Question 1

What is Cardfolio, exactly?

Accepted Answer

It's a home for your Pokémon collection. You add cards by pointing your camera at them, and Cardfolio identifies each one and attaches a current market value to it. From there you can organise cards into binders, track your progress against a full set, watch your collection's value over time, and value a trade before you agree to it.

Question 2

How do I add my first card?

Accepted Answer

Open the scanner and hold a card in the frame. It captures itself once the card is steady — you don't have to press anything, though there's a shutter button if you prefer. Cardfolio then shows you what it found. Check it's the right card, set the condition, and add it. 1. Tap Scan. 2. Tap "Start scanning", and allow camera access when your browser asks. 3. Hold the card flat in the frame, filling most of it, and keep still for about a second. 4. Check the match, choose a condition, then tap to add it.

Question 3

Can I try it before making an account?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Without an account you get five free scans, and any card you tap Save on is held on your device. When you do sign up, those saved cards move into your real collection automatically — nothing you kept while trying it out is lost.

Question 4

Is Cardfolio free? What does Pro add?

Accepted Answer

Free is genuinely free and has no card limit — collect as much as you like, with unlimited binders and master sets, and no card details needed to sign up. You can also start a Pokémon master set — every card of one Pokémon — and see your progress on it. Free includes 30 camera scans a month, 90 days of value history, CSV imports of up to 500 cards at a time, 2 trade verdicts a month, and a one-page preview of the Collection Valuation Report (the cover, your totals and your top ten, watermarked Preview). Pro removes those caps: unlimited scans, your full value history, imports up to 10,000 cards, every trade verdict, applying a trade to your collection, the full Collection Valuation Report PDF, the Collection Workbook (one Excel file with a summary, gain and loss, and breakdowns by set and condition), and a statement of your month on the 1st of every month. The Rundown on your collection page stays up to date every day, and Collector Card finishes up to Elite Trainer are yours to wear straight away. It also tracks Pokémon master sets to the last card (every card you're missing, in order; Free sees the next three and the cost to finish) and adds the Finish plan to every set: the missing cards cheapest first with a running total, a budget, and the spare copies that would cover gaps. The 151 founding-member places, which carry all of Pro free for life, were all claimed on 1 October 2026. Pro has been on sale since: £3.99 a month or £34.99 a year (see "How much is Pro?").

Question 5

Can I put Cardfolio on my home screen?

Accepted Answer

Yes — it installs like an app, with no app store involved. It opens full-screen, launches faster, and keeps your last-saved values readable when you're offline. Go to Profile → Settings → Install the app for the steps on your device. That row only appears on phones and tablets, in a browser that can install it. If you don't see it, either it's already installed, you're on a desktop computer, or you're in Chrome, Firefox or Edge on an iPhone — on iPhone it has to be Safari: Share → Add to Home Screen.

Question 6

What's the checklist at the top of my collection?

Accepted Answer

A short list of the things worth doing once — scan a card, confirm your email, pick a Trainer name, start a master set, share a collection. It ticks itself off as you go and disappears for good when it's done. Confirming your email and choosing a Trainer name have to be finished before it can be dismissed, because the rest of the app depends on both.

Question 7

How does scanning actually work?

Accepted Answer

The scanner watches for the shape of a card in the frame. Once it sees one and you hold it steady for about a second, it captures automatically and sends that single frame off to be identified. Reading a card takes a moment. The frame keeps showing the card where you held it, with a gold line sweeping over it, while that happens — tap Cancel to go back to the camera at any point. Your camera is switched fully off while the card is being read, which is why the camera indicator on your phone goes dark between scans. The first time you open the scanner, a short demo shows what good framing looks like; the ? button brings it back. A soft click plays when it captures and a chime when a card is added. To turn them off, tap ? and switch off "Capture sounds" (on iPhone, the silent switch mutes them too). A valuable card gets a moment of its own after a single scan: its value is revealed rather than just shown, and the more it's worth, the bigger the reveal. Tap anywhere to skip the longer ones. If your device is set to reduce motion, you get a short fade instead. Batch scanning never plays them. Closed a result by mistake? A "Card not added" message appears for a few seconds. Tap Undo on it to bring the result back.

Question 8

How do I get more accurate scans?

Accepted Answer

Recognition is reading the artwork, the name and the card number. Anything that obscures those — glare, a steep angle, a cropped edge — makes it work harder. 1. Lay the card flat rather than holding it at an angle. 2. Fill most of the frame with the card, with all four corners visible. 3. Turn the card so glare falls off the artwork — tilting a few degrees usually clears it. 4. Use even, indirect light. Overhead spotlights are the usual culprit. In a dim room use the flash button at the top of the scanner — it only appears on devices whose browser lets a web page control the light. 5. Keep still for a moment once the frame locks on.

Question 9

It identified the wrong card. How do I fix it?

Accepted Answer

Nothing is added to your collection until you confirm, so a wrong match costs you nothing but a tap. Under the result you'll see "Not this card? See other matches". Tap it to see the cards it also considered — the right one is usually there. Picking it from that list is also how Cardfolio learns which cards look alike. (If that line isn't there, this was the only candidate: scan again.) If you'd already saved the wrong card, remove it from your collection and add the right one — there's no way to swap one entry for another. 1. Tap "See other matches" under the result and look for the right card. 2. If it isn't listed, dismiss the result and scan again with the card flatter and better lit. 3. If two printings look identical, check the card number in the bottom corner against the one shown. 4. Still wrong? Search the catalogue by name and add it by hand.

Question 10

It picked the holo when mine is reverse holo (or the wrong variant)

Accepted Answer

Reverse holos, first editions, stamped promos and other printings share the same artwork and the same card number as the ordinary print, so a photo often can't separate them. When Cardfolio can't tell, it starts on the standard printing — the one most collections hold. When a card comes in more than one printing, the result lets you choose: either as a row of Finish chips under the card — tap yours and the value updates before you add it — or as a short list headed "Is it one of these?", where each row shows its printing and value. Each printing is priced separately. If the printing you have isn't offered, tap "See other matches" under the result. Already added it as the wrong one? Open the card in your collection and change its Printing — it keeps its condition, price paid and binder, and is valued as the printing you chose. A card's other printings are also listed on its page, under "Other printings".

Question 11

It read my Japanese card as English (or the other way round)

Accepted Answer

Language is worked out from the card itself, so you normally never touch it. The one case it can't crack is a Japanese and English pair that share artwork and number — genuine twins. When the other language has the same card, the result offers "Try Japanese instead" (or "Try English instead"). Tap it to re-read the photo you already took in the other language — no need to scan again. It also appears when you've set the language yourself and nothing matched. That choice lasts for the rest of this visit. To make one language stick on this device, set the AUTO / EN / JP switch at the bottom of the scanner — it stays where you leave it. If scans keep coming back in the wrong language, that switch is the first thing to check: set it back to AUTO.

Question 12

Does Cardfolio handle Japanese cards?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as first-class cards, not an afterthought — the catalogue covers Japanese sets and the scanner detects them automatically. The AUTO / EN / JP switch at the bottom of the scanner starts on AUTO, and you can leave it there. Japanese cards are valued and condition-adjusted on the same basis as English ones. Coverage of very old or obscure Japanese promos is thinner than for English, so a few will need adding by hand.

Question 13

How do I scan a stack of cards quickly?

Accepted Answer

Switch from Single to Batch at the bottom of the scanner. The camera then stays on between cards. Each card it recognises outright goes into the tray — the stack beside the shutter, with a count — with a chime, and you move straight on to the next one. When it isn't sure, it stops and asks, the same as scanning one card at a time, so nothing goes into the tray without a match. Tap the tray to review it. Remove anything that's wrong, and tap a card's printing tag to change its printing. Then pick a condition and a binder for the lot ("Condition for all", "Binder for all") and add them in one go. Your choice is remembered on this device. Batch is for members; scanning without an account is always one card at a time.

Question 14

Can I scan cards in sleeves, toploaders or a binder?

Accepted Answer

Yes to all three — the scanner is built to hold its lock through the glare a sleeve throws, and scanning straight off a binder page works. Matte sleeves scan best. A glossy sleeve or a thick toploader under a bright light can wash out the artwork; tilting a few degrees to move the reflection off the card usually fixes it in one go.

Question 15

It couldn't identify my card at all

Accepted Answer

When it isn't sure, it says so rather than adding a wrong card: you'll see "Is it one of these?" with its closest guesses — tap yours if it's there — or "Couldn't read that card" when it has none to offer. The usual causes are glare, a heavily played or damaged card whose artwork is obscured, or a card genuinely not in the catalogue yet. 1. Try once more with the card flat, well lit and filling the frame. 2. If it's a very old, damaged or unusual promo, search the catalogue by name and add it by hand. 3. If the catalogue doesn't have it either, email us with the card name, set and number — missing cards get added.

Question 16

The camera won't turn on

Accepted Answer

Almost always a browser permission rather than a fault. Cardfolio can ask for the camera once — after that the answer is remembered by your browser, and a previous "block" has to be undone in browser settings. 1. Close the scanner and open it again — a one-off failure often clears on its own. 2. Check nothing else is using the camera (another tab, a video call). 3. Tap the padlock or ⓘ in your browser's address bar and set Camera to Allow, then reload. 4. On iPhone: Settings → Safari → Camera → Allow. On Android Chrome: Settings → Site settings → Camera. 5. If you're on a laptop, check the physical camera shutter or privacy switch. 6. Still stuck? Add cards by searching the catalogue while we sort it out.

Question 17

Scanning feels slow, or it captured before I was ready

Accepted Answer

Reading a card takes a few seconds of real work on our side — that's the wait you're seeing, and it's the same whether you're on Free or Pro. If it fires before you're ready, it's because a card-shaped object was already steady in frame when the viewfinder opened. Move the card away and bring it back and the lock restarts. Tapping the shutter yourself always works too.

Question 18

I've run out of scans

Accepted Answer

Free includes 30 camera scans a calendar month, and the count resets on the 1st. Without an account you get five in total. Running out doesn't lock you out of anything you already own, and it never touches your cards or their values. You can keep adding cards by searching the catalogue, or by importing a spreadsheet. 1. Add cards by searching the catalogue — unlimited on every plan. 2. Import a CSV if you have a lot to add at once. 3. Wait for the 1st of the month, when your 30 scans come back. 4. Or upgrade to Pro for unlimited scanning.

Question 19

It says scanning is paused, or isn't available right now

Accepted Answer

The "Scanning is paused" screen means the recognition service isn't reachable — it's on our side, not yours, and it's temporary. Everything else works normally in the meantime: your collection, values, binders and the catalogue are all unaffected. Add cards by searching the catalogue and try scanning again in a little while.

Question 20

What is the Rundown on my Overview, and why can I only see it once?

Accepted Answer

The Rundown is a standing account of where your collection stands, under the value chart on the Overview: where your value sits (the few cards that make up most of it), what moved your total this week and why, the sets you're closest to finishing and what finishing costs, your spare copies and what they come to, and how far your last Valuation Report has drifted from today's values. Every number in it is a number the app shows elsewhere — the collection total, Cost to Finish on the set page, the Monday email's breakdown of the week — read from your own cards. It never makes a claim about where a price is going, and values come from real UK and US market data, the same as everywhere else in Cardfolio. It appears once you own 25 cards. On Free you see it once, in full. After that the Overview keeps your collection total and your movers as before, with one line where the panel was. On Pro it's read fresh from your collection every day, and "Your movers" also says when one card is most of the week's move. It is not Cardfolio Watch. Watch tells you when something changes for you; the Rundown tells you where things stand. When Watch is on, the two read from the same picture of your collection.

Question 21

What is the monthly statement?

Accepted Answer

The monthly statement is your month in your own numbers. Cardfolio Pro members get it by email on the 1st of every month, and it's kept in the app. The first one arrives on 1 December, for November. It says what your collection is worth now against what it was worth at the start of the month — your collection as it stands today, priced as the market stood on the 1st, the same way the value chart does it — and how much the market moved it. When one card accounts for most of that change, it says which. Then come the sets you added cards to, the medals you earned, and what Pro did for you: scans, cards added, trade verdicts and valuation reports. If we changed how part of the catalogue is priced during the month, the statement says so and doesn't report a change, because the two ends of the month wouldn't have been measured the same way. A statement is issued once, for the month that has just ended, so it doesn't shift afterwards when prices do. You can save its headline as an image to keep or send; nothing is published and there is no public link. On Free, the statement page shows your month's headline — what your collection was worth at the start of the month and is worth now, and the card behind the change. Open it in the first week of the month to read the month just gone. The cards, sets, medals, the image to save and the email on the 1st come with Pro. 1. Open your collection and tap "Monthly statement" at the top of the Rundown. 2. Pick a month if you have more than one, and tap "Save the card" to keep or send the headline image. 3. To stop the email, switch off Profile → Settings → Email → "Other emails", or use the link at the bottom of it. The statement is still kept in the app.

Question 22

How do I add a card without scanning?

Accepted Answer

Search the catalogue by card name, open the card, and add it to your collection. You can set condition and what you paid at the same time. Adding this way is unlimited on every plan — it doesn't use a scan.

Question 23

How do I change a card's condition, price paid or binder?

Accepted Answer

Tap the card in your collection, then Edit card. Change what you need and save. Condition, what you paid and which binder it lives in are all editable at any time — and so is the printing, when the card comes in more than one (1st Edition, Shadowless, reverse holo). Changing the condition re-values the card immediately — see how condition affects value.

Question 24

How do I remove a card?

Accepted Answer

Open the card from your collection and choose "Remove from collection", then confirm. The message that follows has an Undo button that puts the card back exactly as it was. Removing a card takes it out of your collection entirely. If you only want it out of one binder, change its binder to "No binder" instead — it stays in your collection.

Question 25

Can I keep a want list?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Tap the heart on any card you're after — on its page, beside a search result, on a set's cards, or "Not yours? Want it" after a scan. On a set's Missing tab, "Want all missing" puts every gap on the list at once. Your want list is on the Cards tab under Wanted: every card with what one copy costs today, top priority first and cheapest first within it, and what crossing them all off would cost. Tap a card to set its priority — Top cards lead the list, Someday ones wait at the bottom — the condition that would do, the most you'd pay, and a note. When you add a copy that meets the condition you asked for — by search, scan, import or a completed trade — it's crossed off your list for you. Wanting a Graded 10? Leave it on Any 10 and any company's 10 crosses it off, or choose one (PSA 10, BGS 9.5, TAG 10 or ACE 10) and only that company's slab will; a BGS 9.5 want takes a BGS 10 too. A trade can name the slab you're getting the same way. A tracked master set already knows what it's missing, so you don't need to want every gap; the want list is for everything else, and for the gaps you care about most. It's free on every plan, with no limit. Importing a spreadsheet? A row with a quantity of 0 goes on your want list, and your CSV and Excel exports write your want list back out the same way — a want for any condition as a blank condition, which reads back as any condition.

Question 26

I own three of the same card — how do I record that?

Accepted Answer

Add it three times. Each copy is its own entry, so each one can carry its own condition and its own purchase price — which is how it works in real life, where your three Charizards aren't interchangeable. There's no quantity field for that reason. A CSV import with a quantity column does the same thing: quantity 3 creates three separate entries.

Question 27

Which condition should I choose?

Accepted Answer

Four options, kept deliberately simple: NM (near mint — sharp corners, clean surface), LP (lightly played — light edge wear or a small surface mark), HP (heavily played — obvious wear, creasing or scratching), and Graded for a slab, recorded with its grading company and grade. If you're unsure between two, pick the lower one. An honest collection value is worth more than a flattering one.

Question 28

How do I track graded cards?

Accepted Answer

Choose Graded when you add or edit the card, then the grading company — PSA, BGS, TAG or ACE — and the grade. Each company offers only the grades it gives: PSA and TAG go up in half grades to 8.5, then 9 and 10 (neither gives a 9.5); BGS uses half grades all the way to 10; ACE uses whole grades only. The slab is recorded exactly as it is, and shows that way everywhere — "BGS 9.5", "PSA 10". Cards from other graders (CGC, SGC and others) aren't recorded as slabs yet — add them as raw cards at the condition that fits. Every slab is valued at its own company and grade, in your chosen market. Where the market has a figure for that exact grade, the slab is valued from it; where it doesn't, it's estimated from what the same card fetches raw, at Grade 9 and at PSA 10, and the card page tells you when a slab's value is an estimate. Companies trade at different levels — a BGS 9.5 or an ACE 10 isn't priced like a PSA 10 — and graded cards are valued for the market you're in, so a slab's value can differ between the UK and the US. Choosing NM, LP or HP for a slab takes it out of the case.

Question 29

Is my card worth grading?

Accepted Answer

On a card you hold raw, the card page's Worth grading? shows what it would be worth at each grade it could come back as, and how much more that is than your copy as it is. The grades follow your copy's condition: 8, 9 and 10 for Near Mint, 6 and 7 for LP, 4 and 5 for HP (with BGS's 9.5 for a Near Mint copy). It's what each grade would be worth, never the odds of getting it: nobody can say how a card will grade before it's graded. When no grade would add anything, it says so. It never shows a grading fee. What grading costs depends on the company, the service, what the card is worth once graded and postage, and it changes through the year, so set what grading would add against what it would cost you. Cardfolio Pro shows every likely grade from PSA, BGS, TAG and ACE, opening on your grading company once you've chosen one in Settings; Free shows one PSA grade. On a slab you already hold, Your copies says what it's worth over the same card raw at Near Mint.

Question 30

Can the card page lead with BGS, TAG or ACE?

Accepted Answer

Yes. In Settings, choose your grading company: PSA, BGS, TAG or ACE. Cardfolio then leads with that company's gem grade, the one its collectors chase (PSA 10, BGS 9.5, TAG 10 or ACE 10), wherever it shows a graded value: card pages, search and the scanner. Choosing Graded when you add a card starts on it too. BGS 10 Pristine is in Compare graders, under BGS 9.5. It changes which graded value Cardfolio leads with, never what your cards are worth. Your collection value, your slabs, your charts and your weekly change stay exactly the same. Compare graders, under a card's prices, shows that card at every company's gem grade side by side. A figure marked estimate has limited market data behind it, so treat it as a rough guide. Where a card has too little market data to value a company's grade at all, it says "Not enough to value yet" and shows the PSA 10 for reference, rather than a guess. Everyone starts on PSA. If all your slabs are from one other company, Cardfolio may ask you once whether to switch. It never changes it for you.

Question 31

Can I track sealed products?

Accepted Answer

Yes — booster boxes, booster bundles, Elite Trainer Boxes and single packs are all in the catalogue and are valued like anything else. Sealed products have no condition tier, so you'll see "Sealed" instead of the NM/LP/HP choice. They can't be added to a master set, since a master set tracks a set's card checklist.

Question 32

How do I sort and filter my collection?

Accepted Answer

Sort by value (high to low, the default), recently added, name, set, or condition. Inside a binder you've arranged by hand, "My arrangement" keeps your own pocket order. You can also filter by condition, and use the search box to narrow by card name, set or number. Filters apply to whatever you're looking at — all cards, or one binder. Inside a binder, search, filters and select live in the List view. The binder view itself only sorts, because filtering would empty pockets on the page you're looking at.

Question 33

Can I change lots of cards at once?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Turn on select mode in your collection (in a binder, switch to List first), tap the cards you want, and the action bar gives you four buttons: Move puts them in a binder, Remove takes them out of the binder you're in, Condition sets their condition, and Delete removes them from your collection. Mind the difference between the last two. Remove only appears inside a binder and the cards stay in your collection; Delete takes them out of your collection, asks you to confirm, and offers Undo straight after.

Question 34

What do the numbers at the top of my collection mean?

Accepted Answer

Total value is every entry you own added up at current market value, adjusted for each card's condition. Cards is how many entries that is — three copies of one card count as three (it reads Items once you hold sealed products too). Collections is how many binders and master sets you've made. Gain is what your collection has gained or lost: total value against what you told us you paid. It only counts cards that have a purchase price, so it shows a dash with "add what you paid" until at least one does, and it is shown on the UK market only. The chart shows your collection's value day by day, in the market you've selected.

Question 35

How does my collector rank work?

Accepted Answer

Your rank climbs through ten tiers — Starter, Trainer, Ace Trainer, Collector, Elite Trainer, Veteran, Curator, Master Collector, Champion and Legend — as you earn XP, at 1,000 / 4,000 / 8,000 / 12,500 / 17,500 / 42,000 / 62,000 / 90,000 / 130,000 XP. Legend keeps climbing after that: a star for every further 50,000 XP, engraved on your card. XP rewards collecting, not just a big pile: cards (30 each for your first 100, then less), every set you own a card from, master sets (4,000 for each of the first ten you finish, then 2,000, plus XP for every percentage point of every set you're working on), graded 10s from any of the four graders (150 each for your first 20, then less), each day you add cards, your collection's 30-day average value (up to 3,000), and every medal you earn — commons the least, epics the most. A rank never goes down. If you sell or remove cards, you keep the highest rank you've reached. The Journey tab's rank ladder shows every rank and exactly what each XP source is worth for you.

Question 36

What is Journey, and what do the medals mean?

Accepted Answer

Journey is its own tab, at /journey; Profile shows your rank and links to it. It groups everything your collecting can earn into pages — collection size, breadth across sets, depth into one, coming back to add more, master sets finished, Japanese collecting, grading, and a few one-off firsts — each pocket a bronze, silver, gold or platinum badge for what you did. A few, in blue, are landmarks rather than badges — your collection passing a value like £1,000. Those are honest about what they are: news your collection arrived at, not something you did, so they're not graded the same way an achievement is, and never carry a rarity percentage. Earned badges also show how rare they are — 'X% of collectors have this' — measured across every collector with at least 10 cards, refreshed hourly. It only appears once enough collectors exist for a percentage to mean something. A handful of medals are secret — they show as '???' until you earn them, with only their rarity and an occasional one-line clue visible beforehand. New medal families arrive from time to time too, with no time limit to earn them — you'll get a one-off "New in Journey" note the first time you open the app after one lands. Every unlock is celebrated the moment it happens, sized to how big a deal it is: a small badge is a quick toast that clears itself in a few seconds, while a rarer one or a rank-up gets the fuller treatment. Nothing celebrates while you're mid-scan or partway through a dialog — it waits for a moment that won't get in the way, and nothing you earn is ever lost, only delayed. 1. Tap Journey in the navigation — your finest medals, what you earned recently, what's nearly there, every family in its own drawer, and the rank ladder. 2. Tap any badge, earned or locked, to see what earned it, how rare it is, and the next one in its family. 3. Profile → Settings → Celebrations: Full gives the full treatment and the little progress notes ('6 cards to go'); Quiet keeps everything to small toasts, with no progress notes.

Question 37

What is my Collector Card, and how do finishes work?

Accepted Answer

Your Collector Card is the card at the top of Profile: your Trainer name, when you joined and your collector rank, plus a numbered seal if you're a founding member, or the Pro seal if you have Cardfolio Pro. It also appears on every collection and trade you share, so people can see who built it. Each rank earns a finish for the card: Graphite at Starter, Cobalt at Trainer, Jade at Ace Trainer, Amethyst at Collector, Ember at Elite Trainer, Ruby at Veteran, Pearl at Curator, Holofoil at Master Collector, Rainbow at Champion, and Gold Foil at Legend — the one finish no plan can unlock early. Vault, the classic navy and gold, is open to everyone. A finish you've earned stays yours, even if your collection shrinks. Cardfolio Pro unlocks finishes up to Elite Trainer. Veteran and above have to be earned — Gold Foil shows as a sealed shape in the picker until you reach Champion, so you know it's there before you see it revealed at Legend. 1. Go to Profile and tap Card finish under your card. 2. Tap a finish to see it on your own card. Locked ones can be previewed too, with how far away they are. 3. Tap Wear to apply it, or choose Auto to always wear your best rank's finish.

Question 38

How do I search the catalogue?

Accepted Answer

Open Explore and type a card name, a set name or a card number. One search covers every English and Japanese set at once — there's no language to pick first. On a keyboard, press / to jump straight to the search box. Results can be narrowed to one set with the "All sets" dropdown, and sorted by best match, name, set or price. Switch from Cards to Sealed to search booster boxes, Elite Trainer Boxes and other sealed products instead. Type it the way it's printed: "4/102" or "#4" finds that number exactly, "sv151 199" uses the set code from the bottom of the card, and "first edition" or "reverse holo" finds that printing. A misspelling is caught too — search "charzard" and you'll see Charizard, with a note saying so. The search on your own Cards tab reads numbers, printings and set codes the same way. Open any result to see its page, or add it to your collection from there. Searching and adding this way never uses a scan.

Question 39

How do I browse sets, and what does a set's page tell me?

Accepted Answer

In Explore, switch from Search to Sets. Sets are grouped by era, newest first, and the EN / JP switch flips between English and Japanese sets — it remembers your choice on that device. Each tile shows the set's year, how many cards it has, how many you own, and what the whole set is worth. Open a set for the detail: Set value is every card's ungraded market price added up, You own is your count, and Cost to complete is what the cards you're missing would cost at today's prices. The All / Owned / Missing tabs, a rarity filter and a price sort let you find what to chase next. "Track as Master Set" turns the set into a master set in your collection, so your progress follows you around the app. It's free and unlimited.

Question 40

What's on a card's page?

Accepted Answer

Its value at each condition — NM, LP, HP and graded (PSA 10, or your grading company's top grade if you've chosen another) — for the market you've chosen, a price chart you can read over 30, 90 or 180 days or all of it, and "Add to collection". Sealed products show a single sealed value instead, and low-value modern cards show a bulk value. Under the price is a line naming the market it is valued in and the date it was last updated, with the confidence dot beside it on the UK market. "How we value cards" explains what the values mean. Share copies a link to the page. Card pages inside the app need an account to open, so send it to someone who has one — or share your collection or a binder instead, which anyone can open. If a card shows "No UK price yet" or "No US price yet", there isn't enough market activity to price it honestly in that market. Try the other market.

Question 41

What's the difference between a binder and a master set?

Accepted Answer

A binder is yours to organise however you like — by set, by Pokémon, by theme, by anything. You name it, colour it, and arrange the cards inside it by hand. A master set tracks your progress against a real set's official checklist. Every card in that set has a slot, filled or empty, so you can see exactly what's missing and watch a completion percentage climb. Use a binder for how you want to display cards. Use a master set for chasing a set to completion. To chase every card of one Pokémon instead, start a Pokémon master set.

Question 42

How do I create a binder or start a master set?

Accepted Answer

Your collection page has a tile for each, at the end of its shelf. "New binder" creates an empty binder you name yourself; "Track a set" lets you pick an official set to start a master set against; "Track Pokémon" starts a Pokémon master set. Binders and master sets are unlimited on every plan, including Free. Pokémon master sets are too, one per Pokémon — tracking one to the last card is part of Pro.

Question 43

How does a master set decide what's missing?

Accepted Answer

It loads that set's full official checklist and marks each card as owned or not. The completion percentage is simply how much of that checklist you hold. A card counts as owned wherever it is in your collection — it doesn't have to live inside the master set itself. Adding it anywhere ticks the slot.

Question 44

What is the Finish plan on a master set?

Accepted Answer

Under Cost to Finish on any master set or Pokémon master set — and on the page of any set you hold cards from, tracked or not — the Finish plan lists the cards you're missing cheapest first, with a running total and the completion each step reaches — "£25 gets you 9 cards → 71%". Every price is today's Near Mint value of the card, the same figure the set page shows. Once you hold three-quarters of a set, its page opens on the missing cards, cheapest first. Sorting the set page by price is already yours on every plan (open the set and choose cheapest first), and so is the number. What Pro adds is the arithmetic laid over that order: the running total for every step, a budget box that says how far an amount goes, and the spare copies you hold that would cover gaps — each one a tap from the Trade Analyser, prefilled with your spare on one side and the cards it covers on the other. On Free the plan shows its first three steps. It never advises you to sell or buy anything; it states what your cards and the missing ones are worth today.

Question 45

Why does my master set include reverse holos and parallels?

Accepted Answer

Because that's what a master set is by default — every printing in the set, not just one of each Pokémon. Reverse holos, parallel prints and secret rares each get their own slot, which is why a modern set's checklist can be much longer than the number printed on the card. You can change what counts. At the top of the set, "Counting" offers three targets: Every variant (the default), Standard — every card, its reverse holo and the set's ball and energy parallels — or Printed set, which is one of every card and no parallels at all. Each option shows how many cards it asks for in that set before you choose. Changing it changes the total, the checklist, the ghost pockets, what finishing costs and your percentage, straight away. Nothing is deleted: cards outside your target stay in your collection, keep their value and are still searchable — they just aren't counted towards this set. You can switch back any time. Your choice is shown wherever the set is, so "Complete" on a printed set is never confused with "Complete" on the full master set.

Question 46

What is a Pokémon master set?

Accepted Answer

A Pokémon master set tracks every card of one Pokémon, across every set and era — every Charizard, every Pikachu — from the earliest sets to today. It's named after the Pokémon and lays its cards out oldest first, each labelled with the set it comes from. You choose which cards count: English only, Japanese only, or both. The choice is on the screen where you start the set, already set to match the cards you collect, and you can switch it any time at the top of the set's page. Switching changes the total, the checklist and what's missing straight away. It counts cards the same way a master set does. Reverse holos, Cosmos holos and other parallel prints each get their own slot, and so does each print run of a vintage card (1st Edition, Shadowless and Unlimited are three cards). Error cards, staff and event stamps on a card that already has a numbered print, and player-deck replicas are not slots. A card counts as owned wherever it is in your collection. Starting one is free, and Free shows your progress (how many of that Pokémon's cards you hold out of the total), what finishing costs at today's prices, and the next three cards you're missing, cheapest first, as ghost pockets. Cardfolio Pro tracks it to the last card — every card you're missing, in order, as ghost pockets to fill, with the Finish plan: the missing cards cheapest first, a running total and a budget. You can also track a whole evolution line as one set — the Eeveelutions, the Charmander line, the Pikachu line with Pichu and Raichu. A line is every Pokémon in that evolution family, branches and baby Pokémon included, and a card showing two of them counts once. You can have one Pokémon master set per Pokémon, and one per evolution line. Cards showing two different Pokémon, like a tag-team card, count in each of their single-Pokémon sets. They earn medals in your Journey: one for starting your first, one for reaching halfway, and one for completing it. Halfway and complete count a set of 25 cards or more, so finishing a Pokémon with only a handful of prints doesn't count as finishing a set. In a week you add cards to one, your Monday email shows how far it has come. 1. Open your collection and tap "Track Pokémon" on the shelf (or Manage → Pokémon Master Set). 2. Choose "One Pokémon" or "Evolution line", and English, Japanese or Both. For a line, type any Pokémon in it — Umbreon finds the Eeveelutions. 3. Type the Pokémon's name and tap Start. 4. Open it to see your progress, the cost to finish and your next three cards. On Free, "See all … with Pro" shows what Pro adds.

Question 47

Can I change a binder's cover or colour?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every binder has a colour you pick in the binder manager, and a cover window you can fill with any card's artwork — tap that card inside the binder, then the picture button beside "Full details" ("Set as cover"). The colour isn't only a label: it's the material the cover is drawn from, and it lights the background when you show the binder full screen. Picking it is worth ten seconds. If you don't pin a cover card, the window shows the card in your first pocket when you've arranged the binder by hand, and your most valuable card otherwise. Whichever card it is, it's also the binder's face on your collection page. Master sets and Pokémon master sets can wear any card you own in them, too. Open the menu on the set's tile on your collection page and choose "Choose cover…", or tap one of your cards in the set's binder view and tap its picture button ("Set as cover"). Until you pick one, a master set shows its set's cover and a Pokémon master set your most valuable card of it.

Question 48

How do I rename, reorder or delete a binder or master set?

Accepted Answer

On your collection page, each binder and master set has a Manage button on its tile. That opens "Manage collections", where every row can be renamed, recoloured or deleted, and the list dragged into the order you want it shown. Deleting a binder, or stopping a master set or Pokémon master set, always asks what should happen to its cards. "Keep the cards" removes only the binder or set — the cards stay in your collection, under All cards. "Delete the cards too" permanently deletes every card filed in it as well, and can't be undone. It asks the same question wherever you start it: from the menu on a tile on your collection page, or from Manage collections.

Question 49

Can one card be in two binders at once?

Accepted Answer

No — each card entry lives in one binder, or in none. Moving it to a different binder takes it out of the old one. It still counts towards any master set for its set regardless of which binder it's in. And if you genuinely own two copies, add it twice — then each copy can live wherever you like.

Question 50

What is the binder view?

Accepted Answer

Open any binder and Cardfolio lays your cards out the way you'd actually keep them: pages of pockets, held in a cover you can open and close. On a wide screen you get a full two-page spread with the rings down the middle; on a phone you get one page at a time. It's the default view for a binder. Everything about a card is still there — its value, its condition — it is just presented as an object instead of a table. Master sets open the same way, with the cards you're missing showing as faint silhouettes. Switch to Checklist when you want filters and bulk adding. The dashed pocket after your last card adds to that binder: it takes you to Explore with the binder already chosen in the add dialog.

Question 51

How do I turn the pages?

Accepted Answer

Swipe sideways across the binder. Swipe left to go forward, right to go back — a short swipe or a quick flick is enough, and the page turns as soon as you lift your finger. If a swipe was too small to count, nothing happens and the page stays put. Swipe again, a little further. There are arrows under the binder, and the left and right arrow keys work whenever the binder is on screen. 1. Drag left to go forward, right to go back. 2. Or tap the arrows underneath the binder. 3. Or use the ← and → keys on a keyboard.

Question 52

How do I get to a page in the middle of a big binder?

Accepted Answer

Use the row of tabs under the binder — one for each spread, like the index tabs on a real binder. Tap one and the pages riffle across to it in a single turn, however far away it is. The tab you are on is gold; a tab is brighter when every pocket on that spread is full. A long binder has more tabs than fit across a phone, so the row scrolls sideways and keeps your place in view. You don't have to wait for everything in between to load. Landing on page forty fetches page forty.

Question 53

Why does my binder open with a cover, and can I get back to it?

Accepted Answer

The first time you open a binder in a visit, its cover swings open — the colour you chose, its name in foil, the card you pinned in the window, and what the binder is worth. After that it stays out of your way until you next open the app. The cover is still page zero. Go back from the first page — arrow, key or swipe — and it closes again. If your device is set to reduce motion, nothing swings: the binder opens straight to its pages, and going back to page zero shows the cover without the animation.

Question 54

What happens when I tap a card?

Accepted Answer

It opens the card itself — the full artwork, its set and number, its rarity, the condition you recorded and what it is worth, with a price chart for your copy you can read over 30, 90 or 180 days or all of it. A graded card's chart follows the PSA 10 market, scaled to your slab's value. From there you can edit it, pin it as the binder's cover, or open its full details page. Editing is one step in rather than the first thing a tap does, because in the binder you are usually looking, not filing. Pinning a cover lives here and only here, where you can see the binder it belongs to. The edit form is about the card itself. A master set opens the same card view. The only difference is there's no cover to pin, because a master set wears its set's cover. Tapping a missing card goes straight to adding it. The Cards page and the compact list view open the same card view, and you can swipe to the next card without closing it. Select mode still ticks cards instead of opening them.

Question 55

How do I arrange a binder by hand?

Accepted Answer

Tap Arrange above the binder. Whatever order you are looking at becomes the starting arrangement, so sort it how you like first and tidy up from there. Tap a card to lift it, then tap the pocket you want it in. You can turn pages while holding it, so moving a card from page two to page nine is one continuous action. On a computer you can drag it instead — hold it at the edge of the binder for a moment and the page turns under it. Made a mess? Undo last move steps back one placement at a time. Reset order throws the whole arrangement away and returns the binder to ordinary sorting. 1. Sort the binder the way you want to start. 2. Tap Arrange. 3. Tap a card to pick it up, then tap its new pocket — or drag it, on a computer. 4. Tap Done when you are happy.

Question 56

Can I change how many pockets a page has?

Accepted Answer

Yes — 4, 9 or 12 to a page, set per binder from the Pockets control above it. Nine is the standard sheet; four suits oversized cards and jumbo promos; twelve fits more on a page for bulk. It belongs to the binder rather than to your screen, so it looks the same on your phone as on your laptop, and it travels with a shared link. Master sets stay on the standard sheet. They are laid out in the set's official order, and re-pocketing one would renumber the checklist you are working through.

Question 57

How do I show a binder full screen?

Accepted Answer

Tap Present. The binder fills the screen on a dark background lit in its own colour, and everything else — the navigation, the toolbars — gets out of the way. It is built for handing your phone to someone across a table. The title and close button fade out after a few seconds and come back the moment you touch the screen. Escape, the close button and your device's back gesture all leave. Master sets have it too, in Binder view. Shared binders have the same button, so whoever you sent the link to gets the same thing without needing an account.

Question 58

When should I use the list view instead?

Accepted Answer

Switch to List when you are working rather than looking. It is compact rows with the filters, multi-select and bulk actions — changing ten conditions at once, or moving a stack of cards to another binder. The binder view deliberately doesn't carry those. Condition filters and bulk select would empty pockets and break the page you are looking at, so they live one tap away instead. Cardfolio remembers which of the two you last used and opens binders that way next time.

Question 59

What does a card's value actually mean?

Accepted Answer

It's a guide price: our best estimate of what that card is currently worth in the market you've selected, at the condition you recorded. It is not an offer, and it isn't a promise of what you'd get for it. A real sale depends on who's buying that week, how patient you are, and the exact card in your hand. Treat the number as a well-informed starting point for a conversation, not a settled fact. Your collection total is every card's guide price added up, on the same basis.

Question 60

Where do your prices come from?

Accepted Answer

Real UK and US market data, together with our own modelling. Every card is re-priced at least twice a week, and many more often — so a value can move on any day. Each market shows its own price. Switching between UK and US changes which price you're reading, and the two won't line up to the penny. Every price carries a date, so you always know how current it is. The line under your collection value tells you when your prices were last updated.

Question 61

What's the difference between the UK and US markets?

Accepted Answer

They're two separate markets, and each gets its own price. A card can be scarcer, or simply more sought after, on one side of the Atlantic — so the UK and US values of the same card won't match once you allow for the exchange rate, and they aren't meant to. Switch between them in Profile → Settings → Market. Everything re-prices instantly — your cards, your totals and your history all follow the market you've chosen. Neither is the better number. Pick the market you actually buy and sell in.

Question 62

How does condition change a card's value?

Accepted Answer

NM is the headline price. LP and HP are then scaled down from it, and how far depends on the kind of card. Light play takes roughly a tenth to a fifth off. Heavy play is where cards diverge: it takes about a third off a modern card and around half off an older one, and a heavily played older holo loses the most, because wear shows badly on foil and buyers judge vintage holos harshly. The graded value (PSA 10, or your grading company's top grade) isn't scaled from NM: it's valued separately, as a graded copy. One exception: bulk. A card valued at a bulk rate shows the same figure at NM, LP and HP, because bulk is bought by the lot and nobody grades it card by card.

Question 63

Why did a card's value change?

Accepted Answer

Because the market moved. Every card is re-priced at least twice a week, and many more often, so a guide price moves the way any collectible's value moves. Your collection total changing on its own is normal and expected. A large sudden jump usually means a thin market rather than a mistake. The confidence dot next to the price tells you how far to trust it. If the jump sits on a dotted "Valuation basis updated" marker on the chart, it was us changing how values are worked out, not the market.

Question 64

What do the confidence ratings mean?

Accepted Answer

How far you can trust the number. Green (High) means the value is well supported by market data. Amber (Medium) is a good estimate with more room for error. Grey (Low) means the market data is limited — treat it as a rough guide rather than a settled number. A card's rating can change from week to week as the market around it changes. Each market has its own rating. On a card's own page the rating follows the market you're viewing; in a few compact views the dot describes the UK figure.

Cardfolio help: 134 answers

Getting started

Scanning cards

Your collection

Exploring the catalogue

Binders & master sets

The binder view

Prices & values

Importing & exporting

Sharing & trading

Account, plan & privacy

Cardfolio Watch

What Cardfolio doesn't do

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