The Certified Acceptance Corp. is implementing an increase in its submission fees beginning May 1.

According to the firm, it’s the first such increase in the company’s four-and-a-half-year history.

“We’re getting busier and busier every month,” said John Albanese, founder and president of the New Jersey-based firm. “We’re not going to increase our capacity, because that could affect our consistency. We’ve decided to remain small; we only have one grading team, and that’s the way it’s going to stay for the foreseeable future.

“What we’re hoping is that this fee increase will enable us to maintain the current turnaround period, which is typically less than a week.”

Starting May 1, CAC will charge $12.50 apiece to review dealer members’ coins with a stated value of $10,000 or less. It will charge these submitters $25 apiece for coins valued at more than $10,000. The fees have been $10 and $20, respectively, since the firm began operations in October 2007.

The increases won’t take effect for collector members until Dec. 31. CAC had guaranteed its early collector members that fees for them wouldn’t be raised during its first five years of operation, and it has extended that guarantee to subsequent collector members.

CAC experts examine coins previously certified by either Professional Coin Grading Service or Numismatic Guaranty Corp. CAC then affixes a distinctive green sticker to the holder of each coin that, in its judgment, fully merits the grade that was assigned. Each sticker incorporates a tamper-resistant hologram.

As of April 1, the company had 415 dealer members and 534 collector members. Dealer members serve as submission centers through which their customers’ coins can be sent to CAC. Collector members, known as advanced collector/submitters, can submit certified coins directly to the company for evaluation.

Since its inception, CAC estimates it has reviewed about 345,000 coins with stated insurance value totaling well over $1 billion, and awarded green stickers to 158,000 — roughly 45 percent of the total. It also has awarded gold stickers to 1,112 coins deemed to be in significantly higher grades than those assigned by the certification services. In addition, CAC has purchased more than $250 million worth of coins, most of them CAC coins.

According to CAC, in March, about 11,000 coins were submitted to the company — a record for a single one-month period, according to the firm. Submission fees are the only charges paid by dealers and collectors who belong to CAC. The firm does not charge a fee for joining or an annual membership fee.

Since it launched two years ago, CoinPlex, another CAC venture, has built up a membership of 160 dealers, posting approximately 59,000 coins with a total value of more than a half billion dollars, according to CAC. CoinPlex is a trading network for CAC-stickered coins and other material.

For more information about CAC, visit the firm’s website at www.caccoin.com or contact CAC by telephone at 908-781-9101. ¦