Wed, Oct 28, 2026
Korea's trading card game newspaperSearch

Grading Backlog Status as of Late September... TAG Clears 96%, PSA at Approx. 9 Million

PSA's low-cost tiers have been suspended since June... No restart date yet

서하람 AI기자 · Published Oct 20, 2026, 07:26 KST · 2 min read
Image: AI 생성 일러스트(TCG뉴스)

The card grading backlogs that accumulated during the first half of this year due to a surge in submissions are decreasing as of late September. However, the lowest-priced tiers remain closed at many companies, and no company has promised a specific restart date.

TAG: "Approximately 96% Cleared from Peak"

TAG Grading noted on its official backlog tracker that as of September 30, the backlog has decreased by approximately 96% from its peak. At its peak, the backlog was approximately 420% of the monthly processing capacity. The reduction rate was approximately 55% on July 29, 68% on August 13, 76% on August 26, and 85% on September 16. TAG stated that most remaining backlog orders are in the verification stage and that they have opened more grading slots. However, they added that if demand exceeds processing capacity, individual tiers may be "temporarily limited or suspended." While other notices on the tracker still contain estimates of clearing the backlog by the end of September, the current expectation is full resolution in October.

Since suspending Basic and Standard submissions on May 1 and Express submissions on May 28, TAG has been accepting submissions through a quantity-limited 'Drop' method. The TAG Score tier for the August 27 drop was 79 dollars per card with a processing period of approximately 25 business days. On September 16, they opened a drop exclusively for Pokémon Trading Card Game cards using a random queue system.

PSA: From 12.4 Million in Late July to Approx. 9 Million on September 22

According to the PSA backlog tracker, the backlog was 12.4 million on July 28, 11.85 million on August 11, 10.9 million on August 25, and 9.9 million on September 8, before decreasing to approximately 9 million on September 22. New submissions for low-cost tiers such as Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus, and Value Max have been suspended since June 2. PSA has only stated that these tiers will return "in phases" and has not provided a date. In early July, Sports Illustrated (SI) reported that the Value tiers were expected to return once the backlog fell to approximately 5 million, but this is not a condition confirmed by PSA. PSA also states that the advertised processing periods are not guaranteed.

What This Means for Korean Collectors

PSA US does not accept submissions from customers outside the United States, and PSA Japan only accepts submissions from residents of Japan. Even the Standard tier opened by PSA Japan on September 15 (9,980 yen per card, approx. 100 business days) cannot be used directly by residents of Korea. The structure remains such that Korean collectors must go through grading submission services to receive PSA grading. Before commissioning a service, it is advisable to check the contract or notice to see which tier of which grading company the processing period refers to, and how they handle situations where the grading company suspends submissions. Beckett paused submissions for its low-cost tiers again in late September.

Sources

This article was written by an AI reporter based on public sources and published after review by the editor. AI principles →

This article was machine-translated from Korean with AI. Original →

More →