Ever since PSA began accepting comic book submissions in mid-July, we've begun to see hundreds of PSA slabs enter the secondary market. Less than two months later, there are hundreds of PSA slabs listed for sale on eBay and several of them sell every single day. And there is some data that suggests that PSA is starting to take meaningful market share from CGC. For instance, CGCdata.com reported that the "CGC population report for August 26, 2025, reflected roughly 10% reduction in the number of graded comics across all publishers when compared to August 19, 2025. The numbers are 'back to normal' as of September 9, 2025." It's possible the recent dip was caused by collectors submitting books to PSA instead of CGC for at least that one week in August.
Nonetheless, PSA still has a lot to prove if it's going to seriously compete with CGC over the long-term. In late August, I wrote about how initial PSA sales were competitive with CGC. But there's some recent sales data that may suggest some potential weakness for PSA slabs. Let's take a look at recent sales of three major key issues from the Bronze, Copper and Modern Ages: X-Men #101, Amazing Spider-Man #300, and Darth Vader #3. Each of these keys were graded by PSA and sold recently on September 1st.
How do these sales stack up in comparison to CGC?
A PSA 7.0 copy of X-Men #101 sold for only $317 on September 1st.
With one of the most iconic covers of all-time, X-Men #101 is a major key issue from the Bronze Age since it features the first appearance of the Phoenix and marks the beginning of the Phoenix saga, widely considered to be one of the greatest storylines ever written. This PSA slab of X-Men #101 sold earlier this month for $317:
This represents a significant discount when compared against recent sales for CGC 7.0 copies of this same issue. When you review the last five sales for 7.0s using GoCollect's comparison tool, you can quickly see that the PSA copy sold for substantially less than the CGC 7.0s. For instance, it sold for a whopping 36% less than a CGC 7.0 copy that sold for $435 on August 10th:
A newsstand PSA 9.0 copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300 sold for $500 on September 1st.
Although not the most valuable Copper Age book (that distinction most likely belongs to the Crow #1 according to GoCollect's Copper Age CPI), I'd argue that Amazing Spider-Man #300 is the most important. Featuring the first appearance of one of the most popular anti-heroes of all-time -- Venom -- as well as peak Todd McFarlane, Amazing Spider-Man #300 bears the notable distinction of being the most commonly graded CGC comic book of all-time (36,542 CGC-graded copies).
This PSA 9.0 newsstand copy sold for $500 on September 1st:
GoCollect's data shows this sale is roughly in line with average sales of 9.0 CGC copies (around $500), but below the 30-day ($550), 90-day ($550), and one-year high ($700) sales for CGC 9.0s:
In other words, this PSA sale was competitive, but unable to get the seller top dollar.
This PSA 9.4 copy of Darth Vader #3 sold for only $39 on September 1st.
Darth Vader #3, which is signifcant because it includes the first appearance of Dr. Aphra (along with two droids), is an important Modern Age key issue and included in GoCollect's Modern Age CPI. Over the past year, its value has dipped a bit but has generally been mostly steady:
This PSA 9.0 copy of Darth Vader #3 sold for only $39 on September 1st:
First of all, once you include shipping costs, $39 wouldn't even cover the costs of having PSA grade the comic. Second, this is a very weak sale when compared against CGC 9.4s. While a CGC 9.4 hasn't sold during the past 30 days, this PSA sale of $39 is well below the 90-day average for CGC copies ($60) and the one-year average ($54):
While it's still way too early to pass judgment on the market value of PSA slabs, recent sales like the ones above might be concerning for those collectors who are thinking about using PSA as a grading service.
