How Much Is My Pokémon Card Worth? How to Find Out

Identify the exact card first

Two cards with the same name and art can be worth very different amounts. Before you look up a price, note the set, the card number printed near the bottom (for example 4/102), the language, and which printing you have.

2

Foil shine drawn as an illustration

The stamp, enlarged

1

The card number, enlarged

3

1. 11st Edition stampTo the lower left of the art box, on early sets such as Base Set
2. 2Holo art boxOn a holo card the shiny foil is on the picture
3. 3Card number4/102 near the bottom, with the rarity star beside it

On early sets, a 1st Edition stamp can substantially raise a card's value, and Shadowless cards are worth notably more than later Base Set prints because so few were printed. TCGplayer splits sets such as Base Set, Jungle and Fossil into separate 1st Edition and Unlimited sets, and its price points change with the printing and condition you select, so check that those filters match your card.

Market price, asking price and sold price

These three numbers answer different questions, and mixing them up is the easiest way to misprice a card.

Asking prices can sit far above real sales. TCGplayer's help center gives an example of a card whose Listed Median was almost double its Market Price, because only a few sellers still had it listed.

To see sold prices on eBay, open Advanced Search, enter the card name and number, and tick Sold items. eBay says completed listings only cover sales from the previous 90 days. Sellers can also use Product research in Seller Hub, which covers up to 3 years of sales and shows the actual price when a Best Offer was accepted.

• Match the printing, language and condition. A graded or 1st Edition sale tells you little about a raw Unlimited copy.
• Look at several recent sales rather than the single highest one.
• Skip lots, bundles and listings with unclear photos.

Adjust for condition

TCGplayer sellers list cards as Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played or Damaged, and Mint or Gem Mint cards are not sold there. A Near Mint card shows minimal wear and looks nearly unplayed, with at most slight edge wear or a couple of minor scratches.

eBay uses a similar scale for raw cards and says the most significant flaw anchors a card's condition. Judge your card by its worst corner, edge or surface mark, err on the conservative side, and compare it only with sales in that same condition.

Raw or graded

A graded card is sealed in a slab labeled with its grade, and its value depends on that grade. Price a slab from sales of the same card at the same grade from the same grader, and never price a raw card as if it were already a 10.

PSA's Auction Prices Realized collects results for PSA graded cards from platforms such as eBay and Goldin, and is updated daily. On eBay, add the grader and grade to your sold search, for example PSA 9.

Look it up in Cardmatic

Search the public Cardmatic card database by name, set or number, open the card and choose the printing you own. The card page shows the TCGplayer market price, refreshed daily, beside TCGplayer's lowest, median and highest asking prices, a link to eBay sold results, and the date the price was last updated. Its condition and graded figures are estimates worked out from the Near Mint price, not graded sales. Japanese cards have their own database.

You can also scan cards with your phone camera, one at a time or a whole binder page from one photo. Scans check active eBay listings too, and every value shows where it came from. Treat every figure as an estimate, not an appraisal.