How to price Pokémon cards before you buy: PriceCharting, TCGplayer and eBay sold

TCGplayer has been owned by eBay since October 2022, but the two sites price separately and their numbers often differ.

Step 1: identify the exact card

Most pricing mistakes happen here, before any website is opened. Six things on the card decide which printing you’re looking at:

• Name, including suffixes like ex, V, VMAX or GX. “Charizard” is dozens of cards.
• Set symbol or set code. Vintage cards have a small symbol to the right under the artwork; recent cards print a short set code at the bottom left. Base Set cards have no set symbol at all, which is how you tell them from later reprints.
• Collector number, such as 4/102 or 025/165. A number higher than the set total, like 223/197, marks a secret rare.
• Rarity mark: circle (common), diamond (uncommon), star (rare), with extra stars or colours on recent special cards.
• Edition and print variations on vintage cards: the 1st Edition stamp at the left edge under the artwork, and “shadowless” Base Set cards, which lack the drop shadow on the right side of the art box.
• Language and finish. Japanese, Korean and Chinese printings price differently from English. Holo means the artwork shines; reverse holo means everything except the artwork does.

You can confirm any English card in the official Pokémon TCG card database.

Why it matters: on 6 October 2026, a PriceCharting search for “charizard ex obsidian flames” returned six printings. Ungraded, the regular #125 sold for about US$6, the full-art #215 about US$20, the gold #228 about US$34 and the special illustration #223 about US$96. A Prize Pack stamped #125 and a jumbo card were separate entries again. Same Pokémon, same set, a sixteen-fold spread.

Step 2: grade condition the way buyers and sellers do

Raw cards trade on a five-step scale that TCGplayer made standard:

Check three places: the back edges (whitening shows up most there), the holo foil under a light at an angle (scratches), and the card held flat at eye level (dents and creases). Price the condition you see, not the one in the title. “Mint” in a Marketplace listing is a description, not a grade. Only a slab from a grading company carries a number, and graded cards are priced separately (graded cards and slabs).

Step 3: read PriceCharting correctly

1. Search the card name and set, then pick the row whose collector number matches your card. Ignore rows marked as stamped, jumbo or promo unless that’s what you have.
2. Read the right column. The ungraded price is for a raw card in good condition; the graded columns are for slabs. <!-- VERIFY: PriceCharting card-page column names (Ungraded, Grade 7, 8, 9, 9.5, PSA 10) on publish day. -->
3. Switch the currency. The menu in the top right corner of every page includes Canadian dollars.
4. Open the sales history. The chart shows the trend; the list of sold listings underneath lets you check that the sales really are your card and condition.

PriceCharting says it filters lots and reproductions out of its data and flags suspicious sales, but a quick look at the individual sales is still worth the minute.

Step 4: read TCGplayer correctly

TCGplayer shows several numbers on a card page, and they mean different things:

• Market Price is built from recent completed sales on TCGplayer, with newer sales counting more. This is the number to use.
• Listed Median is the middle of the current asking prices. It runs high, especially on older cards with few copies listed.
• The lowest listing is one seller’s asking price, sometimes for a worse condition than you think.

Market Price defaults to Near Mint, so pick the condition you saw. In a fast market (a new set’s first weeks, or a card suddenly popular in tournaments) Market Price lags behind what cards sell for this week; check the most recent sales too. TCGplayer prices are in US dollars and include no shipping or import costs to Canada.

Step 5: check eBay sold in Canada

1. Search ebay.ca for the card name, set and collector number.
2. Tick “Sold items” under Show only on a computer, or under Filter in the eBay app. Sold prices show in green.
3. Match condition and grade. Raw with raw, PSA 9 with PSA 9.
4. Use the middle of three to five recent sales. Skip Best Offer sales where the shown price may be the asking price, auctions with strange shipping charges, and lots.

PriceCharting vs TCGplayer vs eBay: why the numbers differ

They’re measuring different markets. TCGplayer is mostly US buyers paying US sellers with shipping on top. eBay sales include the buyer’s shipping and the seller’s fees in the price they accept. PriceCharting blends sales from eBay and its own marketplace. Sample sizes differ too: a common card sells thousands of times on TCGplayer, a 1999 holo a handful of times a month anywhere.

Converting to Canadian dollars

PriceCharting converts for you with its currency switch. For TCGplayer, use the day’s rate from the Bank of Canada. On a local cash deal, add nothing for shipping: that’s part of why local prices can sit under the US references. If you’re weighing a local card against ordering the same one from the US, add shipping and any duties and taxes to the US price before comparing.

Pricing a lot, a binder or sealed product

• Lots and binders are worth the few cards that matter, priced one by one, plus a modest bulk rate for everything else. Never price a lot by multiplying its card count. The full method is in Pokémon card lots and binders.
• Sealed product (booster boxes, ETBs, bundles) is priced against recent sold prices for that exact product and the retail price where it’s still in shops. A sealed box listed under retail on a set people are chasing is a warning, not a bargain (resealed booster boxes).

Price-check from a Marketplace or Kijiji listing in one click

All of the above works on a phone. On a computer, Sift, a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, takes out the typing. Its Cards kit recognises card listings and puts two links first in Check elsewhere, on the listing’s details card and on the listing page itself:

• Prices on PriceCharting, searching the listing title with grades and condition words (PSA 10, NM, mint, lot, bulk, graded) removed, so the search returns the card rather than noise.
• Search TCGplayer, the same cleaned-up title.

Then eBay sold (ebay.ca for Canadian homes and Kijiji), Google Lens on the listing photo and Google Shopping. To be clear about what the links do: they open the search. You still pick the exact printing by collector number, and the prices there are in US dollars unless you switch PriceCharting to CAD. They’re plain links, never affiliate, and Sift isn’t affiliated with PriceCharting, TCGplayer or eBay. To set up a card hunt, use Start a hunt, then Cards, which also hides “PM for price” listings. Sift runs in Chrome, Edge and Brave on a computer.

Pokémon is a trademark of Nintendo, Creatures, GAME FREAK and The Pokémon Company. Sift is independent and isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by them.