How to sell Pokémon cards: live setup and kit

An overhead phone arm clamped to the table edge gives you the top-down view card buyers expect, and frees both hands for flipping cards and opening packs. A tripod works for a face-on shot, but cards look tilted and glare more from that angle.

Set the phone so a single card fills about a third of the frame. Leave room on one side for the next card waiting in its sleeve. Do a ten-minute test recording before your first show and watch it back on another device.

Holo and full-art cards bounce light straight back into the lens. An 18 inch ring light is the place to start: put it slightly to one side instead of directly above, then tilt the card to show the shine on purpose.

If glare still washes out the cards, two LED panels at 45 degrees on either side give you softer light. Turn off the overhead room light so you are not mixing warm and cool colors, which makes reds and yellows look muddy on screen.

Viewers stay through a slightly soft picture but leave when they cannot hear the price or the card name. A clip-on wireless phone mic keeps your voice level whether you look at the camera or down at the binder.

Clip it to your collar, not the table, or every card you set down thuds through the stream. Keep a spare charging cable within reach in case the mic dies mid-auction.

Put every single that might sell into a penny sleeve before you go live. Hits worth protecting go into a toploader as well. Buy both in bulk: a 1,000 pack of sleeves lasts a new seller months.

Lay the run order out in a row of toploaders so you can lift, show and set aside in one move. Sold cards go straight into a team bag with the buyer’s username on a sticky note. The note stops most mix-ups when you pack later.

Pack the morning after the show, which leaves time to check every bag against the order list. Slide each toploader or team bag into a rigid card mailer so it cannot bend in transit.

Print labels in one batch with a small thermal label printer and a roll of 4 × 6 inch labels. For combined orders from the same buyer, put all their cards in one team bag and send one package.

You can say you sell Pokémon cards, because that is the product. Keep your own shop name, logo and show artwork your own. Skip official artwork or logos in thumbnails and packaging, and describe condition in plain terms: near mint, lightly played, creased.

Grade the condition before the show and write it on the sticky note behind the card. Most disputes start with condition called on the spot.