2

In a CGC world a book like that would have gotten a GLOD, but PSA just puts it on the same label as a non-altered #1 (I saw a picture of them side-by-side). I am assuming PSA doesn't have it's own version of a Qualified grade?

(Not my book)

The X-men #282 were from my personal stash of 125 copies that I brought back in 1991 for 83 cents each. I've submitted those books to CGC throughout the years and have always gotten 9.8's, including four copies that I just received back from CGC a couple of weeks ago from a pre-screen that came back all 9.8's.

It's fair to say that I'll never submit anymore books to them ever again.

Here they are in all their glory. BTW, these slabs weigh a ton!

https://www.psacard.com/articles/articleview/15631/introducing-psa-comic-book-and-magazine-population-reports

https://www.psacard.com/pop/comics

Interesting formatting.

Per the story, PSA has entered into an initial agreement to purchase Beckett (including CBCS). They will now own PSA, BGS, & SGC on the card grading side, as well as PSA and CBCS on the comics grading side.

PSA/BGS/SGC were considered by most as the big three in grading with CGC, ASG, and TAG taking most of the outstanding market share (though after SGC was purchased their number dropped quickly). ASG & TAG are new AI driven ventures gaining traction.

• PSA introduced new services in the past year+ that allow submitters to directly sell through PSA (via eBay) without ever taking possession of the graded card

• Additionally, the introduced PSA Offers a feature letting buyers within PSA's dealer network make cash offers on graded or vaulted cards. PSA facilitates the quick, final sale to a third-party dealer for fast liquidity, streamlining the selling process without eBay fees.

The controversy surrounds at least two different submitters seeing their card grades online as 9's, receiving and accepting offers as 9's, and then seeing the same cards with the same cert number graded as 10s after the sale.

Below are a couple of videos - but there are a lot more out there. And like we saw in the comic community and CGC - lots of defenders and detractors of PSA. Seemingly some of the big submitters have said they are halting submissions to PSA. But....money talks.....if PSA graded cards continue to generate a premium how long will people hold out.

This would seem to be just another version of the narratives many of these boards have talked about over the years (irelationship between large sellers/auction houses and the graders leading to compromised grading, impact of direct monetary incentives on integrity of grading, etc.)

Let's say I have a comic from 1970 and another comic from 1990. I want to have them both graded. CGC will make me do 2 submissions ... which will result in 2 shipping charges. Will PSA do the same thing?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPciVJtjFM0/

https://www.thestar.com/business/psa-opens-canadian-grading-centre-to-help-ease-tariffs-for-card-collectors/article_1ed5ae0a-9a69-5214-b832-cfe8db595181.html

Some observations from the video.

-Each book is wrapped in thin plastic

-The Red labels are ugly

-They'll be accepting books at this year's SDCC

-The cases are sturdier and heavier than CGC's, he estimates 1 1/2 to 2 times as heavy

-They scan all graded books and submitters can check the scans to find out grades before they're shipped.

-The cases are very clear

-Some of these were previously graded by CGC and generally PSA graded them the same as CGC or 1 grade higher or lower.

-For books that were new submissions generally PSA was the same as his expected grade or 1 grade higher or lower.

-He feels that PSA's grading is similar to CGC, the cases are stronger and heavier, and PSA will do well IF they can realize similar prices to CGC. He also believes that this will probably put CBCS out of business as he doesn't believe there's enough room for CGC, PSA and CBCS to survive. By extrapolation he seems to believe that PSA is superior to CBCS.

I'd like to point out that this is the first PSA submission. I'm sure all hands were on deck to make sure every book was graded carefully, that every label was correct, that every case was perfectly put together and free of blemishes PSA would also be well aware that this submitter is a Youtuber and errors and flaws would be noticed and amplified and broadcast and it would be important to get this right. The true test of a grading company is when submission volumes ramp up and the company is under stress.

Effective Thursday, PSA will increase turnaround times for standard trading card services, including Value Plus from 20 to 25 business days, Value Max from 15 to 20 days, Regular from 10 to 15 business days and Express from five to 10 business days.

Prices will also increase for Value Bulk from $19.99 per item to $21.99, Value from $24.99 to $27.99 and Value Plus from $39.99 to $44.99.

“We’re seeing continued high demand for our authentication and grading services in 2025, and we’re grateful for your continued trust and patience,” the company wrote on the PSA website. “Submission volumes are at unprecedented levels, and we have made the difficult decision to increase estimated turnaround times and pricing for select service levels effective for orders placed on or after Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025.

“We are actively working to improve estimated turnaround times, keep you informed, and set clear expectations.”

PSA is also increasing pricing and turnaround times for Dual Service as well as turnaround times for comics and magazines, which PSA added as a new grading category earlier this year.

Dual Service turnaround time changes:

• Value Plus: 30 business days to 35 business days

• Value Max: 25 business days to 30 business days

• Regular: 20 business days to 25 business days

• Express: 15 business days to 20 business days

Dual Service pricing changes:

• Value Bulk: $25.99 to $27.99 per item

• Value: $34.99 to $37.99 per item

• Value Plus: $54.99 to $59.99 per item

Comics and Magazine turnaround changes:

• Modern: 20 business days to 35 business days

• Modern Plus: 12 business days to 15 business days

• Vintage: 30 business days to 45 business days

• Vintage Plus: 15 business days to 20 business days

“We’re expanding our team and onboarding new graders to process more submissions while maintaining our trusted grading standards,” the company wrote on its website.

The most recent increase to pricing and turnaround times follows a bump for popular service levels in April due to high demand to begin 2025. PSA would eventually reduce turnaround times for Value submissions in July as it continues to expand its operating capacity.

Wednesday’s news closely follows PSA’s announcement of a full-scale grading facility it plans to open in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2026. A full-scale grading operation will also open in the greater Toronto area in October.

Earlier this year, PSA announced updates for two domestic facilities, with a dedicated ticket grading operation in Plano, Texas, and an expanded grading facility in Boca Raton, Florida, planned to open by 2026.

PSA began accepting submissions for comic and magazine grading in July, but was immediately forced to increase turnaround times for magazines when tariffs delayed the delivery of magazine holders.

Third-party grading tracker GemRate reported earlier this year that PSA had graded 8.89 million cards through the first six months of 2025. PSA graded more than 15.3 million items in 2024, according to GemRate’s database.

I felt this was a decent review of the PSA slabs. They also compare the CGC grades to the PSA grades received as they had cracked out the books from CGC slabs. At the end they also show the PSA site. Recommend you check it out.