How much is my Pokémon card worth?

How to identify a Pokémon card exactly, what decides its value (set, printing, condition, grade), where to look up real sold prices for free, and the cards people ask about most, each linked to its price page.

By Cardboard Terminal · 2026-10-20

Most Pokémon cards are worth less than a dollar. A small number are worth a car. The gap is decided by four things: which card it is exactly, which printing, what condition it is in, and whether a grading company has put a number on that condition. This guide walks through each, then shows where to look up a real price for free.

Step 1: identify the card exactly

Two cards with the same picture can be a hundred times apart in value. Read these off the card before looking anything up:

Name and card number. The number is in the bottom corner, written as a fraction such as 4/102. The second number is the size of the set, which narrows down the set on its own.
Set symbol. A small icon next to the number (the original Base Set has none). Jungle, Fossil, Evolving Skies and every other set each have their own.
Edition and printing. A "1st Edition" stamp under the left side of the artwork, or no stamp. Early Base Set cards also come in Shadowless and Unlimited printings, which look almost identical and are priced very differently. See how to tell Base Set printings apart.
Holo, reverse holo, or non-holo. Holo means the artwork shines; reverse holo means everything except the artwork shines. Same card, different value.
Language. Japanese and English printings of the same card trade at different prices and are tracked separately.

Step 2: condition, honestly

Look at the card under a bright light. Collectors judge four things: centering (is the border even on all sides), corners (sharp or soft and white), edges (clean or chipped) and surface (scratches, print lines, dents, whitening on the back). A card that looks fine from arm's length is often a mid grade up close. Any crease, bend or water damage drops a card to a fraction of its clean value regardless of what it is.

Step 3: raw or graded

A raw card is an ungraded card. A graded card has been sealed in a plastic slab by a grading company (PSA, CGC, BGS, SGC, TAG) with a grade from 1 to 10. The grade is what the market prices. For a valuable vintage card, a PSA 10 can be worth many multiples of a PSA 8, and the raw card is worth whatever buyers guess it would grade. For a common modern card, grading costs more than the card and only a gem mint 10 earns a premium. Is grading worth it works through the math; grading explained covers what each grade means.

Step 4: look up real sold prices

Asking prices are not values. A card is worth what the last few buyers actually paid for the same card in the same grade. Three free ways to find that:

Our card price pages. Every page at cardboardterminal.app/cards shows the card's value by grade from recorded sales (the median of the newest sales, not the highest), the number of sales in the last 30 days, three years of price history and the live eBay listings for it. Search the card name and set, or use a nickname such as moonbreon.
eBay sold listings. Search the card, tick "Sold items", and read the last several sales for the same grade. Ignore the outliers in both directions and ignore listings whose photos do not match the title.
Auction results at the big auction houses for the rarest cards, where eBay is thin.

Whichever you use, read the newest three to five sales and take the middle one. Why the last sale lies explains why a single high sale is not the price.

The cards people ask about most

Each link opens the price page with values by grade and live listings.

Selling it

If the number is worth acting on, how to sell Pokémon cards on eBay covers photos, titles, auction versus Buy It Now, fees and shipping. If the card is valuable and raw, read the grading guide first; a clean card often sells for more after grading than before.

See it live: every graded card auction and Buy It Now in the deal finder is priced against its recent sold comps.

Open the Deal Finder →

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my Pokémon card is rare?

Check the symbol next to the card number: a circle is common, a diamond uncommon, a star rare. Holo, full art, secret rare (a number higher than the set size, like 215/203) and 1st Edition cards are rarer still. Rarity alone does not set the price; demand for that specific card and its condition do.

Are my old Pokémon cards from the 1990s worth money?

Most Base Set, Jungle and Fossil commons are worth very little. The holos, especially Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur, and anything with a 1st Edition stamp or the Shadowless printing, can be worth a lot in good condition. Look each holo up by name, set and number.

What is the difference between a card's price and its value?

An asking price is what a seller hopes for. Value is what buyers have recently paid for the same card in the same grade. Always use sold prices, and take the median of the newest few rather than the highest.

Should I grade my card before selling it?

Only when the graded value in the grade you can realistically expect is well above the raw value plus the grading fee, shipping and the wait. For most modern cards that means only a likely 10; for vintage holos even an 8 can be worth it.