PSA announced the return of minimum-grade submissions in an email to customers Wednesday.
Available for Value Plus service levels and above, customers will be able to set a minimum-grade requirement, and cards that don’t meet the minimum will be returned either ungraded or encapsulated as PSA Authentic.
PSA notes grading fees still apply if a card doesn’t meet the minimum grade.
Prior to Wednesday’s expansion of the minimum-grade requirement to additional services, the option has been available for crossover grading, which allows customers to submit cards graded by other companies for regrading by PSA. With the crossover service, PSA will evaluate the condition and only remove the card from its current holder if it meets the minimum grade set by the customer.
The minimum-grade requirement was previously available for other services, though PSA rolled back the option during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Minimum grade went away about four years ago during the peak of the COVID-19 era backlog because it adds a complication to the grading process,” PSA president Ryan Hoge told cllct.
“We also saw many customers were confused around the product UX, so we wanted to rethink the entire experience from a customer point of view.
“Our goal is to empower customers at every step of the collecting process as we try to build a more seamless end-to-end experience.”
According to GemRate, PSA led all major grading companies in April with more than 1.56 million cards graded.
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.