Seller Guide
Selling cards on Cardmarket comes with certain responsibilities. Above all, your goal is to keep your buyers happy. To that end, here are some guidelines on how to do just that. This guidelines are broken down into four categories:
1. Putting Articles up for Sale
Find the Correct Article
It is very important that you list your article on the correct page. Most trading cards have multiple different versions (different editions, promos, etc.). It's essential that you never list a card on the wrong page. For example, listing a Release Promo as a regular foil with the comment "Release Promo" is not acceptable and will lead to serious problems should you sell the card.
Use the Correct Description
Basically, there should be little to no need to use the comment part as most of the important information can and should be set by the selling options. Still, there are some cases where you need to provide additional information. For example:
- Stamped (GP or otherwise) cards
- Damaged cards (please describe the damage in detail, e.g. water damage)
- Cards with strong grading differences between the front and back sides
In the rare case that you need to provde additional information on an order, then please be specific! Not all buyers are long-time collectors or players, so they might not know the shortcuts and abbreviations you know. Also, please keep in mind that Cardmarket is an international marketplace, so you should publish any and all comments in simple English.
Be Strict on Your Grading
We have published an extensive guide on how to grade your cards. Remember though, that Grading is not a hard science, so there may be corner cases and your own opinions on grading may differ from your buyer. Here are two rules that should help you properly grade your cards:
- When in doubt, use a lower grading. Overgraded cards lead to complaints.
- Don't list a card as "Near Mint" unless they look brand new.
Do Not List Contradictory Information
Cardmarket provides two different kinds of information to describe your offers: "machine-readable" and "free text." The "machine-readable" information contains the Name, Set, Language, Grading, Foil, Signed, and Altered.
This data may not, under any circumstances, be overridden or modified by a comment, so you may not offer:
- A card with a different name than displayed (that would be a different card).
- A card with the same name but from a different set than displayed (just search for the right card and sell it on the right page).
- A card with a different language than displayed (just choose the right language when listing).
When it comes to grading, you should be strict and note that a "Near Mint" card is only "Near Mint" if the front and back are both "Near Mint". A card with the comment "NM/EX" should not be listed as "Near Mint" but only as Excellent.
2. Shipping Articles
Make Sure the Order Contains All Articles
Please make sure that you have packed all of the purchased articles before shipping the order. Not much is more frustrating than receiving an order with cards missing. If this happens, it means that both of you potentially lose both time and money ensuring that the buyer receives the correct items. If you learn that a card is missing while preparing an order, do not ship the order. Instead, contact the buyer. Maybe he would rather cancel the order altogether than receive it with one card missing.
The general rule is: If a card is missing from an order, The seller is responsible for all costs associated with providing the complete order to the buyer.
Make Sure the Order Contains the Correct Articles
This is very similar to the previous point: Please make sure you have exactly what the buyer has bought. So please make sure that all the details of the articles are correct (expansion, language, 1st edition). You don't know the buyer's preferences, so even if you think that the expansion doesn't matter because the card "does the same thing," the buyer might not think this, as he might be purchasing it to complete his playset of four identical cards. As a result, if any part of the order is not what was agreed upon, do not ship the order. Instead, contact the buyer. Any costs resulting from you shipping the wrong cards (like return shipping costs or additional costs for the buyer to buy the right card) will to have be paid by the seller.
Contact the Buyer Before Shipping When There Are Problems
If there is any problem with the shipment, even if you think the problem is small, you need to contact the buyer before you ship. Communication is the key to keeping your buyers happy and making your sale a success. As the seller, you have to pay all costs related to any mistake you make regarding the order. You're doing yourself a big favor by not sending out orders with incorrect articles and contacting the buyer when there is an issue is a big part of helping save you both money and time.
Make Sure You Get the Address Right
When shipping an order, you need to make sure to get the buyer's address right. As a general rule, specificity is better so be sure to put down the full address provided on Cardmarket - don't leave anything out! Also make sure to double-check the address. If you don’t, you'll probably find yourself having to deal with a lost letter just because you forgot the second part of the house number or inverted two numbers in the post code.
Also, you need to make sure that you include a valid return address (i.e., your address). If, for any reason, the letter cannot be delivered (this could be the buyer providing the wrong address, you providing the wrong address, or even a mistake by the postal service), the letter will be returned. This will only happen, however, if you put a return address on the letter. Letters without a return address will be discarded. Also, a return address will help the buyer identify the correct Cardmarket shipment. There are professional buyers who have dozens of orders coming in at any given time, so without a name on the envelope, there's little chance that they'll be able to identify which Cardmarket shipment was yours, heavily delaying arrival confirmation.
3. Communication with Buyers
Reply in a Timely Manner
As a seller, you are responsible for completing your orders to your buyers' satisfaction. Even if you are careful and followed all of the above guidelines, there still might be a problem with a card you sent. This is where proper customer service becomes important. And the most important part is to reply to any buyer's message in a timely manner. It's extremely frustrating for buyers that contact a seller because of a mistake, only to find that the seller isn't responding to their messages. It will feel to your buyer as though you don't care about the orders you ship out. Don't do this.
As a seller, you should usually reply to buyers' messages within 24 hours. Occasionally, it may take longer, but as a rule of thumb, replies that take longer than two working days are not acceptable on Cardmarket. Please note that simply turning down your buyer ("Hi, I'm sorry but one card was missing in my order with you?" - "No, it's not") is not an actual response. You should always try to compromise and find solutions for problems that arise. And if you cannot come to an agreement with the buyer, then you should contact our customer support, explain the situation, and ask for guidance or mediation. That's what we're here for.
Please note that we sanction (suspend and otherwise punish) sellers that do not reply to issues reported by their buyers.
Be Respectful
When communicating on Cardmarket, please make sure that you are polite and use proper language. Consider taking a few extra seconds to start your message with a personal greeting to the buyer. This makes communication much easier for all involved parties. Good communication is key to solving issues. You would not believe how many small conflicts escalate to big problems just because people use improper or offensive language.
How to Handle Foreign Languages
Cardmarket is a European marketplace. We have users from many different countries. So, it is very likely that you will have buyers from other countries. If selling internationally on Cardmarket, communication should be done, by default, in English. You cannot reply to a foreign user in your mother tongue, just as he cannot expect you to read an answer in his language. Thus, English is the way to go.
Over the years, we have seen many issues arise from plain old misunderstandings. There have been cases where both the buyer and the seller were offering the same solution to their problem (they agreed with each other), but their poor ability to communicate in English meant they just couldn't understand each other.
This is also why we heavily discourage the use of Google translate or other machine translators. If your English isn't good enough to have a normal conversation that might arise in a sale on Cardmarket, you should opt out of selling to other countries in your "selling options." If you still encounter a language barrier with another user, please contact our Customer Support and let us mediate.
4. Dealing with Disputes
Complaints About Missing Articles
If your buyer contacts you to complain that articles are missing, the first thing to do is double-check your stock. Our experience shows that the most common reason for missing cards is simply that the seller forgot to ship them. If you find the card, you can discuss with the buyer whether you might ship the cards in a separate shipment (you will have to pay additional shipping costs) or whether a refund would be better. If you cannot find the card, then a refund is usually the fastest solution.
Please note: If a card is missing, the buyer might have higher costs if he has to buy the card from another seller (the card price may have changed but most of the time, he will have to pay additional shipping costs). Those extra costs will have to be paid for by you, the seller. Therefore, please make sure that you never ship out incomplete orders!
Complaints About Item Descriptions (Grading, Version, ect.)
This is the most common but also the "trickiest" issue occurring when selling used trading cards: There are so many cards out there that you might occasionally get the edition or language wrong. Also, used cards need to be graded and, alas, grading has some slight "subjectivity" to it, so grading issues will happen to many sellers at some point in their career.
Given the subjectivity involved, most of these problems will have to be discussed and solved between the seller and buyer. Still, here are some best practices as a seller:
Mistakes happen. Even if you are 100% sure you sent the right card, there might have been an error, so please listen to the buyer.
Grading is subjective and there is no "right and wrong" on smaller discrepancies. One of the most common arguments on Cardmarket is: "Is this card NM or EX?" The truth often lies between the two, so it's best to accept that there is an issue, but that neither party is wrong.
If you are dealing with a grading issue that's about one grade difference (like the NM or EX question), our rule of thumb is that a 10% refund of the card's value should be adequate compensation.
If you're stuck in a discussion with the buyer, please contact our Customer Support. However please note that most of the time, we will not be able to help you solve the question "Have I graded this card correctly?" (it's even more complicated for us, as we don't have the card in front of us), but we'll help you by finding a way to come to a compromise / solution that will hopefully leave both you and the buyer happy.
So, if you receive a complaint, please don't turn the buyer away. Instead, listen to his problem and try to find a compromise. If this isn't possible, please contact Customer Support and let us mediate.
Making a Proper Return / Refund
Sometimes there is no other option that to "rewind" the entire transaction, i.e. to have the buyer send back the entire shipment back to the seller in order to get a full refund. Currently Cardmarket offers no "built-in" return function, thus this has to be done "manually." Here are some guidelines:
Inform Cardmarket About the Return
If you have agreed on a return (and of course if you cannot come to an agreement), please inform Cardmarket about it. A simple "Cards X, Y and Z are going to be returned because the was an issue" is enough here, but we need to be informed so that we can assist you.
The Shipment Used the Cardmarket Trustee Service
If your order used the trustee service, the money is probably still with Cardmarket. In this case, you might just send the buyer a refund for the shipping costs and have him return the card to you. Once you receive the card, you may issue a further refund for the article value. Only then should the buyer confirm arrival, closing the transaction.
If the buyer had already confirmed arrival and thus the shipment has been "closed" and the money paid to you, please contact our Customer Support for some guidance about how to handle the return.
Shipments Without the Trustee Service
In the case of refunding smaller orders that don't use the trustee service, we suggest that the seller refunds the "shipping + article value" upon receiving the merchandise from the buyer unless the seller agrees to refund the buyer upfront. The shipping method used by the buyer should be identical to what you used for shipping so as to offer the same amount of security while keeping costs low. Please make sure the buyer is happy with your suggested refund method and keep an open line of communication with the buyer during the refund process.
If you have any questions not covered in the above guide or are having any issues not mentioned above with your orders, please contact our Customer Support when you're able to so that we can help resolve your order issues.
If you still have any questions or wish to view your open or closed tickets, please visit the Help Desk.