TCGplayer Managed Inventory Seller Policies

Overview

The TCGplayer Managed Inventory service is part of the TCGplayer Direct program and allows sellers to send inventory for professional intake, storage, and fulfillment by TCGplayer. It simplifies logistics for sellers and ensures consistent quality for buyers.

Definitions

• Check-In refers to the process and status through which the Authentication Center digitally records a package as being received. This is independent of third party delivery service records, such as USPS, which do not qualify as a record of check-in or receipt by our Authentication Center.
• Discrepancy refers to an error within a given package where a card received does not match the card expected. The different types of discrepancies are identified in the Inspection and Accuracy section of this document.
• Package refers to an individual box or parcel within a shipment. TCGplayer’s submission portal will divide large submissions into multiple packages, each with a unique ID. Types of packages are defined in the Submission and Shipping section of this document.
• Processing refers to the inspection and handling of inbound material as part of the receiving process.
• Putaway refers to the process and status of digitally adding accepted inventory to a seller’s Managed Inventory account.
• Receiving is the end-to-end process by which TCGplayer handles, inspects, and completes putaway for a package after check-in.
• Shipment refers to a physical delivery of inventory sent to TCGplayer. A shipment may contain one or more packages. Packages of different types may not be combined into a single shipment. See the Packing Requirements section for more information.
• Submission refers to the complete inventory set a seller creates in a submission event. Each submission will be assigned a unique ID in the seller portal.

Eligibility

To be considered for the Managed Inventory program, sellers are required to submit an application for enrollment. Sellers must have a 99.5% feedback rating over the preceding 30 days and complete a provisional enrollment period consisting of three shipments that meet the compliance standards stated in this document. Only accounts in good standing are eligible to apply.

If a seller is unable to meet quality requirements within the provisional enrollment period, they may be removed from the Managed Inventory service and may reapply in 90 calendar days.

To continue participation, sellers must maintain an active payment method and valid address listed in the Seller Portal, and adhere to all service requirements.

Sellers who do not make a submission or sale through their Managed Inventory account within a 180-calendar-day period may be removed for inactivity.

Submission and Shipping

All submissions must be created through the Seller Portal using the approved CSV format.

Sellers may submit no more than one Managed Inventory submission per day. Each submission must include at least 50 and no more than 9,800 eligible cards. Shipments must arrive at TCGplayer’s facility within 10 business days of approval for domestic sellers or 15 business days for international sellers. TCGplayer reserves the right to refuse submissions at any time for any reason.

There are two types of Managed Inventory shipments. The submission portal will automatically split submissions into these shipment types.

• Preferred (PRF) - Consists of cards with a market price of $3 and above. May not exceed 600 products per package. Must contain a minimum of 50 eligible cards per submission.
• Standard (STD) - Consists of cards with a market price below $3. May not exceed 2,800 products per package. Must contain a minimum of 50 eligible cards per submission.

The submission portal will intake the seller’s CSV and produce packing slips for each package. Sellers are not required to arrange cards according to a separate master card or set order; the required packing order is the order shown on the generated packing slips.

The portal uses the following grouping rules to generate packing slips. We suggest preparing submissions according to these rules prior to submitting in order to reduce downstream sorting time:

• Cards with a market price of $3 and above will be placed into Preferred (PRF) shipments.
• Cards with a market price below $3 will be placed into Standard (STD) shipments.
• Cards of the same product line (game) must be grouped together. Product line groupings will be in the order of Magic: The Gathering first, Pokemon second, and YuGiOh! third.
• Cards of the same condition must be grouped together. Condition groupings will be in the order of NM first, and LP second.
• Nonfoil cards must be grouped together and placed before foil card groupings.
• Within a given set, cards of the same ID (name and version) must be grouped together.

Each shipment type (PRF & STD) follows these grouping rules:

Once the submission is approved, the submission portal will generate one or more packing slips and display an ineligible product list, as applicable: 1) Preferred (PRF) packing slips; 2) Standard (STD) packing slips; 3) Ineligible product list.

Sellers must check the packing slips for changes in card order and make any necessary adjustments so the physical cards match. Sellers are not to ship products listed on the ineligible product list to TCGplayer. Ineligible products received by TCGplayer will be subject to additional fees and will impact the package’s accuracy rate.

If a package arrives at TCGplayer’s facility after it has been canceled, TCGplayer will return it to the address listed in the Seller Portal for the associated store account. The seller will be responsible for covering the cost of return shipping.

It is a seller’s responsibility to ensure the safe delivery of shipments to TCGplayer’s Authentication Center. TCGplayer makes an effort to monitor for expected shipments, but is under no obligation to investigate, alert, or otherwise address when a shipment does not arrive. 

Packing Requirements

Sellers must adhere to the following packing requirements or be subject to a discrepancy fee charged per impacted card:

• All products listed in the approved CSV(s) must be included in the package at the quantity and condition indicated.
• Sellers may not include ineligible products in their packages. Please note that all sealed and slabbed products are considered ineligible.

Sellers must adhere to the following packing and shipping requirements or be subject to a noncompliance packaging fee charged per impacted package:

• The Seller Portal will split large submissions into multiple packages as needed. Packages of the same type from the same day must be sent together in a single shipment with shared tracking, but packages of different types or from different days may not be shipped together. For additional details about combining packages for shipment, see the Managed Inventory Packing and Shipping Guide.
• Cards must be packed in the order indicated on the packing slip. While there is no fixed card or set order required, the packing slip will group cards together according to the logic listed in the Submission and Shipping section of this document.
• Sellers may only sleeve and/or topload cards valued at $25 or greater.
• Each shipment must be shipped to the address specified on the packing slip.
• Sellers must include the portion of the packing slip that includes the package ID and barcode.
• Sellers must secure the cards so they are not loose, able to slide, or otherwise prone to moving around within the package.
• Sellers may not use rubber bands, string, or similar strand-like material to secure cards, as these are likely to cause damage.
• Sellers may not send products and/or packages smelling of smoke or other substances.
• Sellers may not package products with potentially unsanitary items.
• Sellers must apply accurate tracking to the shipment in the submission portal. If the tracking information changes due to unforeseen circumstances, sellers must update the tracking number accordingly. Note that for missing or incorrect tracking, one noncompliant packaging fee will be charged to the entire shipment, rather than being charged to all packages within the shipment.

TCGplayer reserves the right to refuse incoming shipments that do not conform to these policies. The seller will be charged the return shipping for packages returned due to noncompliance.

If a package arrives at TCGplayer with a significant amount of contents damaged, TCGplayer is under no obligation to store, maintain, or return damaged packaging to sellers. Damaged products will be returned to sellers in a separate shipment.

Inspection and Accuracy

TCGplayer inspects all packages for quantity, condition, and accuracy. Packages must maintain a 95% accuracy rate, meaning discrepancies must total no greater than 5% of a package’s total contents. Managed Inventory discrepancies are defined as products that do not match the description, condition, or quantity indicated in the approved submission.

Discrepancies will be subject to discrepancy fees, but impacted cards will not be subject to a receiving fee. TCGplayer reserves the right to enforce this policy, including the removal of Managed Inventory sellers who consistently fail to meet this expectation.

Discrepancy types are defined as:

• Extra Card - An unexpected card is present. Extra cards that meet eligibility criteria will be accepted and charged a discrepancy fee.
• Incorrect Card - An incorrect version of a card was received in place of an expected card. This may be a similarly named card, correct name but wrong set, or other card ID error. Incorrect cards will be ingested and charged a discrepancy fee.
• Incorrect Condition - A card has been received at a lower-than-expected condition level. Cards decreased from Near Mint to Lightly Played will be ingested and charged a discrepancy fee. Moderately Played, Heavily Played, and Damaged cards will be charged a discrepancy fee, but will be returned to the seller with their ineligible discrepancies.
• Ineligible Product - An ineligible product is present in the package. Note that ineligible products will not be listed individually in discrepancy reporting. Ineligible products will be charged a discrepancy fee and returned to the seller.
• Missing Card - An expected card is not present. The missing cards will be charged a discrepancy fee.

TCGplayer classifies the condition of cards as detailed in our Card Condition Guidelines. TCGplayer is not obligated to provide proof or reasoning for condition determinations, rejection of products, or products determined to be missing during authentication and review.

Counterfeit or altered items are not returned and will be removed from circulation. Counterfeit products identified during inspection will appear as “ineligible product” discrepancies. Sellers that display a pattern of shipping counterfeit material in shipments will be removed from the Managed Inventory service and all of TCGplayer’s selling platforms.

Storage, Returns, and Disposal

Accepted items are stored securely in TCGplayer’s Authentication Center. Sellers may submit return or disposal requests once every 30 days. TCGplayer will process these requests within 30 calendar days of our confirmation that we have received the request. For returned material, sellers are responsible for all shipping, delivery, postage, and handling costs. Applicable fees for returns and disposals apply, as detailed in our fee schedule. Storage fees are applied monthly beginning 90 days after an item is putaway.

Unclaimed inventory after 90 days may be considered abandoned and disposed of, including but not limited to instances where an idle seller account is removed, or when ineligible returns are non-deliverable because the seller is unresponsive or does not have a valid shipping address on file.

Ineligible products identified during receiving will be returned to sellers at a frequency of once every 90 days.

For return shipments outside of the domestic US, sellers will be charged any applicable customs, tariffs, and import / export costs associated with the shipment.

Fees

The Managed Inventory service includes the following fees:

• Receiving Fee - Charged for the cost of receiving, inspecting, and putaway of a card. This fee applies to cards accepted through the receiving process which are not associated with a discrepancy.
• Storage Fee - Charged to offset storage costs. This fee is applied monthly starting 90 days after a card is putaway.

• Sale & Fulfillment Fee - Per-item fee charged to offset the cost of TCGplayer fulfilling the order on behalf of the seller. This fee varies depending on item price and quarterly Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). Applies to all products sold through Direct.  See the Fee Rates and Schedule Help File for more information.
• Marketplace Fee - The standard commission fee applied to all orders completed on TCGplayer’s marketplace. For TCGplayer Managed Inventory sales, this fee is only applied to cards valued at $2 or greater.
• Transaction Fee - A per-transaction fee charged on each sale. A transaction is defined as any number of items purchased by the same buyer from the same seller at checkout using the same shipping method. In TCGplayer Managed Inventory, this fee is only applied to cards sold for $2 or greater.
• Discrepancy Fee - Charged to offset the cost of operational slowdowns due to card errors within a given package. Cards subject to a discrepancy fee will not be subject to the receiving fee.
• Noncompliant Packaging Fee - Charged to offset the cost of operational slowdowns resulting from improperly packaged or shipped packages.
• Inventory Return or Disposal Fee - Charged to cover the cost of returning or disposing of seller material at the seller’s request.

Fee rates and details are available in the Fee Rates and Schedule Help File.

Unpaid Invoice Remediation

Sellers must pay all invoices by the due date. TCGplayer reserves the right to take the following actions in order to remedy unpaid balances:

• Suspension of Services: If any invoice remains unpaid for more than thirty (30) calendar days after the due date, TCGplayer may suspend all services associated with the Seller’s account until such payment is received.
• Offset Rights: If any invoice remains unpaid for more than ninety (90) calendar days after the due date, TCGplayer may, in its sole discretion, offset and collect amounts owed by withholding from the Seller the full value of any sales proceeds (in addition to program fees) until the outstanding balance is satisfied.
• Ownership and Liquidation of Materials: After ninety (90) calendar days of non-payment, the Seller expressly agrees that TCGplayer may take possession of and assume ownership of any materials stored on its premises associated with the Seller’s account. TCGplayer may liquidate, sell, or otherwise dispose of such materials and apply the proceeds toward any outstanding balance owed by the Seller.
• Collections and Legal Action: In addition to the foregoing, TCGplayer reserves the right to charge late fees on unpaid invoices and to pursue collection of any amounts owed through internal collections, third-party collection services, and/or legal proceedings.
• Program and Service Removal: Sellers who demonstrate repeated or chronic late payment behavior may, at TCGplayer’s discretion, be removed from participation in TCGplayer programs and services.

Invoice Disputes

Sellers must submit any invoice dispute within 15 calendar days from the invoice date. All disputes must be submitted in writing and must include the invoice number, specific line item(s) in dispute, reason for the dispute, and supporting documentation.

Upon receipt of a valid dispute, TCGplayer will confirm receipt of the dispute, issue a case ID within three business days, and pause the payment deadline for the disputed invoice until resolution is reached.

TCGplayer will investigate the dispute to determine validity. If the dispute is validated, a credit memo or revised invoice will be issued. If the dispute is denied, TCGplayer will share a detailed explanation with the seller.

Liability

For products verifiably lost or damaged in TCGplayer’s possession, TCGplayer reimburses up to the TCGplayer Market Price and a maximum of $20,000 per Seller.

If a card is verifiably damaged, destroyed, or lost after it has been putaway:

• TCGplayer will credit the seller for the card at its TCGplayer Market Price as of the date of resolution.
• TCGplayer will credit the seller an amount equal to the receiving fee charged for the card.
• TCGplayer will credit the seller for any storage fees paid on the oldest stored copy of the card.

If a card is identified as the incorrect product after it has been putaway:

• TCGplayer will adjust the seller’s inventory to reflect the correct product.
• TCGplayer will credit the seller the equivalent of a discrepancy fee charge.

Sellers assume all inbound shipping risks. (For full details, please refer to Section 7 of the Seller Agreement.)

Termination

Sellers who fail to maintain accuracy, send counterfeit items, fail to maintain timely and accurate payments, or violate policy may be removed from the Managed Inventory service. Participation requires compliance with the TCGplayer Marketplace Seller Agreement and service Policies. (For all terms and conditions on termination, including notice requirements, please refer to Section 12 of the Seller Agreement.)