How to sell graded cards on eBay, TCGplayer and Whatnot
What eBay, TCGplayer and Whatnot ask of a slab listing, from the cert number to photos, value limits and signatures, and what a $600 or $2,000 slab leaves you.
By the Rip.fan Editorial Team.
Published 8 min read
To sell a graded card online, list it with the grader, the grade and the cert number, photograph the slab front and back with the label readable, and price it from recent sales of the same card in the same grade. Then ship it boxed, with tracking and a signature where the marketplace asks for one. Each marketplace adds gates of its own. eBay sends higher-value cards through its Authenticity Guarantee before the buyer gets them. TCGplayer takes slabs only as Listings with Photos and caps a new seller at $500 an item. Whatnot can add a signature from $500 and gives card buyers 7 days after delivery to report a problem.
What does each marketplace ask of a slab listing?
| eBay | TCGplayer | Whatnot | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How a slab goes up | Condition set to Graded, with the grader, the grade and (recommended) the cert number | As a Listing with Photos, which TCGplayer requires for graded cards | A listing with the Graded switch on, plus fields for grading service, grade and cert number |
| Photos | Front, back, any grading label and any notable flaw | Photos of the exact item; front and back suggested | At least one clear, uncropped photo of the whole item and its condition |
| Ceiling for a new seller | Check your account’s selling limits | $500 for any one item and $1,000 listed at once | Selling starts with an application |
| Signature | Asked for on cards over $750 | Required on orders over $250, with insurance strongly suggested | May be added automatically from $500 on qualifying US shipments, at the seller’s cost |
| Buyer’s window to report a problem | Your return window; 3 calendar days for transit damage on a no-returns card that went through Authenticity Guarantee | 30 days after the estimated delivery date | 7 days after delivery or 30 days after purchase, whichever comes first |
eBay applies Authenticity Guarantee to higher-value cards, and Listings with Photos can’t join a TCGplayer Direct order.
How does selling a slab work on eBay?
eBay splits single cards into Graded and Ungraded. For a graded card, eBay asks for the grader and the numerical grade, and recommends the cert number. Its grading fields accept a grader picked from 23 named companies plus Other (not every grader appears in every card category), a grade from 10 down to 1 in half steps or one of four Authentic labels, and a cert number as free text of up to 30 characters. A card’s title should also carry the grading company and grade as keywords.
The bigger step comes after the sale. Raw and graded cards go through Authenticity Guarantee automatically, and eBay gives two lines for it: over $250, and $200 or more, before tax and shipping. When it applies:
- You ship the card, insured, to eBay’s authentication facility rather than to the buyer, and that postage is yours.
- eBay’s authentication partner inspects the holder for signs of tampering, checks the case and label against the grader, and confirms the card matches the listing. No regrading is performed.
- The program accepts slabs from PSA, SGC, BGS, CGC and CSG only. Sets and lots of two or more cards are not eligible.
- If you take no returns, the sale is final, except that a buyer can report damage in transit within 3 calendar days. A return goes back through the facility, which checks it is the same card in the same condition.
eBay also asks you not to pad your handling time, and to buy signature confirmation for cards over $750. For cards outside Authenticity Guarantee, even a no-returns listing must resolve a buyer’s claim that an item doesn’t match the listing. Check eBay’s own fee page before you list.
How does selling a slab work on TCGplayer?
Every graded card on TCGplayer goes up as a Listing with Photos. The listing needs photos of the exact item, a descriptive title, and a description naming the card, its set and its condition, with notes on any damage. Each copy sold on its own needs its own listing. TCGplayer leaves its Lowest Listing and Market Price columns empty for these listings, since each is a unique item with its own price, so those figures can’t set your price for you.
For a standard marketplace seller (Levels 1 to 4), the fees are the same as on any listing: 10.75% of the item (capped at $75 per item) and of the shipping, plus 2.5% of the order total and $0.30. Pro, Direct and sync sellers pay different rates. The ceiling is what catches new sellers:
| Seller level | Highest price for one item | Listed at once | How to reach it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | $500 | $1,000 | Every new seller starts here |
| Level 2 | $1,000 | $5,000 | Two orders that have reached their expected delivery date, and 80% feedback |
| Level 3 | $20,000 | $100,000 | 11 such orders, and 85% feedback |
TCGplayer names no list of accepted graders, but it cites PSA, BGS, CGC, SGC and CSG as companies whose authentication can serve as proof for buyers. It strongly suggests insurance on these orders from $250 and requires signature confirmation on any order over $250. If the card arrives matching your photos, title and description, you don’t have to accept it back. A buyer has 30 days after the estimated delivery date to raise a problem, and a card suspected of being fake goes to TCGplayer on a prepaid label for review.
How does selling a slab work on Whatnot?
Whatnot’s listing form has a Graded switch, then fields for the grading service, the grade and the cert number. On the iPhone app you can scan a slab to fill in the details, for PSA slabs of sports and Pokémon cards and CGC slabs of TCG cards, though you still upload a photo separately. Listings need photos of the actual item, including at least one clear shot of all of it. Its packing rules ask for each slab to go in a graded card sleeve or team bag.
On some US orders worth $500 or more, Whatnot may add a delivery signature on its own and bill the seller for it. A buyer can opt out in account settings.
Whatnot charges 8% of the item price at its US standard tier for sports and TCG, plus 2.9% of the order total and $0.30. Since January 14, 2026 it has charged 0% commission on the part of a sale above $1,500 in TCG and sports singles categories, as a limited-time promotion. Most sales are final. A buyer is covered if the card doesn’t arrive, arrives damaged, doesn’t match the listing or isn’t authentic, and for sports and TCG cards must ask within 7 days of delivery, or 30 days of purchase if sooner. Claims that an item isn’t authentic get 30 days from receipt.
What does a $600 or a $2,000 slab leave you?
This worked example assumes the buyer pays $10 for shipping, which goes on postage, and 7% sales tax on the card plus shipping, the rate TCGplayer uses in its own fee examples. TCGplayer’s figures are for a standard Level 1 to 4 marketplace seller, and Whatnot’s are for a US seller at its standard tier. “Kept” is the sale price less the fees, before supplies or extra insurance.
| Sale price | TCGplayer fees | TCGplayer kept | Whatnot fees | Whatnot kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $600 | $82.20 | $517.80 | $67.23 | $532.77 |
| $2,000 | $130.15 | $1,869.85 | $182.67 | $1,817.33 |
The arithmetic:
- $600. The order total is $652.70 ($610 plus $42.70 tax). TCGplayer takes $64.50 on the card, $1.08 on the shipping and $16.62 as its transaction fee (2.5% of $652.70, plus $0.30). Whatnot takes $48.00 in commission and $19.23 for payment processing (2.9% of $652.70, plus $0.30).
- $2,000. The order total is $2,150.70. TCGplayer’s commission on the card stops at $75, then come $1.08 on the shipping and a $54.07 transaction fee. Whatnot charges 8% on the first $1,500 only, so $120.00, plus $62.67 for processing.
So Whatnot leaves you more at $600, and TCGplayer leaves you more at $2,000. The gates matter too. The $600 slab needs TCGplayer Level 2, the $2,000 slab needs Level 3, both are past the $500 mark where Whatnot may add a signature, and both go through Authenticity Guarantee on eBay. Our seller fee calculator runs the same sums on TCGplayer and Whatnot for any price, shipping charge and tax rate, and where to sell cards online works through $50, $250 and $1,000 cards.
How should you price and present the slab?
Compare only with sales of the same card from the same grader in the same grade. Our guide on how to find what a card sold for sets out the method, and pricing cards to sell turns it into an asking price and a lowest offer.
Expect buyers to check the slab before they pay. CGC images every card it grades after sealing it, and those images are available to view at any hour with its Verify CGC Certification tool, so a buyer can compare CGC’s photo with yours. Look up your own cert number first and make sure the record matches. Our guides to reading a CGC label and spotting a fake slab show what a careful buyer looks for, and buying graded cards online covers the same sale from the other side.
Our guide on how to photograph cards to sell covers each site’s photo rules. Shoot the label straight on so the grade and cert number can be read.
What should you do once it sells?
- Pack it for the trip. Sleeve the slab, pad it in a small box, and ship with tracking and the signature each site asks for. Our guide to shipping a graded card yourself prices insurance by value.
- Keep the record until the buyer’s window has closed: the sale page, your photos, the cert number and photos of the packed box.
If the card sits in a rip site’s vault, selling it there may skip shipping altogether; see selling a card from a vault. Selling a whole collection, slabs included? Our guide on how to sell a card collection sorts the cards by where each one fits.
Frequently asked questions
What does eBay take on a slab priced above $7,500?
13.25% of the first $7,500 of the total sale and 2.35% of the rest, plus a $0.40 order fee, as eBay's trading card fees stood on October 27, 2026. Both rates are figured per item.
How long does eBay's Authenticity Guarantee take?
Authenticators usually inspect a card within 1 to 2 business days of receiving it, and it then goes to the buyer by tracked four-day shipping.
Can a seller outside the US use eBay's Authenticity Guarantee?
A seller in Canada can, as well as one in the US, but the buyer must be in the US. Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and military postal addresses are not covered.
Does the eBay category matter for Authenticity Guarantee?
Yes. A single qualifies only in the right category: CCG Individual Cards (183454) for card games, or Trading Card Singles under Non-Sport Trading Cards (183050) or Sports Trading Cards (261328).
What happens to a fake PSA slab caught by eBay's check?
The buyer gets a full refund, and PSA deactivates the slab's certificate and sends the seller a notice.