What we pay for Pokémon cards, and why
Every vendor gets asked the same question across the counter: so what percentage do you pay? Here's our answer, out in the open — and the reasoning behind every point of it.
Written by Ben and Tom, Cardinal
Our starting point
We start from what a card has actually sold for recently — completed sales, not asking prices. From that market value, a standard buy from us is 70% in cash or 80% in trade. That's not a number we plucked from the air, and it moves for specific cards — but it's the honest centre of how we buy.
We built Cardinal around exactly this: scan the card, see the sold-price value, and the app applies the percentage. The offer is the same whether it's us, a staff member, or a busy Saturday with a queue at the table.
Where the 30% goes
- Selling costs. Marketplace fees, payment processing, postage and packing all come out of the sale price before we see a dollar.
- Time on the shelf. Some cards sell the day we buy them. Others sit for months, tying up cash the whole time. The buy price has to carry both.
- Price risk. Card prices move. When a card cools off between buying and selling, that loss is ours — the seller got paid either way.
- The ones we're wrong about. Every buyer misjudges condition or misreads a comp sometimes. The margin on the good buys absorbs the mistakes.
- Actually staying open. Tables, rent, travel and tax. A vendor who ignores these in the buy price isn't generous — they're temporary.
Why trade pays more than cash
Trade credit costs us stock, not money — and it stays in the hobby, usually coming back across our own counter. So we can afford to be more generous with it: 80% against 70% is our usual split.
If you're selling cards to fund more cards, always ask about the trade number. It's the single easiest way to get more for the same binder.
When we pay above or below the standard
Hot cards we can resell within days earn a higher percentage — fast turnover is worth paying for. Slow, obscure or heavily played cards earn less, because our money will be parked in them for months.
The principle is the same either way: the percentage reflects how confident we are in the value and how quickly it turns back into cash. Any vendor who can't explain their number that way is guessing — and guessing vendors either overpay and disappear, or lowball and deserve to.
See the offer your own rules produce
Set your percentages in the demo and watch the cash and trade numbers update live as you price real cards.
Keep reading
Make better deals with your own stock.
Know what you own, what it's worth and what you're making on it.