Packs.com review: packs by set, with a rate for every card
Packs.com is a tidy place to buy packs of raw trading cards by set, with the rate for every card shown up front.
Scores
The score averages these criteria by their weights. How we rate sites
| Criterion | Weight | Our score |
|---|---|---|
| Trust and track record | 20% | 7 out of 10 |
| Card rates published | 15% | 9 out of 10 |
| Trade-in terms | 15% | 6 out of 10 |
| Fees | 15% | 8 out of 10 |
| Withdrawal speed | 10% | 3 out of 10 |
| Shipping and vault | 10% | 6.5 out of 10 |
| App and site | 8% | 8.5 out of 10 |
| Support | 7% | 7 out of 10 |
What we found in our test
- Free packThree raw Pokémon cards, an Eevee, a Flareon and a Leafeon, all Near Mint.
How we tested
We signed up for Packs.com through our own link, opened the free pack a new account gets and looked around the site, keeping screenshots of its pack lists, its single-card packs and our account’s backpack. Its trade-in, shipping and support are scored from what Packs.com publishes, with our own screenshots alongside. This review is a human and AI collaboration: our own hands-on look at the site supplied the screenshots and notes, and AI wrote the review from them.
What stood out
The selection is the first thing you notice. Packs.com sticks to trading card games, and within them the pack list runs long, with Pokémon sets old and new, Magic: The Gathering sets from Modern Horizons III to The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, and One Piece and Riftbound beside them. Every pack carries the name of the set inside it, so you choose by set.
Getting started cost us nothing. The free pack from signing up through our link put three raw Pokémon cards in our backpack right away.
How it works
The site has three sections along the top, Packs, Singles and the Market. The Packs page sorts by game with a row of icons, by set group with a row of tabs, and by price, with a search box and a star for keeping favourites. The pack art shows how many cards each holds, 10 or 15 on the packs we looked at. These are packs Packs.com builds itself to match a real booster’s card rates, not factory-sealed boosters.
The Singles section holds packs of one card apiece, grouped under themed names. The two we kept in our screenshots were a Riftbound pack and a One Piece pack, each marked as holding one card. The Market sells single cards straight from Packs.com.
Opened cards go to your backpack, which lists each one with its game, set, card number and condition, and a Keep button beside it. A search box takes a card, game, set, number or rarity, and a second tab, the withdraw list, holds the cards you want shipped.
Card rates and what a pack holds
Card rates go right down to each card. Each pack page lists every card in its set with how often it comes up, and each single-card pack lists every card it can give, with its value and how often it comes up. A card’s value follows its market price for that printing in Near Mint condition, plus a small amount for taxes and handling. Our guide on how to check a rip site before buying covers what else to look for on a pack page.
Trade-in offers and selling
Any card in your backpack can be traded in for the full value it had when revealed, with no fee, and the credit lands at once. That credit buys only packs, cards and shipping on Packs.com, and none of it can ever be withdrawn as money, so treat a trade-in as store credit. Trading in also needs one deposit on the account first, with a $10 minimum, which means the cards from a free pack can’t be traded in until you have added money. Our guide on how to judge a trade-in offer shows how to weigh an offer like this one.
Fees and shipping
Each order costs $7.43 to ship in the US and $29.72 anywhere else, whatever is in it up to the 50-card limit, and checkout adds nothing on top for tax or handling. The fee comes out of your balance, or goes on a card if you have never added money. International orders may also owe customs duties or import taxes in the country they reach.
Cards under $5 cannot go in an order at all, which leaves trading them in for credit as their only way out. Gathering cards and shipping them together keeps the fee per card low. Delivery is slow, at 2 to 4 weeks from the order in the US and 4 to 8 weeks abroad, counting the time to review, pick and pack the order. Whether a card is better left on the site or sent home is the question our vault or ship it home guide works through.
Support and track record
Support runs through a live chat bubble in the corner of every page, an email address and a help center that answers the common questions plainly.
Who it suits
Packs.com suits a trading card game collector who knows which set they want, likes to see every card’s rate before opening and is happy to let cards pile up before shipping them together.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Packs by set for Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, One Piece and Riftbound
- Card rates for every card on every pack page
- A trade-in offer of a card's full value at the reveal, with no fee
- One flat shipping fee for an order of up to 50 cards
- A free pack for new users who sign up through our link
Cons
- A balance that can never be withdrawn
- Low-value cards can only be traded in, never shipped
- Delivery takes 2 to 4 weeks in the US
- No sports cards and no graded slabs
Frequently asked questions
What does Packs.com sell?
Raw trading cards, in packs built around one set each, for Pokémon, Magic, One Piece and Riftbound.
Does Packs.com give a free pack?
Yes, to new accounts that sign up through our link. Ours held three raw Pokémon cards.
Does Packs.com show card rates?
Yes, for every card. A pack page gives each card's rate, and a single-card pack adds each card's value.
Can you sell a card back to Packs.com?
Yes, at the full value a card had when revealed, with no fee, paid as credit on the site.
What does shipping cost at Packs.com?
One flat fee per order of up to 50 cards: $7.43 in the US and $29.72 anywhere else.
