In short: Grading one card at PSA Standard costs $59.99 plus the postage for the whole box. Put ten cards in the same box and the postage divides by ten, which is why almost nobody sends one card. The number that decides the submission is not the fee: it is the gap between what the card sells for raw and what it sells for graded, after eBay takes 13.25% of each.
Standard is $59.99 a card, insures to $1,000.00, and is quoted at 90 to 100 business days.
Sale figures are net of eBay's 13.25% final value fee and its $0.40 per-order fee. They do not include postage on the sale, supplies, or sales tax.
Fill in five numbers and read the third line
Pick the company and the tier, say how many cards are going in the box, and put in the round-trip postage for that box rather than for one card. Then two prices: what your card sells for raw, and what the same card sells for in the grade you expect. Both come from sold listings of that exact printing, not from a price guide.
The default view answers a common case: ten cards at PSA Standard, $25 of postage for the box, a card that sells raw at $120 and at $420 in a PSA 10. That works out at $62.49 a card all in, a break-even sale price of about $192, and a gain of about $197 over selling the card raw.
The fees the calculator uses, and where they come from
Every fee is read off the company's own page and dated. PSA's Value services were paused on 2026-09-19, so Standard at $59.99 is the cheapest tier you can actually book. CGC Bulk is $17 a card with a 25-card minimum and a 150 working day queue, which is a different trade than CGC Standard at $55 and 10 working days.
Each tier also carries a declared-value ceiling. A card worth more than the ceiling cannot ride in that tier, and the grader will move it up and bill the difference.
Sources: PSA trading card grading services, CGC Cards services and fees
| Tier | Fee per card | Max declared value | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA Standard | $59.99 | $1,000 | 90 to 100 business days |
| PSA Priority | $79.99 | $1,500 | 70 to 80 business days |
| PSA Express | $199.00 | $2,500 | 20 to 30 business days |
| CGC Bulk, 25-card minimum | $17 | $500 | 150 working days |
| CGC Economy | $20 | $1,000 | 90 working days |
| CGC Standard | $55 | $3,000 | 10 working days |
The arithmetic, in three lines
All-in cost per card is the tier fee, less any CGC membership discount, plus the box postage divided by the number of cards in the box. Ten cards at $59.99 with $25 of postage is $599.90 plus $25, which is $624.90, or $62.49 a card.
Net on a sale is the sale price less eBay's 13.25% and its $0.40 per-order fee. A $120 raw sale nets $103.70. A $420 graded sale nets $363.95.
Break-even is the price at which the graded sale, after fees, covers the raw sale you gave up plus the grading. On those numbers it is about $192: below that, the card was worth more left alone.
One card, worked through
A card sells raw at $120 and at $420 in a PSA 10. Ten cards go in the box at PSA Standard with $25 of postage, so grading costs $62.49 for this card. Selling raw nets $103.70. Selling the PSA 10 nets $363.95, and after the $62.49 the card cleared $301.46.
The same card coming back a 9 changes the answer completely, because a PSA 9 does not sell for $420. Run the calculator twice, once with the price of the grade you hope for and once with the price of the grade below it, and the gap between those two answers is the risk you are taking.
What this calculator leaves out
It does not include the postage on the eventual sale, the sleeves and card savers, insurance, or sales tax. It assumes one eBay sale at the price you enter, and it uses eBay's trading card rate rather than a shop's buy price.
It also assumes the card comes back in the grade you typed. That is the one input nobody can fill in honestly ahead of time, which is why the break-even line matters more than the profit line.
When the arithmetic says do not bother
Cheap cards rarely clear the fee. At $62.49 all in, a card that sells raw for $20 needs its graded copy to clear roughly $96 before the submission is worth the wait, and most $20 cards do not triple in a slab.
The other case is a card with a high top-grade population: if graded copies are everywhere, the premium that pays for the fee has already been competed away. Check the population report before you pay.
Why the box, not the card, sets the postage
Postage is charged on the package, so it divides across whatever is inside it. One card with $25 of round-trip postage carries the whole $25. Ten cards carry $2.50 each. Twenty-five cards, which is the minimum for CGC Bulk anyway, carry $1 each.
That is the whole argument for saving submissions up. The counter-argument is time: a card sitting in a drawer waiting for nine friends is a card you cannot sell, and CGC Bulk adds 150 working days on top of the wait.
There is a floor to this. Insurance and tracking rise with the declared value of the box, so a box of ten $400 cards does not post for the same price as a box of ten $20 cards. Put your real number in rather than the default.
Read the card before you pay to have it read
The inputs that decide the answer are the two sale prices and your read of the card's condition. CardLens gives you both from a photo: the exact printing, a condition estimate on the Near Mint to Damaged scale, and a value range with the recent eBay sales behind it, one tap below the number. Free on the App Store, with an optional premium subscription.
Questions about grading costs
The three that come up most often are the cheapest route, the effect of bulk, and whether the fee comes back if the grade disappoints.
Questions collectors ask
How much does it cost to grade a card at PSA?
PSA Standard is $59.99 a card with a $1,000 declared value ceiling and a 90 to 100 business day queue, as published on 2026-09-19. Add round-trip postage for the box, which is why the per-card cost falls as the submission grows.
Is CGC cheaper than PSA?
On fees, yes. CGC Bulk is $17 a card with a 25-card minimum and CGC Economy is $20, against $59.99 for the cheapest PSA tier currently open. Whether that is the better deal depends on what each label sells for on your card.
What does the break-even number mean?
It is the price the graded copy has to sell for, after eBay's fees, to cover both the grading and the raw sale you gave up. Below it, the card was worth more sold raw.
Do I get the grading fee back if the card grades low?
No. The fee buys the opinion, not the outcome, and a card that comes back a 6 cost exactly what a card that comes back a 10 cost. That is why the calculator asks for the price at the grade you expect rather than the grade you want.
Does the calculator include shipping the sold card to the buyer?
No. It covers the submission postage and the marketplace fee on the sale. Add your own postage and packing on top, which for a graded slab means a box rather than an envelope.
Free on the App Store
Check the card before you pay to grade it.
CardLens reads the printing and the condition from a photo and shows the recent eBay sales behind its value range.