PSA
Professional Sports Authenticator — the most-used grader by volume and the only one with a real public API. Re-ingested 2026-04-18.
Fast facts
- Scale: 1 → 1.5 → 2 → ... → 8.5 → 9 → 10. 9.5 doesn’t exist — the scale jumps straight from 9 to 10.
- Top grade:Gem Mint 10. No equivalent of BGS Black Label; subgrades aren’t issued.
- Pricing model:Value-tiered with upcharges when declared value exceeds the tier cap. Tiers don’t downgrade — PSA bumps you up, never down.
- Feb 10 2026 update: second price hike in 6 months. TCG Bulk retired and merged into Value Bulk (now accepts all categories). Value Plus / Max / Regular TATs extended +5 days. Express and higher unchanged.
- Collectors Club: $99/yr+ membership. Unlocks Value Bulk tier. Break-even at ~20 cards/year. Factor into grading ROI.
Current service tiers (Feb 2026)
| Tier | Price | Max DV | TAT (bd) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value Bulk | $24.99 | $500 | 95 | Collectors Club · min 20 |
| Value | $32.99 | $500 | 75 | — |
| Value Plus | $49.99 | $500 | 45 | — |
| Value Max | $64.99 | $1,000 | 35 | — |
| Regular | $79.99 | $1,500 | 25 | — |
| Express | $149 | $2,500 | 15 | — |
| Super Express | $299 | $5,000 | 7 | — |
| Walk-Through | $599 | $10,000 | 7 | Percentage upcharges apply on high-value cards |
Packaging — read this before you ship
- Do not use top loaders. PSA charges a $2/card penalty. Use semi-rigid card savers + team bags instead.
- Include a PSA submission form printed from your Collectors-Club / account submission portal.
- High-value submissions: double-box, insure through USPS Priority or UPS/FedEx.
- Ship to the address shown on your PSA submission confirmation (currently Santa Ana, CA).
Public API
api.psacard.com/publicapi — OAuth 2.0 Bearer, 100 calls/day free tier, single published endpoint: GetByCertNumber/{cert}. Returns grade, grade description, year, brand, card #, player, autograph flag, population counts.
CardboardChasr uses this for the /binder/add?mode=slab quick-add flow and the “PSA” button on In-Grading outcome rows. Add your own token in Settings → Personal APIs.
No public endpoint for submissions, population reports, or bulk cert lookup. Higher rate limits by request via email to PSA.
Source + re-ingest trigger
Re-ingest: on any /articles/articleview/*/grading-services-update-* announcement or at quarterly cadence.