Pokemon Card Condition: Near Mint vs Lightly Played When Buying Raw

The two published scales a buyer runs into

Raw (ungraded) cards are sold on a five-step scale: Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged (see Near Mint and card condition (NM to DMG)). Two marketplaces publish their definitions, and they don't line up exactly. That matters when the same card is listed on both.

On eBay, ungraded card condition is a field the seller picks from that list. eBay's guide describes each step by corners, edges, discoloration, indentations, creases, scratches and staining. For Lightly Played it allows moderate chipping, indentation or scratches, as long as the card does not look heavily handled. Its sports and non-sports card scale uses the second names only (Excellent, Very Good, Poor), so you may see those words on Pokemon listings too.

TCGplayer goes further and measures each flaw. Its standards cover cards sold through its marketplace, and they're the most detailed public definition of NM and LP this guide could find, so they're the ruler it uses.

Where the line between NM and LP falls

From TCGplayer's comprehensive conditioning guide:

• Edge wear. A stretch of edge wear up to 20 mm long is allowed at Near Mint. From 20 mm to 80 mm, the card is Lightly Played at best.

• Whitening that exposes the card stock. TCGplayer calls this surface wear once it reaches more than half a millimetre in from the edge. Even a slight patch rules out Near Mint.

• Scuffing. A small scuffed area is allowed at Near Mint. A larger patch, up to half of one side, caps the card at Lightly Played.

• Scratches. Hairline scratches up to 40 mm are allowed at any condition, so a scratch alone rarely decides NM versus LP.

• Bends and creases. A small bend of 10 mm or less with no crease caps the card at Lightly Played. Any crease drops it to Moderately Played at best.

• Dirt and smudges. Even a slight patch of grime rules out Near Mint.

• Centering. Up to 70/30 does not affect condition at all. Worse than 70/30 makes the card Damaged on TCGplayer.

Foil cards follow the same rules, though TCGplayer notes that flaws show more on foil. So on a holo, use the same rules and look harder.

What listing photos can and cannot show

Condition can be hard to judge from photos. Sometimes I cannot tell from the listing, so I ask the seller for a video or a good photo. A seller's Near Mint has not turned out worse for me, because I check it well before I buy. When the price is exceptionally low or the card is ungraded, I ask for more photos or a video, especially when I am buying Near Mint.

What to ask a seller

Message the seller before you buy. These five requests settle most NM versus LP questions:

1. A photo of the back, in full. Edge wear and whitening are often easiest to spot there.

2. Close-ups of the four corners, front and back.

3. A short video tilting the card under a light. This is the only way to see scratches and holo wear on a raw listing.

4. Whether the card has been played or stored out of a sleeve.

5. Whether the photos are of this exact card, not a stock image or another copy.

A seller who won't send these is telling you something. If the price is low and the answers are vague, treat the card as Lightly Played or worse, and decide on that basis.

Centering is not condition, until you grade

Raw condition scales barely care about centering: TCGplayer ignores it up to 70/30. Graders care a lot. PSA's standard for a Gem Mint 10 asks for centering of about 55/45 or better on the front. So a Near Mint raw card can be a poor candidate for a high grade purely because it is off center, even with perfect corners. If you're buying raw to grade, check the centering in the photo yourself. It's the one thing a straight-on photo shows well. What each grader's top grade means is in PSA vs CGC vs BGS vs TAG for Pokemon Cards, and the trade-off between the two kinds of card is in Graded vs raw cards.

Filtering by condition on ChaseBoard

A raw ChaseBoard watch can accept one condition or several, from Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged. It matches either the short code or the full name in the listing title, such as "LP" or "Lightly Played", and a Near Mint watch also takes "Mint" and "pack fresh", but not "Gem Mint", which is slab wording. With a condition set, it skips graded slabs. Leave the conditions empty to accept any condition, slabs included. Either way, check the photos yourself before you buy.

A checklist before you buy raw

• Real photos of the front and back, not stock images

• Back edges checked for whitening

• All four corners visible and sharp

• For a holo: a tilt video, or a photo with light on the foil

• No crease or bend visible at an angle

• Centering checked, if you might grade it

• The seller's condition label matches what you see

• Price makes sense for the condition you actually see, not the one in the title