PSA opens Canadian grading centre to help ease tariffs for card collectors

The trade war between Canada and the United States has made collecting sports memorabilia, like trading cards, an even more expensive hobby.

But Professional Sports Authenticator, the world's leading collectibles grader and authenticator, has found a solution to cover some of those expenses.

PSA Canada has opened a new grading centre in Mississauga, Ont., that will allow Canadian collectors to bypass some of the tariff-based expenses that hobbyists have faced in 2025.

PSA, based in California, had announced in April that it would no longer accept direct submissions from Canadian collectors.

"We were trying to eliminate friction points for our customers, and we've had all these different friction points, but when the tariffs were announced, that was the biggest friction point we had," said Brad Hartlin, PSA Canada's general manager.

Grading is a process where a third-party business examines a card or collectible, evaluates its blemishes, then seals it in a hard plastic shell with a certification. This not only protects the card, it increases its value since it has been assigned a score on a scale of one to 10 on how well preserved it is.

Hartlin said that the company had been planning to open the new facility for approximately 18 months, about half a year before U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs sparked the current economic tensions between the two countries. Those tariffs and Canada's counter-tariffs meant that individuals sending their collectibles across the border to be graded were being hit with fees on both legs of the shipment.

The new PSA Canada grading centre means Canadians will be able to submit trading cards, tickets, coins, card packs and more for grading, without having to deal with customs or duties by bundling multiple collectors' prized possessions together under one temporary import bond.

"Even our larger customers, it didn't make economical sense for them to do that. Now we take that on us," said Hartlin. "I don't want to say it's a seamless process, but we're getting pretty good at it. 

"The orders go in, they come back, and that way the customer doesn't have to worry about tariffs at all."

A temporary import bond is a guarantee to both the Canadian and American governments that the goods being sent across the border will return. Individual collectors or stores sending their goods to be graded in the U.S. — by PSA or one of its competitors — would have to pay duties each time their package crossed the border unless they arranged their own TIB, a process that's not financially viable except at the largest scale.

"They're just going in for a certain service (grading). We can't leave them, we can't vault the cards, we can't sell the cards there," said Hartlin. "Every item that goes into the U.S. has to come back to Canada under this TIB. 

"It's a big process and a big undertaking for us. You have to list every individual card out. You have to go through the whole process with your (import) broker. It's a lot of work and a lot of money as well."

There are 16 pre-existing authorized PSA partners across Canada, who will continue to provide grading services. PSA Canada's headquarters were originally based in Halifax but they could not offer the grading service. 

Now the authorized partners, the Halifax office and the Mississauga location can all offer the grading service. 

"We chose Mississauga because it's right across the street from the airport, so customers can fly in, drop cards off, they can pick cards up, etc., from across the country and internationally as well," said Hartlin. "Also, another one of the reasons is we have the Sports Card Expo, which is twice a year, and it's 10 minutes away from our office. 

"It's the biggest show in Canada, by far. I think it might be, even be the second or third biggest show in the world."

The Sport Card Expo runs from Thursday to Sunday at The International Centre in Mississauga.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2025.