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Why Are CGC Rising Prices Again?

cgc prices rising

There are significant price increases coming at CGC, although fortunately for card collectors, the most important changes are not for cards.

Instead, the most extreme changes are for comics and magazines. That is likely because CGC faces stiffer competition in the card space, particularly from PSA. But things are not that simple.

PSA has also announced that it will be entering the comic book space at some point in 2025. Are these price rises related? We look into it in our coverage of the CGC price rise.

When will the CGC price changes apply

The prices will rise as of January 21, 2025, and are relevant only for submissions made in the United States.

If you complete your order by January 21 but the order does not arrive at the CGC offices by February 11, 2025, you will still need to pay the new prices. In other words, if you have a submission planned to CGC, do it ASAP. Or you will have to pay higher prices for the privilege.

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What are the new CGC prices?

Below is a list of the pricing changes in full that collectors can expect in late January.

Updates to CGC Grading Tiers and Services for Comics, Magazines and Pulps

  • The modern tier fee has been changed to $27. The previous fee was $25. That is an 8% increase.
  • The vintage tier fee has been changed to $42, from $37. This is a 13.5% increase.
  • The fee for the High-Value tier has changed to $95, up from $85. This is an 11.7% increase.
  • The Unlimited Value tier fee has been changed to 4% FMV ($115 min.). The previous minimum fee was $150.
  • ReHolder—The fee has been changed to $25, up from $20. This is a 25% increase, and it was not changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.
  • The high–value ReHolder fee has been changed to $75. The previous fee was $50$. That is a change of 50%, a particularly high increase. That fee had also not been changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.
  • Custom Label—The fee has been changed to $8. The previous fee was $5$. That is a 60% increase, and it is particularly high. That fee had not been changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.

Updates to CGC Grading tiers and services for posters

Grading fees for posters have changed in the following way:

  • The economy tier fee has been changed to $50 from $45. This is an 11% increase, and it was not changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.
  • The high–value tier fee has been changed to $95 from $85. This is an 11.7% increase, and it was not changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.
  • The Unlimited Value tier fee has been changed to 4% FMV ($115 min.). The previous minimum fee was $150.
  • ReHolder: The fee has been increased to $25 from $20, which is a 25% increase.
  • The high–value ReHolder fee has been changed to $75. The previous fee was $50. That is a 50% increase, an exceptionally high increase. That fee was also not changed in the last round of increases in 2023.
  • Handbills and Postcards – fee changed to $40. The previous fee was $35. That is a change of 14.2%

Updates to CGC Grading Tiers and Services for Lobby Cards

  • Lobby Cards—The fee has been changed to $27, up from $20. This is a 35% increase, and it was not changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.
  • ReHolder —The fee has been changed to $25. The previous fee was $13. This is an increase of 92%, one of the highest increases of all. That fee had not been changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.

Updates to CGC Signature Series for Comics, Magazines and Pulps

  • The modern tier fee has been changed to $47. The previous fee was $25$. This is an increase of 88%, one of the highest increases
  • The vintage tier fee has been changed to $62, up from $37. That is a 67% increase in price. That tier used to be called the economy tier, so it is clear why they decided to change that name.
  • The high–value tier fee has been changed to $115, up from $85. This is a 35% increase, and it was not changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.
  • The Unlimited Value tier fee has been changed to 4% FMV ($135 min.). The previous minimum was $105.
  • ReHolder —The fee has been changed to $25 from $20, a 20% increase.
  • The High–Value holder fee has been changed to $75. The previous fee was $50. That is a change of 50%, a particularly high increase. That fee also had not been changed in the last round of increases in 2023.
  • Custom Label—The fee has changed to $8, up from $8 previously. That is a 60% increase, a particularly high increase. That fee was also not changed in the previous round of increases in 2023.

Updates to CGC Signature Series for Posters

  • The economy tier fee has increased to $70 from $65, a 7% change.
  • The high–value tier fee has changed to $115 from $85. That is a 26% change.
  • The Unlimited Value tier fee has been changed to 4% FMV ($135 min.). The previous minimum was $100.
  • ReHolder—The fee has changed to $25 from $20, a 25% increase.
  • The High–Value holder fee has been changed to $75. The previous fee was $50. That is a change of 50%, a particularly high increase. That fee also had not been changed in the last round of increases in 2023.
  • The fee for handbills and Postcards has changed to $40 from $35. That is a 14% change.

Updates to CGC Signature Series for Prints, Photos and Sketches

  • The fee for prints, Photos, and Sketches has changed to $35 from $30, a 16% increase.

CGC cards

Updates to CGC Grading Tiers and Services for Cards

None of these prices were changed in the 2023 increases.

  • Bulk tier – fee changed to $12. The previous fee was $11. That is a change of 9%
  • The economy tier fee has increased to $15 from $14, a 7% change.
  • The standard tier fee has been changed to $40 from $30. That is a 33% change.
  • The express tier fee has been changed to $75. The previous fee was $50. This is a 50% increase, an exceptionally high increase.
  • WalkThrough tier: The fee has been changed to $250, and the maximum value has been changed to $100,000. The cost used to be $100, and there was no value limit. That is an increase of 150%, one of the most significant increases here.
  • Unlimited Value tier (NEW TIER): $250 + 1% FMV ($2,500 max.). This new tier replaces the walkthrough tier as an unlimited option, but the price is 150% higher.
  • Jumbo card – fee changed to $20. The previous fee was 15$. That is a change of 33%
  • ReHolder—The fee has changed to $10 from $5. That is a 100% change.

Updates to CGC Signature Series for cards

  • The standard tier fee has been changed to $60, from $45. That is a 33% change.
  • The express tier fee has been changed to $100 from $65, a 53% change.
  • WalkThrough tier: The fee has been changed to $300, and the maximum value has been changed to $100,000. The previous fee was $165, with an unlimited value. That is an 81% change, a particularly high increase.
  • Unlimited Value tier (NEW TIER): $300 + 1% FMV ($2,550 max).
  • Jumbo card – fee changed to $35. The previous fee was $30. That is an increase of 16%.
  • ReHolder—The fee has changed to $10 from $5. That is a 100% change.

Updates to CGC x JSA Authentic Autograph Certification for Cards

  • WalkThrough tier – max. Value changed to $100,000. It was previously unlimited.
  • Unlimited Value tier (NEW TIER) – $750.
  • Jumbo card – fee changed to $35. The previous fee was $20. That is an increase of 75%.

(Note: Fees for autograph authentication are in addition to grading fees.)

CGC Video Games

Updates to CGC Grading Tiers and Services for video games:

  • Standard tier – fee changed to $40. The previous fee was $35. That is an increase of 14%.
  • WalkThrough tier – fee changed to $150 + 2% FMV. The previous fee was $125. That is an increase of 20%.
  • CrossOver Standard tier – fee changed to $40. The previous fee was 25$. That is an increase of 60%.
  • CrossOver WalkThrough tier – fee changed to $150 + 2% FMV. The previous fee was $100. That is an increase of 50%.
  • High-Value ReHolder – fee changed to $75. The previous fee was $50. That is an increase of 50%

Previous CGC price rises

This is not the first time CGC has raised prices recently. The last time they made headlines for doing so was in May 2023. Like now, they gave people a two-week warning before prices increased. Enough time to get out another order at previous price points, though not to do much more than that.

With that said, many services remained at the same price point at that time. The ones that did go up did so in moderate increments, often around 10-20%. The new price rises are a completely different story.

Why are CGC prices rising?

Inflation has made collectors used to prices going up exponentially all the time. But CGC has also seen an increase in submissions in the last few months, as the popularity of Pokémon has experienced a significant resurgence.

However, CGC’s recent gains are not enough to overcome the problems the company is reportedly facing.

As we showed in November, the company has been laying off employees recently.

As we reported, “Since June 2022, the number of submissions has decreased steadily. It is now around the point where it was during the pandemic. That is linked to a demonstrable decline in the value of comic books on the open market. Because the grading of comic books is generally more expensive than that of sports cards (there is more to check, and they are more difficult to handle), the margin for profit is smaller. So submissions in this sector are more sensitive to price changes than the sports card market.”

They also had a few promotions that seemed somewhat desperate. However, all that did not help much. Therefore, they are now raising prices to overcome the deficit they accrued over the last year.

Some collectors are angry that CGC is raising prices

The problems CGC has faced were made worse by a series of screw-ups by the company that plagued them in 2024. In the last year, they have dealt with several problems.

First, two employees were accused of stealing comic books. They also allegedly had their comics graded and gave them far better grades than they deserved before selling them.

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Second, the company admitted that its cases were not secure.

As they revealed in a public statement, “The trust that we have built with our community sometimes makes us a target of bad actors and, despite our vigilance, this individual tampered with some of our holders.” In that case, the individual had tampered with and changed out several hundred comic books. That forced the company to hire a private investigation firm to investigate the matter and completely change their cases.

More Problems for CGC

Later in the year, customers faced an increased incidence of bending their comic books by CGC. Something that was soon labeled “Bendgate” by the brand’s most loyal users.

When a user posted in September that they “Cancelled my 150.00 yearly subscriptions to CGC of bending and ruining what should have been a 2k comic, now it’s a 9.6 with multiple spine ticks that break color with deep creasing. I can repair the creasing but not the color breaks. I’ve already seen CGC’s stance on this subject, accepting that they are bending but denying that people are losing thousands because of the damage they are doing. I sent them an email canceling my subscription, and they didn’t even write back.” That led to many others complaining about the same thing.

However, with no real competition on the market, this has just soured their customer base. But not enough for them to lose most of their comics business because there is nowhere to go.

Final word on the CGC price rise

CGC appears to be bleeding money. They have also lost the trust of many of their customers. Meanwhile, the main thing they have going for them is a monopoly, which will be shattered when PSA enters the market at some point this year.

CGC is likely hoping to set the prices for comic books so that PSA will charge high prices. The fear was that PSA would enter at a low price point and lock them in, making it harder to raise prices later.

Either way, this increases PSA’s opportunity to enter the market strong for the comics world. We will be watching closely to see how this influences the competitiveness of CGC in the card and comic spaces.

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Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim is the emeritus editor of Cardlines. He continues to write for several hobby outlets, including this one and Cardbase. He collects primarily vintage baseball and soccer and has a weird obsession with 1971 Topps.

In his spare time, Shaiel is sobbing into his bourbon when the Mets lose and playing Dungeons and Dragons. In a past life, Dr. Ben-Ephraim was a political science professor, journalist, and diplomat. But cards are more fun.

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