Grading and slabs
Funko Pop Grading in 2026: PSA Is Out
Grading turns a subjective argument about box condition into a number inside a sealed case. It also costs money per figure, and the largest grader in the collectibles industry stopped accepting Funko Pops at the end of 2025 — which changed the maths for everyone holding slabs.
What changed at the end of 2025
PSA announced in November 2025 that it would stop grading Funko Pops, with December 1, 2025 as the final day to submit figures for grading, reholder or dual-service work. Submissions already received by that date continued to be processed. PSA kept one Funko service running: autograph-only authentication and encapsulation for signed pieces, which come back under a label indicating authentication of the signature rather than a condition grade.
The backdrop was Funko's own financial trouble — sustained quarterly losses through 2025 — and a secondary market well off its pandemic peak. Grading is a volume business, and Pop submissions had thinned out.
If you already own PSA-graded Pops, the slabs remain what they were: a sealed case with a verified grade from a recognised grader. What ends is the ability to add new ones. Whether a closed population helps or hurts prices is genuinely unsettled — a fixed supply of graded examples is an argument for a premium, while a grader exiting a category is a signal about that category's direction.
Sources for the timeline: PSA's own announcement, plus coverage from cllct and ICv2 in November 2025.
Who still grades Funko Pops
AFA (Action Figure Authority) is the long-standing grader for boxed toys and remains the reference point for Funko. Its scale is out of 100, and the grades collectors chase are 85, 90 and above. AFA grades the package as a whole, with sub-grades reflecting the box, the window and the figure itself — which suits a collectible whose value sits largely in its packaging.
Other graders operate in this space with varying market recognition. The practical test is not who will take your money but whose slab buyers pay a premium for: a grade only adds value if the buyer trusts the grader, and that trust is not evenly distributed.
Before submitting anywhere, check completed sales for slabs from that specific grader on that specific figure. If you cannot find any, you are paying for a plastic case rather than a premium.
How to read a grade
Two things are packed into a graded Pop's price, and separating them is the whole skill.
The first is the condition premium: an AFA 90 box is objectively sharper than an ungraded box of unknown condition, and that is worth paying for. The second is the certainty premium: the slab means you are not relying on a seller's photographs or their definition of "mint". On expensive figures the certainty premium is often the larger of the two, because it is what makes a remote purchase safe.
This is why grades are not interchangeable across graders. An AFA 85 and another grader's 8.5 are not the same claim about the same thing, and pricing one from the other's sales produces a number with no basis.
What the numbers usually mean
The AFA scale is the one most Funko slabs use. Approximate reading:
| Grade | Roughly what it describes | Market effect |
|---|---|---|
| 95+ | Effectively flawless box, sharp corners, clear window | Rare enough that the price is set by whoever wants it most |
| 90 | Very sharp with only trivial handling marks | The usual target for grading a valuable figure |
| 85 | Sharp, one or two minor flaws | Solid premium over raw; common outcome for a well-kept box |
| 80 | Good with visible minor wear | Modest premium, often below the cost of grading |
| 75 and below | Noticeable wear, creasing or window damage | Rarely worth the grading fee |
Is grading worth it?
The arithmetic is simple and it disqualifies most figures. Grading costs a fee per item plus shipping in both directions, and shipping a boxed Pop safely is not cheap. That total has to be smaller than the premium the grade adds, with enough margin to justify the weeks of turnaround and the risk that the grade comes back lower than you hoped.
In practice that means grading makes sense for figures already worth a few hundred dollars raw, in visibly excellent boxes, on licences with an active graded market. It does not make sense for a $40 chase, and it does not rescue a creased box — the grade will simply certify that the box is creased.
There is also a liquidity argument that cuts the other way. A slab is harder to display, impossible to open without destroying the grade, and appeals to a narrower pool of buyers. If you collect to look at your shelf rather than to trade, grading may cost you the thing you actually wanted.
The mistake that ruins graded price research
Searching a figure's name and averaging everything that comes back. A single search will return loose figures, boxed raw figures, and slabs at three or four different grades — a price range spanning an order of magnitude, averaged into a number that describes none of them.
Graded and raw are separate markets, and each grade is close to its own market. When you are pricing a slab, filter to sold listings, restrict to the same grader and the same grade, and accept that you may be working from three data points. Three relevant sales beat thirty irrelevant ones.
Our own sold-price pages split graded sales out for exactly this reason — the grade is parsed from the listing title and shown on each sale, so a graded feed can be read on its own.
Common questions
Does PSA still grade Funko Pops?
No. PSA stopped accepting Funko Pop submissions for grading, reholder and dual service on December 1, 2025. It continues to offer autograph-only authentication and encapsulation for signed Funko Pops, which certifies the signature rather than assigning a condition grade.
Are my PSA-graded Funko Pops still worth anything?
Yes. Existing slabs keep their grade and their case, and the population of PSA-graded Pops is now fixed. Whether that fixed supply supports higher prices or whether a grader's exit dampens interest in the category is still playing out, so price from recent comparable sales rather than from an assumption in either direction.
Who grades Funko Pops now?
AFA is the established grader for boxed toys including Funko, using a scale out of 100 with sub-grades for box, window and figure. Other services exist, but a grade is only worth what buyers will pay for it, so check completed sales for that grader's slabs before submitting.
How much does it cost to grade a Funko Pop?
It varies by grader and service level, and shipping a boxed figure safely in both directions adds meaningfully to the total. Treat the all-in cost as the number to beat: if the expected grade premium does not clearly exceed it, the figure is not a candidate.
Does grading increase a Funko Pop's value?
For high-grade examples of already-valuable figures, yes — both because the condition is verified and because a slab makes a remote purchase safe. For common figures or damaged boxes it usually does not cover its own cost.
Where to go next
- Graded Funko Pop sold prices — completed sales for slabbed figures, with the grade on each
- How much is my Funko Pop worth — the valuation method for raw figures
- Where to check Funko Pop prices — what each source measures