How much are my Pokémon cards worth, and how do you check?

What the price is a price of

Marketplace prices are per print, per variant and per condition. TCGplayer says its price points “reflect any selected printings and conditions filters applied to the product page,” so the number for a Near Mint holo is not the number for a Lightly Played non-holo of the same card. Its Market Price “is compiled from recent sales completed on TCGplayer.com,” “updated as transactions complete,” and, in its own words, shows “the value of a collectible based upon actual recent sales.” Listed prices are something else: TCGplayer's Listed Median “can vary significantly from the actual price that people are paying,” especially on older cards with few copies for sale.

Five things that move the number

In rough order of how much they matter:

• Which print. The same name appears on many cards; Base Set, a reprint, a promo and a modern illustration rare are different products with different prices. The set symbol or set code and the collector number identify the print.
• The variant. Holo, reverse holo, non-holo, 1st Edition and shadowless copies of one card are priced separately; TCGplayer's price data keys them apart, and so does the app.
• Condition. Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played, Damaged. The gap between Near Mint and Moderately Played can be most of the value on an old card.
• Grading. A card in a PSA, CGC or BGS slab with a high grade sells in a different market from a raw card, and a raw Near Mint card is not priced as a PSA 10.
• Demand, which is why prices move week to week: a Pokémon's popularity, a tournament result, a set going out of print, a reprint. The 1-, 7- and 30-day averages show the direction.

How to check a card in a minute

Identify the print from the bottom of the card: the set symbol or three-letter set code and the collector number, written like 4/102 or 025/198. Note the variant: a foil illustration means holo, foil everywhere except the illustration means reverse holo, a 1st Edition stamp is on the left under the illustration on cards from 1999 to 2003. Judge the condition honestly under a bright light, front and back. Then look the print up: TCGplayer for dollars, Cardmarket for euros, and eBay's sold listings for a third opinion on anything expensive. The app does the first step from a photo and shows the two marketplaces on the card's page.

The traps

Asking prices are not values; a card can be listed at $600 for months while copies sell at $350, which is exactly the example TCGplayer uses to explain its Market Price. A low-volume card's Market Price can rest on a handful of sales, so check the 30-day average and the sold listings before believing a spike. Japanese and other-language prints are separate products on both marketplaces, with their own prices; the app matches a foreign-language card to its English print, so treat that price as a pointer rather than the answer. And a price is not money until someone pays it: marketplace fees, shipping and the condition the buyer sees at their end all come off the top.

When a card is worth grading, or selling

Grading pays only when the graded price minus the fee, shipping and a realistic grade beats the raw price, which for most cards it does not; the grading guide runs the arithmetic. Selling is a question of venue: a marketplace for anything with a reliable price, a local shop for bulk, an auction for the genuinely rare. Whatever you do, the value of a collection is the sum of identified cards, not a feeling about a box, and the cataloguing guide is the way to get to the sum.