Collectors president Ryan Hoge addressed the future of grading under the company's umbrella Wednesday for the first since the acquisition of rival Beckett Grading Services in an industry-altering deal last month.
Speaking on the company’s official podcast, Hoge laid out plans for PSA, SGC and the newly acquired BGS in 2026.
Echoing statements following the acquisition of Beckett on Dec. 15, Hoge reiterated the trio of graders will continue to operate independently with their own unique identities, but with shared resources benefiting the collective.
According to Hoge, PSA and SGC have shared knowledge to combat fraud, including detailing counterfeit items and bad actors working in the industry, and work has already begun to expand that process to Beckett. PSA has heavily invested in technology — the brand’s mobile app is a notable customer-facing feature — and that strategy can be extended to SGC and BGS to help scale.
“We’ve already seen some early wins as it relates to detecting counterfeits and altered or backdoored cards” Hoge told cllct. “I’m excited about the impact this will have on increasing trust and confidence in grading. We’re now looking at ways to leverage some of the set details and images we’ve been building on the PSA side to simplify the submission process for BGS customers.”
Of the themes cited by Hoge for 2026, the most impactful to everyday hobbyists will be the company’s push to increase grading capacity.
Hoge says the trio of graders are accepting more units than they can handle, which has pushed out turnaround times.
PSA parent company Collectors announced Wednesday plans to update Beckett’s card labels for better clarity. There are no plans to change BGS’ grading scale and it will continue to use subgrades. pic.twitter.com/D2Ws8gbUUd
— cllct (@cllctMedia) January 14, 2026
A surge in Pokémon submissions heavily impacted PSA’s planned expansion timeline in 2025, which Hoge said the company was forced to punt in February. By the end of 2025, PSA increased its grading capacity by 25% and now features more than 3,000 employees.
For current bulk submissions, Hoge says turnaround times for PSA are currently at 95 business days, with it taking about 35 to 40 business days for deliveries to be marked as received.
“That’s an unacceptable level. Full stop,” Hoge said on the podcast. “No excuses there. The volume is higher than we can handle ... but it’s not where we want to be, so we’re not stopping there.”
“Our head’s not in the sand,” Hoge added. “We’re very, very aware of this and we’re doing everything we can to improve those times.”
SGC, which was acquired by Collectors in February 2024, has long been associated with faster turnaround times, but has recently seen its standard service pushed to about 40 business days. Hoge says this has been caused by a larger number of vintage submissions, which can take longer to grade than many modern or ultra-modern cards.
Collectors plans to expand SGC’s facilities while adding technology and personnel in 2026 to increase capacity and shorten turnaround times. The move is a notable pivot following plans for the company to be scaled down into more of a “boutique” brand. According to grading tracker GemRate, SGC’s grading volume has consistently declined from more than 153,000 graded cards in July to roughly 41,000 in December. SGC’s 1.42 million graded cards in 2025 represented a 24% decrease from 2024.
“I think people assumed the business would be scaled down to zero,” Hoge said. “That was never the intent. We took a step back and looked at the SGC business ... and decided where we felt like it made the most sense to focus.
“Now that we’ve had that focus we’re seeing growth in those areas, hence why we’re adding capacity and looking to grow the business.”
Once considered by many to be the premier card grading service, Beckett’s future will be heavily monitored by collectors of both sports cards and TCG, particularly Pokémon.
Hoge said the goal is to revitalize the Beckett brand, which will now be led by general manager Colin Hudson. Hudson was previously the director of strategy and corporate development at Collectors.
Among the first changes to the company will be a visual update to the brand’s labels. The update won’t be as significant as the major refresh Beckett once previewed but walked back following negative backlash, but it’s expected to be an upgrade over the current variations.
Grading standards won’t change, and Beckett will maintain its use of subgrades.
“There are inconsistencies between BGS and BAS labels today that cause confusion among customers,” Hoge said. “The team wanted to solve this. Additionally there is a brand refresh in the works, and it felt like the right time for an update on the BGS labels.
“We’ve conducted customer interviews on potential changes to gather feedback to make sure we’re delivering something the customers will love.”
Collectors also plans to extend the use of pre- and post-grading imaging to Beckett. Hoge notes pre-grading images help streamline the authentication process.
One notable upgrade coming to all three Collectors grading businesses will be what Hoge calls "pop report hygiene." According to Hoge, the company plans to roll out a new program that better promotes hobbyists sending in labels from graded cards that have been “flipped” to either a new grading service or a new holder with the same company.
These duplicates can cause odd data points within population reports, and can even cause short-printed, serial-numbered cards to have a higher graded population than the total print run.
“It’s a thing that’s been needed and now that we’ve kind of got the ability to ensure the coordination across the brands. I think that will be great, and it’s something we want to roll out this year,” Hoge said on the podcast.
For PSA, the major theme for 2026 will be international expansion. The company previously announced a full-scale grading facility in Germany, and Hoge confirmed that operation will open in 2026.
PSA also plans to open a receiving facility in the United Kingdom, similar to the operation opened in Toronto in September.
Hoge added PSA will continue to invest in technology, AI and automation in 2026. The company now has robotics operated by one or two humans completing tasks that used to require five or six. Some of PSA’s work in this area might not be as forward facing as the mobile app or imaging, but Hoge believes it will improve turnaround times by streamlining the company’s workflow.
“We have been investing in the use of tech and AI in all aspects of the operations process including grading,” Hoge told cllct. “We still are committed to a human-led, technology-assisted grading process.
“The bottom line is that we’re extremely proud of our technological innovations at Collectors, and that innovation is in our DNA. We think that when we invest in technology, the collecting public wins, whether it’s through easing the burden of selling cards or helping you identify what cards you find at a garage sale through a few taps of a button.”
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Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the collectibles editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.