With the launch of Disney Lorcana, with lots of new people getting into the world of trading card games, we thought it's time to ask "how can I tell if my cards are worth any money?"
We hear horror stories of parents throwing out old collections of Pokemon cards now worth thousands of pounds, or accidentally bending a new card that’s later found out to have been worth a month’s rent.
Or worse, in the industry we hear about adult taking cards off children, experienced players taking off newbies, or even store owners and employees making poor deals with customers, without being clear how much the card is actually worth. You might be interested to read our comments on safeguarding in gaming spaces – people in positions of power making unfair or unclear deals would constitute ‘financial abuse’ and shouldn’t be tolerated in our communities.
So before you allow the new cards to be crumpled, traded, or lost – cast an eye over our quick guide to tell if those Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, or Disney Lorcana cards have any value.
What do we need to know about valuing cards?
A few things to note to begin with – card prices can be very volatile – they can go up and down in value a lot. It depends on whether they’re mainly collectors pieces (in which case they’re likely to be pretty stablr), or if prices are based on how often they are played in tournaments – lots of people playing increases demand, but new sets can decrease those prices quickly. Brand new cards and new games, like Lorcana, can also be very volatile at the beginning.
Then there are some cards that can have identical names, but sometimes there’s special rare promo printings, or they are foil instead of the traditional printing. A card that’s very cheap with a normal printing might be worth a lot if it’s a special printing.
So it isn’t just about whether a card is worth something, but whether a specific printing of a card has value. Don’t worry though, that’s really easy to check!
A quick check - is this card likely to be worth anything?
The best place to start is having a quick look on a website or two, to see if this card appears to be worth a few pennies, a couple of pounds, or something significantly more. The big ones are Cardmarket, Card Kingdom, and TCG player (these sites may use other currencies, but generally people are happy to trade assuming the euros = dollars = pounds).
At the moment, though, Disney Lorcana doesn’t feature on these sites, so you can get businesses like Magic Madhouse that will give you an indication of what a card may be worth (as it’s a business, they’re generally a little higher valuation than the other sites, which track sales between individuals).
I've found a card I want to sell or trade, what next?
Firstly, assuming you’re trading with a business, the rules of the trade should be clearly set. They should have a policy on how they set their buy prices. It’s fairly typical for businesses to offer something like “50% of the Cardmarket trending value”. This means you won’t always get a good deal, but it’s safe and quick. Many local businesses (ours included) don’t buy cards because to make money in trading cards it can look like ‘scalping’ (buying cheap and selling high), but the reality is we can be left with lots of cards other people don’t want. If a company is attempting to trade with you and they don’t have a clear policy, run away! They’re quite likely to offer someone new a terrible offer, but give a better offer to a more established customer. It’s also unusual for a business to offer to buy a card, rather than wait for you to offer to sell it. If they’re actively seeking to take your cards off you remember it’s always ok to say ‘no’, and this might be a red flag you’re getting a poor deal.
Secondly, for trading between individuals, figure out first how you’re going to agree the value. The ‘Price Trend’ on Cardmarket is often used. If cards, like Disney Lorcana, aren’t on there you might want to see if there’s any on ‘eBay sold’. Just go to ebay and to the right of the search button click ‘advanced’, then scroll down and click ‘sold items’ in the options. Then search as normal.
Remember – never feel pressure to sell! All kinds of people can make you feel pressure to sell even if they don’t mean to – store managers and workers; tournament organisers; adults to children and young people; men to women and non binary folk (in a context where men are generally over-represented). It’s always ok to say “I’ll have a think” and walk away.