Where the Major Card Grading Companies Stand After PSA, TAG Pauses
After yesterday's news that PSA would pause all value and bulk-tier submissions, other companies also took to social media to let collectors know changes were coming. Collectors, predictably, wondered what options they had available to them.
So let this be a guide to what companies are still offering and what the turnaround times are. For reference, here are the five companies we will be looking at and their grading numbers for April.
No. 5: TAG Grading
Due to incredible demand, Express is now closed, marked at capacity until further notice.
— TAG (@TAGgrading) May 28, 2026
Following Basic and Standard earlier this month, our core tiers are full. Limited Priority and Walkthrough slots remain for those who want to send now.
We're scaling and expanding as…
The fifth-highest grader over the last month, TAG Grading, also announced that they would pause all non-priority grading tiers for the foreseeable future.
With their three non-priority tiers paused due to being at capacity, that levels only their top two service levels still active.
However, as you can see, both are limited as far as how many cards can be graded as all service levels are backlogged.
OPEN: TAG Priority ($149/card), TAG Walkthrough ($299/card) on a limited basis.
DELAYED: None
PAUSED: TAG Basic ($22/card), TAG Standard ($39/card), and TAG Express ($59/card)
No. 4: SGC Grading
SGC has taken a bit of a backseat since being acquired by Collectors (the owner of PSA and BGS) and despite lowering their volume, they are still backlogged. They recently updated their turnaround times from the standard 15-20 days to 40-50 days at the start of the year.
Unfortunately, it seems as though some collectors have been reporting the turnaround times to be even longer.
OPEN: Expedited (Price Varies by Declared Value)
DELAYED: Standard (Price Varies by Declared Value)
PAUSED: None
No. 3: BGS Grading
BGS announced extended turnaround times in January, so on the base tier, they are at 75+ days with or without subgrades. There was a time not too long ago when this service was closer to 50 days. According to their January update, the base service was not available in the EU office, but the more premium tiers were.
The more premium tiers at BGS are largely unaffected and haven't seen a price increase, but the Standard tier is now sitting at 45 days while Express is now at 15 days and Priority is still at 5 days.
OPEN: Express Tier ($79.95/card), Priority Tier ($124.95/card)
DELAYED: Standard ($34.95/card), Base (Price Varies)
PAUSED: Base via EU
No. 2: CGC Grading
— NEO Cards & Comics (@NEOCards_Comics) May 28, 2026
CGC didn't make any official announcement on turnaround times, but did update their times to reflect the current demand. It mainly hit CGC's bulk and economy tiers. Because of the demand, CGC announced it was hiring more employees for the card services team that inspects cards before they reach a grader.
So while only the Bulk and Economy tiers saw extended turnaround times, they have been extended out quite a long time, but the fee per card has not changed.
OPEN: Standard ($55/card), Express ($100/card), WalkThrough ($300/card), Unlimited ($300 + 1% Final Value Fee)
DELAYED: Bulk ($17/card), Economy ($20/card)
PAUSED: None
No. 1: PSA Grading
It has been well documented what has been happening at PSA since their announcement on Thursday. Here was the change to turnaround times from May 14th:
Here is where we stand now at the cheapest levels available:
As for the next tiers up, PSA is offering these options.
OPEN: Express ($149/card), Super Express ($349/card), Walk-Through ($599/card), Premium+ Service (Price Varies, starting at $999/card)
DELAYED: Regular ($79.99/card)
PAUSED: Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus, Value Max
There are obviously other grading options you can choose from, but the majority of cards get graded through these five companies. With all five delaying or pausing some tiers, exploring other options will be a natural decision for some. Just be careful, as the last time PSA paused grading, a wide variety of grading options opened up shop only to be gone from the space within months.
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Brendan has worked for various platforms, including The Washington Post, SB Nation, NBC Sports Washington, and more, covering everything from college basketball to fantasy football and betting. An avid collector as a kid, he got back into collecting in 2021 and is a dedicated soccer, football, and basketball collector.
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