psa-grading-system

name	psa-grading-system
description	Use when submitting to PSA, evaluating a PSA grade, or pricing PSA-graded comps. Covers the 1-10 scale, qualifiers, service tiers, and PSA's market premium.

PSA Grading System

PSA dominates 60-70% of sports/Pokemon submissions. No sub-grades — overall number only. Watch for qualifiers.

The 1–10 scale

10 Gem Mint · 9 Mint · 8 NM-MT · 7 NM · 6 EX-MT · 5 EX · 4 VG-EX · 3 VG · 2 Good · 1 Poor. Half-points exist but are uncommon outside vintage.

PSA qualifiers

PSA appends qualifiers when ONE axis drags the card:

• OC Off-Center
• PD Print Defect
• OF Out of Focus
• ST Stained
• MK Marked
• MC Miscut

A PSA 9 (OC) sells at ~50% of a clean PSA 9. Avoid submitting cards likely to qualify — submit to SGC or BGS instead.

PSA service tiers (2026)

Tier	Fee	Declared cap	TAT
Bulk	$19	$499	30–60 days
Value	$40	$999	30 days
Regular	$75	$2,499	20 days
Express	$150	$4,999	10 days
Super Express	$300	$9,999	5 days
Walk-Through	$600+	unlimited	2–5 days

Where this fits in the X3 empire

Default grader recommendation in CardPrepAI Concierge unless customer's card matches a SGC/BGS edge case.