I do not know how much it is for PSA to grade a card but I am against the grading of base cards and asking a exorbitant price by offering then to the public or collectors .
This is encouraging new collectors to pay for cards that are basically zilch as base cards by selling them as rarer cards no matter what they are they are still base cards with a basic value.
I see this as greed after all you will never be able to purchase a graded base set as no one would be able afford to pay the grading fees for it and the final cost if as a graded set would be a phenominal price.Even though discounts are given. And what is the point of having 1 graded card and the other 70 or so raw
In my opinion (only) Grading companies should refuse to grade these cards and stick to the vintage and higher end cards it was designed for..
Grading is not a new phenomen A company was advertising it on the back cover of NSU years ago but then it was directed at vintage cards

But this will never happen as the Gradng Companies and sellers of these cards are too greedy
This rant was brought on because I have just seen a Graded PSA 8 base card for sale at $US 193.94

To the seller RIP OFF

I hear you piko, but you have to remember that in the beginning there was a pretty good purpose for having cards certified by an outside company that was supposed to be unbiased and employing knowledgeable graders. That those experts were supposed to actually have a consistent method of evaluating cards, both for condition and general authentication. That the system has become corrupted and is not properly used isn't the original intention.

Originally grading was meant for vintage cards of higher value to guarantee that they were of genuine issue and to ensure that they weren't trimmed or repaired to improve the condition. It gave novice card buyers the support of having a slab of approval so to speak, but it wasn't long before it turned into a numbers game and sellers realized that they could use the higher graded cards to get a premium over the "raw" ones. From there it was a quick jump to the newly minted high dollar cards getting submitted for grading just to get in that 9 - 10 range and claim rarity.

I understand that you want to blame the grading services for all the greed, but they are just taking the fees that people give them. Buyers and sellers created the market for graded cards that started mainly with sports cards but now has bleed over to any kind of card. No, there is no reason to grade a base card from a 2018 set. But if that slabbed card sells for more than its average base card price, including the grading fee, then that's the reason. Blame the foolish buyers for following along.

As to your first statement, this will make you even more unhappy. There are all sorts of prices for grading depending on the company used, number of submissions, time for returning, package discounts, etc. There really is no single quote anymore, you have to contact the service. However they have something going based on the secondary market value of the card submitted. It is basically a percentage fee attached to value tiers. So if you are thinking that a card that might be estimated to average out at $2,500 costs a flat $50 to grade, the fee depending on the tier will actually be in the hundreds of dollars. The thinking is that a high graded card will attract more buyers willing to pay a huge premium to the seller above the average and thus pay for the fee and way more. Grading services are essentially getting their cut of the transaction before any transaction occurs. It's kind of brilliant.

On the flip side, newer cards that can't make at least a 9 in a slab are endanger of losing buyers. Grading services are stuck between the extremes of giving out too many high grades with lenient appraisals and taking off too many deductions with stricter appraisals. They want 10s to be rare, but not so rare that submissions go to someone else. It's a delicate balance and a great subject because of all the nuances.

Bottom line, there are cards that benefit from grading. The vast majority don't need it, but tell that to the mob buying Grade 8 base cards.