PSA Grading Cost in 2026: Every Tier, US and Canada

PSA grading costs $79.99 USD per card in the United States and $109.00 CAD per card through PSA Canada at the Regular service level, which is currently the cheapest tier available because PSA has paused its lower-priced Value service on both schedules. Shipping both ways is on top of that. Here’s the full price table, the fees nobody warns you about, and the math that decides whether grading a card makes you money or burns it.

The full PSA price table (2026)

United States (submitted via psacard.com):

Service	Price per card	Max declared value	Turnaround
Regular	$79.99 USD	$1,500	40 to 50 business days
Express	$149.00 USD	$2,500	20 to 30 business days
Super Express	$349.00 USD	$5,000	10 to 15 business days
Walk-Through	$599.00 USD	$10,000	7 to 10 business days

Canada (submitted through PSA Canada, billed in CAD):

Service	Price per card	Max declared value	Turnaround
Regular	$109.00 CAD	$2,100	50 to 60 business days
Express	$219.00 CAD	$3,500	30 to 40 business days
Super Express	$479.00 CAD	$7,000	20 to 25 business days
Walk-Through	$849.00 CAD	$14,000	15 to 20 business days

Rates verified July 25, 2026 against PSA’s published schedules. PSA changes prices without much ceremony, so confirm on psacard.com before submitting; our free PSA Grading Calculator tracks the current numbers and does all of the math below for you.

Where the cheap tier went

For years the answer to “how much does PSA grading cost” was around $25 per card on the Value tier, and that number is still quoted all over the internet. It’s dead for now: PSA has temporarily paused Value service on both the US and Canadian schedules, citing demand. That makes Regular the floor, and an $80 to $109 floor prices most modern base and insert cards out of grading entirely. If Value returns, the math in this post improves roughly threefold at the low end.

The upcharge: PSA’s least popular surprise

Every tier carries a maximum declared value. If PSA grades your card and judges its market value to be above the ceiling of the tier you paid for, they bill you the difference to the higher service level before your card comes home. That’s an upcharge, and it’s the fee sellers complain about most.

It’s also entirely avoidable: be honest about what the card is worth graded, and pick the tier whose ceiling covers it. A card you think books at $1,800 in a PSA 10 doesn’t belong on the US Regular tier with its $1,500 limit. Our calculator flags this automatically whenever your entered value exceeds the selected tier’s ceiling.

Grading from Canada in 2026

Canadians can no longer ship submissions directly to PSA’s US facility. PSA paused that route in April 2025 because US tariffs are charged on the declared value of the cards, not on the grading fee, which made a strong submission absurdly expensive to import. Instead, Canadian collectors submit through PSA Canada in Mississauga, the submission center in Halifax, or an authorized Canadian dealer. PSA bundles those submissions under a temporary import bond, so individual submitters avoid the tariff and customs handling entirely, and everything is billed in Canadian dollars. The trade is time: the Canadian queue runs roughly ten business days behind the US one at each tier.

The break-even math before you submit

Grading is a bet that the graded price beats the raw price by more than the all-in cost of grading. Run it per card, with sold comps, before anything goes in a box:

All-in cost. Grading fee plus shipping both directions and insurance. Call it roughly $95 USD per card at Regular for a small submission.
The raw price. What the card sells for ungraded on eBay right now, from sold comps (here’s how to pull them properly).
The graded prices, plural. Look up sold comps for the card in PSA 10 and PSA 9. This is where most grading math dies: on modern cards a PSA 9 often sells barely above raw, so the bet only pays if you hit the 10, and nobody gems every card.
Selling costs on the difference. The graded copy sells on eBay too, so around 13% of the sale goes to fees. Our eBay Fee Calculator gives you the exact net.

Worked example: a card sells raw for $60, for $250 in PSA 10, and for $80 in PSA 9. If it gems, you clear roughly $120 after grading costs and fees. If it comes back a 9, you lost about $60 and three months. Whether that’s a good bet depends entirely on how clean the card really is, and honest centering and surface assessment is a skill worth building before an expensive habit.

As a rule of thumb with Value service paused: if a card doesn’t have a realistic path to selling for at least $200 graded, the Regular tier eats the win.

Turnaround is a cost too

PSA quotes 40 to 50 business days for Regular in the US and 50 to 60 through PSA Canada. That’s two to three months of your card, and your capital, sitting in a box. If you’re a collector, that’s patience. If you’re reselling, it’s dead inventory, and it belongs in the math the same way the fee does.

PSA grading cost FAQ

How much does it cost to grade one card with PSA?

$79.99 USD in the United States or $109.00 CAD through PSA Canada at the Regular level, plus shipping both ways. Faster tiers run $149 to $599 USD ($219 to $849 CAD). There’s no single-card discount; small submissions just spread shipping across fewer cards, which is why one-card submissions are the most expensive way to grade.

What is the cheapest way to get cards graded by PSA in 2026?

Regular service is the cheapest tier currently open. Beyond that, submit multiple cards at once to spread the shipping cost, and only submit cards whose graded comps justify the fee. Watch for PSA reopening Value service, which would restore a much cheaper bulk option.

Is PSA grading worth it?

Only when the gap between the raw price and the realistic graded price clears the all-in cost with room to spare, which for most modern base and insert cards it does not. It’s typically worth running the numbers on flagship rookies, low-numbered parallels, key autographs, and sharp vintage. Run your card through the PSA Grading Calculator before deciding.

Does PSA charge more for valuable cards?

Yes, structurally. Each service level has a maximum declared value, so a more valuable card forces you into a more expensive tier whether or not you care about the faster turnaround, and an undervalued submission gets upcharged after grading.

Wondering whether PSA is even the right grader for the card? We’ve broken down BGS costs, SGC costs, and the full PSA vs BGS vs SGC decision side by side.

Know the numbers before the box ships

The sellers who make money grading are the ones who price the bet first: raw comps, graded comps, all-in cost, fees. WaxEngine pulls the raw side of that automatically when you scan a card, pricing it from real eBay market data in seconds. Start a free trial and know what every card in the box is actually worth before you decide which ones earn a slab.