Is Sports Card Grading Worth It? What Do I Do With My Cards?

For years, one of the easiest pieces of advice in the sports card hobby was:

Have a nice card? Get it graded.

That decision isn't so easy anymore. Sports card grading has become considerably more expensive.Turnaround times can be long. And for many perfectly good cards, the cost of grading can now exceed the value of the card after it is graded.

As of October 2026, PSA's lower-priced Value and Value Bulk services remain paused. The least expensive PSA service currently available is $59.99 per card, with an estimated turnaround time of 90–100 business days.

PSA has attributed the service changes to an enormous increase in submissions and a backlog that was approaching 10 million cards.

And $59.99 isn't necessarily the entire cost. There can also be shipping, insurance and other submission expenses.

That creates an interesting problem.

What do you do with a nice $10, $20, $30 or $50 card when grading it costs more than the card itself?

Do you grade it anyway? Keep it raw? Sell it?

And what happens to the value of raw and already-graded cards if thousands of other collectors are facing exactly the same decision?

Why Not Just Use Another Grading Company?

You can.

CGC remains a less-expensive grading option, and for some cards it may make perfect sense.

But if you're grading primarily to increase resale value, the grading fee isn't the only number that matters. You also have to ask:

What will buyers pay for the card after it is graded?

As of this writing, comparable PSA-graded sports cards frequently command more money than cards in CGC holders. That doesn't mean CGC isn't a legitimate grading company. It simply means that paying less to grade a card doesn't necessarily produce the same resale value.

Sometimes the real question isn't:

Where should I grade this card?

It's Should I grade it at all?

Why Does Any of This Matter?

Because what happens next could affect what you decide to do with your cards today.

If you're a collector, higher grading costs raise some new questions.

Should you leave a nice card raw? Should you pay $59.99 to grade it? Would you be better off buying an already-graded example? And if fewer cards are graded in the future, could some of the graded cards you already own become more desirable?

If you've inherited a collection, the question may be even simpler:

Do I need to spend money grading these cards before I can sell them?

Usually, no.

You may own a few cards where grading makes financial sense. Others may be perfectly desirable exactly as they are. And you may have dozens or hundreds where paying grading fees would accomplish very little.

That's why the future of raw and graded card values matters.

The changing grading market affects whether it makes sense to grade, hold or sell the cards you own right now.

Let's look at two examples.

Let's Try a Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie

Consider one of the most recognizable cards of the modern era: the 1989 Topps Traded #41T Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card.

It's enormously popular. It's also plentiful.

Suppose you own a beautiful raw copy. It's well-centered, the corners look sharp and you think it has a legitimate chance at a PSA 10.

A PSA 10 can sell for several hundred dollars.

Now grading sounds pretty appealing.

But there's a catch.

A PSA 9 sells for far less. With PSA grading starting at $59.99, receiving a 9 can leave you with a graded card worth less than what you spent buying and grading it. And an 8 is worse.

So what are you really doing when you send in that Griffey?

In some respects, you're buying a $59.99 lottery ticket and betting that your card will receive a PSA 10.

If you hit the 10, the gamble may pay off nicely. If you get a 9, you may lose money. If you get an 8, you may have spent considerably more on grading than the finished card is worth.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't grade it. It means you should understand the bet you're making.

Would you pay $59.99 for a lottery ticket if the only winning number were PSA 10?

Maybe grading doesn't make sense for your Griffey. You decide to leave it raw.

Now things get interesting.

What Happens to the Raw Griffey?

If collectors stop submitting lower-value cards because grading no longer makes financial sense, what happens to those raw cards?

There are three possibilities.

Raw prices could go down. Some buyers purchase attractive raw cards specifically because they hope to grade them. If grading becomes too expensive, some of those buyers disappear.

Raw prices could stay about the same. A nice Griffey rookie is still a nice Griffey rookie. Collectors may simply buy the card because they want it rather than because they intend to grade it.

Raw prices could go up—particularly for exceptional examples. If fewer attractive cards are being submitted, collectors might become more willing to pay premiums for especially sharp, well-centered raw cards.

Which will happen? I don't know.

And anyone who tells you with certainty what the market will do is probably more confident than he should be.

But there's another side to this.

If fewer Griffeys are being submitted, what happens to all the Griffeys that have already been graded?

Could Cheap PSA Cards Actually Become More Valuable?

Suppose you can buy an already-graded PSA 9 Griffey for about $45.

Why would you buy a raw copy and then spend another $59.99 to have it graded, wait months for it to come back, and take the risk that it receives an 8 or 9?

You probably wouldn't—unless you believed the raw card had a legitimate shot at a PSA 10.

At today's grading prices, nobody is submitting a Griffey like this hoping for a PSA 9.

The 10 is the prize.

That could mean far fewer new PSA 8s and 9s entering the marketplace.

Could that eventually make the PSA 8s and 9s that already exist more valuable?

Possibly. But it isn't automatic.

The Griffey is a good example of why. PSA has already graded tens of thousands of them. Even if very few additional PSA 8s and 9s were created, the existing supply is enormous.

A card doesn't suddenly become scarce simply because people stop grading it.

Demand matters. Population matters. And the card itself matters.

Which brings us to vintage.

Now Let's Try a 1972 Topps Carlton Fisk Rookie

The 1972 Topps #79 Red Sox Rookie Stars card featuring Carlton Fisk and Cecil Cooper presents a different situation.

Finding another 1989 Topps Traded Griffey isn't difficult. Finding a really attractive 1972 Topps Fisk rookie is different.

Centering matters. Corners matter. Surface matters. Print quality matters. More than 50 years of handling and storage have taken their toll on many surviving cards.

And with the Fisk, one grade can make a meaningful difference.

Recent 2026 sales show PSA 7 examples selling for roughly $108 to $168. Move up one grade to a PSA 8 and recent examples have sold for approximately $264 to $325, with some sales even higher.

Think about that.

A card that grades PSA 7 might be worth a little over $100. A similar-looking card that receives an 8 could be worth two or three times as much.

Now the $59.99 grading decision becomes much more interesting.

If your Fisk appears likely to receive a 5 or 6, grading may not make financial sense. If you have an unusually sharp example with a legitimate chance at a 7 or 8, the potential reward is considerably greater.

But estimating a grade isn't an exact science.

You may expect an 8 and receive a 7. You may be off by more than one grade. And occasionally a card that looks terrific has a hidden crease, evidence of trimming or another alteration that prevents it from receiving a numerical grade at all.

The issue isn't that grading is random.

It's that your assessment of the card may not match the grader's.

So there really isn't a magic rule that says:

Never grade a card worth less than $50.

A $20 card that might become a $35 card after grading probably doesn't justify a $59.99 grading fee.

Another $20 card might become worth $150 or several hundred dollars depending upon the grade.

Same raw value. Completely different decision.

Maybe We Don't Need to Grade Everything

There may actually be something healthy about this.

For years, the hobby has increasingly treated a nice card as something waiting to be put into plastic.

But a well-centered vintage card with strong color, nice corners and excellent eye appeal doesn't suddenly become undesirable because there isn't a number printed above it.

Perhaps more good cards will simply remain raw.

Perhaps collectors will once again become more comfortable looking at a card and saying:

That's a beautiful card. I want it.

No numerical grade required.

And that brings us back to the collector—or the person who has just inherited a collection—wondering what to do next.

You Don't Have to Spend a Fortune to Have a Grading Problem

You don't need a huge collection for grading costs to add up quickly.

At $59.99 each, five cards cost approximately $300 to grade before accounting for other expenses.

That's enough money to hurt if you've chosen the wrong five cards.

Maybe the grades come back exactly where you expected. Maybe they're a grade lower.

Maybe one is considerably lower. Or perhaps a card you expected to receive a numerical grade comes back as altered.

That's part of the financial calculation.

If you love the cards and want them authenticated and protected, grading may still be worth the money to you.

But if you're grading primarily because you eventually intend to sell the cards, ask yourself another question:

Do I really need to spend this money before I can sell them?

No. You Don't Have to Grade Your Cards Before You Sell Them

This may be the most important point in this article.

Raw cards have value.

If you own one exceptional card that you love, keep it. If you have an especially valuable card where authentication and grading clearly make financial sense, grading may be the right choice.

But if you've inherited boxes of older cards, have complete sets sitting in a closet, or simply have a collection you're ready to sell, you don't necessarily need to start spending money on grading.

There is nothing wrong with selling good cards raw.

• You eliminate the grading expense.

• You eliminate the wait.

• And you eliminate the risk of paying to grade cards that don't receive the grades you expected.

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The buyer can decide which cards are worth submitting and assume those costs and risks.

And perhaps that's the answer for a lot of collectors.

Keep the cards you really want. Grade the few where the numbers make sense. And if you're ready to sell the rest, sell them as they are.

That's Where Kenmore Collectibles Comes In

I've been buying and selling sports cards for decades, and Kenmore Collectibles is actively looking to purchase collections.

I buy pre-1975 sports and non-sports cards, complete sets, professionally graded cards, authenticated autographs and unopened material. I also purchase newer cards when they are professionally graded.

My offers are based on recent actual selling prices, not inflated asking prices.

And you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars getting your cards graded before contacting me.

Maybe you have a few special cards you want to keep. Keep them.

Maybe you have one valuable card that you want to have graded. Grade it.

I don't need to buy every card you own.

But if you have a collection—or simply a group of cards you're ready to sell—I'd like the opportunity to buy them.

You don't have to figure out how to get every last card into a PSA holder first.

Keep what you love. Grade what makes sense. And if you're ready to sell the rest, contact Kenmore Collectibles.

Kenmore Collectibles

Buying Sports Card Collections in Sarasota, Bradenton and throughout Florida.

Grading prices, turnaround estimates and card values referenced in this article are current as of October 2026 and can change.