Guides, page 9

Bowman Chrome and 1st Bowman cards explained

What the 1st Bowman logo marks, how Bowman and Bowman Chrome number their prospect cards, the Refractor ladder, and the Chrome prospect autographs.

Black Bolt and White Flare: the Pokémon sets explained

Pokémon 8 min read

Pokémon's Black Bolt and White Flare: 172 and 173 cards, how the 156 Unova Pokémon split between them, every rarity by number, and the products that hold them.

Yu-Gi-Oh! rarities explained, from Common to Starlight

Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and Lorcana 7 min read

How to tell each Yu-Gi-Oh! rarity by its foil, how many of each a core set holds, and the rates Konami gives for the rarer foils in Rarity Collection packs.

Yu-Gi-Oh! booster boxes explained, set by set

Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and Lorcana 6 min read

What Yu-Gi-Oh! booster packs and boxes hold: cards per pack, set lists, pack prices and launch dates for core, 60-card, Maze and foil sets.

Your first card show: how to buy, sell and trade

Offline and retail 6 min read

How a card show works, what to bring, and the three checks to make at every table: the card's condition, its recent sold price and the slab's cert number.

Young Guns cards explained: Upper Deck's hockey rookies

Sports cards 7 min read

What a Young Guns card is, where it sits in each series of Upper Deck's hockey base set, how many come in a box, and which lookalikes are not the base card.

Where to sell cards online: eBay, TCGplayer, Whatnot

Buying and selling 6 min read

What TCGplayer and Whatnot charge to sell a card, what you keep on a $50, $250 or $1,000 sale, how fast the money arrives, and what eBay asks of sellers.

Where to buy Pokémon cards at MSRP

Pokémon 7 min read

Pokémon Center, the retailers Pokémon lists, how launches, preorders and returns work, and how to tell a store's own listing from an outside seller's.

What to do with bulk sports cards and commons

Sports cards 6 min read

Set aside the cards that sell on their own, box the rest by year and set, then keep, trade, sell or donate it, with the fees for selling commons singly.

What to do with bulk Pokémon cards

Pokémon 6 min read

How to sort bulk Pokémon cards, find the few worth a closer look, store the rest, and what shops' published bulk buylists pay for each pile and ask of you.

What counts as a rookie card: RC logos explained

Sports cards 6 min read

What makes a sports card a rookie card, what the baseball RC logo has meant since 2006, where collectors disagree, and how to check a card yourself.

Vintage Pokémon sets explained, from Base Set to Skyridge

Pokémon 6 min read

The 16 English Pokémon sets Wizards of the Coast printed from 1999 to 2003, in order, with each set's date, card count and the marks that identify its cards.

Vault or ship it home? How to decide

How ripping works 5 min read

Keep a rip site card in the vault, list it, take the trade-in offer or ship it home: how to choose, with each site's fees and deadlines as of October 2026.

Upper Deck The Cup explained: tins, rookies and runs

Sports cards 7 min read

How Upper Deck's high-end hockey set works: when each edition's checklist was posted, how its Rookie Auto Patch cards are numbered, and why they come slabbed.

Upper Deck hockey sets explained: the yearly lineup

Sports cards 7 min read

How Upper Deck's hockey products differ in base set, rookie cards and what a box holds, with the order its 2025-26 checklists were posted.

Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and Lorcana card sizes

Safety and fakes 6 min read

Which card games are standard size and which are smaller, the sleeves and inner sleeves that fit each, and what CGC's holders take.

Sticker vs on-card autographs: how to tell them apart

Sports cards 6 min read

How sticker and on-card autographs are made, why makers still use labels, how to tell which a card has, and where cut and printed signatures fit in.

Sports card redemptions explained: how they work

Sports cards 6 min read

What a redemption card is, why makers pack them, how to redeem one at Upper Deck, when codes expire, and what to check before buying one secondhand.

Sports card parallels explained: colors and numbers

Sports cards 6 min read

What a parallel is, how to read a serial number like /25, and a full parallel ladder from the 2026-27 Upper Deck Series 1 hockey checklist.

Slab packs explained: what is inside one

How ripping works 6 min read

A slab pack sells one graded card from a published pool. What that card is, how sites show the pool, and how a slab pack differs from other online packs.

Selling cards to a local shop: what to expect

Offline and retail 6 min read

What share of a card's market value local shops tend to offer, how store credit compares with cash, what shops turn down, and how to prepare before you go.