Bangerpack's knowledge base

Everything we know about cards, packaging and accessories, written to answer the question directly. Here you will find what the products contain, how to protect and store your cards, what a card is worth and how the games work.

Where to start

Completely new to the hobby	How to start collecting, then the pack types
Buying for a child	Trading cards for children
Buying a present	Booster box, Elite Trainer Box or bundle
Have cards lying loose	How to protect your cards properly
About to start playing	The play guide for your game, then the sleeve guide
Found old cards in the attic	Card condition, then old Pokémon cards or the value of football cards
Considering grading	Grading, then card condition
Buying something expensive	Is the card genuine, and is the box unopened
Selling cards	What is my card worth, then how to sell
Buying from abroad	VAT and customs on imports
Wondering why the price is what it is	Why trading cards cost what they do

Part 1. Buying the right product

What the different products contain and which one suits you.

1. How to start collecting trading cards. Choose your path before you choose a product. The first purchase and the most common mistakes.
2. Trading cards for children. What suits which age and what to avoid.
3. The pack types in card games. Case, display, packs and the variants, with quantities per product.
4. Booster box, Elite Trainer Box or bundle? A comparison of Pokémon's three most common purchases. Shop in displays, Elite Trainer Box and boosters.
5. Hobby or retail in sports cards. The two channels and how the contents differ. Shop in football, Formula 1, hockey, basketball and baseball.
6. Stickers and albums. A branch of the hobby of its own, with its own rules.
7. Topps, Panini and Upper Deck. The companies and their series. Shop in sports cards.
8. Marvel, Star Wars and Disney. The sports card format with other licences. Shop in Marvel, Star Wars and Disney.
9. English or Japanese cards? The differences in quantity, price, quality and tournament legality. Shop in Japanese Pokémon.
10. Buying old sealed boxes. What drives the price of the oldest products.

Part 2. Accessories

The overview first, then one page per accessory: sleeves, holders, boxes, binders and playmats.

• Accessories for trading cards: what is there and what do you need? All accessories in one overview, and what each type is for.

1. Four kinds of sleeves. Penny sleeves, deck protectors, perfect fit sleeves, outer sleeves, sizes and quantities. Shop in sleeves.
2. Toploader, card saver or magnetic holder? The full thickness scale, card savers, magnetic holders and stands. Shop in toploaders and magnetic holders.
3. Which deck box fits your deck? Sizes, designs and what matters. Shop in deck boxes.
4. Card binder for trading cards. Four levels, pockets per page and page qualities. Shop in card binders.
5. Playmats. Designs, care and what is worth paying extra for. Shop in playmats.
6. The brands. Ultra Pro, Dragon Shield, Ultimate Guard, Gamegenic and KMC, with series per brand.

Part 3. How to

The practical steps: opening, protecting, storing, shipping and selling.

1. How to open packs without damaging the cards.
2. Where are the hits in the pack? The card order per game and why it still does not help you.
3. How to protect your cards properly. Which protection belongs to which purpose.
4. How to store your collection. The five things that ruin cards. Shop in storage.
5. How to pack and ship cards.
6. How to sell trading cards. Identification, condition description, photos and pricing.

Part 4. Authenticity, condition and value

What determines whether a purchase is safe and what an item is actually worth.

1. Is the card genuine? Six ways to recognise a fake.
2. Is the box unopened? Assessing the seal, both modern and old.
3. Card condition. Near Mint, Lightly Played and the rest.
4. Grading: PSA, Beckett, CGC and SGC. What is assessed and when it pays off. Shop in grading accessories.
5. What is my card worth? The method, not the guess.
6. Valuable Pokémon cards. How to tell if your card is worth something. Shop in Pokémon.
7. The value of football cards. Cards, stickers and where to see what they have sold for. Shop in football cards.
8. Right of withdrawal and complaints. What applies to distance purchases, including opened packs. Our own terms are in the terms of purchase.
9. Buying cards from abroad. VAT, customs and the customs clearance fee, and when importing actually pays off.

Part 5. The cards and the sets

How to read a card and what the designations mean.

1. Rarity and the symbols on the cards. Common, rare, SIR and the steps in between, per game.
2. What do ex, GX, V and VMAX mean? ex, GX, V and VMAX over the years.
3. The Pokémon sets since the start. The eras and their set codes.
4. Old Pokémon cards. 1st Edition, shadowless and unlimited, and the difference from reprints.
5. The Magic sets.
6. The Yu-Gi-Oh sets.
7. The One Piece sets: OP, ST, EB and PRB.
8. The Disney Lorcana sets.
9. The most expensive cards in each game. What makes a card valuable.
10. How to read a checklist and the odds. Why the odds apply to the category and not the card.

Part 6. The games

The rules, what you need and how to build your first deck.

1. How to play Pokémon TCG. Shop in Pokémon.
2. How to play Magic: The Gathering. Shop in Magic.
3. How to play Commander. A hundred cards, one commander and forty life.
4. Yu-Gi-Oh for beginners. Shop in Yu-Gi-Oh.
5. One Piece Card Game. Shop in One Piece.
6. Getting started with Disney Lorcana. Shop in Lorcana.
7. Riftbound. Shop in Riftbound.
8. Star Wars Unlimited. Leader, base and two arenas. Shop in Star Wars Unlimited.
9. Digimon Card Game. A shared memory gauge and evolution stacks. Shop in Digimon.
10. The Dragon Ball card games. Fusion World and Super Card Game are two different games. Shop in Dragon Ball.
11. Flesh and Blood. The game without resource cards. Shop in Flesh and Blood.
12. Gundam Card Game and Union Arena. Bandai's newer games. Shop in Gundam Card Game and Union Arena.
13. Weiss Schwarz. The title code in the card number and Neo-Standard. Shop in Weiss Schwarz.
14. Grand Archive TCG. Champions that level up, and First Edition versus Alter Edition. Shop in Grand Archive.
15. Final Fantasy cards. Two games with the same name, and how to tell them apart. Shop in the Final Fantasy edition of Magic.

Part 7. Sports cards

One page per sport, and the rookie card that carries the whole sports card world.

1. What is a rookie card? The most important concept in sports cards, and why it costs the most.
2. Parallels, refractors and numbered cards. The colour ladder, the numbering, the autographs and the memorabilia cards.
3. Football cards. Trading cards and swap cards, Topps and Panini, Match Attax and Adrenalyn XL. Shop in football cards.
4. Hockey cards. Upper Deck, Young Guns and the leagues. Shop in hockey cards.
5. Hockey stickers and SHL cards. The Swedish series from Alfa and Semic to SportZoo.
6. Formula 1 cards. Topps Chrome, Sapphire, Dynasty and Turbo Attax. Shop in Formula 1.
7. Basketball cards. The chrome series and the parallel system. Shop in basketball.
8. Baseball cards. Topps' flagship and Bowman's prospect hunt. Shop in baseball.
9. NFL cards. The series, the quarterback and the licence question. Shop in NFL.
10. UFC cards. The debut cards and why prices move in jumps. Shop in UFC.
11. Tennis cards. The licence, the rookie cards and Topps' series. Shop in tennis.
12. Wrestling cards. WWE, AEW and who has held the licence when. Shop in wrestling.

Part 8. Prices and the market

Why products cost what they do, and what happens to the price after release.

1. Why do trading cards cost what they do? VAT, the purchase price and the allocation, with worked examples.
2. The secondary market. Who sets the price once the manufacturer has stopped printing.
3. Scalping of Pokémon cards: what it is and is not. The difference from a shop that prices against its own purchase cost.

Part 9. Pitfalls and special cases

Questions that come up once you have been buying for a while.

1. Repacks and mystery boxes. What you are actually buying when someone other than the manufacturer has packed it.
2. Misprints and error cards. When an error is worth something and when it is just damage.
3. Code cards. The single-use code for the digital version, and why it is worth little.
4. Can a card be cleaned? Almost never, and why.
5. Asian English and other regional editions. The same card, different markets.
6. Proxy cards. Where the line to counterfeiting lies.

Part 10. Reference

• Glossary: the words of the card world. Packaging, card contents, condition, trading, accessories, game formats and hobby slang.

Written by those of us who run Bangerpack. Our range and prices change continuously. What applies when you read this is shown in the category.