If you collect Pokémon cards or have happened to run across some, you have undoubtably considered what your Pokémon cards value is. Trying to figure out what their value is though can be incredibly difficult. There is a slew of options out there and all of them seem to come up with different numbers by the end of your research.
Add in the fact that the conditions of cards aren’t always black and white and it can quickly become a lot of work.
Fortunately for you, this article is here to save the day. It will give you three great apps and websites to get the value of your Pokémon cards and the positives and negatives of each!
If you’re trying to get right to selling your Pokémon collection, check out my other article or send an email with pictures to [email protected]! I’m always looking to buy collections.
If you’re quickly trying to figure out if you have anything valuable, check my other article that gives specifics on finding valuable cards from your collection.
Let’s get into it!
Identifying Your Pokémon Cards
If you are brand new to this, check out my other article on Identifying Pokémon Cards. Once you identify what you have, you can start running through the below!
To give a short version, simply use the name of the card and the number(s) at the bottom to quickly pull what you are looking for!
Let’s do a quick example.
In searching up the card above, I would simply search Leafeon V 167/203. Doing so would get me to a few websites who are selling or are telling me the value of the card!
Now to business.
TCG Player App
The TCG Player App is a favorite among collectors. It allows you to enter every card in your collection with the condition it’s in. After doing so, it will give a price for each card with a total for your collection!
On top of that, the app offers a card scanner that allows you to quickly find a card by scanning it with your camera! While it doesn’t work all of the time, it’s convenience is definitely worth noting.
Some of the negatives are that its Near Mint card pricing tends to be on the more expensive side. Because of this and other factors, you typically won’t be able to sell your entire collection for the actual amount on TCG Player, especially if you try to sell it all as a lot.
And if you have graded cards? TCG Player can not help you there either.
And if you’re a buyer, you will have to trust that the cards are actually in the condition that the seller stated. If they aren’t, then the prices of the cards can drop drastically.
Another downside is that it does not have Japanese cards in it. This makes valuing a diverse collection impossible when done entirely through the app.
Let’s review.
TCG Player App Positives
- Allows you to list cards one by one with conditions
- Has an in-app card scanner
- Is one of the more accepted apps for pricing
TCG Player App Negatives
- Does not have Japanese or other language cards
- Near Mint pricing tends to be very high, especially for vintage cards
- You will likely not be able to sell your collection for the actual amount given
- It does not allow you to list graded cards
- The scanner and search function is not very intuitive
PriceCharting
PriceCharting is a website and an app that allows you to pull both raw and graded sold card data from eBay. The website then nicely lays out what the average price is for Ungraded, grade 7, 8 9, 9.5, and 10 cards.
While it doesn’t break down cards by their condition, I do feel it gives a very fair starting point for most collections. Because of it’s layout, it also can give you a great idea on if a card is worth grading or not.
Their app also does have a built in card scanner just like TCG Player. On top of that, it does include Japanese cards as well. Score 1 for Pricecharting.
To get a similar conditions comparison from Pricecharting, I have personally found that Damaged cards sell for about 50% of the total value, while NM cards sell for Grade 7 and rarely Grade 8 money. Near Mint pricing for TCG Player tends to fall at a Grade 8 level, which is why I believe it is too high.
Lightly played and medium played then falls around the ungraded average.
Let’s review the positives and negatives.
PriceCharting Positives
- Tends to be a very fair start when pricing collections of cards
- Has pricing for English and Japanese cards
- Has a great website layout (especially if you like data)
- Can quickly give you an idea of if a card is worth grading or not
- Is the easiest of the three to find and add cards to your collection
PriceCharting Negatives
- Does not value cards directly by condition
- Depending on the card, the data can sometimes be skewed
Let’s check out our final option!
eBay / Sold eBay Listings
Ah eBay. The most dominating auction website on the planet. And it’s not even close.
As mentioned above, Pricecharting actually pulls data from eBay sold listings. And for a lot of serious collectors, eBay sold listings are the ultimate source of truth for Pokémon card value.
So eBay should be an incredibly top-tier collection app, right? Eh, not quite yet.
eBay has a TON of data that it uses to measure the value of your collection, and it’s arguably the best card valuation data there is. Unfortunately though, it has two major issues.
First is that it is probably the least user-friendly of the three. Doing it on your phone is okay, but trying to do it from your desktop is insanely difficult. And despite having all of that data, there is still a good amount of manual entry.
Second, it doesn’t seem to sort that data as well as PriceCharting does. You’ll add cards but find that there are a lot of variants of the card that get added into the data that shouldn’t. So it can and possibly should be the best of the three, but it just isn’t as it stands now.
Let’s review the positives and negatives.
eBay Positives
- More sold data than any other source – a gold standard for collectors
- Has listings for just about every card at every grade and condition
eBay Negatives
- Is the least user friendly of the three
- Can take a very long time to get your collection uploaded
- Has trouble sorting exact matches, so pricing results can be imperfect
Summary
These three options were chosen because they are the most accurate when it comes to pricing out a Pokémon card collection. While eBay is not the easiest, it has the potential to be the best. And while Pricecharting may have its flaws, its ease of use is one of the best on the market.
There are a lot out there though, so if you find another one that you feel should make the list, send me an email at [email protected].
Thanks for reading!
Wondering if Pokémon cards are a good investment? Check out my other article here!
Wondering if you have a fake Pokémon card or want to know how to identify them? Look no further.
Looking to sell some Pokémon cards? I’ve got you covered.