NoPSAMay Is Real and the Hobby Is Watching: How the Boycott Is Reshaping Card Grading in Real Time
The grassroots NoPSAMay boycott is pulling submissions away from PSA in real numbers, with PSA 10 premiums softening and SGC, CGC, and TAG reporting double-digit volume increases. Here is what is driving the movement and what it means for your submissions.
The Hobby Holds Its Submissions
The grassroots #NoPSAMay boycott is reshaping the card grading market in real time, with collectors and dealers across the hobby pausing PSA submissions for the entire month of May 2026. The movement has gained serious traction in the past two weeks, fueled by lingering anger over the buyback scandal that broke in late 2025 and a steady drip of fee increases that began rolling out in Q1.
What started as a Twitter hashtag has become a full-blown industry conversation, with retailers publicly halting PSA submissions and breakers redirecting their grading volume to SGC, CGC, and TAG.
How We Got Here
The trigger was a December 2025 Pokemon collector who submitted around 30 identical modern cards to PSA. Most came back as PSA 9, the collector accepted PSA's buyback offers, and then noticed something strange: 11 of those same certification numbers were quietly updated to PSA 10 in PSA's database, with no notice given to the original submitter. The cards were then resold at the higher grade.
That single thread, posted on Reddit and X in early 2026, snowballed. Forensic collectors started cross-referencing cert numbers and price history, and what came back painted a picture that PSA has not yet effectively rebutted.
What Collectors Are Demanding
- Transparent grade revisions: notification when a cert number changes grade for any reason
- Audit of buyback program: third-party review of which cards were repurchased and at what grades they were resold
- Fee rollback: reversal of the 2026 price increases that hit bulk submitters hardest
- Faster turnaround: published, enforceable service-level commitments
The Market Is Already Moving
The boycott is having measurable effects. PSA 10 premiums on modern Pokemon and basketball have softened 5 to 12 percent in the past 30 days, while alternative graders are reporting submission volume increases in the double digits. SGC has expanded its turnaround windows to handle the influx, and TAG has been quietly building inventory at major card shows to cement its position with collectors who want a fully digital alternative.
The interesting question is whether June looks like May. If submission volume rebounds the moment the calendar flips, PSA waits it out. If volume stays depressed, the conversation about grading market structure changes permanently.
What This Means for Your Submissions
If you have cards already in PSA queues, those are not affected by the boycott. The decision is whether to start a new submission this month. For collectors who participate in #NoPSAMay, SGC remains the closest workflow alternative for sports cards, and CGC has the strongest hold on modern Pokemon. TAG is still the best play if your priority is a fully transparent grading record and you can stomach a slightly different visual presentation.