PSA Is Under 10 Million Cards and Says a Value Tier Could Reopen This Month. Here Is What That Actually Means.
PSA reported a 9.9 million card backlog on September 8, down 2.5 million from the July peak, and said it could evaluate reopening one suspended Value tier before the end of September. Which tier is likely first, what conditions to expect, and how to have your pile ready.
PSA's active grading backlog dropped below 10 million cards for the first time since the company started publishing regular updates this summer. In its September 8 update, PSA put the number at 9.9 million, down one million from the 10.9 million reported August 25. More importantly for the thousands of collectors sitting on unsubmitted piles, PSA said continued progress could let it evaluate reopening one of its suspended Value tiers before the end of September.
That is the first time PSA has attached a month to a possible reopening. Here is what the number means, what it does not mean, and what to do with your cards in the meantime.
The Trajectory
- May 28: PSA announces it will stop accepting Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus, and Value Max submissions effective June 2. Backlog around 10 million.
- July 28: Backlog peaks at 12.4 million, driven by the 45-day allocation window for dealers, cards already in transit, and convention-season volume.
- August 11: 11.85 million.
- August 25: 10.9 million.
- September 8: 9.9 million.
PSA graded a record number of cards in July and opened its fifth facility, in Plano, Texas, the same month. The pace is now a steady one million cards every two weeks. At that rate, PSA reaches its stated target of roughly five million cards in about ten more weeks, or mid-November. That lines up with the five-to-six-month timeline PSA gave when it announced the pause.
What "Evaluate Reopening One Tier" Actually Means
Read the wording carefully. PSA did not say it will reopen the Value tiers in September. It said it could evaluate reopening one of them. The company did not name which tier, and its phrasing strongly implies a single service level comes back first rather than all four at once.
The likeliest candidate is the tier that lets PSA control volume most tightly. Value Max at $64.99 per card is the highest-priced of the four and would attract the least volume. Value Bulk at $24.99 for Collectors Club members is the one everyone wants back and the one that would flood the intake the fastest. If PSA is being cautious, and every signal this summer says it is, Value Max or Value Plus returns first, with Bulk last.
Whatever comes back, expect it to come back with conditions: possibly declared-value caps, possibly per-submitter limits, possibly a longer estimated turnaround than the pre-pause number. The goal is to keep the backlog falling, not to reset it to 12 million.
What To Do Right Now
If you have cards worth grading at $79.99 Regular: submit them. Regular has stayed open all summer, the turnaround is better than it was in June, and there is no reason to wait for a cheaper tier on a card whose value comfortably clears the fee.
If you have a Value-tier pile: get it ready now, not when the announcement drops. Sort by declared value, pull anything that does not clear the fee at the likely reopening price, sleeve and organize so you can submit within hours. When a tier reopens it will fill fast, and PSA has already shown it will close a door again if intake spikes.
If you need a slab before then: the alternatives still stand. SGC is now $50 at the base tier. CGC's economy tier stays around $15 for lower-value cards with turnaround measured in weeks. TAG remains an option for modern cards where a numeric grade with a scan report is enough. Prices for non-PSA slabs on the secondary market have held up better this year than the old rule of thumb suggests, partly because so many collectors have been forced to try them.
The Bigger Picture
PSA is now slightly below where it was when it hit the brakes in May, with a fifth facility running and a monthly record on the books. That is real progress. It is also a reminder of how far away normal is. Ten million cards is not a backlog in the everyday sense of the word; it is about four months of output at record pace. The Value tiers coming back in some limited form this month would be welcome news, and it would still be a partial reopening of a company that is running as hard as it has ever run just to get back to where it was.
Ask your local shop whether it has a dealer allocation. Some shops kept theirs through the pause and can still submit on your behalf at a markup, which for a lot of collectors has been the only Value-tier path all summer.