How to Sell Pokémon Bulk Cards: Sort, Count, and Get Paid

Bulk is any card whose individual market price is too low to sell as a single. In practice that means non-holo commons, uncommons, and most non-holo rares from modern sets, plus basic energy. These cards typically trade for a few cents each or less.

Reverse holos, holo rares, and ultra rares (ex, V, full arts, illustration rares) are usually priced separately by buyers, or are worth selling as singles. Keep them out of your bulk pile until you've checked them.

Before you sell, go through your pile once and pull out anything that could be worth more on its own. The cards most often missed:

• Older sets. Commons and uncommons from WOTC-era and early EX-era sets often sell for well above bulk, especially in good condition.
• Popular Pokémon. Charizard, Pikachu, Eevee and the Eeveelutions, Gengar, and Umbreon can carry a premium even at common rarity.
• Trainer cards that see competitive play. Staples in the current format can sell for $0.25 to $1 or more each.
• Error cards and stamped promos. Misprints, miscuts, and set or event stamps are easy to overlook.

A quick price check on TCGPlayer settles it. If a card is worth more than a dollar or two, sleeve it in a penny sleeve and set it aside to sell as a single. Before you list it, read why you need a price floor on TCGPlayer so a cheap single doesn't cost you money to ship.

Don't overdo this step. Checking every common from a modern set one by one takes hours and rarely turns up anything. Focus on older sets, popular Pokémon, and anything that looks unusual.

Separate English cards from Japanese and other languages. Most bulk buyers, including ours, price English bulk on its own, and mixed languages slow down the buyer's count and can get your shipment adjusted.

Then count. Hand-counting a few hundred cards is fine, but past that, use a kitchen scale. A standard Pokémon card weighs about 1.75 grams, so 100 cards come in around 175 grams and 1,000 cards around 1.75 kilograms (roughly 3.9 pounds). Count out 100 cards by hand once, weigh them on your own scale to calibrate, then weigh the rest.

Store the counted stacks in a cardboard bulk storage box so they stay flat and organized until you ship or drop them off.

We buy English Pokémon bulk from all sets at $1.00 per 100 cards, with no cap on quantity. That works out to $10 per 1,000 cards. Head to the Buying link in the header, add English Bulk to your cart in 100-card increments, and check out. The buylist also lists individual cards we're buying, so look there before you toss a card into the bulk pile.

Selling online makes the most sense when you have a few thousand cards or more, since the payout covers shipping comfortably. Pack the cards tightly in a box so they can't shift in transit, and fill any empty space with paper.

Most local card shops buy bulk too. The advantages are real: no shipping, no waiting on the mail, and you walk out with cash or store credit the same day. If you only have a few hundred cards, a local shop is often the simpler choice.

Bulk rates vary a lot from shop to shop, and many pay less per thousand than an online buylist since they're buying to resell at a margin. Store credit offers are usually higher than cash, which is a good deal if you were going to spend the money there anyway. Call ahead and ask three things:

• What do you pay per 1,000 bulk cards, in cash and in credit?
• Do you pay separately for reverse holos and holo rares?
• Is there a minimum or maximum amount you'll take?

Compare their answer against our $10 per 1,000 rate and the cost of shipping your box, then pick whichever puts more in your pocket.