About — Card Prices

What We Do

About Card Prices

Card Prices is a free price comparison tool for the collectible trading card market. We aggregate pricing data from TCGplayer and eBay — the two largest card marketplaces — and present it in a single, unified interface. No account required, no paywalls, no affiliate manipulation.

We currently support English Pokémon TCG, with plans to expand to Japanese and other language markets, as well as Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, and other prominent trading card games. Our goal is full coverage across all major TCGs, languages, and print variants.

Why It Exists

Independent Pricing Matters

The collectible card industry has consolidated rapidly. eBay acquired TCGplayer in 2022, and the same parent company (Collectors Holdings) now controls PSA, Beckett, and SGC — three of the largest grading companies. When grading, marketplace, and pricing data are all controlled by interconnected entities, independent tools become essential for collectors and vendors who want transparent, unbiased pricing.

Card Prices exists to provide that transparency. This tool doesn't grade cards, doesn't take a cut of transactions, and has no financial stake in what any card is worth. We just show you what things cost.

Multi-Marketplace

Compare prices across TCGplayer and eBay side by side — market price, lowest listed, recent sales, and shipping costs.

Every Variant

Filter by foiling (Holo, Reverse, Normal), print run (1st Edition, Unlimited), condition (NM through Damaged), and language.

Free Pricing Data

Our core pricing data and comparison tool are free and always will be — no paywalls, no data gating. We may offer optional paid tiers in the future for additional tools and features such as advanced collection tracking, master set management, and scanning applications, but access to market pricing data will remain free. Donations are accepted through Buy Me a Coffee and go directly toward infrastructure and data access to keep the platform running for the community.

How It Works

AI-Powered Infrastructure

Card Prices uses machine learning across every stage of its pipeline — from identifying cards and resolving product variants to normalizing pricing data across marketplaces. What looks like a simple price lookup is backed by multiple layers of automated data processing and validation.

Product Matching

Cards exist under different names, codes, and formats across marketplaces. Our system resolves these inconsistencies automatically, mapping every listing to a canonical product identity regardless of how it's titled.

Data Normalization

Pricing data arrives in different formats from different sources. Our pipeline standardizes, validates, and cross-references this data to produce consistent, comparable pricing.

Data Integrity

Automated validation catches mismatches, outliers, and stale data before it reaches users. We prioritize accuracy over speed — if we can't verify the data, we don't show it.

Coming Soon: Card Scanner

A mobile tool currently in development that identifies cards from photos and returns instant pricing. Built on the same matching and normalization infrastructure that powers the rest of the platform.

For Developers

API Access

We are currently not able to offer public API access to Card Prices data. We understand the interest and look forward to exploring this in the future as the platform matures. If you have a specific use case or partnership inquiry, please reach out — we're happy to discuss what may be possible.

About the Founder

Eric Schnelker holds three Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Tulsa in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Cybersecurity, and is pursuing a Master of Science in Software Engineering at Purdue University. He currently serves as an Operations Research Analyst.

A collector and vendor who works the secondary card market firsthand — buying, selling, and trading at trade shows — he builds the pricing infrastructure, data pipelines, and research tools that power Card Prices and its sister project, Card Research.

Eric also runs Game Enthusiasts LLC, a St. Louis-based trading card business.

Contact

General inquiries & support:
support@card-prices.com

Business & partnerships:
eric@card-prices.com

Research:
eric@card-research.org

LinkedIn: Card Prices LLC

Card Prices LLC is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the United States Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force, or any other governmental agency. Card Prices LLC is not affiliated with Purdue University. The founder's enrollment as a graduate student does not constitute an institutional relationship between Purdue University and Card Prices LLC. Research conducted in connection with Card Prices is independent and not sponsored, directed, or endorsed by Purdue University. The views, content, and opinions expressed on this site are solely those of Card Prices LLC and do not represent the views of any government entity, educational institution, or other organization.