How much does it cost to grade a Pokémon card?
Graders charge by the card's declared value and how fast you want it back. As of 2026-09-26, PSA starts at $59.99, CGC at $20 and Beckett at $79.95 per card, before shipping. Every figure on this page is read from CardTrack's fee table — the same one the grading index, ROI calculator and grading planner use — so the numbers here and there cannot disagree.
What it costs to grade a card worth…
Per card, all-in: the cheapest bookable tier whose declared-value cap covers the card, plus insured round-trip shipping. Declare the value the slab will be worth, not the raw price — the tier is set by the graded value.
| Declared value | PSA | CGC Cards | Beckett (BGS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25 | $80.24 Standard $59.99 + $20.25 ship | $37.25 Bulk $17 + $20.25 ship | $100.20 Express $79.95 + $20.25 ship |
| $100 | $80.99 Standard $59.99 + $21 ship | $38 Bulk $17 + $21 ship | $100.95 Express $79.95 + $21 ship |
| $500 | $84.99 Standard $59.99 + $25 ship | $42 Bulk $17 + $25 ship | $104.95 Express $79.95 + $25 ship |
| $2,000 | $239 Express $199 + $40 ship | $95 Standard $55 + $40 ship | $119.95 Express $79.95 + $40 ship |
| $10,000 | $719 Premier $599 + $120 ship | $220 Express $100 + $120 ship | $370 Walk-Through $250 + $120 ship (unconfirmed) |
PSA grading fees by declared value
| Service tier | Declared value | Fee / card | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | up to $1,000 | $59.99 | 90–100 business days |
| Priority | $1,000–$1,500 | $79.99 | 70–80 business days |
| Express | $1,500–$2,500 | $199 | 20–30 business days |
| Super Express | $2,500–$5,000 | $349 | 10–15 business days |
| Premier | $5,000–$10,000 | $599 | 7–10 business days |
| Premium 1 | $10,000–$25,000 | $999 | 5–7 business days |
| Premium 2 | $25,000–$50,000 | $1,999 | 5–7 business days |
| Premium 3 | $50,000–$100,000 | $2,999 | 5–7 business days |
| Premium 5 | $100,000–$250,000 | $4,999 | 5–7 business days |
No membership required; the optional $149/yr club only unlocks bulk pricing. No sub-grades on the standard label. PSA's Value service levels, paused since 2026-06-02, are excluded here. Fees checked on the grader's own site 2026-09-26.
CGC Cards grading fees by declared value
| Service tier | Declared value | Fee / card | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk 25+ cards | up to $500 | $17 | 150 business days |
| Economy | $500–$1,000 | $20 | 90 business days |
| Standard | $1,000–$3,000 | $55 | 10 business days |
| Express | $3,000–$10,000 | $100 | 5 business days |
| Walkthrough | $10,000–$100,000 | $300 | 2 business days |
| Unlimited Value | $100,000+ | $300 + 1% FMV | 2 business days |
No membership required. Sub-grades optional at $10. Fees checked on the grader's own site 2026-09-26.
Beckett (BGS) grading fees by declared value
| Service tier | Declared value | Fee / card | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express | up to $2,500 | $79.95 | 15 business days |
| Priority | $2,500–$5,000 | $125 | 5 business days (unconfirmed) Not offered on Beckett's current submission form (checked 2026-09-26). |
| Walk-Through | $5,000–$10,000 | $250 | 3 business days (unconfirmed) Not offered on Beckett's current submission form (checked 2026-09-26). |
No membership required. Sub-grades included on every card. Fees checked on the grader's own site 2026-09-26.
PSA vs CGC vs BGS at a glance
| Grader | Cheapest (1 card) | Fastest tier | Sub-grades | Membership | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | $59.99 | 5–7 days | None | Optional | Highest resale value on most Pokémon cards |
| CGC Cards | $20 | 2 days | +$10 | None | Cheapest single-card entry |
| Beckett (BGS) | $79.95 | 3 days (unconfirmed) | Included | None | Sub-grades included as standard |
Turnarounds are each grader's own published estimate in business days, excluding postage. Figures marked “unconfirmed” are from an earlier schedule we could not recheck on the grader's site.
How to submit a card, step by step
- Pick a grader and a service tier. Match the tier's declared-value cap to what the card would sell for graded, not its raw price — the grading index and the ROI calculator both use the graded value for exactly this reason.
- Create an account with the grader and open a submission.
- Prep the card: a penny sleeve inside a rigid card saver (not a toploader — most graders ask you to remove those), then a divider between cards in a multi-card submission.
- Pack and ship with tracking and insurance for the declared value, then pay the submission fee.
- Track the submission online and wait out the tier's turnaround — it moves with the grader's current backlog, so treat published days as an estimate.
Prefer not to mail a card in? GameStop and many local card shops offer in-person PSA submission at their own pricing — useful if you'd rather hand a card over than ship it, though it's a different price point from mailing PSA directly (the grading planner totals a mail-in run).
When grading pays off
Grading is worth it when the graded price beats the raw price plus the all-in cost — and it only does so as often as the card actually gems. The break-even test: PSA 10 price > raw price + tier fee + shipping. If only a PSA 10 clears that bar, the submission is a bet on the gem rate; if a PSA 9 clears it too, the downside is covered. The grading index runs that arithmetic for every card, weighting each grade by how often that card receives it in the PSA population, and the ROI calculator does it for one card at a time.
FAQ
Sources
Fee table dated 2026-09-26, reviewed quarterly or on any provider price change. Published fee pages checked: