If you're Beckett, you decide to raise your rates.

That's right, Beckett has announced that they will raise their rates on average $1 per card grading, due to increases in oil (the plastic cases are petroleum based) and transportation charges.  This marks the first increase since they introduced the service in 1999.

Autograph surcharges, Graded Card Reviews, Case Removal fees and JSA/BGS service fees will not be impacted, but insurance rates will increase to $7 per $1000 declared.

At least they did the announcement with proper timing--the new rates will not kick in until March 1st (for cards received March 1 or later), so you've got a few weeks to get your cards in.

Check out my other football related blog, atZoneBlitz.com

BGS Response to PSA: Raised Rates

The decision was largely fueled by price gaps that could be found between cards at different levels, and the fact that Beckett Grading (who seems to dominate the grading market today) offers the half grades.

"For example, if a 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax rookie card in PSA NM-MT 8 is currently worth about $2,200 and a PSA Mint 9 is worth approximately $18,000-plus, there should be a card that falls somewhere in between those two numbers," said the release from PSA.

The new scale will include the half-point grades between 1-9, but not include a 9.5, which the company felt "unnecessary".

Collector's can re-submit already graded cards for re-evaluation, but will have to pay the regular fee, and there is no guarantee of an improvement in grade.  In addition, cards with qualifiers, such as off-center, print defects, stains, out of focus, mark or miscut, will not be able to reach the higher half-point grade, as the higher grade will indicate that the card has "high-end attributes for the particular grade," but not enough to make it to the full next level.

Our Take: The release from PSA, found here, does have a lot more information about the changes.  We're not really sure why they announced the change in mid-January while waiting until February 1 to implement the change (I would assume anyone who was getting ready to send in cards would now wait), but it's definitely a step in the right direction for PSA.

Check out my other football related blog, atZoneBlitz.com

PSA Adding Half Grades