TCG OS

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

25 straight answers — what it costs, what the prices mean, and what it does.

The basics

What is The TCG OS?
The TCG OS is one platform for every trading card game. Collectors use it to catalogue what they own, see what it is worth, track set completion and grade cards from a photo. Card shops use it to run one stock count across shop, card shows and eBay, with each unit allocated to exactly one channel at a time. It covers seven games — Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Disney Lorcana, Digimon and Star Wars: Unlimited — with 208,000+ cards across 2,300+ sets.
Is The TCG OS really free?
For collectors, yes, and no payment details are ever requested. Tracking, valuation, set completion, the Pokédex and the wishlist are all free, and the set library and card prices work without even creating an account. Card shops pay a monthly subscription after a free trial.
Do I need an account to look up a card price?
No. Every set list, card page and price is public and needs no login. An account is only needed to save a collection, because that is your data rather than the catalogue.
Which trading card games are supported?
seven games are live with full set lists and pricing: Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Disney Lorcana, Digimon and Star Wars: Unlimited. Japanese Pokémon sets are included alongside the English ones. The platform is built game-agnostic, so a new game runs on the same rail rather than needing a separate product.
What is the difference between The TCG OS and a marketplace like eBay?
A marketplace is where cards change hands and money moves. The TCG OS is the system underneath: a catalogue with live prices, a record of what you own and what it is worth, and for shops, one inventory behind every channel they sell on — including their own eBay listings. We do not process payments and we do not take a commission on sales.
Can I buy cards on The TCG OS?
You can see what approved shops have in stock and get in touch to buy it. Collectors browse a shop’s live stock and contact the shop to arrange the purchase. The sale itself happens directly between buyer and seller — there is no checkout, no payment and no order held on The TCG OS. Card pages also carry external buying links, which are labelled as leaving the site.

Prices and valuation

Where do your card prices come from?
They are aggregated from established third-party market-price providers — Cardmarket and TCGplayer data via TCGGO, and JustTCG for per-variant, Japanese and non-Pokémon pricing. Which source applies depends on the game, the language and the printing. The full methodology is published on our price data page.
How often are card prices updated?
English Pokémon prices refresh every 2 hours, Pokémon variants and Japanese cards every 4 hours, US dollar prices three times a day, and the other games and sealed product every 2 days. Price history is snapshotted every 3 hours.
Can I see prices in US dollars?
Yes. There is a per-user toggle between GBP and USD. Where a card has a genuine TCGplayer US market price, that is shown directly rather than converted; where it does not, the value is converted and marked approximate with a ≈ symbol.
Why does this card have no price?
Because no source we use has a confident match for that exact printing. Rather than estimate, we show nothing. It is most common on very new sets, obscure promos, and printings the upstream catalogue does not identify separately.
Is my collection total an official valuation?
No. It is the sum of market estimates for the cards you have logged, at the conditions and printings you recorded. It is a useful tracking figure, not an appraisal to insure against or a price anyone is obliged to pay.

AI card grading

How does the AI card grading work?
You photograph or upload the front and back of a card. A vision model assesses it and returns a predicted grade on the PSA, BGS, CGC and ACE scales, the four sub-grades graders use — centring, corners, edges and surface — with centring measured from the card’s actual borders rather than eyeballed, plus a cropped snapshot of every defect it flags.
How accurate is the AI grade?
It is an estimate to help you decide whether a card is worth submitting, not a guarantee and not a substitute for grading. It is most useful for ruling cards out: a card the model flags with clear corner or centring problems is unlikely to come back as a 10. We are not affiliated with PSA, BGS, CGC or ACE.
Does AI grading cost anything?
Not today. It is free for every collector while it is in open beta. If that changes, the price will be published before it applies to anyone.
Can it tell me whether a card is worth grading?
Yes, when you match the card to our catalogue. It compares the raw value against real graded sold prices, so you can see the potential uplift against the submission fee before paying anything.

For card shops

How much does The TCG OS cost for a card shop?
£25/mo in the UK or $29/mo in the US, for the whole base platform. There is no commission on sales and no per-listing fee, so selling more does not cost more. The UK and US prices are set independently for each market rather than converted at an exchange rate.
Is there a free trial, and do I need a card to start?
Every new shop gets 3 months free with no credit card required. Payment details are only requested if you choose to continue after the trial, so it cannot roll into a charge you did not intend.
Is there an annual plan?
Not currently — billing is monthly only, and you can cancel at any time and keep access until the end of the period you have paid for. If an annual option is added it will appear on the pricing page.
Are there any paid add-ons?
Intel, the market-analysis surface for shops, is optional at £10/mo on top of the base subscription. Everything needed to run stock and sell across all three channels is in the base price.
How do you stop the same card selling twice across channels?
A unit sits on exactly one channel at a time. Moving it to another channel reassigns it rather than copying it, which is what makes overselling impossible — a card allocated to a show cannot also be sold on eBay. A live eBay listing must be ended before its unit can be moved. There is no reconciliation step to forget, because the card was never in two places to begin with.
Can I sell at card shows without an internet connection?
Not yet. Selling at a show runs in the same web app as the rest of your stock, so it needs a connection. Offline recording is built on the server side and waiting on the mobile app — until that ships, plan for signal at the table. Allocating stock to the show beforehand still pays off, because you know exactly what you took and what should come back.
How long does it take to get a shop approved?
Shops are reviewed by hand, normally within one business day. Vetting every seller before they can list is what lets a collector know who they are buying from.

Your data and security

Who owns my collection data?
You do. Your collection, wishlist and, for shops, your inventory and transaction history are yours, and you can export them. The privacy policy sets out exactly what is stored and why.
Is the site secure, and how are payments handled?
The whole site is served over HTTPS. Card payments are handled by Stripe and never touch our servers — we do not see or store card numbers. Passwords are stored hashed, never in plain text.
Can I delete my account and everything in it?
Yes. Ask and your account and its data are erased, not merely hidden. Get in touch at privacy@thetcgos.com.

Still looking?

The guides answer collecting and shop-running questions in depth, price data documents where every number comes from, and about says who builds it and how to reach a person.