Guide4 min read
Where to sell Pokémon cards: fees, payouts, and the best place for each card
TCGplayer, eBay, Whatnot, or your local game store? What each one takes from a sale, what you actually keep, and where bulk, singles, and high-value cards each sell best.
Guide
~85%of the sale price you keep on a $20 card after marketplace fees
New to pull rates? The terms in 30 seconds
- “1 in 92 packs”
- On average, you'd open 92 packs to pull one. It's an average, not a promise: you could hit it in pack 3 or go 300 without one.
- SIR (Special Illustration Rare)
- Full-art cards with special artwork. Usually a set's most valuable pulls.
- IR (Illustration Rare)
- Art cards of single Pokémon. More common than SIRs, and often collected as a set.
- Hyper Rare
- The gold cards. Among the rarest pulls in modern sets.
- Double Rare / Ultra Rare
- The ex and full-art cards that make up most of a set's hits.
- Booster box / ETB
- A booster box has 36 packs. An Elite Trainer Box (ETB) has 9, plus sleeves and accessories.
On this page
The best place to sell Pokémon cards depends on what you’re selling. TCGplayer is the biggest market for modern singles, eBay works best for high-value, graded, and vintage cards, Whatnot suits sellers who like live auctions, and a local game store is the fastest way to turn cards into cash or store credit, at a lower price. Online, expect to keep about 85% of the sale price after fees.
Key takeaways
- On a $20 card, you keep about $16.95 to $17.52 after fees on TCGplayer, eBay, or Whatnot, before shipping.
- TCGplayer: the most buyers for modern singles. eBay: best for graded, vintage, and $100+ cards. Whatnot: live auctions with lower fees.
- Local game stores pay less than market, often around half to two-thirds in cash and more in store credit, but you get paid on the spot.
- Bulk (commons, uncommons, basic Energy) is worth cents per card. Sell it by the thousand, not one at a time.
- Price every card against recent sold prices, not asking prices.
What each place takes#
Here’s what you’d keep from a single $20 card on each marketplace, using each site’s standard fees for a regular seller as of Oct 8, 2026:
| Marketplace | Standard fees | Fees on a $20 sale | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| TCGplayer | 10.75% commission + 2.5% + $0.30 processing | $2.95 | $17.05 |
| eBay | 13.25% final value fee + $0.40 per order over $10 | $3.05 | $16.95 |
| Whatnot | 8% commission + 2.9% + $0.30 processing | $2.48 | $17.52 |
The fee rates are close, so the real difference is how fast a card sells and how close to market price it goes. A few details change the math:
- Fees apply to shipping and tax too. All three charge their percentage on the order total the buyer pays, not just the card’s price.
- Shipping is on you. A plain envelope for a cheap card costs about a stamp; anything worth tracking costs a few dollars more, which eats most of the profit on a $5 card.
- eBay checks expensive cards. Eligible cards that sell for $250 or more go through eBay’s authenticity check before they reach the buyer, which makes buyers more willing to pay full price.
Our pack-value numbers use a similar model: market price minus 13% and $0.30 a card. See our methodology.
Where to sell each kind of card#
| What you have | Best place | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Modern singles under $100 | TCGplayer | The most buyers, priced against a visible market |
| Graded cards (PSA, BGS, CGC) | eBay | Graded buyers shop there, and sold listings set the price |
| Vintage and high-value cards | eBay, or an auction house for $1,000+ | Wider reach, authenticity programs, auction competition |
| A mix of cards, sold fast | Whatnot | Live auctions move volume quickly |
| Bulk and low-value cards | A local store or bulk buyer | Not worth the fees and postage one card at a time |
| Sealed product | eBay or a local store | Buyers want proof it’s factory sealed |
Selling to a local game store#
Game stores buy cards so they can resell them, so they pay below market. It’s common to be offered roughly half to two-thirds of market value in cash, and more if you take store credit. In return you get paid immediately, with no listing, shipping, or returns.
Before you go:
- Look up prices first. Check recent sold prices for anything that might be worth $5 or more.
- Sort your cards. Separate hits, holos and reverse holos, and bulk. Stores move faster, and offer more fairly, when they can see what you have.
- Ask about credit vs. cash. If you’ll spend it there anyway, credit is the better deal.
What bulk and basic Energy are worth#
Commons, uncommons, and basic Energy cards are worth cents each. Bulk buyers usually pay a few dollars per thousand commons and uncommons, and a few cents each for holos and reverse holos, so bulk only makes sense in large lots. Basic Energy cards are close to worthless, with a few exceptions like holo Energy from special sets and old 1st Edition Energy.
Our pack-value model counts any card under $1.50 as $0.05 bulk, for the same reason: after fees and postage, that’s about what a cheap card is worth to the person selling it.
Should you grade before selling?#
Grading can multiply the value of a card in perfect condition, but it costs money and time, and most cards don’t come back as a 10. Grade only cards that are both valuable and close to flawless. Our guides cover what grading costs, how long it takes, and how to submit cards.
Where these numbers come from#
Fees are each marketplace’s published standard rates for regular US sellers, checked Oct 8, 2026: TCGplayer’s Level 1–4 marketplace fees, eBay’s Trading Cards category without a store subscription, and Whatnot’s standard seller fees. Store-account tiers, promotions, and international sales can change them.