Guides
Written for collectors in Europe.
Almost everything published about card values assumes an American market, an American marketplace and American postage. These guides assume none of that.
Value and pricing
What it is worth.
Where market prices come from, what they do and do not mean, and how to turn a pile of cards into a number you can actually defend.
How much is my collection worth?
Market total, net sale proceeds and replacement cost are three different numbers. Which one you need, and how to get it without inflating the answer.
Read the guide →Cardmarket prices on your phone
Checking European prices in euros by scanning instead of searching, and what sits around the headline figure.
Read the guide →How Scadex pricing works
Every source behind a price, the signals shown next to it, and the honest limits of each.
Pricing methodology →Condition and grading
What shape it is in.
Condition drives value more than almost anything else, and grading is where European collectors face costs no American guide will mention.
Card condition guide
The seven-step European ladder from Mint to Poor, how to judge centring, corners, edges and surface, and how it maps to US scales.
Read the guide →Is your card worth grading?
The break-even maths, a worked example, and why pricing your decision at a grade you probably will not get is the usual mistake.
Read the guide →Grading from Europe
Customs and VAT on the return leg, insured international postage both ways, and how to compare graders from here.
Read the guide →Reference
Terms and tools.
The vocabulary, and how to judge the software you are about to trust with a catalogue of a few thousand cards.
Trading card glossary
Reverse holo, alternate art, centring, trend price, liquidity, slab, bulk and the rest — defined plainly, grouped by what they describe.
Read the glossary →Choosing a scanner app
The criteria that actually separate these apps, a four-step test to run yourself, and an honest list of cases where Scadex is the wrong choice.
Read the guide →Supported games
Pokémon, One Piece, Lorcana and Dragon Ball, each with its own scanning quirks and market behaviour.
See the games →From the blog
The practical side.
The guides above explain how things work. These are about what to do on a Saturday with a box of cards in front of you.
How to spot a fake card
Small print, gloss, texture, edges and the light test — in the order that costs you the least effort.
Read the post →How to sell cards in Europe
Marketplace, shop or convention, what each takes in fees and hours, and how to pack for the post.
Read the post →How to store cards
Which sleeve does what, why humidity curls foils, and the four rooms never to keep a collection in.
Read the post →Your collection starts here