TCGplayer Direct Checklist for Sellers

About

This guide is a reference sheet for sellers in the TCGplayer Direct program.

Your TCGplayer Direct Checklist

• ✅ Review the Direct Seller Agreement and Direct by TCGplayer Frequently Asked Questions.
• ✅ Stock up and be prepared for sales! Direct can boost your sales significantly, so you’ll want to be ready for a sudden increase.
• ✅ Familiarize yourself with TCGplayer’s Card Conditioning Standards. This will reduce the amount of discrepancies in your Reimbursement Invoices (RIs) and ensure smooth authentication and review of your products.
• ✅ Price your Direct inventory knowing a product may sell via Direct or the Marketplace. Products sold through Direct do not have a shipping cost applied, so you may need to account for this in your pricing strategy. Most Direct sellers find that including the cost of shipping in the price of their cards is an effective strategy. Any shipping fees you have applied will still be included in your non-Direct orders.

• ✅ Monitor your account for RIs to generate. For more information about how and when RIs generate, see the About Reimbursement Invoices help file.
• ✅ Pull, pack, and apply tracking to your RIs in the Direct tab of the Seller Portal within 24 hours of generation. Be sure to follow the shipping timeline and packaging requirements listed in the Reimbursing TCGplayer for Fulfilled Orders section of the Direct Seller Agreement. For more information about shipping best practices, see TCGplayer Shipping Guidelines: TCGplayer Direct and Store Your Products.
• ✅ Be sure to apply accurate tracking to your RIs in the Direct tab of the Seller Portal. Tracking allows us to monitor for incoming material, confirm receipt of products, and help you problem-solve if there is a shipment issue. If you have a low value RI that is not cost-effective to ship with tracking, you may contact our Customer Support team to request the RI be canceled. Please know that you will be responsible for Replacement Fees associated with the canceled material
• ✅ Pack the products in your RIs in the order listed on the RI packing slip. Shipping your products in the correct order is key to the timely and accurate authentication of your incoming material!
• ✅ If you have multiple RIs generate at the same time, you may combine them into a single shipment if certain conditions are met. Please review and follow the procedure information in the Combined RI Shipping Process help file.
• ✅ Sellers must include the top portion of the RI packing slip in the RI package. This portion of the packing slip includes the seller’s name, RI number, created date, and scannable barcode. Including this helps TCGplayer identify and process the shipment as efficiently and accurately as possible.
• ✅ Payment is released after the estimated delivery date (EDD) only if we have received a product from the order in an RI, so the sooner you get the RI to us, the sooner you get paid! For more information on payment schedules, please see When does TCGplayer issue payments? Additionally, buyers and other sellers in Direct rely on the timely return of products to TCGplayer’s Direct inventory in order to keep products available for purchase.
• ✅ Monitor the delivery of the RI in case of a complication with the delivery service. RIs must be received within the timeframe listed in the Direct Seller Agreement or they will be considered non-received and canceled.

• ✅ Ensure your store’s address information is correct in your “My Details” page in the TCGplayer Admin Panel. This address is needed so we can ship back your Seller Extra Inventory and process important tax forms.
• ✅ Inform TCGplayer if you know you will have a delay with an RI or need to pause your Direct store while you have products listed in your pending RIs. You can view your pending RIs in the Admin Panel by navigating to the TCGplayer Direct tab, selecting “Reimbursement Invoices (RI),” and viewing the information in the “Pending Reimbursement Invoice” section.
• ✅ Monitor your store’s email inbox for messages from TCGplayer regarding issues with shipments. Ensure that you are accepting messages from sales@tcgplayer.zendesk.com so you don’t miss messages about your RIs!
• ✅ If you see a purchase from TCGplayer Direct , do not ship the order; instead, ship the product(s) in the resulting RI just like normal!

Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or feedback you have!

You can download this guide as a PDF here.

TCGplayer Direct Tips

1. Pro by TCGplayer
   If you are a Pro Seller:
   
   1. Use Quicklist to quickly add your digital inventory with our collectible card scanning software powered by intelligent image recognition.
   2. Use MassPrice to maximize margins with scheduled price updates for your store’s sales channels based on our industry-leading price data.
2. Store Your Products (SYP)
   1. Sellers with multiple RIs generating every week may want to consider applying to our Store Your Products (SYP) program, which allows you to ship your inventory of eligible products to TCGplayer on a cadence of your choosing. Our experts in the Authentication Center pull and ship the orders on your behalf –– all you have to do is ship your cards to us for processing, price your cards, and get paid! For more information on the SYP program, see What is Store Your Products?

Change Log

• 7/23/24 - Removed Buylist information.
• 3/12/25 - Updated to reflect new RI processes for all Direct Sellers.