There are a few major professional sports card grading companies that people use to have their baseball cards graded – PSA, BGS (Beckett Grading Services), and SGC (Sports Grading Company). The cost to grade cards can vary depending on which company you use and what specific grading service tier you choose.
Let’s start with PSA, which is generally considered the top grading company for modern sports cards. Their standard submission service takes 4-6 months on average to complete. With PSA’s standard service, the minimum cost to grade a single baseball card is $10. You usually want to submit multiple cards in a submission to make it worth the cost. PSA charges $15 per card for batches of 10 cards or less. The cost drops to $12.50 per card for batches of 11-50 cards, and $10 per card for batches of 51+ cards. So doing a large submission of 100 cards or more would cost $10 per card, or $1,000 total using PSA’s standard service.
PSA also offers expedited service tiers that are more expensive but have much shorter turnaround times. Their “PSA 10 Day Service” costs $150 per card and guarantees a turnaround of 10 business days or less once PSA receives the submission. Their “PSA 3 Day Service” costs $250 per card and guarantees a 3 business day turnaround. So for a single high value card, someone may opt for an expedited service to get the card back faster.
BGS also has different tiers. Their Standard service, comparable to PSA’s standard service, costs $15 per card for batches of 2-9 cards. The cost drops to $12 per card for batches of 10-24 cards, and $10 per card for batches of 25+ cards. Their BGS Green Label express service guarantees a 15 day turnaround and costs $100 per card. BGS also has an “Auto Express” service guaranteeing a 5 day turnaround for $200 per card.
SGC, the third major grader, tends to be the most affordable option. Their “Standard Certification” service costs $8 per card, with lower prices for volume submitters. Their “RUSH Service” guarantees a 7-10 day turnaround and costs $25 per card.
In addition to the per card grading fees, each company also charges submission/shipping/handling/insurance fees that are usually a flat rate per order. PSA charges $15 per submission for standard service orders. BGS charges $25 per submission. And SGC charges $15 per submission order.
Of course, top graded cards can be worth much more money depending on the card and grade. But as far as just the raw costs to grade, using PSA’s standard $10 per card rate for 100+ card submissions is probably the most cost effective approach if purely looking to grade for value and long term preservation rather than a fast turnaround. For high value individual cards, the expedited PSA or BGS services may make sense to get the card back quickly.
In summary – for a 100 card standard submission, you’re looking at $1,000-$1,100 total using PSA or SGC. BGS standard would be $1,200-$1,300. Expedited 1-10 day turnaround services from PSA or BGS cost $150-$250 per card. It’s an investment, but graded cards can gain significantly in value, especially high graded vintage and iconic rookie cards. The costs have to be weighed versus the potential upside. With some research, a collector can decide which grading service and tier makes the most sense based on their needs and valuable of the cards in their collection. I hope this detailed breakdown of the costs was helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
