Guides

Get more out of every scan

Practical, no-fluff guides on scanning cards with video, grading condition honestly, and building a collection you actually know inside out.

Getting Started10 min read

Getting Started with CardArk: The Complete User Guide

The full walkthrough — from your first scan to listing cards on eBay. Sign-in, scanning, importing spreadsheets, pricing, showcases, community features, sales tracking and integrations, all in one place.

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Scanning5 min read

How to Scan Trading Cards with Video: Best Practices

Get the cleanest AI card scans from your stacking videos. Lighting, backgrounds, camera position, stacking pace and sleeve glare — everything that affects card recognition accuracy.

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Pricing4 min read

Trading Card Conditions Explained: From Near Mint to Damaged

What Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged actually mean, how each condition affects a card's market value, and how to grade your own cards honestly.

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Collecting4 min read

How to Organize a Pokemon Card Collection Digitally

Turn a shoebox of Pokemon cards into a searchable digital binder: auto-sorting by set, tracking duplicates, set checklists for missing cards, and watching prices over time.

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Scanning3 min read

Pokemon vs Sports Cards: What to Expect from AI Card Scanning

CardArk works best with Pokemon cards. Sports cards are supported too — here's exactly what's different, why sports pricing data is thinner, and how to get the best results with sports cards.

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Pricing6 min read

How Much Is My Pokemon Card Worth? A Step-by-Step Valuation Guide

Learn how to value any Pokemon card using real last-sold prices, condition, rarity and edition. A practical walkthrough of what actually determines a card's market value in 2026.

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Collecting5 min read

How to Tell If a Pokemon Card Is Rare

Read the rarity symbol, spot holos, reverse holos, secret rares, alt arts and promos, and understand 1st Edition and Shadowless markers — a plain-English guide to Pokemon card rarity.

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Collecting5 min read

How to Spot a Fake Pokemon Card

Proven tests to tell a genuine Pokemon card from a counterfeit: the light test, texture and font checks, colour and back-print tells, and the rip test as a last resort.

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Grading6 min read

PSA vs CGC vs Beckett: Which Grading Company Should You Use?

A clear comparison of the three main card grading companies — PSA, CGC and Beckett (BGS) — covering resale value, turnaround, cost, subgrades and which to pick for Pokemon cards.

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Selling7 min read

How to Sell Your Pokemon Card Collection for the Best Price

From cataloguing and pricing to choosing between eBay, marketplaces and local buyers — a practical playbook for selling a Pokemon card collection without leaving money on the table.

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Collecting6 min read

The Most Valuable Pokemon Cards (and How to Know If You Have One)

The categories of Pokemon cards that command the highest prices — vintage 1st Edition holos, promos, errors and modern chase alt arts — plus how to check if a card in your binder is a hidden gem.

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Collecting5 min read

How to Store and Protect Your Pokemon Cards

Sleeves, toploaders, binders and box storage explained — how to protect Pokemon cards from wear, sunlight and humidity, and keep valuable cards in the best possible condition.

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Grading5 min read

Is It Worth Grading Your Pokemon Cards? When Grading Pays Off

How to decide whether to grade a Pokemon card: the maths of grading fees vs. graded premiums, which cards are worth submitting, and how to estimate the grade before you pay.

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