# PSA Upcharge Leniency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Question\ **Tags:** psa\ **Created:** [December 23, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820 "2024-12-23T20:51:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Garrison](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/mr.garrison/32/239106_2.png) [@Mr.Garrison](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/Mr.Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/1 "2024-12-23T20:51:25Z")
I’m preparing a submission and have about 10 cards that will likely fall in the $475-$575 value range depending on what data source/metric you use. If PSA decides to upcharge me to the $501+ tier I’ll get absolutely destroyed because the cost to grade goes from $19 to $75 per card. Being so close to the threshold I imagine I could dispute the upcharge if it comes that but disputing 10x cards doesn’t sound fun at all… What is the likelihood of an upcharge in this scenario? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![PokemonClassics](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/pokemonclassics/32/532_2.png) [@PokemonClassics](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/PokemonClassics)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/2 "2024-12-23T20:53:29Z")
In my experience, PSA rarely upcharges for anything at/near the threshold . . . that’s just my anecdotal experience though. ---
**Author:** ![traineramy](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/traineramy/32/132565_2.png) [@traineramy](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/traineramy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/3 "2024-12-23T20:53:59Z")
If you have Charizards and umbreons then you are for sure getting caught. Everything else there’s a good chance it slides by when the value is in range ---
**Author:** ![cooptheloop](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/cooptheloop/32/1870_2.png) [@cooptheloop](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/cooptheloop)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/4 "2024-12-23T21:02:01Z")
In my experiences they are pretty lenient for stuff even a few hundred dollars more than $500 which is why is always submit through bulk tier ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Garrison](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/mr.garrison/32/239106_2.png) [@Mr.Garrison](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/Mr.Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/5 "2024-12-23T21:14:34Z")
Thanks for the input! But…yikes that’s brutal 😬 Especially at this threshold considering how big the jump in grading cost is from $500 - $501. It feels like there should be an additional tier between 500 - 1500 but I assume PSA makes a killing in this range so I won’t hold my breath. ---
**Author:** ![cwebfan23](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/cwebfan23/32/154077_2.png) [@cwebfan23](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/cwebfan23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/6 "2024-12-23T22:40:15Z")
I’m fairly certain you can’t dispute upcharges. But like others mentioned, I’d say 70-80% of the time it slides. Depends on the QA/QC staff person and the individual card. For example, ime nearly 100% of base set Charizards in PSA 7-8 get upcharged. ---
**Author:** ![godcomplex](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/godcomplex/32/1659_2.png) [@godcomplex](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/godcomplex)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 6:04am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/7 "2024-12-24T06:04:47Z")
I wasn’t up-charged for this: ![PXL_20220304_212858742](https://efour.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/3X/5/5/551ceabf9a4d3588e550205fae1d540a4242a33f.jpeg) I think it was just luck of the draw? But something like the Umbreon moon card might catch QA’s notice more often ---
**Author:** ![darkapples](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/darkapples/32/670_2.png) [@darkapples](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/darkapples)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 8:54am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/8 "2024-12-24T08:54:00Z")
I had 2 cards in my most recent submission that were around $800 in value, they got upcharged to $50. No idea how that works since there is no $50 tier… A few other cards that were around the $500-$600 range only got upcharged to $19. That’s usually how it goes in my experience ---
**Author:** ![traineramy](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/traineramy/32/132565_2.png) [@traineramy](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/traineramy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 12:41pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/9 "2024-12-24T12:41:38Z")
That’s very lucky to sneak a $3000 10 quality gold star through bulk. ---
**Author:** ![godcomplex](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/godcomplex/32/1659_2.png) [@godcomplex](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/godcomplex)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/10 "2024-12-24T16:32:21Z")
Not even bulk, this was regular service ---
**Author:** ![professorstephen](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/professorstephen/32/31373_2.png) [@professorstephen](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/professorstephen)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/11 "2024-12-24T16:49:04Z")
Upcharging has always (and still does) feels completely random, sometimes i get hit for $400-500 modern cards and other times $1k+ and rarer items fly straight through. It makes sense when you are first/early to market on newer and more obscure cards, but (recent example) this went through the Value Plus tier with no upcharge despite plenty of data now. 🤷‍♂️ ![Screenshot_20241224_164656_eBay](https://efour.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/3X/c/6/c6761255a5fa33b3155937ddbca4c75c593c0d45.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![haytertcg](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/haytertcg/32/114980_2.png) [@haytertcg](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/haytertcg)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/12 "2024-12-27T00:07:42Z")
Have noticed that since the start of the PSA Vault/eBay collaboration i’ve been upcharged more than ever before. Assume they have a much bigger data set to choose from because of it, so automated upcharges are set off much more frequently. ---
**Author:** ![charizardespana](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/charizardespana/32/80713_2.png) [@charizardespana](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/charizardespana)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:09pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/13 "2026-10-20T12:09:38Z")
Where ![2112288004278792568](https://efour.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/4X/e/e/5/ee5fddd77178e7a4ca99d58d6f3fcf972261ee3c.webp) is the “upcharges are good, they are for insurance” brigade now? ---
**Author:** ![eeveeteam](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/eeveeteam/32/2219_2.png) [@eeveeteam](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/eeveeteam)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/14 "2026-10-20T12:25:58Z")
All those years of upcharges… if PSA doesn’t pay out appropriately, there should be a class action lawsuit going after every upcharge the past 5 years ---
**Author:** ![charizardespana](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/charizardespana/32/80713_2.png) [@charizardespana](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/charizardespana)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/15 "2026-10-20T12:28:52Z")
Oh I agree. Also, and I am unsure about accurancy but hearing reports of this: 1. Its “up to a maximum of” and that is only if they had chosen the “correct” tier. eg if you subbed a card that was $500 in a PSA 9, but hit a PSA 10 and its now $5k, if you didnt ship at the $5k level, the max you can claim is $500 (even if you still got upcharged) 2. Also PSA is choosing market value - which is also not accurate I think upcharges are a scam and I will die on that hill. They should let the customer decide how much insurance to put on their cards themselves, such as what BGS do. You pay $7 per $1000 value. ---
**Author:** ![trevcatchem](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/trevcatchem/32/124898_2.png) [@trevcatchem](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/trevcatchem)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:30pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/16 "2026-10-20T12:30:20Z")
I don’t think there’s a single person who said upcharges are good, let alone a “brigade”. ---
**Author:** ![charizardespana](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/charizardespana/32/80713_2.png) [@charizardespana](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/charizardespana)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/17 "2026-10-20T12:39:34Z")
Several people in Efour have stated that they are “for the authenticity guarantee” or “for insurance” meaning it’s a benefit of the PSA offering. You see this narrative frequently online too. ---
**Author:** ![Keiii](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/keiii/32/201673_2.png) [@Keiii](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/Keiii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:11pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/18 "2026-10-20T13:11:37Z")
Did you miss the part where they got a reply that they were sent the wrong spreadsheet? The upcharge is still definitely for insurance, based on what they’ve stated in terms of this payout. ---
**Author:** ![trevcatchem](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/trevcatchem/32/124898_2.png) [@trevcatchem](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/trevcatchem)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/19 "2026-10-20T13:19:46Z")
They only updated the spreadsheet because the guy disagreed. If he agreed they would have happily cut the check. ---
**Author:** ![Keiii](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/keiii/32/201673_2.png) [@Keiii](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/Keiii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:22pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820/20 "2026-10-20T13:22:09Z")
Again, incorrect. There was a discrepancy to begin with and it would have not gotten to where the incorrect amount would have been given. [Next page](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/psa-upcharge-leniency/51820.md?page=2)