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The cheapest tier that fits a card is set by its declared value

By the PopJunk Serials desk. Updated Nov 1, 2026

Grading one Pokémon card costs the fee of the tier that fits its declared value. The four price pages read for this guide list no separate Pokémon fee: PSA, CGC, Beckett and TAG all price by tier, and the tier is chosen by service level and by how much the card is worth. On the day each page was read, a card declared at $100 could be graded for $20 at CGC, $59.99 at PSA, $59.95 at TAG and $79.95 at Beckett.

Seven declared values show where the cheapest tier changes

Pokémon cards go through the same trading card tiers as any other card. PSA says it grades vintage, modern and TCG cards. Beckett and TAG both name Pokémon on their pages, and CGC's page covers cards of different types and games. Each cell below is the cheapest tier that takes a single card, is on sale and covers the declared value. PSA and CGC cap each tier by value. Beckett's page lists no cap. TAG lists no cap either and bundles protection into the tier, so the table shows TAG twice: once with no value test and once with the cheapest tier whose protection covers the value.

PSA fees, tiers and caps were read on 1 November 2026, CGC on 1 November 2026, Beckett on 1 November 2026 and TAG on 1 November 2026.

Left out of the table are tiers that were closed or need a batch

• CGC Cards Bulk ($17) needs 25 cards or more per submission.
• PSA Cards Value ($39.99) was paused on 1 November 2026.
• Beckett (BGS) Base ($14.95) was sold out on 1 November 2026.
• Beckett (BGS) Base with subgrades ($17.95) was sold out on 1 November 2026.
• Beckett (BGS) Standard ($34.95) was sold out on 1 November 2026.
• Beckett (BGS) Priority ($124.95) was sold out on 1 November 2026.
• TAG Value ($29.95) needs 10 cards or more per submission.
• TAG Base ($39.95) needs 5 cards or more per submission.

These tiers are real prices on the graders' pages. They are left out because a collector with one card could not buy them on the day the page was read.

Grading a Pokémon card costs a different fee at each of the four graders

Grading a Pokémon card at PSA costs $59.99 for a card worth up to $1,000

PSA's Value tier at $39.99 was paused on 1 November 2026. Priority, at $79.99, covers cards up to $1,500.

Grading a Pokémon card with CGC costs $20 for a card worth up to $1,000

CGC Standard, at $55, covers cards up to $3,000. Bulk, at $17, needs 25 cards.

Grading a Pokémon card with TAG costs $59.95 for a single card

TAG Value, at $29.95, needs 10 cards and Base, at $39.95, needs five. Standard protects up to $1,000 per card.

Grading a Pokémon card at Beckett costs $79.95 while its cheaper tiers are sold out

Express, with subgrades, was the only Beckett tier on sale on 1 November 2026. Base, at $14.95, was marked sold out.

Each grader limits value in a different way

• PSA prints a maximum insured value on every tier. The Standard tier tops out at $1,000, Express at $2,500, and Premier at $10,000. PSA sends cards worth more than $10,000 to its premium options.
• CGC Cards caps each tier by the value you declare: Economy at $1,000, Standard at $3,000, Express at $10,000. CGC's page says that if CGC decides a card's fair market value is above what you declared, it moves the card to a higher tier and the extra charge is yours.
• Beckett lists no declared-value cap on its pricing page. Its tiers differ by turnaround and by subgrades.
• TAG says the selling price of a tier never changes with the card's value. Its tiers carry protection amounts instead.

A $1,500 card is a Standard job at CGC, a Priority job at PSA and an Express job at Beckett, because Express was the only Beckett door open. That is why the table reads cheapest fit, card value by card value, instead of one sticker price per grader.

A worked example adds shipping to the fee

Suppose you spend $15 on shipping to the grader, return shipping and insurance together. That number is an example for the arithmetic. Your carrier sets the real one. The table adds it to each grader's cheapest fitting single-card fee, using the TAG row that tests protection.

Read across a row to compare graders at a fixed card value. Read down a column to see where a grader's price steps up. The first step up at PSA comes just above $1,000, where Standard ($59.99, cap $1,000) gives way to Priority at $79.99. CGC steps from Economy to Standard at the same point, from $20 to $55.

For your own order, with your own shipping and the number of cards, use the grading cost calculator. It reads the same data file as this guide, so the two cannot disagree.

Turnaround is a separate price

Every grader here sells speed as a higher tier. PSA's cheapest open tier on 1 November 2026 was Standard at $59.99 with an estimated 70 to 80 business days, and its Express tier at $199 listed 20 to 30. CGC Economy, at $20, listed an estimated 90 working days, against 10 for Standard at $55. The cheap seat is a long wait. The graders say these estimates are not guaranteed and can change as volume changes. If speed matters, compare the whole row of tiers on the calculator, not the cheapest cell.

What to check before you send a card

1. Declare the value you would defend as the card's market value, because CGC can reassign a higher tier and PSA caps each tier by insured value.
2. Confirm the tier is open on the day. PSA and Beckett each had tiers closed on the dates above.
3. Count your cards against the tier minimums. TAG Value and Base and CGC Bulk need batches.
4. Confirm the grader accepts the card. TAG's page says it was not accepting some card types at the time, and each grader publishes its own eligibility rules.

Sources

• PSA, Trading card grading services, read 1 November 2026.
• CGC Cards, Services and fees, read 1 November 2026.
• Beckett, Card grading and pricing, read 1 November 2026.
• TAG Grading, Pricing, read 1 November 2026.