Reference
Mint down to Poor.
The seven-step ladder European prices are quoted against, what each step actually looks like, and why the same card can be worth three times as much one rung up.
The ladder
Seven steps, not five.
European marketplaces use a seven-step condition scale, which is finer than the five-step scale common on US sites. If you have learned condition from American guides, the two extra rungs in the middle are where the confusion lives.
- Mint
Flawless under real scrutiny, including centring and print quality. Genuinely rare once you look properly, and most sellers avoid claiming it. If you would confidently send it for grading expecting a top score, this is the rung.
- Near Mint
Looks unplayed. Sharp corners, clean surface, no visible wear at normal viewing distance, though the faintest handling marks may appear under a light. This is the practical benchmark — most singles are listed here and most quoted prices mean this.
- Excellent
Minor wear that you can see without hunting for it: slight corner softening, very light surface marks, perhaps a tiny edge nick. Still presents well in a sleeve and is perfectly collectable.
- Good
Clearly used but intact and unbent. Visible corner wear, some edge whitening, light scratching. The condition a well-loved card from a binder usually lands in.
- Light Played
Obvious wear across several areas — whitening along edges, rounded corners, surface scuffing — but structurally sound and fully playable in a sleeve.
- Played
Heavy wear. Significant whitening, creasing, scratching or minor bends. The card is complete and identifiable but has clearly been through a lot.
- Poor
Severe damage: major creases, tears, water damage, writing, or missing material. Value is usually only in scarcity or in filling a slot until something better appears.
Updated August 2026
How to judge a card in two minutes
Condition assessment sounds subjective and mostly is not. Graders look at four things, and so should you. Do it under a bright light, out of the sleeve, and look at the card at an angle rather than straight on — almost all wear reveals itself in reflection.
Centring
Compare the border width on the left against the right, then the top against the bottom. Off-centre cards are extremely common and it is the single most frequent reason a card that looks perfect scores below the top grade. Centring does not usually affect a marketplace condition label much, but it dominates grading outcomes.
Corners
Check all four at an angle. Whitening appears at the very tip first, then spreads. A card with three sharp corners and one soft one is not Near Mint, however good the photograph looks.
Edges
Run your eye along all four edges looking for nicks and white flecks. Dark-bordered cards are unforgiving here — the same wear that is invisible on a white border is obvious on a black one, which is why identical handling produces different condition labels across sets.
Surface
Tilt the card and look across the surface. Scratches, print lines, dimples and indentation from being written on through a stack all show up in reflected light and nowhere else. On holo cards, check whether the foil has begun to separate or cloud.
Why the ladder matters more than people expect
The gap between rungs is not uniform, and it is not small. On a card with steady demand, Near Mint against Good can easily be a difference of half the value or more, and on vintage cards the spread widens dramatically because high-condition survivors are scarce.
This cuts both ways when you are buying. A Played copy of an expensive card is often the sensible purchase if you want the card rather than an asset, and the discount can be severe enough that the wear is irrelevant to you. It also means quoting "the price" of a card without saying which condition you mean is close to meaningless.
Mapping to US and graded scales
These are separate systems and do not convert cleanly. Anyone offering you a precise conversion table is overstating the case.
- US marketplaces commonly use five steps: Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged. European Excellent and Good both fall roughly in the Lightly Played to Moderately Played region, which is exactly why the two extra European rungs cause confusion.
- Professional grading uses a numeric scale, typically 1 to 10 with half steps at the top. A numeric grade is not a translation of a marketplace label; it is a much stricter assessment that includes centring and is performed on the card out of any sleeve, under standard conditions, by someone who does this all day.
The practical consequence: do not assume a card you would list as Near Mint will grade as a 9 or 10. Marketplace Near Mint is a broad band, and the top grades are narrow. If you are weighing a submission, the break-even maths is the place to start.
Keeping cards where they are
Condition only moves in one direction, so most of the value in understanding this ladder is in not descending it. Sleeve anything you care about, use a hard case or top loader for the ones that matter, keep cards out of direct sunlight and away from humidity swings, and store them upright rather than in a stack that can dimple the ones underneath. None of this is exotic and all of it is cheaper than the difference between two rungs.
How Scadex uses condition
Two things, and it is worth being clear that they are different.
Market prices by condition. Scadex Pro shows the live European ladder for the card in front of you — what copies are currently listed at in each of the seven conditions. That is listing data about the market, not a valuation of your copy. The pricing methodology covers where it comes from.
Your own collection. Cards you own are recorded as raw or as graded with a company and grade. There is no per-card raw condition field, so a Near Mint and an Excellent copy are both stored as raw and valued the same way. If you need per-copy condition tracking for a resale inventory, that is worth knowing before you catalogue a few thousand cards.
Condition questions
Card condition,
answered.
What does NM mean on a card?+
NM stands for Near Mint. The card looks essentially unplayed, with sharp corners and a clean surface, but may show the very smallest signs of handling that are only visible under close inspection. Near Mint is the condition most singles are listed in and is the practical benchmark European prices are quoted against.
What is the difference between Mint and Near Mint?+
Mint means flawless under scrutiny, including centring and print quality, and very few cards genuinely qualify once you look properly. Near Mint allows the faintest handling marks that do not affect how the card presents. Because the distinction is subjective and rarely worth arguing about below high value, most sellers list Near Mint and reserve Mint for cards they are confident would grade at the top.
How does the European condition scale compare to US grades?+
They are different systems and do not convert exactly. The European ladder runs Mint, Near Mint, Excellent, Good, Light Played, Played and Poor across seven steps, while US marketplaces commonly use Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged across five. Roughly, European Excellent and Good sit between US Lightly Played and Moderately Played, but treat any mapping as an approximation rather than a conversion table.
Does Scadex record the condition of cards I own?+
Cards in your Scadex collection are recorded as raw or as graded with a company and grade. There is no per-card raw condition field, so a Near Mint and an Excellent copy are both stored as raw. The seven-step condition ladder in Scadex is market data showing what copies in each condition are currently listed at, which is a separate thing from how your own copies are catalogued.
Can a scan tell me what condition my card is in?+
No. A camera scan identifies which card and printing you are holding. Judging condition needs the card examined out of its sleeve under good light at an angle, and centring in particular is not something a scan is reliable about. Condition remains your call.
Keep reading
Where to next.
Is it worth grading?
Turn a condition assessment into a decision, using the break-even maths.
Read the guide →Value your collection
How condition changes a collection total, and how to avoid flattering yourself.
Read the guide →Glossary
Reverse holo, alt art, spread, liquidity and the rest of the vocabulary.
Read the glossary →Your collection starts here