Glossary
What's the difference between TCGplayer market price and TCGplayer low?
TCGplayer market price is an algorithmic average of recent sold prices across conditions. TCGplayer low is the lowest currently-listed price. Market is more stable and reflects actual transactions; low is a snapshot of the cheapest seller right now and can be skewed by a single outlier.
Which one to price from
Most shops autoprice from market price with a margin offset, because market reflects what cards actually sell for and is harder to manipulate. Pricing off low creates a race to the bottom: the cheapest seller defines the price, and every other shop chases them down.
Low is useful as a sanity check (am I priced way above the cheapest copy?) and for high-volume staples where being the cheapest matters. But as a primary signal it's volatile.
Cardmarket equivalent
Cardmarket's trend price is the rough equivalent of market price — a rolling average. The 'lowest available' price is the equivalent of low. Same logic applies: trend is a more stable autopricing input.
Related terms
- Autopricer — An autopricer is software that reprices a card shop's singles automatically against live marketplace data — typically TCGplayer market price, Cardmarket trend price, or eBay sold listings — applying margin rules per channel and per condition.
- Condition-based pricing — Condition-based pricing is the practice of listing the same trading-card SKU at separate price points for each condition grade — typically Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, and Heavily Played. It's standard in TCG retail because card value drops measurably with each grade step.
Run a card shop? Try Storefront Pro — £1,000 setup + 2% on sales. Storefront, POS, buylist, deckbuilder, events, marketplace sync — all in one platform.