Card condition explained: Near Mint to Damaged
What Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged allow on TCGplayer, and how eBay and CGC word the same wear.
By the Rip.fan Editorial Team.
Published 7 min read
Card condition is the label a seller puts on a raw card to say how worn it is. TCGplayer, the large US card marketplace, uses five steps: Near Mint (NM), Lightly Played (LP), Moderately Played (MP), Heavily Played (HP) and Damaged (DM). Rip.fan’s own card pages use the same five short forms. A card’s step depends on how many flaws it has and how big each one is, and TCGplayer publishes measurements for both. The marketplace lists no raw condition above Near Mint.
What does each condition allow?
TCGplayer looks at the type and size of every flaw, and at whether a flaw harms the card’s structure or the ability to authenticate it.
| Condition | Short form | What it can show | What rules it out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near Mint | NM | Sharp corners, an almost clean surface, a little edge wear or a couple of fine surface lines | Any crease, or any spot worn through to the card stock |
| Lightly Played | LP | Minor edge wear, scuffs and hairline marks you can notice, none of them severe | Any crease, or wear that weakens the card |
| Moderately Played | MP | Clear wear on edges and surface, scuffing, and bends with creases | Anything that harms the card’s structure |
| Heavily Played | HP | Heavy wear, creasing, whitening and even severe flaws | Structural damage, or flaws that stop the card being authenticated |
| Damaged | DM | Wear past every other step: tears, splits and bends that break the card’s structure | Nothing: it is the bottom step |
TCGplayer says Near Mint covers both untouched cards and cards with a few tiny flaws. Two Near Mint copies can look different side by side. The label only tells you that neither has crossed into Lightly Played. Our glossary entries on card condition and Near Mint give the short definitions.
Which flaws drop a card a step?
TCGplayer’s detailed guide sizes each kind of flaw and names the best condition a card can keep with it. These are the lines that matter most when you check a card yourself.
- Creases. Any crease caps a card at Moderately Played. A bend with no crease, up to 10mm long, caps it at Lightly Played. A bend longer than 20mm caps it at Heavily Played.
- Wear through the surface. Once wear exposes the bare card stock under the printed layer (whitening is one form of it), the card can no longer be Near Mint, even if the patch is only 2.5 square millimeters.
- Edge wear. A run of wear up to 20mm long is allowed at Near Mint. From 20mm to 80mm the card is Lightly Played at best, from 80mm to 160mm Moderately Played at best, and past 160mm Heavily Played at best.
- Dents. One pinpoint dent is allowed at Near Mint. A dent that shows through to the back caps the card at Moderately Played.
- Hairline marks. Short ones, up to 40mm, are allowed at every step, Near Mint included. A longer one caps the card at Moderately Played.
- Scuffing. A small scuffed patch is allowed at Near Mint. Scuffing that covers all of one face caps the card at Moderately Played, and moderate or total scuffing on both faces caps it at Heavily Played.
- Centering. A card can sit off center up to 70/30 with no effect on its condition. Past 70/30 it counts as Damaged.
- Curling. If the middle of the card lifts more than 5mm off a flat surface, it counts as Damaged.
- Alterations. Signatures, stamps, paint and marker all make a card Damaged. A seller can still list it with photos at the step it would have without the alteration.
Foil cards follow the same rules. TCGplayer notes that some flaws can be more noticeable on foil, and that foil Magic cards in particular may be more prone to curling. It also lists fading or yellowing from extreme or prolonged sun exposure as damage, which is one reason storage matters. Our guide to storing trading cards covers light, heat and humidity.
How does eBay label the same wear?
eBay’s UK Seller Centre says single cards moved from “Used” to Graded and Ungraded in 2023, with sellers revising a single card listing switching from October 23, 2023. An ungraded card now gets one of four labels, and eBay uses two sets of names for them.
| TCGplayer | eBay, paired names | eBay, short names |
|---|---|---|
| Near Mint | Near Mint or Better | Near Mint or Better |
| Lightly Played | Lightly Played (Excellent) | Excellent |
| Moderately Played | Moderately Played (Very Good) | Very Good |
| Heavily Played | Heavily Played (Poor) | Poor |
| Damaged | No label of its own | No label of its own |
eBay gives the paired names to one card category and the short names to two others. Either way, eBay has four steps where TCGplayer has five. eBay’s bottom label allows for tears, which TCGplayer’s guide counts as Damaged.
The two charts also disagree on creases. eBay’s seller chart for trading cards, as its UK Seller Centre shows it, allows a minor crease at Lightly Played (Excellent). TCGplayer caps any creased card at Moderately Played. eBay’s top label also allows minor chipping on corners and edges. When you buy on one marketplace and compare prices on another, read the photos as well as the label.
Cardmarket, the large European marketplace, uses a seven-step scale with one step above Near Mint and its own names below it. Visible clouding on the surface keeps a card out of Near Mint there. Treat a European listing’s labels as a separate scale.
Is a Near Mint card the same as a graded Near Mint?
No. Near Mint on a listing is a seller’s description of a raw card. A grading company’s numbers are a separate scale, and the same words mean something else there. On CGC’s scale of 1 to 10:
- The grades named Near Mint are 7 and 7.5 (Near Mint+); CGC’s 8 and 8.5 sit above them under other names. CGC’s Near Mint 7 allows wear on three or more corners, slightly rough edges and, for sports and non-sports cards, 70/30 centering.
- For sports and non-sports cards, CGC’s 8 asks for 65/35 centering or better, tighter than the 70/30 that TCGplayer tolerates at every condition.
- The highest grade on CGC’s scale that mentions a crease is VG/Ex+ 4.5, which allows one light crease. No higher grade lists a crease among its allowed flaws.
So, going by CGC’s own descriptions, a card with one light crease, which TCGplayer would list as Moderately Played at best, sits at 4.5 or lower on CGC’s scale. Neither TCGplayer nor CGC gives a conversion from raw condition to a graded number, so treat any chart that claims one as a guess. Our grading scale entry explains how the numbers work, and the grading cost calculator lists service prices with the day each price was read.
How do you check a card’s condition yourself?
- Take the card out of its sleeve and holder, with clean, dry hands.
- Look at it under a bright light, then tilt it so the light runs across the surface. Creases, dents and scuffing show up at an angle.
- Check the back as well as the front. TCGplayer measures scuffing face by face, and a dent that shows through to the back caps a card at Moderately Played.
- Go around all four corners and all four edges for whitening.
- Compare the border widths on opposite sides to judge centering. Our centering checker turns four border widths into the split.
- Set what you find against the flaw list above. If a card sits between two steps, the lower step is the safer label.
Then price it by condition, because the steps sell for different amounts. Rip.fan’s Pokémon card pages list a low and a market price for each raw condition, from NM to DM where a price exists, printing by printing, with the date the prices were checked. The card price lookup finds an English Pokémon card by name, set or number. For other cards, our guide on how to find what a card sold for sets out a method that works on any marketplace.
Frequently asked questions
Can a card with a food or liquid stain be sold on TCGplayer?
No. TCGplayer bars a card covered in food, liquid or another foreign substance from both TCGplayer Direct and its marketplace listings, even as Damaged.
Do oversized cards follow the same condition rules at TCGplayer?
Yes, scaled up. An oversized card is 1.4 times the size of a standard one, so TCGplayer allows flaws 1.4 times larger at each severity.
Does Cardmarket list cards as Gem Mint?
No. Cardmarket does not support Gem Mint as a condition, or partial grades such as NM- or EX+, though a seller may still write Gem Mint in a listing's comment.
Is an older card judged more gently on Cardmarket?
No. Cardmarket makes no allowance for age, so a 20-year-old card has to meet the same criteria as one printed 2 days ago.
Does a factory error lower a card's condition on Cardmarket?
No. Cardmarket counts production errors, such as misaligned art, as separate from wear and tear, so they leave the condition alone. It asks sellers to describe the error in the comment and add a photo.