Where our card prices come from
How Cardboard Terminal prices a graded card: recorded sales of the same card in the same grade, from eBay, Fanatics, Alt and Goldin, checked against the cert, refreshed continuously, with the sales we throw out and why.
Every price on this site is built from sales that actually closed, not from asking prices, not from a guide published last quarter, and not from an opinion. This page explains what goes in, what we keep out, and what a number on a card page means, so you can decide how much weight to give it.
What counts as a sale
A completed sale of the same card, in the same grade, from the same grader. A PSA 10 is priced from PSA 10 sales only; a PSA 9 from PSA 9 sales; a raw card from ungraded sales. We do not blend grades, and we do not substitute a BGS or CGC sale for a PSA one. The sources are eBay sold listings, including accepted best offers at the accepted price rather than the list price, and the recorded sales of Fanatics Collect, Alt and Goldin.
What we throw out
- Sales where the slab in the photo is not the card in the title. Every graded sale is checked against the grader's cert number. A listing titled as one card with a cert that belongs to another is dropped, however it was priced.
- Qualified grades. A PSA 9 (OC) or an 8 (MC) is not a 9 or an 8 and does not price one.
- Auctions that ended early at a price nobody paid. An auction the seller cancelled is not a sale.
- Prices that do not agree with each other. When the newest sales of a card are all over the place, by multiples rather than by percent, we hide the estimate rather than publish a number we would not act on ourselves. You will see sales but no price.
- Lots, bundles and reprints. A listing that sold several cards, or a card from the wrong printing, is not a comp for this card.
How fresh the numbers are
Sales are recorded all day as they close, and every card page shows the date it was last updated. A card that sells several times a week has a current price; a card that last sold in March has a March price, and the page says how many sales it is built on in the last 30 days so you can tell the two apart. A price built on two sales is a hint, not a market.
The history and the indices
Each card page keeps up to three years of sale history by grade, drawn as a chart you can read at a glance. The Pokémon index, the character indices and the set indices on those pages are built the same way, from the same recorded sales, so a card that is up 40% while its set is flat tells you something about the card, not the market.
What the deal finder does with it
The deal finder compares every live graded auction ending inside 24 hours, and every Buy It Now it is tracking, against the recorded sales of that exact card and grade. A listing shown at 70% of comps means the current price is 70% of what the card has been selling for. The under-comps guide explains how to read that number and when to trust it.
Where it is not perfect
A sold price we never saw is a sale we cannot count: private deals, show sales and some auction houses are outside our view. Thinly traded cards, especially older Japanese printings and low-population grades, have fewer sales than we would like, and the page says so. If a number looks wrong, email professor@cardboardterminal.app with the card and the sale you think we missed or should not have counted.
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
Are these asking prices or sold prices?
Sold prices only. Every figure comes from a sale that closed: eBay sold listings at the accepted price, and recorded sales from Fanatics Collect, Alt and Goldin.
Do you mix grades when a card has few sales?
No. A PSA 10 is priced from PSA 10 sales only, and a raw card from ungraded sales. When a grade has no recent sales the page shows that instead of borrowing from another grade.
How often are prices updated?
Continuously, as sales close. Every card page shows its last-updated date and how many sales it is built on in the last 30 days.
Why does a card show sales but no price?
Because its newest sales disagree with each other by too much to call a market. We would rather show you the sales than publish a number we would not use ourselves.
Are accepted best offers counted at the accepted price?
Yes. An eBay listing that sold through an accepted offer is recorded at the price the buyer paid, not the price the seller asked.