Hunter's Tools
The checks that save money: whether grading pays, whether a slab is real, and how to spot a fake before you buy.
Should I grade it?
Expected value of grading versus selling raw, after grading, shipping, and selling fees.
Graded values: pull sold comps for each grade. Chances: be honest about centering, corners, and surface — most raw cards are not 10s.
Gem (10)% chance
Mint (9)% chance
8 or lower% chance
Verify a graded slab
Look up a cert number with the company that graded it.
Match everything the grader shows — card or book, year, variant, grade, and the photo if they have one — to the slab in the listing. A real cert number on a fake slab, or a cert swapped onto a different card, is the most common slab scam.
Spot fakes, repros, and scams
Retro games — reproduction carts
- •Price first: a rare RPG (EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Pokémon) far under its sold comps is almost always a repro.
- •Ask for a photo of the circuit board. Genuine carts have publisher-marked boards; repros show blobs of black epoxy or mismatched chips.
- •Label: repro labels are often glossy, slightly blurry, or the wrong size; originals are matte with crisp print and correct texture.
- •Shell: wrong plastic color, missing embossed logos, or Phillips screws where the console maker used security screws.
- •Same seller listing several copies of the same rare game is a red flag.
Pokémon & TCG cards
- •Compare with a confirmed real copy: font weight, energy symbols, border color, and the back's blue shading.
- •Fakes are usually glossier, thinner, or flimsier; real cards have a layered core you can see on the edge.
- •Holo pattern should match the set — many fakes use a generic rainbow or flat foil.
- •Sealed product: check shrink-wrap seams and logos against official photos; resealed boxes are common on high-end sets.
Graded slabs (cards & comics)
- •Verify the cert number above, then match the grader's record to the listing photo — not just that the number exists.
- •Check label font, hologram, and the slab's edges for prying or re-gluing.
- •CGC comics: a purple label means restored; yellow Signature Series means a witnessed signature. A signature on a blue label wasn't witnessed.
- •Be wary of sellers who only show stock photos or crop out the label.
Comics
- •Ask whether a raw key has been pressed or restored — both change value, and restoration must be disclosed.
- •Signed books are worth a fraction without a witness or authentication; ask who witnessed it.
- •Second printings and facsimile editions get listed as originals — check the indicia and cover price.
Safe buying — online and local
- •Pay with buyer protection: PayPal Goods & Services or the platform's own checkout. Never Friends & Family, Zelle, or gift cards for a stranger.
- •Local pickup: meet at a police-station safe-exchange zone or a busy store, in daylight, and inspect before paying.
- •Test consoles and carts on the spot — bring a tester, or ask to see it running.
- •Walk away from deposits to “hold” an item, sellers who won't meet, and anyone pushing you off-platform.