PSA published its fortnightly backlog update on Tuesday, August 25. The headline number is good: the active global backlog is 10.9 million cards, down 950,000 from the 11.85 million reported on August 11 and 1.5 million below the 12.4 million peak of July 28. PSA credited "steady daily output across all five grading hubs," including the Plano, Texas facility that opened in July as part of a $200 million infrastructure program.
The turnaround table
| Tier | Fee | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | $80 | 30-40 business days | 70-80 business days |
| Express | $149 | 20-30 | 20-30 |
| Super Express | $349 | 7-10 | 10-15 |
| Walk-Through | $599 | 5-7 | 7-10 |
| Value tiers (from $25) | Closed since June 2; reopen when backlog is under 5 million | ||
The Regular tier is where most hobby submissions have gone since the Value tiers closed, and its quoted wait has doubled to roughly four months. That is the second-order effect of the June suspension: the cards that would have gone in at $25 went in at $80 instead, and the $80 queue is now the one that is clogged.
When do Value tiers reopen?
Two updates, 1.5 million cards: about 475,000 a week. From 10.9 million to 5 million is 5.9 million cards, or about twelve and a half weeks at that pace, which puts the threshold in the last week of November if nothing changes. Two things will change. Plano is still ramping, which helps. The 30th Celebration set releases September 16 and Delta Reign on November 6, and both will send a wave of modern submissions into the queue, which does not. Our working assumption is Value tiers reopen in December at the earliest, and the Regular tier's four-month quote is the real number for anything you send in this autumn.
What it means for prices
Four months is long enough to change what gets graded. Cards worth under about $150 raw stop making sense at $80 plus a season of waiting, so fewer of them will come back as 10s this winter; that is quietly supportive of PSA 10 prices on mid-value modern. At the top, Walk-Through at $599 and a ten-day wait is still cheap on a $5,000 card, so high-end supply is unaffected. This issue's Grade Expectations works through the math.
Sources: Heavy, August 25, 2026; Baseball America, August 25, 2026; PSA backlog tracker.
Chart of the Day ran in The Pack Report, August 27, 2026: Worlds Opens Tomorrow, and PSA's $80 Tier Now Takes Four Months. Published by Rip Station.