PSA Is Now Tracking Cards It Hasn't Graded Yet

On September 23, PSA updated its Collection app so that ungraded cards can sit in the same digital portfolio as certified slabs, according to heavy.com. Until now, the app's estimated values and price history were built around cards that had already been through grading. The update extends that tracking to raw cards, the ones still sitting in a binder or a box, untouched by any grading company.

The new Collection lets a user add a raw card, follow its estimated value over time, and compare how examples of the same card have performed at different grades, so a collector can see roughly what a PSA 9 or an SGC 8 of that card is worth before deciding whether submitting it is worth the fee and the wait. Cards can be sorted into folders, filtered by grading status or by how much their value has moved, and a folder can be turned into a public link for sharing or for selling a batch outright.

The tracking is not limited to PSA's own slabs. The Collection recognizes cards graded by PSA, SGC, BGS, BVC, CSG and CGC, and covers sports cards, Pokemon, ONE PIECE, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!, according to the same report. A card scanned for identification comes back with pricing information no matter which of those six companies eventually grades it, or whether it gets graded at all.

PSA is careful about what the estimates mean. According to heavy.com, the app warns that "past sales do not guarantee future performance," and makes clear the Collection's tools are meant for tracking a collection, not as investment advice.

The timing is notable. The update landed while PSA's cheaper Value grading tier stays paused and the company's global backlog sits at roughly 9 million cards, per the same report. Submitting a card for grading right now can mean a long wait before it comes back with a number on the label. Letting collectors track a raw card's value inside the app gives PSA a reason for people to keep using its tools even while the physical grading pipeline cannot keep up.

For a collector deciding whether a card is worth grading at all, that is a real use: watch how a raw copy's value moves, watch what graded copies of the same card are selling for, and make the call with real numbers instead of a guess. Whether PSA's estimates hold up as more raw cards get tracked is something only time, and a very large backlog, will tell.