A Practical Guide to Selling Trading Cards Online

Maybe you’re a die-hard trading card collector and want to start offloading your collection. Or perhaps you’ve stumbled across a shoebox full of old cards in the attic, and you’re wondering whether anyone’s interested in buying them in the first place.

Whatever the case, we can point you in the right direction to help you get more cash out of your collection. This guide will help you sell trading cards on the right online marketplace for the right value.

With so many options available, there’s never been a better time to sell trading cards online. There are traditional auction houses, more casual marketplaces, and even online classified ads for finding local sales. The following options are fantastic opportunities to display your collection to interested buyers, so choose the one that fits your needs.

Online marketplaces

eBay remains one of the most popular online auction houses on the planet, with an audience of millions of shoppers looking for all types of trading cards.
TCGPlayer is the ultimate resource for selling trading card game collections, like Magic: The Gathering or YuGiOh.
Mercari offers a more casual “garage sale” atmosphere than other platforms but is still an excellent way to sell trading cards online.
Facebook is a great way to link up with local sellers through its Marketplace or find larger online communities with Groups.
Goldin Auctions is a premiere destination for high-end and rare collectibles and trading cards.

Benefits of selling trading cards online

Access to a large customer base

Online marketplaces offer instant, centralized access to a massive audience of interested buyers. By listing on a platform like eBay or TCGPlayer, you won’t need to hunt down customers — they’ll come to you.

Ease of listing

While each marketplace has its own flow for listing trading cards, many have simplified the process to a few simple steps: create an account, upload scanned images of your card, fill out a description, and set the post live.

Worry-free payments

When you sell trading cards online, you won’t need to chase down payments. Link a bank or PayPal account to your profile and the platform will handle the rest, depositing proceeds within a few business days.

Discover more advice on how to sell Magic: The Gathering cards in How to Sell Magic Cards Online.

Did You Know? TMC named the RICOH fi-8170 as a Future of Work Product of the Year. TMC recognizes "companies that showcase the most innovative and disruptive products and solutions that have positively supported hybrid work experiences across the globe." Click here to learn more.

Previous Section

Scanner Guide

A Practical Guide to Selling Trading Cards Online
Back To Top
Next Section

Assessing the value of your cards

Ultimately, a trading card is worth what people are willing to pay for it. Before listing your cards online, you need to know what that value is. Factors like rarity and condition combine to form the card’s final sale price. The following resources will guide you toward a rough estimate of what you can expect to make when you sell trading cards online.

Online price guides

TCGPlayer, a price guide and resource for trading card game collectibles.
Searching for your card on eBay and filtering results by “Sold Listings” can provide a live guide of what people are actually paying for your card at the moment.

Factors that influence trading card prices

Condition

A card’s condition has a significant influence on its pricing. This is especially for Pokemon and sports card collectors who value pristine quality as much as they do rarity. Typically, a hierarchy governs pricing tiers, with mint, unplayed cards valued highest and heavily played or damaged cards at the bottom. Sports cards are also graded by factors like centering of the player image, sharp corners, or surface scratches.

Numbered cards

Certain cards have extremely limited print runs. This is typically denoted by a number printed on the card that tells collectors which number print it is out of the entire run. This practice is common with sports cards, and even lesser-known players can fetch high prices if they’re part of a limited set.

Variants

Trading cards often come in two flavors: a standard version and a variant that uses alternate photos or artwork, holographic images, or glossier card stock. Collectors tend to seek out variants over standard cards, making them worth more.

Read more about specifics of selling Pokemon and sports cards in How to Sell Pokemon Cards Online and How to Sell Sports Cards Online.

Previous Section

Where to sell trading cards online
Back To Top
Next Section

How to sell trading cards

Each marketplace is unique. There are different audiences, rules and requirements to follow, and fee structures that determine how much money you’ll need to pay once the sale is complete. Despite these differences, the actual process for selling and shipping your cards on each platform is very similar. First, you’ll need to make a digital scan of your card collection.

Scanning your card collection

Digital images of your cards should accurately represent the physical card. To maximize accuracy, capture the front and back of the card at a resolution between 300 and 600 dots per inch and avoid automated touch-ups or filters.
For rare, expensive, or professionally graded cards, use a flatbed scanner to prevent additional damage while capturing the image.
For common cards, using an automated feeder is acceptable as long as it doesn’t bend or crease the card in the process. Scanners built to scan ID cards can also handle trading cards with little issue. Place the card into a toploader to protect it during the scan.

The trading card sales process

List your card

Typically, this involves uploading one or more images of your card along with a description of what you’re selling. Use clean scans of both the front and back of the card, and ensure your description provides enough information about the quality of the card to inform potential buyers. Set your initial price — either a lower starting bid for an auction or a higher buyout amount for direct sales — and activate your listing.

Share your listing and wait for payment

While your chosen marketplace will display your listing when buyers search for it, you can increase the chances someone will buy it by posting it on social media or online card-collecting communities. If someone does agree to buy your card, you may need to wait for payment to appear in your account before shipping it to them.

Ship the card

Place the trading card in a penny sleeve to protect it from scratches, then place that into a toploader to prevent bends during shipment. You can wrap the toploader between two cardboard slats to protect it even further. Place this into a bubble mailer and ship it to the address the listing provides.

Read more about selling YuGiOh cards in How to sell YuGiOh Cards Online.

“The RICOH fi-8170 is the de facto scanner on the market. Not only does it handle paper documents with ease, but it can also scan plastics up to 7mm very well. When combined with the included PaperStream software, it’s genuinely an unbeatable product. There’s a symbiotic relationship between hardware and software. We need our software partners just like they need us, as we’re all part of the complete solution. Together, we can focus on providing a superb customer experience.” - Don Caruso, Head of Inside Sales and Sales Operations

fi Series scanners

Those in the market for a trading card scanner have no shortage of options. We take great pride in having spent the last 50+ years researching, designing, and developing some of the most advanced and powerful electronics in the world, including our professional grade fi Series of scanners.

Built to purpose for the most demanding document handling jobs, fi Series scanners are capable of processing tens of thousands of pages per day at the highest levels of accuracy. Their intuitive integration capabilities with all existing work suites minimize time-to-value for businesses looking to invest in tools that will pay dividends for years to come.

There’s no better way to scan your entire card collection than with the RICOH fi-8170. Whether your trading cards are sleeved or unsleeved, the fi-8170’s automated feeder offers rapid scan speeds and enhanced handling to make short work of them without damaging them. Plus, the included PaperStream scanning software will automatically name and sort your cards to help keep things organized. Click here to learn more or shop the rest of our production scanner line.

Note: Information and external links are provided for your convenience and for educational purposes only, and shall not be construed, or relied upon, as legal or financial advice. PFU America, Inc. makes no representations about the contents, features, or specifications on such third-party sites, software, and/or offerings (collectively “Third-Party Offerings”) and shall not be responsible for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of such Third-Party Offerings. Please consult with a licensed professional regarding your specific situation as regulations may be subject to change.

Previous Section

Assessing the value of your cards
Back To Top

Canada

Mexico, Central America, Caribbean and South America

United States

Scanner Guide