How To Use Scan & Identify
Please note, Scan & Identify is currently in open beta.
Scan & Identify provides a fast way to:
- Import cards for automatic identification and matching to the TCGplayer Catalog.
- Find new matches if the system incorrectly identified the scan.
- Create inventory items that can be pushed directly to either staged inventory or live listings.
Scan & Identify currently doesn’t have scanning functionality, but image files can be mass imported for identification and verification.
Topics in this article:
- Importing Scans and Error Handling
- Manage Scans: "Matched" Tab
- Manage Scans: "Unidentified" Tab
- Finding a New Catalog Match
- Scan & Identify Listing Price
- Export or Push to Inventory
Import Scans
Import Requirements
Only one import at a time is permitted in Scan & Identify. Any existing imported items must be deleted or pushed to your inventory before a new import can be started.
An import can have either multiple image files or one Roca Sorter CSV, but not both. Below are additional import file requirements:
- The allowed file types are JPG, PNG, CSV (comma-separated values).
- Image files must be less than 15MB.
- Images must be at least 300px on the shortest side.
- Images must be in portrait orientation regardless of whether the card is landscape orientation.
- No more than 3,500 image files are permitted per import.
- Learn more about card scan image best practices.
Preparing for Import
Here are steps to make Scan & Identify as efficient as possible:
- Ensure your import batch contains cards with a single product line, printing (or rarity category for Yu-Gi-Oh!), language, and condition.
- Use portrait orientation for image files, regardless of whether the card is printed in landscape orientation. This is important for computer vision to work properly.
- Order your stack of cards in each printing (or rarity for YGO), language, and condition alphabetically—the Import Sequence ID will correspond to the alphabetical order of your image files in your desktop folder.
- If you’re using a Roca Sorter, it will stack the cards in the correct order for you. Your Roca CSV also includes a Bin Number so that you know which bin the card should be in. Later in this article, you’ll learn how the “Import Sequence ID” can help you locate a card in your stack.
Import Process
Note: Due to bugs in Chrome that cause performance issues, we recommend using drag and drop for file selection on Windows. On a Mac, we recommend using the file browser.
- Select the “Import” Button.
- Add 1 or more image files, OR a Roca CSV.
- Indicate printing and condition for the cards in the import. The language will default to “English,” but can be updated once import is complete. Please note that the card printing cannot be updated after import.
Dealing with Import Errors
Errors When Adding Files
When adding files for import, any files that have errors will be:
- Automatically excluded from the import.
- Separated into a list of excluded files, with the errors that prevented them from being included.
You can either correct the issues and re-add the files in this step (prior to initiating the import), or proceed to import without the files by clicking “Next.” Note that any files not re-added before import is initiated can’t be added after import processing completes, because only one import batch at a time is allowed.
File Errors During Import Processing
If any file errors are found during import processing, the files are removed from the import batch and can’t be imported until:
- The file issues are corrected. You’ll receive a downloadable list if file errors are found.
- The current batch of successfully imported files has been either pushed to inventory or deleted (any scans within both “Matched to Catalog” or “Unidentified” tabs).
System Errors During Processing
If a system error prevents some or all of the files from being imported, you can retry importing the files from the error dialog. Note: If you don’t retry them and then close the notification dialog, the files can no longer be part of that import batch.
Non-English Card Handling
Our computer vision can currently only identify non-English cards if there is an English version of the card with the same artwork. Because the text of a non-English card may impact visual aspects that our computer vision relies on to identify cards, the system may have less success with some non-English cards. Learn more about computer vision.
Duplicate Handling
If you’re importing multiples of the same card, Scan & Identify will keep them in separate rows to ensure you have access to the original scan for each card and can verify the system’s match to the TCGplayer Catalog.
Upon pushing these items to your inventory, they will automatically be merged for one sum quantity.
Manage Scans: “Unidentified” Tab
Once the import completes, you might be notified that the system couldn’t confidently identify some of the scans. These scans will appear in the “Unidentified” tab with a match confidence of “Poor.”
You’ll have the option to:
- Delete them.
- Confirm the system’s match to the catalog (if a match was found).
- Manually match the scan to the TCGplayer Catalog by using our “Find Catalog Match” search functionality.
- Once you save a catalog match, the item will be moved to the “Matched to Catalog” tab so you can push it to your inventory.
When There Are Many Unidentified Scans
The system can usually identify around 98% of scans with good or fair confidence. If you have a lot of scans in the “Unidentified” tab, it may be an indication that something else went wrong. Two major causes of the system’s inability to identify the right card are:
- The wrong printing (or rarity if YGO) applied at import.
- The image not being in portrait orientation (regardless of whether the card was printed in landscape orientation).
These are both important aspects of the system’s ability to match the card to the catalog. The system may also have difficulty identifying certain types of cards. Learn more about computer vision and confidence levels.
Exporting
Exporting scans from the Unidentified tab will provide a URL for the image and the Import Sequence ID. This can be helpful to do if you don’t wish to manually find catalog matches and want to remove those cards from your sifted and sorted stack to manually enter into your inventory.
Roca CSVs and Confidence Level
If your Roca Sorter’s “Card Rejection Threshold” setting was set to “Conservative” or “Standard,” some cards that were rejected by the Roca may appear in the “Matched to Catalog” tab. This is because the identification accuracy rate is still very high (over 98%) for anything above a confidence rating of “Poor.” Only those with the poorest confidence rating will show up in the “Unidentified” tab.
Finding a Catalog Match
You’ll have the option to manually find a catalog match from both the “Unidentified” and “Matched to Catalog” tabs. To find a match,
- Click “Find Match.”
- The default list of catalog results is filtered by the game, printing, and language you selected at import.
- Enter the card name or number into the search field.
- Optionally apply filters to further narrow results.
- Select the correct match (you can hover over all thumbnail images in Scan & Identify to reveal a larger image if you want to compare the scan with the catalog match you selected). If you didn’t select the correct match, click “Reset Match” to clear it. Selecting a new match will also clear the previous match.
- Once you save a selected match, the item will be moved to the “Matched to Catalog” tab and the match confidence will display as “Manual.”
Manage Scans: “Matched to Catalog” Tab
Only scans with high match confidence (“Good” and “Fair”) will appear in the “Matched to Catalog” tab, but if you prefer to review them before pushing them to your inventory, keep in mind:
- All card images in Scan & Identify will expire 60 days after import, so items should be reviewed before then.
- If you have a Roca Sorter and use the most conservative match setting, some cards that are rejected by the Roca may still appear in the “Matched to Catalog” tab because the match confidence level is still high.
“Match Confidence” Column
“Match confidence” refers to the system’s confidence level that it correctly matched the scan to a TCGplayer catalog item. There are 4 confidence display chips:
- GOOD: We are approximately 99.9% confident in card match accuracy. It should not need a manual review.
- FAIR: We are approximately 98.94% confident in this card match accuracy but suggest its match be manually reviewed.
- POOR: We are not confident in this card’s accuracy and expect its match to be incorrect. Anything with a “poor” confidence will be sent to the “Unidentified” tab to be manually matched to the catalog.
- MANUAL: This means that you matched it to our catalog manually, either by finding a new match or confirming a match that Scan & Identify suggested.
Only items with match confidence of “Good,” “Fair,” or “Manual” will appear in the “Matched to Catalog” tab.
Click the card name or “eye” icon next to the confidence level to open the “Catalog Match Details” drawer and see the scan and catalog image side by side and swap in a different match.
“Quantity” Column
Because Scan & Identify keeps duplicate cards on separate rows, the quantity column will always reflect a quantity of 1. It’s included as a reminder that quantities are not aggregated in Scan & Identify.
“Listing Price” Column
The listing price will reflect the item’s price based on your listing price setting per game. For a quick view of your listing price setting for each game, click on the “Listing Price” button to see:
- A snapshot of your game settings.
- The time and date of last reference price refresh.
- The ability to refresh prices manually.
“Import Sequence ID” Column
The Import Sequence ID reflects either the alphabetical order of your image files in their folder, or the “Import Sequence ID” in your Roca CSV. This can be helpful if you need to locate a physical card in your stack.
“Last Updated” Column
This reflects the date an item’s catalog match or any other details such as language or condition were updated. If no changes have been made, it will display the date of import.
Actions
For any item in the “Matched to Catalog” list, you can:
- View catalog match details.
- Find a new catalog match if Scan & Identify didn’t correctly identify the scan.
- Push to inventory.
- Delete. Note: once an item is deleted from the list, it cannot be re-added to the same import batch because only one import is permitted at a time.
To take actions on multiple items at once in a page of results, select the rows you want to take action on and the bulk actions menu will appear above the table.
Catalog Match Details
The “Catalog Match Details” drawer lets you quickly see the scan image and catalog match image side by side, with the ability to hover over each image for an even larger image. The additional catalog details for the match are also present for quick reference when you’re comparing the images. This view also lets you:
- Use the “previous/next” buttons to navigate to catalog match details for other items in the list.
- Review other possible matches. Simply click “swap” if you think a card from this list is a better match for your scan.
Scan & Identify Listing Price
A Scan & Identify Listing Price settings are optional and can be created for each product line in Scan & Identify. It can be accessed in the navigation under “Manage Listing Prices.”
Benefit of Setting a Listing Price
- List items right from Scan & Identify. Setting a listing price lets you quickly price items in bulk using reference prices, so you can then live list items directly from Scan & Identify.
- View per-item prices and a list total based on a reference price of your choice. You can select a different listing price setting at any time before items are sent to inventory, or you can leave pricing blank if you’re sending the items to staged inventory.
Listing Price Setting Options
You can create a listing price setting for each product line in Scan & Identify:
- Select a price type from the TCGplayer reference price options: TCG Last Sold, TCG Market, TCG Low, TCG Median, and TCG Direct Low.
- Create an optional modification to the reference price. For example: TCG Market plus 2% or TCG Low minus $0.01.
Each item in the “Matched to Catalog” list will reflect a price based on your listing price setting.
Reference Price Refreshes
Reference prices are updated within Scan & Identify up to every 5 minutes, but you can choose to refresh them at any time when you’re viewing the list of items in the “Matched to Catalog” tab. Just access the “Listing Price” dropdown and click “Refresh.”
Note that updating your listing price settings doesn’t automatically pull the most recent reference price data from the Marketplace. To get the most recent reference prices, you need to refresh the reference prices.
Listing Price and Pushing to Inventory
The Scan & Identify listing price setting is a one-time application of price at the time you push items to inventory. It’s not an automated price setting that will continue to update after items are in your inventory.
If you already had an item in your inventory with a price and you’re just adding more quantity, Scan & Identify will not overwrite the existing price unless you explicitly choose to when pushing items to inventory from Scan & Identify.
Note About Use of MassPrice (Pro by TCGplayer)
MassPrice rules will overwrite any pricing added via Scan & Identify once the rules run on your live items. Scan & Identify simply allows you to set an interim price to get items live more quickly so your MassPrice rules can take over.
Export or Push to Inventory
Once you feel confident that all of your scans are correctly matched to TCGplayer Catalog items, you can either export the list as a CSV (for import into BinderPOS or to add your own custom price formulas) or directly push them to your inventory.
Pushing More Quantity for Cards You Already Have
When pushing to inventory, Scan & Identify will either create new inventory for any items you don’t already have, or increase the quantity for any items currently already in your inventory.
Remaining Cards in the Unidentified tab
Cards in the Unidentified tab can’t be pushed to your inventory because they couldn’t be confidently matched to the TCGplayer catalog. If you still have cards in the Unidentified tab when you push to inventory, they will be deleted upon pushing the rest of the batch to inventory.
Push as Staged Inventory
Items can be pushed to staged inventory in the “Pricing” page of the Seller Portal if you’d prefer not to send them straight to live from Scan & Identify, or if you want to wait to price until they are in your TCGplayer or BinderPOS inventory. When you push to staged inventory, you’ll have the option to:
- Push items to staged inventory with no price if you prefer to set prices once they are in your inventory.
- Push items to staged inventory with the Scan & Identify Listing Price. This can be helpful if you want to bulk apply a reference price, but still have the option to adjust the price of specific items before live listing them.
Push as Live Inventory
You can live list items right from Scan & Identify as long as:
- You’ve set up a Scan & Identify Listing Price for the game on the “Manage Listing Prices” page.
- The reference price you used for the listing price is available for the items being pushed. In the event that a reference price isn’t available for an item, or a listing price setting wasn’t set up for the game, the items will go to staged inventory (in the Seller Portal “Pricing” page) without a price.
Overwrite Any Existing Prices With the Scan & Identify Listing Price
If you see an info icon next to the listing price for some items in the “Matched to Catalog” tab, it means that you already have the item in your inventory (the existing price won’t be displayed in Scan & Identify). When pushing more of the same item to your inventory from Scan & Identify, you’ll have the option to overwrite your existing price with the Scan & Identify listing price by selecting the checkbox.
Duplicate Handling Upon Push to Inventory
Upon pushing items to your inventory, duplicate items will automatically be merged into one sum quantity.
Pushed to Inventory History
Scan & Identify provides a history of all items pushed to your inventory for the past 120 days. Older records can be requested by contacting us.
The history includes:
- The card information
- Total aggregated quantity pushed
- The listing price at the time of push to inventory (the reference price value plus any modification)
- The date pushed
- Who it was pushed by
- Whether it was pushed as live or staged inventory. Items that were pushed as live but aren’t yet showing on the Marketplace will show a “Pending” status.
If you need more help or would like to share feedback, please contact us.