NoPSAMay Boycott Officially Begins: Inside the Collector Reform Push and Where Submissions Are Going

May 1 came and went without much fanfare on the calendar, but in the trading card grading world it marked the start of #NoPSAMay, a grassroots collector boycott aimed squarely at Professional Sports Authenticator. Submissions paused. Group breakers reposted the hashtag. And several mid-size dealers publicly announced they would route all May submissions to SGC, CGC, or TAG instead of PSA.

If you've been tuning the noise out, here is the part that matters: this is the first time since PSA's monopoly position emerged in the late 2010s that a meaningful chunk of the hobby has organized around a calendar-pegged boycott. Whether or not you agree with the goals, the volume drop will be visible in PSA's monthly reporting.

Where the movement came from

The #NoPSAMay tag emerged in late April 2026 after months of community frustration boiled over. The grievances stack on top of each other:

• The December 2025 buyback scandal, in which a Pokemon collector reported that 11 of his bought-back PSA 9 modern cards were re-certified as PSA 10 shortly after PSA paid him out at PSA 9 prices
• Repeated price hikes in 2025 and 2026 — including a February 2026 increase across the Value Plus and higher service tiers
• The pending antitrust class action against parent Collectors Holdings over the PSA, SGC, and Beckett roll-up
• Slipping turnaround times even on Express tiers as bulk submissions rebounded with the spring vintage and Pokemon market

The hashtag is the rallying point. The boycott is the action. And the broader question — whether collectors actually have leverage when one company holds the dominant share of the population reports — is what makes May 2026 a stress test.

What the boycott is actually demanding

Unlike a vibes-based protest, the #NoPSAMay community has settled on a specific reform list. The four headline asks:

• End value-based grading upcharges. Move to flat-rate service tiers based on turnaround, not declared card value.
• Grader Notes for every tier. The detailed sub-grade-style notes that today only ship with high-end Express submissions should appear on every slab.
• Hard separation between grading and inventory. Strict rules preventing PSA, Goldin, or any Collectors Holdings sister property from owning, holding, or selling graded inventory of cards they grade.
• Real-time tracking and faster dispute resolution for lost or damaged submissions.

Where the volume is going

Early reporting from the alternative graders is encouraging if you're rooting for competition. SGC and CGC have both reported double-digit week-over-week submission jumps since mid-April. CGC's Pristine 10 designation, which already disrupted modern Pokemon resale earlier this year, is gaining further share. TAG, the AI-driven grader, has been the surprise winner in the bulk-submission segment.

The boycott's real test is not the May headcount but whether collectors who route to alternatives in May actually stay there in June. Habit-changing in a market this concentrated is the hardest thing to pull off.

What collectors should actually do this month

If you submit cards regularly, the practical move is to compare the alternative graders against the cards you actually plan to send. Vintage and high-end pre-war remains a PSA-dominant resale market, where avoiding PSA likely costs you on the back end. Modern Pokemon and modern sports — especially TAG-eligible bulk — is where alternative graders have already closed the resale gap or pulled ahead. The hobby is changing fast, and the cleanest read on the boycott's impact will be the July population reports, not the May tweets.