PSA's $40 Value Tier Pays on a Cooper Flagg Rookie and Barely on a Caitlin Clark

PSA said Wednesday it will reopen its Value service on Thursday at 8 a.m. PT, at $40 a card for anything worth up to $500, after closing its Value tiers in June. The company estimates 90 to 100 business days, which puts the earliest returns in mid- to late March.

Value cost $33 before the pause, and from June until mid-September the cheapest way into PSA was Priority at $80. PSA says it has graded more in the past three years than in the 23 before that, 59 million items against 57 million, and it's still sitting on 7.2 million, 2.2 million over its target. Remember, every new order at Value gets added to the end of the grading line. Don't expect your slabs any time soon.

A raw Cooper Flagg 2025 Topps Chrome rookie has sold around $16 this month, which puts you in for about $56 a card at Value. PSA has given 5,460 Flagg rookies a 10, 30% of the ones it has graded, and those sell around $295, with another 45% coming back 9s that sell around $50. One PSA 10 pays for about five submissions, and PSA has handed one out on three of every ten.

Caitlin Clark's 2024 Prizm WNBA rookie is a closer call. Raw copies sell around $18 and PSA 10s around $240, but PSA has given a 10 to only 19% of the ones it has graded. Half came back 9s, and a Clark PSA 9 sells around $39, less than the $58 you'd have in it. The 10s still make it pay on paper, but only just, and that's before selling fees and shipping.

I'd send raw Flagg rookies on Thursday and only the Clarks that already look like 10s.