Disclaimer: This article is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not financial advice. Please do your own research before making any financial or purchasing decisions.

Recently, PSA reintroduced its “Minimum Grade Submission” option, allowing collectors to specify the lowest grade they’re willing to accept for a card. If the card doesn’t meet that grade, PSA returns it ungraded (or leaves it in its original slab for crossovers), but you still pay the full grading fee.

At first glance, this seems like a positive for collectors: you can avoid getting a low grade that might hurt your card’s value. However, upon closer inspection, I’m not convinced it’s a big deal for most collectors.

Where It May Make Sense

The minimum grade option is most useful for crossovers, which is when you move a card from another company’s slab to PSA if it meets your desired grade. This saves you from cracking the slab yourself and risking damage.

For raw cards, though, I don’t see much value; if your card doesn’t meet the minimum, you get it back ungraded (or authentic, which may also hurt the value) and still pay the fee.

What’s Missing

What would potentially make the service valuable, in my opinion, is a brief grading report or explanation when a card doesn’t meet the minimum grade. Without feedback, it feels arbitrary; you’re told your card didn’t make the cut, but not why, or even what grade it would have received.

Market Impact

Could this reduce the number of lower-grade PSA slabs? Maybe a little, but I doubt it will have a major effect on the market or on collector behavior. For most collectors, it’s just a convenience feature, not a game changer.

Advice for Collectors

Unless you’re specifically trying to cross a card over from another grading company, I don’t see a strong benefit to use the minimum grade option. It might save you the hassle of cracking a slab if you are trying to get it graded by another company, but otherwise, the benefits are pretty limited.

If you’re considering using this service, make sure you understand that you’ll pay the full grading fee whether or not your card is graded. And don’t expect any feedback if your card doesn’t meet the minimum.