Frequently asked questions

CARDREF is an inventory, pricing, and labeling app for trading card vendors, at shows and in local card shops. You scan cards, get live market pricing, print price labels with a QR code, and sell and buy cards.

Just your phone for scanning; card matching uses the camera. To print price labels, you use the CARDREF label printer, which pairs with the app over Bluetooth.

Open the Scan tab and point your camera at a card. CARDREF matches it to the catalog, pulls market pricing, and adds it to a review list. Review the batch, then tap Add to inventory. You can also add cards by searching the catalog, or bulk-import a CSV/Excel file.

You can keep multiple inventories, for example a main Shop inventory and a temporary Show inventory (a “show kit”) for a specific event. Pull stock into the show kit before the event, sell from it on the floor, and move what's left back when you return.

No. Set a default intake inventory once (tap the bookmark next to an inventory in the inventory picker) and new scans, manual adds, imports, and trade-ins all default to it. It's remembered on your device until you change it, so a whole show goes into the show kit without re-selecting.

Yes. Graded cards capture the grading company, grade, and cert number, and price against graded market data where available.

Fix it in the review step before adding, or re-match an item later from its detail screen.

Live market data from our catalog provider, shown per condition (and per grade for slabs). You set a markup, a minimum price, and rounding rules; CARDREF suggests an asking price you can always override.

It links to that card's public page on your shop (cardref.com/c/…). A customer can scan it to see details; if you scan it with the CARDREF app, it opens that item in your inventory.

The shop owner picks the label layout (or builds a custom one). That choice is shared with the whole team: when a staff member prints, they print the owner's selected layout. Members can't change it.

Yes. After adding scanned cards to inventory, CARDREF offers to print labels for exactly that batch. You can also print from any item or from the Print Labels screen.

Use the Buy / Trade tab and tap Buy. Add the customer's cards; CARDREF values them at your buy percentage of market (e.g. 80%). Completing the buy adds them to your inventory and records what you paid as the cost basis, so your profit is right when you resell.

Buy is cards in for cash. Trade is a swap: your cards out, their cards in, balanced with cash either direction. Both record cost so your reporting stays honest. (Don't use plain Scan/Quick Add for cards you're buying; that adds them without recording what you paid.)

The share of market value you pay when buying cards (set in Pricing settings, default 80%). It drives the suggested cash offer in the Buy/Trade builder, and you can override any deal.

Yes. Every vendor gets a public shop at your-name.cardref.com. Customers browse your live inventory, open card detail pages (the QR on your labels), and pay you directly with your payment QR codes.

In person, using the Venmo / Zelle / PayPal / Cash App QR codes you set up in Payment settings.

Yes. Invite team members and scope them to specific inventories. Owners control shop settings, pricing, payments, the label layout, and team management; members handle day-to-day scanning, selling, and buying.

Two plans, each aimed at a different kind of vendor:

Starter ($29.99/mo) is for solo vendors working shows: live pricing & matching across all 5 TCGs, 1 inventory + 1 show kit, and the full scan → label → sell → buy/trade loop with your customer shop page.

Pro ($49.99/mo) is for shops and serious vendors: everything in Starter plus sports card pricing, unlimited inventories & show kits, unlimited staff with per-inventory roles, the custom label designer, bulk import, sales & trade analytics with Market Movers, and priority support. Plus a free Bluetooth label printer with labels, shipped with your first month.

See Pricing for the full breakdown. Replacement printers and label packs are sold separately at fair prices.

See our Privacy Policy. In short: we store your account and inventory data to run the service, never sell it, and only share it with the processors needed to operate (e.g. Shopify when you connect it).

Email support@cardref.com or use the Contact page.