Why not pay full market price?

Because we then have to grade, list, photograph, ship, and sometimes hold cards for months before they sell, and every marketplace takes a cut. Our offer is market price minus a fair margin for that work, and we tell you what the market price is so you can judge the margin yourself.

Do you price bulk differently?

Yes. Bulk commons and uncommons are priced by count and era, because pricing each one individually would cost more than the cards are worth. Anything with real value gets pulled out and priced on its own.

Which sources do you trust?

TCGplayer market price for raw singles, eBay sold listings for graded cards and anything TCGplayer thinly covers, and PSA and CGC population reports for graded scarcity.

How we price

We don't publish a fixed formula, because card markets move daily. We do publish the method, so you can check our work.

Step one: find the real market price

"Market price" means what a card actually sells for right now, not what someone is asking. For raw singles we use the TCGplayer market price, which is a rolling figure from completed sales. For graded cards, and for anything TCGplayer covers thinly, we use recent eBay sold listings, filtered to the same grader and grade. For graded scarcity we check PSA and CGC population reports.

Step two: adjust for condition

Most price guides assume Near Mint. A lightly played copy sells for meaningfully less, and a heavily played copy for much less. We look at centering, corners, edges, and surface, and tell you which grade we assigned and why. Our condition guide shows what we look for.

Step three: account for demand and time

A card that sells within a day and a card that sits for six months are not worth the same to a buyer, even at the same listed price. Format staples, current chase cards, and popular characters move fast. Bulk and obscure sets don't. We factor in how long the card will realistically take to sell.

Step four: subtract a fair margin, and show you

Our offer is the market price minus the cost of doing this as a business: marketplace fees, shipping supplies, grading fees where relevant, our time, and the risk that prices fall while we hold inventory. What makes us different is that you see the market number next to the offer. If a shop offers you more, take it. We'd rather you sell well than sell to us.

What we don't do

Quote from the TCGplayer "low" price and call it market.
Grade every card as "played" to shave the offer.
Price a whole binder as bulk when it has hits in it.
Hide the reasoning.