How to sell Pokémon cards: singles, slabs, sealed, bulk

Sort Pokémon cards into piles before you list anything: raw English singles, Japanese and other non-English cards, graded slabs, sealed product and bulk. TCGplayer sells raw singles against a catalog, with a separate category for Japanese cards. eBay and Whatnot list the exact item from your own photos. Sealed product has to meet a factory-sealed standard, and bulk goes as a lot or to a shop.

Which route fits each pile?

The general comparison of fees and payment timing sits in our guide to where to sell cards online.

How do you price a Pokémon card first?

Start with the card price lookup. Type a card’s name, set or number and it shows the NM market price and the printing that price belongs to. It covers English Pokémon cards, checked weekly. It does not price graded cards, which sell for different figures, and it does not cover Japanese cards. The price changes page compares Rip.fan’s weekly checks and lists cards priced at $5 or more whose NM price changed by 10% or more and by $1 or more.

A market price is only a starting figure, so check recent sold prices for the same printing and condition too. Our guides to finding what a card sold for and market, listed and sold prices explain how.

How do condition names compare across TCGplayer, eBay and Whatnot?

Each marketplace uses its own words. Whatnot maps its four conditions onto the names card stores use, and eBay’s TCG labels pair a store name with its own grade word. Lined up, they compare like this:

Three details change how a Pokémon card should be described:

• Whatnot’s Near Mint is narrow. It allows only slight flaws, such as slight edge wear, light scuffing, a slight dent, minor surface marks or a slight print defect. Any surface wear, grime or bend takes the card out of Near Mint.
• eBay leans on whitening. Its TCG table describes corners and edges by how much whitening and chipping shows: minor chipping at Near Mint or Better, moderate whitening or chipping at Lightly Played, major at Moderately Played.
• TCGplayer treats defects and alterations as Damaged. Crimping and large miscuts count as Damaged whatever else the card shows, and so do stamps, signatures, paint and marker. As a Listing with Photos, such a card can be listed at the condition it would have without the defect or alteration.

Our guide to card condition grades explains the scale itself, and photographing cards to sell covers the pictures that back up the label.

How do you list Japanese Pokémon cards?

On TCGplayer, a Japanese card that appears in its catalog goes under the Pokemon Japan category as an ordinary listing, without photos. Its Listings with Photos policy, whose non-English section was updated on October 9, 2026, says Korean and Chinese Pokémon cards go under the same category, because their sets are built in a similar way. Its older condition overview, last revised in March 2025, still names only Japanese cards. Every other non-English Pokémon card still needs a Listing with Photos.

TCGplayer is still adding Japanese sets. A Japanese card without its own catalog entry goes up as a Listing with Photos under the English entry, with the language written in full in the title and description (“Japanese”, not “JPN”). A flag image cannot stand in for the language. Card names stay in English, because TCGplayer does not support Japanese characters. Its mobile app, Quicklist and Roca cannot identify Japanese Pokémon cards, so add them by hand in the Inventory tab, or by CSV upload at Level 4. TCGplayer recommends turning older Japanese Listings with Photos into regular listings.

Price a Japanese card as its own card. TCGplayer notes that Japanese and English sets do not match one for one, and that some cards, sets and promos exist only in Japan. Our guide to Japanese and English Pokémon cards sets out the differences.

What changes for a graded Pokémon card?

• TCGplayer requires a Listing with Photos for every graded card. A new seller starts at Level 1, where no single item can be listed above $500.
• eBay asks for the grader, the numeric grade and, as a recommendation, the cert number. Its Authenticity Guarantee sends higher-value cards to an authenticator before they reach the buyer. eBay gives two lines for raw and graded cards, over $250 and $200 or more. The program accepts graded cards only from PSA, SGC, CGC (with CSG) and BGS. eBay also recommends signature confirmation on cards over $750.
• Whatnot asks for each slab to ship in a graded card sleeve or team bag.

Our guide to selling graded cards works through slab listings in full, and how to grade Pokémon cards compares the graders before you send anything.

How do you sell sealed Pokémon product?

TCGplayer’s factory-sealed standard turns on the wrapping. A listing needs the original packaging, unopened and free of damage, wear, tears or missing pieces, with every seal intact. A box that has been tampered with, shrink-wrapped again or resealed does not qualify. Some rules follow from that:

• Packs out of a box are packs. Once packs leave a booster box, they must be listed as booster packs, even if you sell every pack from the box together.
• Empty boxes are banned. TCGplayer lists them among prohibited items.
• Boxes ship in boxes on Whatnot. Sealed wax (boxes and packs) goes in a shipping box, not a bubble mailer, and bubble wrap is recommended.
• Whatnot has its own box conditions. Near Mint allows up to two minor flaws covering no more than 5% of the box. Damage from 5% to 30% of the box area makes it Good, and more than 30%, or any sun damage, makes it Damaged.
• eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee does not apply. It excludes boxes, packs, sets and lots.

Read our guide to spotting resealed Pokémon packs before you list. Storing sealed product covers keeping a box in listing condition, and how to buy a booster box covers the same checks from the buyer’s side.

What about bulk cards?

Any TCGplayer seller can list a Bulk Lot from the Inventory tab. Every lot is a Listing with Photos: up to 5 photos, a custom title and a description that states the number of cards and their conditions, such as a mixed lot of Lightly Played and Moderately Played cards. The photos may show only what the buyer will receive. For an unsorted lot, TCGplayer suggests showing card backs or edges. A lot listing that features cards a buyer may not get is removed if buyers report it. Sales of accurately described Bulk Lots are final.

For selling bulk to a shop instead, see what to do with bulk Pokémon cards and selling cards to a local shop.

What do fees leave on a cheap single?

Fixed fees weigh most on cheap singles. The table prices one card sold on its own. It assumes the buyer pays $1.49 for shipping on both sites (TCGplayer’s minimum shipping charge on orders under $5; the $5 and $25 rows assume a seller rate of the same $1.49) and 7% sales tax on the card and shipping, the rate TCGplayer uses in its fee examples. “Kept” is the card price less the marketplace’s fees; the shipping charge goes on postage.

TCGplayer’s standard Level 1 to 4 rates are 10.75% of the card (capped at $75 per item) and of the shipping, plus 2.5% of the order total and $0.30. Whatnot’s US standard rate in its TCG category is 8% of the item price, plus 2.9% of the order total and $0.30. On the $1 card, each site’s $0.30 charge is its largest single fee. Several cards in one order share those fixed fees, and from $5 the seller’s own shipping rate replaces the $1.49 minimum; Level 1 to 3 sellers can set $0.99 to $4.99 for small items.

Two other rates apply to some sellers. TCGplayer’s Direct program charges 50% of the card’s value on cards at $2.49 or less, in place of its other fees, and $1.12 a card plus standard fees above that. Whatnot lowers its 8% for the next four-week period once your sales in one period reach $15,000, and charges no commission on the part of a single TCG order above $1,500, a limited-time promotion running since January 14, 2026. For eBay, check its own fee page before you list. Our seller fee calculator works out TCGplayer and Whatnot fees for any price, shipping charge and tax rate.

How should the card ship?

TCGplayer suggests tracking on orders over $20, requires it over $49.99 and requires signature confirmation over $250, using USPS, UPS or FedEx, the carriers tied into its Seller Portal. eBay’s standard envelope carries lower-value cards with tracking, with protection for a single card worth up to $20 or several cards up to $50. Whatnot wants every raw card in a team bag, and its high-value card guidance for US sellers bars First-Class Mail letters for items over $20. Our guide to shipping raw cards prices each option.

Frequently asked questions

Does eBay's fee on a Pokémon card count the shipping?

Yes. On October 27, 2026, eBay's 13.25% final value fee on a Pokémon single was figured on the total amount of the sale: the item price, any handling charge, the shipping the buyer paid and sales tax.

Does TCGplayer buy Pokémon cards itself?

No. TCGplayer stopped taking trade-in and buylist submissions on July 17, 2024, and finished the last of them by August 23, 2024.

Where is the set symbol on a Pokémon card?

On most cards since Expedition Base Set in 2002, at the bottom right. Trainer, Energy, GX and EX cards and promos carry it at the bottom left, older cards show it at the center right just below the art, and Base Set has none.