Methodology
How our price data works
Every source, every refresh rate, and every limitation — written down.
A collection value is only as good as the numbers behind it, so here is exactly where ours come from. We do not set prices ourselves. We aggregate market data from established third-party providers, convert it to your display currency, and show it with the date it was refreshed.
Sources and refresh rates
| What | Catalogue | Price source | Refreshed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon — English | TCGGO (with API TCG for brand-new sets) | Cardmarket and TCGplayer market data via TCGGO | Every 2 hours |
| Pokémon — Japanese, and per-variant printings | TCGGO / API TCG | JustTCG, matched per variant (printing, condition, language) | Every 4 hours |
| Pokémon — US dollar prices | — | Genuine TCGplayer USD market via JustTCG, matched by TCGplayer id | Three times daily |
| Magic: The Gathering | Scryfall | JustTCG, matched by Scryfall id | Every 2 days |
| Disney Lorcana | Lorcast | JustTCG, matched by TCGplayer id | Every 2 days |
| Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Digimon, Star Wars: Unlimited | API TCG | JustTCG, matched by card number or TCGplayer id | Every 2 days |
| Sealed product | JustTCG | JustTCG market price | Every 2 days |
| Price history (the 30/90-day charts) | — | Snapshots of the above, stored by us over time | Every 3 hours |
How a figure is worked out
- 1.Take the Cardmarket lowest Near Mint price for the card, in euros.
- 2.If there is no Cardmarket figure, fall back to the genuine TCGplayer US market price.
- 3.Convert to your display currency at a fixed rate we update periodically — not a live FX feed, so a value does not drift with the exchange rate through the day.
- 4.For US dollar display, show the genuine TCGplayer US price where one exists; otherwise convert and mark it approximate with ≈.
- 5.Multiply by the quantity you own, at the condition and printing you logged, to reach a collection total.
Current fixed rates: 1 EUR = 0.8576 GBP · 1 USD = 0.7435 GBP · last reviewed 2026-08-07
What this data is not
- Prices are market estimates, not offers. Nobody is obliged to buy or sell at them, and they should not be treated as an appraisal, an insurance valuation or investment advice.
- Coverage is not complete, and it varies by game. A card gets a price only when it can be matched confidently to a record at the source; where the upstream catalogue has no reliable identifier for a printing, that card carries no price at all. We would rather show nothing than show a guess.
- Newly released sets can lag. A set is often catalogued before any source has priced it, so a brand-new card may sit unpriced for a while after release.
- Condition and printing matter enormously. The headline figure is a Near Mint, base-printing price; a graded, first-edition, reverse-holo or Japanese copy can be worth a multiple of it or a fraction.
- Thinly traded cards move erratically. For a card that sells rarely, a single unusual sale can swing the market figure, and the 30-day average is usually the more honest number.
- We do not set prices, and we cannot correct a source. If an upstream feed is wrong, our figure is wrong until they fix it.
Price data FAQ
- Where do the card prices on The TCG OS come from?
- They are aggregated from 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.
- How often are 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.
- How is the headline GBP value calculated?
- The basis is the Cardmarket lowest Near Mint price in euros, converted to pounds. Where a card has no Cardmarket figure, the genuine TCGplayer US dollar market price is used instead and converted. The result is a market estimate for a Near Mint, base printing.
- Do you convert currencies at the live exchange rate?
- No. Conversion uses a fixed rate that we update periodically, not a live FX feed, so a card's value does not move purely because the exchange rate moved during the day. That is a deliberate trade-off: the figure is more stable, but it is not a to-the-minute currency conversion.
- Are the US dollar prices converted from pounds?
- Where a genuine TCGplayer US market price exists, that is shown directly — it is a real US-market figure, not a conversion. Where one does not exist, the value is converted from the GBP figure and marked as 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 leave it blank. This is most common on very new sets, obscure promos and printings the upstream catalogue does not identify separately.
- Is my collection value an appraisal?
- 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 a valuation you should insure against or sell on without checking real sold listings.
- Do graded cards use different prices?
- Yes. A graded card is tracked separately from a raw one, and the AI grading tool compares raw value against real graded sold prices when working out whether a card is worth submitting.
- Can I see how a price has moved over time?
- Yes. Card pages carry a price history chart, and the Price Moves surface tracks movement across the cards you own using thresholds you set yourself.
- How do I report a price that looks wrong?
- Get in touch and tell us the card and what you are seeing. If it is a matching problem on our side we can fix it; if the upstream source is wrong, we will tell you that too rather than quietly adjust a number.
Not affiliated with Cardmarket, TCGplayer, TCGGO, JustTCG, Scryfall or any card publisher. What The TCG OS costs