Any Pokémon TCG collector should learn how to sell Pokémon cards online, whether they're looking to make serious dollar from their pulls or simply clear out their spares. This guide explains the process from start to finish, with expert advice on storing, organizing, and finding customers who will buy your second-hand Pokémon cards.
If you're interested in buying as well as selling, here are the best Pokémon packs to buy, plus all the latest on the newest Pokémon set. Or, if you're a big spender, you'll be interested in which rare Pokémon cards are going for top dollar these days.
Storage and organization
If you've got Pokémon cards you plan to sell, it's important to store them properly to ensure they don't get damaged or become degraded. A higher quality card will always sell for more money than one with frayed edges or visible signs of weathering.
Make sure you have somewhere safe to keep your cards, whether it's boxes or binders. It's also crucial to use protective sleeves (or even toploaders) for your most valuable cards.
This is good advice for Pokémon card collecting, regardless of whether you plan to sell. The linked guide features plenty of detailed storage recommendations.
Valuing Pokémon cards
The more you know about Pokémon cards, the better odds you have of selling your cards at a good price. Most casual fans will know the basics. For instance, if you're reading this, you probably know about the holy grail that is the base set Charizard Pokémon card. But do you know how to spot first-edition Pokémon cards that aren't giant orange dragons? What about rare cards from other sets?
Most fans won't have first-edition cards in good condition, but these are far from the only expensive Pokémon cards worth caring about. Find out about various popular or chase cards from different Pokémon expansions, and look up the value of any Holo, Secret, or Ultra rare cards in your collection.
You can find out your card's prices by checking eBay's 'Sold Items' to see what copies sold for recently. Or you can rely on other price-checking websites.
For help identifying valuable first-edition Pokémon cards, head to our dedicated guide. We can also explain what each of the Pokémon rarity symbols means.
Picking a storefront
Where you choose to sell your Pokémon cards will depend on personal taste. TCGPlayer in the US or Cardmarket in the EU tend to be very popular choices, and eBay is a decent option in whichever region you're in, especially for graded cards. Different platforms take a different cut of the profits (10% from TCGPlayer, 10-15% from eBay) and you'll find cards are more or less likely to sell on different marketplaces.
There are some benefits to selling Pokémon cards via multiple platforms, especially if you're buying and selling, since this gives you the best chance of finding disparities and selling a card for a higher price than you bought it for.
However, there are tradeoffs too – spreading yourself across more than one store can be time-consuming and fiddly, plus this dilutes your ability to build up a good seller reputation.
Packaging cards to ship
If your cards turn up bent, as soggy mush, or don't arrive at all, you're going to be hit with complaints and customers asking for their money back. Most of the more reputable websites will have systems in place to ensure customer satisfaction, and that may mean you don't see a dime, so it's important to get this right.
To ship Pokémon cards, first insert them into a cheap sleeve. You can also use a toploader on top of this for added protection. Tape this shut using easily removable tape (be careful it doesn't touch the card itself!) then place the card between two pieces of card, to ensure it can't be easily bent. Simple! Oh, and then stick it in an envelope.
Building a reputation
Related to our last point, if you want to sell Pokémon cards over a prolonged period, it's vital to maintain a good rep. Just as an Uber driver won't pick up a pukey passenger, customers will steer clear of Pokémon card sellers if other people have reported bad experiences, and it doesn't take much to blot your copy book. This can be a serious frustration for new sellers.
Therefore, when selling Pokémon cards the most important quality you can have is diligence. Be careful you get all the information correct when writing your card listings, be realistic about your cards' quality, and obviously don't try to mislead or trick people.
A quick tip is that it can be worth building a good reputation through less important sales before you go about selling a particularly expensive Pokémon card. If people know you're on the up and up, then making a large purchase with you will feel less risky.
Should you grade your Pokémon cards?
Getting your Pokémon cards professionally graded has plenty of pros and cons, so there's no clear answer to whether it's worthwhile. In general, the answer is going to depend on how much your card is worth, and whether the value is likely to go up from a good grade.
For some particularly high-ticket items, grading makes all the difference. Other cards stay at pretty much the same price, whether they're graded or not.
Of course, selling a graded card is much safer. There's no risk of the seller claiming you'd overestimated a card's quality if it was graded by someone who undeniably knows what they're talking about.
However, grading can be expensive, and if your card doesn't come back with the grade you expected, you're understandably going to be disappointed. Generally, it's good advice not to grade a card unless you expect it to be worth at least $100.
If you're interested in playing Pokémon cards as well as selling them, here are the best Pokémon cards to pick up. Plus, here's a complete guide to all Pokémon sets in order.