Reading a Pokémon card, and reading a price.
looka is a price checker for trading cards that works from your webcam. These are the guides behind it: what the small print on a Pokémon card means, where real sale prices come from, and why the number on a listing usually is not one.
- 01
Why your Pokémon card sells for less than the price guide says
Seven reasons the number you looked up is higher than the offers you are getting, from the wrong print variant to an average with one lucky sale buried in it.
ReadExplainerSeptember 2, 20268 min read - 02
How to read a Pokémon card before you look up its price
The collector number, the set symbol, the rarity mark and the regulation mark: where each one sits, what it tells you, and why the name on its own will get you the wrong price.
ReadGuideSeptember 2, 20268 min read - 03
eBay sold listings vs asking prices, and what the sold view hides
How to find sold listings on eBay, why the window is only 90 days, what best offers and shipping do to the numbers, and why the median beats the average.
ReadExplainerSeptember 2, 20268 min read - 04
How to check Pokémon card prices on a laptop, without an app
Two ways to price a card from a browser: the manual eBay route in about two minutes, and holding the card up to the webcam you already have.
ReadHow toSeptember 2, 20267 min read
Written by the people building looka. Prices quoted anywhere on this site come from public sold listings, and the figures in these posts are illustrations unless a source is named next to them.