PSA raised prices twice in 2026 and then had the nerve to pause their cheapest tiers entirely, and somehow the backlog still hit nearly 12.5 million cards. Let that sink in for a second. They raised prices in February, raised them again effectively in May when they killed off Value tier access, and the response from collectors was to submit even more cards. A 20 percent spike in submissions. Over 1.6 million cards dumped into the queue in a matter of weeks after the May announcement alone. The hobby did not flinch. It just kept going.
I have been submitting cards personally for years and I will be honest with you, this situation is genuinely wild to watch unfold. PSA is grading around 90,000 cards a day right now, which is six times what they were doing back in 2021, and they still cannot keep up. Their own public backlog tracker showed 11.85 million units as of August 11, 2026, down from a peak of about 12.4 million in late July. So yes it is technically shrinking, but they need to get it down to 5 million before they even think about reopening Value tiers. At current pace that is still months away.
What Actually Changed and When
February 10, 2026 was the first hit. PSA officially raised prices across every tier. Value Bulk went from $21.99 to $24.99. Value went from $27.99 to $32.99. Value Plus jumped to $49.99. Value Max to $64.99. Regular to $79.99. They also consolidated TCG Bulk into Value Bulk, which quietly eliminated a cheaper option that Pokemon and TCG collectors had been leaning on hard.
Then May 28, 2026 came around and PSA dropped the real bomb. They announced a full pause on all four Value tiers effective June 2nd. The reason? Their announcement of a $200 million infrastructure investment earlier in May actually backfired. Collectors heard “PSA is expanding” and responded by flooding the queue in anticipation of faster turnarounds. Instead of relief, PSA got 1.6 million more cards dropped on them in weeks. So now the cheapest thing you can submit is Regular tier at $79.99 a card with a 50 to 60 day wait. That is the floor right now. That is where we are.
TCG Is Running This Whole Thing
Here is the part that I think a lot of sports card people are sleeping on. TCG submissions, meaning Pokemon, One Piece, Dragon Ball, all of it, are absolutely dominating PSA’s volume right now. According to GemRate data, PSA graded over 11.5 million TCG cards in 2025 alone, which was an 85 percent increase year over year. TCG submissions are now outpacing sports cards by roughly two to one. The hobby that old school collectors used to dismiss as “kids stuff” is literally the reason PSA cannot keep up with demand.
And honestly that tracks completely with what I see in the pop reports. Pokemon alt arts, full arts, special illustration rares, they are getting graded at a rate that would have seemed absurd five years ago. The graded premium on a PSA 10 special illustration rare from a set like Prismatic Evolutions or Surging Sparks is still very real. The pop counts on some of those cards are climbing fast but the demand is climbing faster. That spread between raw and graded is what keeps people submitting even when PSA raises prices.
Does the Math Still Work
OK so here is the honest take. At $79.99 minimum per card right now, the math has gotten a lot tighter. It was already tight at $32.99. At $79.99 you need a card that has a meaningful gap between its raw value and its PSA 10 value, and you need to be confident it actually grades a 10, because a PSA 9 on a lot of modern Pokemon cards barely moves the needle over raw.
The cards where grading still makes obvious sense right now are the ones with a strong PSA 10 premium, meaning the graded copy sells for significantly more than the raw copy, not just a little more. Think about special illustration rares, secret rares, and alt arts from sets that are no longer in print. If a card is $40 raw and $120 in a PSA 10, you are still looking at a solid return even at $79.99 a card, assuming it grades well. If a card is $20 raw and $35 in a PSA 10, you are just burning money right now. That submission does not make sense until Value tiers come back.
The other thing worth thinking about is the wait. Fifty to sixty days minimum means your capital is locked up for two months. In a market that moves as fast as Pokemon TCG does right now, two months is a long time. A set can go from hot to oversaturated in that window. You want to be submitting cards you are comfortable holding long term, not cards you are trying to flip quickly.
What to Actually Submit Right Now
If you are going to send anything to PSA in this environment, here is how I am thinking about it personally. Focus on cards from sets that are done printing or close to it. Focus on the highest chase cards in those sets, the ones with low pop counts and strong graded premiums. Special illustration rares, alt arts, and secret rares from sets like Prismatic Evolutions, Surging Sparks, and Stellar Crown are still worth the math at $79.99 if the card is in genuine gem mint condition.
Do not send bulk right now. Just do not. The Value tier pause exists specifically because too many people were sending bulk, and the economics of bulk grading at $79.99 a card make zero sense unless every single card in your submission is a confirmed high value target. Save your bulk for when Value tiers reopen, which PSA says could still be five to six months out from their August update.
Also worth noting: PSA extended Collectors Club memberships for the full duration of the pause for anyone who was active on May 14th. If you have a membership, make sure it is still active so you do not lose that extension.
The Bigger Picture
What this whole situation tells me is that the grading market is not cooling off, it is overheating. People are not submitting less because prices went up. They are submitting more. That means the graded card market has real legs and real demand behind it, which is actually a good sign for anyone holding graded inventory or planning to grade the right cards. The premium on a PSA 10 exists because people want PSA 10s and they are willing to pay for them. That has not changed.
What has changed is that you need to be more selective and more patient than ever. The days of throwing 50 bulk commons at PSA and hoping for the best are over for now. This is a moment that rewards collectors who actually know their pop reports, know their sets, and know which cards have real long term value versus which ones just look shiny in the pack.
At JD Collectibles we are watching the backlog tracker closely and staying on top of which cards are worth the current grading cost. If you want to talk through whether a specific card makes sense to grade right now, drop into the shop or hit us up. We have been through enough PSA price cycles to give you a straight answer instead of a sales pitch.
Sources:
PSA February 2026 Pricing Update
PSA May 2026 Value Tier Pause Announcement
PSA Public Backlog Tracker
CardGrader: PSA Grading Backlog 2026 Overview
CardGrade.io: PSA Value Tiers Paused 2026
The Athletic: PSA Partially Halting Grading Submissions
Sports Collectors Daily: PSA Grading Delays and Price Hikes
