Card Grading Costs - what am I missing

[raineybt]

Reentering the hobby now after a 15 year hiatus is jarring - almost like a time traveler walking in and seemingly not recognizing the world. When I stepped away, PSA and grading existed, but it was nothing like it is today. I won't argue the positives or negatives here, but for everyone that's been in the hobby long enough, its certainly different.

I'm looking to answer something that might be elementary, but that I still haven't wrapped my head around - grading fees. I've got my own feelings about the cost of grading increasing with the value of the card (vs. the service provided, insurance costs, etc), but what I can't figure out is how so many graded cards are sold on eBay for seemingly less than the grading fee. If the grading fee is $15 (I'll use PSA published prices only), then why are so many clearly lower grade 60's cards submitted, when the VSP price isn't higher than $20?

Is there a program I'm missing or some sort of economic dynamic that I am not understanding that's allowing a significantly higher amount of cards to be graded than could seemingly be sold for at least $15 more to cover the grading fee? Any thoughts here are helpful - I'm trying to pick up 15 years worth of hobby changes quickly!