Many Pokémon card collectors find it’s smarter to buy the exact card they want instead of hoping to find it in a random pack. It’s becoming harder to find cards in stores, and the chances of getting rare, full-art cards are very low. Because of this, buying a single card is often the best way to get the one you’re looking for. Some collectors also prefer to have their cards professionally graded and sealed to protect their condition and value over time. However, graded cards usually cost more, and prices are likely to increase even further.
Many companies grade trading cards, but PSA is the most popular choice for Pokemon TCG cards. Because of this, changes PSA makes often affect the entire Pokemon card collecting community. Yesterday, PSA announced a significant change due to high demand. Starting June 2nd, they’re temporarily stopping their most affordable grading service. This means anyone wanting to get cards professionally graded for resale will have to pay a higher price, and that cost will likely be passed on to buyers of highly graded, sought-after cards.
PSA is Struggling to Keep Pace With Pokemon TCG Grading Demands, and Their Solution Is Going Probaly Going to Cost You
The Pokemon Company is having trouble keeping up with the huge demand for Pokemon cards, and it’s not the only one. PSA, a card grading service, is also overwhelmed with submissions. While they didn’t say Pokemon cards are the main reason, they highlighted some very rare Pokemon cards in their recent announcement, and data shows PSA grades far more Pokemon cards than other companies. PSA recently saw a surge of over 10% in submissions, leaving them with a backlog quickly approaching 10 million cards.
To reduce a large number of submissions waiting to be processed, PSA is temporarily stopping its Value grading tiers starting June 2nd. This affects the least expensive options for having trading cards professionally graded by PSA.
- Value Bulk
- Value
- Value Plus
- Value Max
Card collectors can still send items for grading, but they’ll have to choose the more expensive options for now. PSA is likely betting that many collectors will hold off on submissions and wait for the more affordable service levels to become available again. These cheaper options will return once PSA gets its processing backlog down to 5 million cards, which they expect to happen in about five months. PSA is even providing a public tracker so people can follow the progress and see when the cheaper grading options might be offered again.
While this change might be needed, it will probably affect the prices of Pokemon cards and other professionally graded trading cards. Graded cards are already more expensive than ungraded ones because of their guaranteed condition and the cost of grading and protective casing. Now that PSA has paused its value services, newer graded Pokemon cards will likely become even harder to find. Plus, anyone who does get newer cards graded will face higher costs, and they’ll likely want to charge more to make up for it.
PSA isn’t the only card grading company facing difficulties. Soon after PSA paused its lower-value grading, CGC, another major company, also announced longer wait times for its services. This is likely due to current high demand, or because people may switch to CGC now that PSA has made changes. Regardless, it looks like getting a Pokémon card professionally graded will take much longer and be more expensive for the next few years.
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2026-05-29 17:16