TCGplayer Safeguard

(formerly Buyer Safeguard)

Buyer Protections

At TCGplayer, you can shop knowing that you are protected from any issue where your order has not arrived or is not as described, whether you order through TCGplayer Direct or Marketplace sellers. These protections apply for all orders on TCGplayer including presale orders. As players and collectors ourselves, we understand it’s essential that you receive exactly what you ordered and that all the collectibles you receive are genuine.

TCGplayer is committed to maintaining the integrity of the original transaction price in all refund scenarios. This means that buyers will receive a refund based on the amount they originally paid, regardless of whether the market price of the product has increased or decreased since the time of purchase.

As an open marketplace, TCGplayer empowers sellers to set their own prices. However, once a transaction is completed, sellers may not request additional payment if the market price rises, nor may they reduce the refund amount if the price falls. This policy ensures fairness and consistency for both buyers and sellers across all transactions.

To be eligible for a refund or replacement of an order, you must:

Reach out no later than 30 calendar days after the estimated delivery date. To ensure a prompt resolution, we recommend reaching out within 48 hours of identifying any issues.
TCGplayer Direct orders: Contact our customer service team by selecting the Contact Seller button in your order history or by creating a ticket, and we’ll work with you to make it right.
Marketplace orders: Contact the seller by selecting the Contact Seller button in your order history as soon as possible after the order has arrived to request a refund or replacement.

You can learn more about refund requirements for orders in our Refund and Return Policy.

If your order has not arrived by the estimated delivery date

If an order is late, it’s best to contact the seller first to give them a chance to make things right. Just visit your Order History to find the order, then click on the Contact Seller button to send them a message.

To be eligible for a refund on missing orders, you must contact the seller within 30 calendar days of the estimated delivery date found in your Order History. You can learn more about refund requirements for missing orders in our Refund and Return Policy.

If your order is not as described

If an order is not as described, it’s best to contact the seller first to give them a chance to make things right. Mistakes can happen and many of our sellers have over a 99.5% feedback ratio that they earned by taking care of buyers in these instances. Just visit your Order History to find the order, then click on the Contact Seller button to send them a message. To be eligible for a refund on orders not as described, you must contact the seller within 30 calendar days of the estimated delivery date found in your Order History. You can learn more about refund requirements for orders not as described in our Refund and Return Policy.

If you believe a card you received on our platform may be counterfeit, you’ll need to submit a counterfeit claim to our dedicated customer service team. We’ll ensure you receive a full refund for any counterfeit cards. To open a counterfeit claim, please contact our dedicated Customer Support team right away with your order details. We’ll send you a prepaid label that you can use to send the item to TCGplayer HQ. Our expert team will review the card to determine if it is indeed counterfeit. If it is a counterfeit, we’ll work directly with the seller to resolve this issue. Please note: suspected counterfeit cards must be received by TCGplayer to be eligible for a refund.

We diligently monitor counterfeit claims made by buyers to ensure a fair and trustworthy marketplace. Sellers should be aware that receiving an excessive number of complaints regarding counterfeit goods may result in removal from our platform, in line with our policies. Similarly, buyers who repeatedly lodge counterfeit claims that are determined to be unfounded may also face removal from our platform.

If the seller does not respond

After you send a message to the seller, TCGplayer is directly involved and monitors the message to make sure you receive a response. If they have not responded after 24 hours, we contact the seller. If they have not responded after 2 business days (M-F excluding holidays), contact us. After 72 hours without a response, we’ll escalate the message to our customer service team. From there, we work directly with the seller, and if they are still not responding, we’ll step in to resolve the problem on your behalf and issue full or partial refunds if your order has not arrived or is not as described.

If you are not happy with the seller's response

If during the course of your communication with the seller you feel that you would like TCGplayer to be involved in resolving the issue, please contact our dedicated Customer Support team. Please include the associated Order Number in the subject line and any details. Our customer service team will review all of the communication from the order directly with the seller, and if they are not responding in a way we feel is adequate, we’ll step in to resolve the problem on your behalf and issue full or partial refunds where your order has not arrived or is not as described.

Seller Protections

TCGplayer wants all of our sellers to know that we are committed to supporting you when a transaction doesn’t go as expected. Read on to learn more about how we are responding to these challenges and how we plan to assist you in resolving shipping delays, as well as negative feedback for issues outside of your control.

Estimated Delivery Times

We are investing to make your operations more efficient and the status of tracked packages more intuitive to users. We have built capability which will provide Estimated Delivery Dates to you and your customers based on current mail transit times, so everyone in the transaction knows when packages are expected to arrive. Per our Marketplace Seller Agreement, “All orders must be shipped to customers within 48 hours. All orders must reach the Buyer within the quoted delivery time indicated by the estimated delivery date.”

However, we understand that postal delays may occur and concerned buyers may reach out to inquire about the status of their order. Please read our Resolving Missing Package Disputes article for more information on what steps to take according to the shipping and tracking status of your order.

How Will TCGplayer Protect Me From Negative Feedback?

Buyers should follow our Seller Feedback Policy when leaving feedback ratings for sellers. If a buyer leaves negative feedback that you believe violates this policy, please contact our team or escalate the message thread from the order.

TCGplayer will step in to block any negative feedback associated with late or missing packages as long as the order is reported as missing by a buyer and resolved by the seller through refunding or an agreed upon replacement shipment for the order. This feedback will only be removed if the order was shipped within our 48 hour shipment window and shows movement indicated by a “picked up,” “acceptance,” or “in transit” status.

We understand that you are not responsible for delays in transit times after an order has been placed into the mail system, so we will make sure that your feedback rating is protected for events outside of your control.

If you have any questions during any point of the transaction, or need any additional assistance, please contact our team or escalate the message thread from the order.

Missing Package Seller Safeguard

We know that it's not always practical to add tracking to every package, but you are covered 100% by TCGplayer in the event a buyer reports an order with tracking as missing but the carrier reports the order as Delivered or Missing in Transit on eligible orders.

We cover US sellers on tracked orders to the US and Canada. Orders are only covered if sellers utilize one of our approved shipping partners (USPS, UPS, or Fedex). The tracking information must show that the package has moved beyond “Acceptance”/”Label Created” status to show proof that it has left your possession in order to receive credit for the missing package.

Additionally, we fully cover our Canada-based sellers in the event of a discrepancy between buyer and delivery service claims on domestic orders—for example, if the order is missing in transit. We also cover Canadian sellers’ orders shipped to the United States. Orders are only covered if sellers utilize one of the following shipping partners:

Canada Post
ChitChats
Dragonfly
Intercom
Perulator
Stallion Express
UPS
USPS

To be eligible for a claim, Canadian sellers must provide the tracking number to the customer through the message center when they ship the order. When making a claim they must share the tracking number and service used to the TCGplayer customer service team. The tracking information must show that the package has moved beyond “Acceptance”/”Label Created”/”Scanned In” status to show proof that it has left your possession in order to receive credit for the missing package.

Note: Only tracked orders placed on and after April 15, 2026 that meet our requirements listed above are eligible for this expanded coverage.

Just follow the process outlined in our help file about Resolving Missing Orders/Packages for your Customers and our customer service team will credit you for the missing order.

To protect yourself against missing order claims, you need to use a shipping carrier that is integrated with TCGplayer's Seller Portal (for US-based sellers) or approved shipping partners listed above (for Canadian sellers).

What To Do If A Buyer Receives An Order After It Is Refunded?

If a buyer writes back in to inform you that they ended up receiving their order after you processed the refund, simply follow the steps outlined in our Missing Orders help file. Once you’ve followed the instructions we will then connect with the customer to ensure their repayment is received and credit your seller account for the order.

We support your businesses and will continue to monitor the situation to make further changes and adjustments as needed to provide you with additional support and assistance.

Change Log

4//15/26 - Updated to include Canadian seller protections.
2/12/26 - Clarified covered shipping carriers.
9/10/25 - Updated to include references to our Seller Feedback Policy.
3/11/24 - Updated "Buyer Safeguard" to "TCGplayer Safeguard", added Seller Protections information, added additional context for how to handle missing orders.
9/23/24 - Updated language about requirements for receiving a refund.
6/10/25 - Added additional notes on counterfeit claims process.
8/21/25 - Updated and clarified on what the TCGplayer Safeguard covers, including language about presales and TCGplayer Direct.