Quick recap: on June 2, PSA paused all four Value tiers — Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus, Value Max — citing a 10-million-card backlog. Submissions in the final week before the cutoff pushed it past 14M. Read the full Week 1 update in PSA Backlog Hits 14 Million — Week 1 After the Pause.
Week 2 was supposed to be quiet while PSA worked through the queue. Instead, they made the situation worse — and most of the hobby missed it.
The Week 2 numbers
The headline number didn't drop. But the real news this week was a turnaround time update PSA pushed out as part of their $200M infrastructure email — and it's worse than the pause itself.
- PSA Bulk max turnaround jumped from 95 business days to 140–160 business days, effective immediately. That's a shift from about 4.5 months to up to 7.5 months. A bulk submission sent in today might not be ready until January 2027.
- The Bulk minimum jumped from 20 cards to 50 cards as of May 18. That cuts out a big chunk of small submitters and Collectors Club members who were splitting orders.
- Super Express went from $299 to $349 per card — a 17% price hike on the tier most show sellers actually use on hits.
- The active backlog still sits at ~14 million cards. At PSA's roughly 2.3M cards-per-month throughput, that's still a 6-month minimum to clear — and Bulk's new posted turnaround (140–160 days) tells you PSA isn't planning to clear it faster.
- Receiving is averaging 10 business days just to unbox new arrivals, per PSA's own Submission Delays page. That delay is on top of the grading queue.
Translation: PSA didn't just pause Value. They quietly stretched their cheapest still-open tier (Bulk) out so far that it might as well be paused too. If you're a Collectors Club member relying on Bulk to grade modern hits all summer, that strategy is dead until at least Q1 2027.
What this changes for sellers
Week 1 advice still applies — but the timeline keeps getting longer. Three specific shifts after this week's news:
Holding raw modern through summer is now a losing trade. Last week the bull case for holding raw was "send it to Bulk in the fall when Value reopens." That window just closed — Value is still paused, and Bulk is now 7.5 months out. If a card isn't worth Regular at $79.99, it's a sell. I'm clearing my buy bins of raw modern under $20 a card this month.
Modern PSA 9s and 10s should keep firming. Same logic as Week 1, just stronger. There is no new bulk-graded modern supply hitting through the summer or the fall. If you have PSA 9s and 10s sitting in storage, get them in the case now. The supply squeeze is locked in for at least 6 months. (For where I think the market goes specifically on Jordan, Kobe, Wemby, and Ohtani, see my market take for 2026.)
SGC submissions are exploding. Dealer feeds are full of "first SGC submission" posts. If you're new to SGC, the cardholder is different but the buyer trust is real — especially on vintage. SGC's tucked-edge slabs trade at near-PSA prices on pre-1980 stuff. Walk through the side-by-side in PSA vs BGS vs SGC — Which Grading Company Should You Use in 2026?
Super Express at $349 is a different conversation. At the old $299 price, Super Express was the "last resort" for show sellers who needed a slab back in 10 days. At $349 it only makes sense if the slabbed comp clears $700+. Below that, you're paying half the card's value just to grade it. I'd push these to walk-up at the National this summer instead.
The 50-card Bulk minimum hurts small sellers. If you're a one-person operation that used to send 20-card Bulk orders, you don't have that lane anymore. Either consign a 50-card order through a dealer who can batch with other submitters, or move up to Regular at $79.99 a card. Both options exist — but neither is what you had two weeks ago.
What I'm doing at my tables this week
I'm still hitting my summer schedule. Three things I changed coming into this week:
- I'm not upcharging slabs — I stick firm to sticker prices. But on modern PSA 9s and 10s in the $40–200 range, I've pulled my "make me an offer" tags off. No more haggle discounts on the segment most exposed to the freeze.
- I'm offering to consolidate Bulk submissions for sellers who can't hit the new 50-card minimum on their own. If you've got 10–20 cards you wanted to bulk-grade, text me a photo at (304) 916-7830 and we'll figure it out.
- Raw modern bins are getting cleared. If you're a buyer of $1–10 raw modern, this is the summer to stock up. Sellers like me are dumping it.
What I'll be watching this week
- Whether the official PSA Backlog Tracker update lands later this month, and whether the official 14M number matches what dealers are saying.
- SGC turnaround times — they were holding around 25–30 business days going into the pause. If they extend, the alternative gets less attractive.
- eBay sold comps on PSA 9s and 10s of modern stars. Week 1 prices firmed slightly. Week 2 should show whether that's holding.
- Whether any of the bigger group-submission services (PWCC, Probstein, Goldin) post a "we'll consolidate your Bulk order" offering. That would change the math fast.
The takeaway
Week 2 was the week the PSA situation went from a 4-month pause to a 6–12-month structural problem. Bulk being out to 140–160 days isn't a temporary delay — it's PSA telling the market they're not going to clear this fast. Sellers who already pivoted out of raw modern this week are going to look smart in October. Sellers still holding raw modern hoping for a fast Value reopen are going to be stuck twice — once on the cards, once on the opportunity cost.
I'll post Week 3 next Thursday. If you're hitting any of the shows on my 2026 schedule, come find the Big John's Cards table — happy to talk strategy in person.
— John
Related reading
- PSA Backlog Hits 14 Million — Week 1 After the Pause — what got us here.
- Is PSA Closing? PSA Value Grading Paused June 2026 — What Sellers Must Do Now
- The PSA Pause Survival Checklist for Card Show Sellers (June 2026)
- PSA vs BGS vs SGC — Which Grading Company Should You Use in 2026?
- 2026 Card Show Schedule — Where I'll Be