One card, a book per condition
Every printing trades in a separate book for every condition it is traded in — the card page opens on Good, Excellent, Near Mint and PSA 10, and any other grade or slab somebody is actually trading appears beside them. Pick a condition and you see its book: asks above, bids below, each row carrying its price, its condition and the counter the card is handed over at. A Near Mint ask tells you nothing about the Good book, and the market never mixes them.
A worked example
| Side | Price | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Ask | € 60 | The second-cheapest copy for sale at this condition. |
| Ask | € 48 | The lowest ask — the price shown on the card page. |
| Bid | € 40 | Accept it and you have sold at € 40. |
| Bid | € 35 | The next buyer in line. |
| Last sale: € 45, 12 days ago, Near Mint. | ||
- Ask — a seller’s price for a specific copy. The lowest ask is what you pay if you buy now.
- Bid — what a buyer will pay, in writing, until it expires. A seller can accept it at any time.
- Spread — the gap between the lowest ask and the highest bid. Here € 8: a liquid card. A € 200 spread means nobody agrees what it is worth.
- Last sale — what a copy actually changed hands for, with the date and the condition. This is the number that matters.
Sold beats asked
An ask is an opinion; a sale is a fact. Asking prices include hopeful numbers that sit for months. When you want to know what a card is worth, read the last sale and the date, then look at where today’s bids sit — that is where the next sale will happen. If there is no sale and no bid, the honest answer is “nobody knows yet”.
Condition changes the price
The same card at GD, EX and NM can be three different prices, and a PSA 10 a fourth. Always read a price with its rung. When a card does not match the rung it was sold as, the money is held until it is sorted out — see the condition guide.
Questions collectors ask
Why does the card page show one price?
It shows the lowest ask for the condition you picked. Open the book to see every ask and bid behind it.
Can I bid below the asking price?
Yes. A bid sits in the book until it expires or a seller accepts it.
Do graded cards have their own book?
Yes — PSA 10 is its own book, and other slabs are listed with their company and grade. Raw and graded prices are never blended.