Grading hits a record 3.87 million cards in October as PSA and CGC both set highs
Record month for PSA and CGC. CGC's sports grading is up 159% in a year.
The major graders processed a record 3.87 million cards in October, sports and TCG combined, according to GemRate data reported by Sports Collectors Daily. That is up 20% on September and 48% on October 2025. Beckett is not included; its numbers are expected back in November.
By Cardboard Journal, 3 NovRead our full analysisAlso on the wire
PSA backlog falls to 6.8 million, but the Value reopening slowed the drop
Down 400,000 in two weeks, not a million. Reopening Value refilled the queue.
By Cardboard Journal, 3 NovPSA reopens Value grading at $39.99 and cuts Standard and Priority turnaround by 20 days
Value is back at $39.99, but new orders wait behind the 7.2 million already there.
By Cardboard Journal, 28 OctPSA publishes all 6,451 stolen certs as the FBI joins the FedEx theft case
Every stolen PSA cert is now public. Check any cert before you buy.
By Cardboard Journal, 27 OctPSA's backlog is down to 7.2 million. Value still has no date.
The backlog keeps falling, but PSA has still not named a date for its cheapest tiers.
By Cardboard Journal, 21 OctThieves take two pallets of PSA cards from a FedEx truck at its headquarters
Stolen PSA slabs now have dead certs, but a cracked-out card has no cert to check.
By Cardboard Journal, 20 Oct
Beckett’s Recovery, Phase 2: Still Waiting on Answers
Back: accounts, submissions, pop reports, cert lookup. Not back: price guide, Marketplace.
Opinion. By Cardboard Journal, 17 OctMore
A grader should grade the card, not charge you for what it's worth
At PSA, the same five-day grade costs $999 or $13,191. Nothing about the service changes. Only the price of the card does.
PSA swears it has no stake in your sale. It's paid a percentage of the price.
PSA grades your card, then sells it for a cut of the price, so the higher it goes, the more PSA makes. Its own site still promises it has nothing riding on the sale.
Nobody can prove PSA is better than anyone
The biggest graders sell certainty, and none has been measured against a common, independent benchmark. Until someone grades the graders, a PSA 10 is a reputation, not a verified standard.
PSA's backlog is down to 8.2 million, and the biweekly pace has slowed three times running
Still falling, but slower each time. On this pace Value's 5 million is December, not November.
eBay UK will send cards from £250 to PSA for checks, down from £500
More UK card sales now pass through PSA. Only PSA, SGC, CGC, CSG and BGS slabs are on eBay's list.
It took Beckett 23 days to say "suspicious". The rest of its statement is still vague.
Beckett has admitted a security scare. Its careful wording still leaves customers guessing.
TAG reopens every tier, at PSA's prices minus four cents
TAG now charges PSA's prices, four cents less. Its slab still doesn't resell like PSA's.
CGC now takes cards at 20 FYE stores. It has not said what the counter costs.
Easier to hand in cards, not faster: add shipping both ways to CGC's own wait.