One of the leaders in the sports card grading industry, Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), announced yesterday it would be moving away from its original 10 point grading system to a new 18 point scale. The new system will take effect February 1st and draws comparison to both Sportscard Guaranty's (SGC) and Beckett Grading Service's (BGS) systems. Grades will now be distributed over one through ten, with each having a half-grade (except 9). This has been received as a major bomb-shell and reason for panic by some in the sports card collecting community.

PSA's reasoning for implementing this new system is to reduce the gap in pricing between grades that exists in the market. Often times, thousands of dollars in value separate 8s, 9s, & 10s when it comes to high-end and vintage cards. PSA sees half-grades as a necessity for the maturity of the sports card market.

However, many collectors are wary of the new system, fearing chaos in the market. The concept of a "high-end" and "low-end" cards within a grade has existed since grading became popular. Customers are worried that their existing "high-end" cards will take a tumble in value unless they re-submit the card to PSA for reevaluation. Another concern some collectors have is that the already cut-throat set registry world will become even more competitive. One bright for many is that the "Poor" and "Fair" grades will finally be separated.

In the hours following the announcement, many PSA customers have posted possible solutions to their concerns online. One solution that has been suggested is an altered flip (label) design to denote cards graded after the switch to the new system, something PSA has done before. Another popular solution is that cards graded at round numbers in the future be denoted with a "point zero" (e.g. 8.0) to make clear which cards were graded before the change. It remains to be seen if PSA is considering any of these options.

The true fallout from this decision is yet to be seen, but it has become clear this will be viewed as a watershed moment in PSA's history.