HobbyCardIndex Help Center
Everything in one place: how the plans work, what the AI scanner can do, how we price cards, and how the dealer tools, alerts, and account settings fit together. If you can’t find what you need here, email [email protected] and we’ll help.
Getting Started
What is HobbyCardIndex?
HobbyCardIndex (HCI) is a card-tracking and research tool for collectors, investors, and dealers. We pull real sold prices on more than 6.9 million cards, so you can value your collection, snap a photo to identify and price a card, check whether grading is worth the fee before you send it in, and keep an eye on what's moving. The idea is to replace the five browser tabs most of us have open while researching a card. You can start free, and the Pro, Dealer, and Enterprise plans add the heavier tools when you need them.
How do I create an account?
Hit 'Sign Up' at the top of the page, enter your email, and pick a password. We email you a 6-digit code to confirm the address, and once you enter it you're on the free tier right away — collection tracking, the full card database, search, and Market Movers. No credit card to get started.
Is HobbyCardIndex free to use?
Yes. The free tier gives you the card database with real-time prices, price-history charts, Market Movers, a collection of up to 25 cards, a 10-card watchlist, 3 price alerts, and 5 AI scans a month. When you outgrow that, Pro ($8.99/mo) lifts the collection, watchlist, and alert caps to unlimited and opens up the research tools. There's also a Dealer plan for shop owners and an Enterprise plan for teams and API access.
What browsers are supported?
Any current browser works — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge, on desktop or phone. It's worth staying on a version from the last couple of years. Chrome and Firefox tend to feel the smoothest, but nothing here is locked to one browser.
How do I get around the app?
The left sidebar is the main map: Dashboard, Card Scanner, Collection, Watchlist, Market Movers, Grading ROI, Player Research, Prospects, Market Intelligence, and the Wax Database. On a phone the sidebar tucks behind the menu button in the top corner. A few sections (Grading ROI, Player Research, Prospects) are Pro tools, so you'll see an upgrade prompt there until you're on a paid plan.
Dashboard
What does the dashboard show?
The dashboard is your collection at a glance. You get your total portfolio value, how many cards you're holding, your most valuable cards, a breakdown by category, and the live tracker bar across the top with real-time market numbers. It's the screen most people check first thing.
What are the live tracker numbers?
That bar across the top shows four things, refreshed live: Cards Added (new cards landing in our database), Market Sales (sales we've tracked in the window you pick), Total Volume (what those sales added up to in dollars), and your Portfolio Value. Tap the timeframe to switch between 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days.
How is the portfolio value calculated?
Your portfolio value is the sum of every card you own times its current market price. The price we use is the real sold value for that exact card and grade, so a PSA 10 is valued off PSA 10 comps and a raw copy off raw comps. It re-totals on its own as prices move through the day, so the figure is current, not what you paid.
What are Market Movers?
Market Movers is the list of cards making the biggest jumps, up or down, in a category and timeframe you choose. Cards heating up show warm and cards cooling off show cool, and the percentage tells you how hard each one moved. It's a quick way to catch a run early. There's a fuller version under its own Market Movers tab.
How often does the data update?
Prices and sold data refresh through the day as new sales come in, and we take a snapshot at midnight so the history charts get one clean point per day. Your collection and watchlist values recalculate live off those prices. The market indices and movers rebuild on a regular cycle rather than every second, so a brand-new sale can take a little while to show up in the rankings.
Card Scanner (AI)
How does the AI scanner identify a card from a photo?
Point your phone at a card and our AI vision reads it: player, team, year, set, card number, brand, and the parallel if there is one. It works on raw cards and on graded slabs. When you scan a slab it also pulls the cert number and grade off the label and uses the grader's own data to lock in the exact card. The match comes back with current prices attached, and you can fix any field before you save it.
What types of cards can it identify?
All the big sports — baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer — plus Pokémon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and the other trading-card games. It does best when the card fills most of the frame and the light is even. Oddball one-off issues and heavily worn vintage are the hardest cases for it.
How many scans do I get a month?
Free is 5 scans a month. Pro is 5,000, Dealer is 15,000, and Enterprise is 30,000 — the higher tiers are built for people scanning whole boxes and inventories. Your count resets at the start of each billing cycle and doesn't roll over.
Why did my scan fail or miss?
Usually it's the photo: blurry, dark, shot at an angle, or the card sitting too small in the frame. Lay it flat, fill most of the shot, and keep the light even. Worth knowing — if a scan errors out or comes back empty, we refund it, so a bad photo doesn't burn one of your monthly scans. Only a scan that actually returns a card counts against your total.
Can it read graded slabs (PSA, BGS, CGC, SGC)?
All four — PSA, BGS (Beckett), CGC, and SGC. Shoot the slab straight-on so the label reads clearly. We pull the cert number and grade from the label and, where the grader exposes it, confirm the exact card and its population. A verified cert overrides whatever the visual guess came up with, so graded cards tend to come back spot-on.
Any tips for the best scan results?
Even, bright light with no harsh shadow. Card flat on a plain dark or neutral background. Fill most of the frame and shoot straight down rather than at an angle. Hold steady. For slabs, make sure the label text is sharp. The thing that trips it up most is glare bouncing off the surface, so tilt the card slightly to kill the reflection if you see one.
How much should I trust the identification?
It's good, particularly on modern cards, but it isn't infallible, so treat it as a fast first pass rather than the final word. Every scan comes back with a confidence read, and anything it's unsure about gets flagged for a second look. Glance at the result before you save it, and fix the year, parallel, or card number if it missed one. Near-identical parallels are the usual place it slips.
Collection Management
How do I add cards to my collection?
Two ways. Hit the '+' (or 'Add Card') in the top nav or on the Collection page, search by player, set, or card number, click the card, then set your quantity, condition, and what you paid. Or skip the typing and use the AI scanner — photograph a card and add it straight from the result. Either way it lands in your collection with live pricing attached.
Can I track what I paid and when?
You can — when you add a card, drop in the purchase price and the date you bought it. We keep that as your cost basis and show it right next to the current market value, so the gain or loss on each card is sitting there without you having to do the math.
How do I edit or remove a card?
Click a card in your collection to open it, then use the pencil icon to change quantity, condition, grade, or add a PSA, BGS, or CGC cert number, or the trash icon to remove it. You can do the same from the card's detail popup. Nothing's saved until you confirm it.
What's the collection limit?
Free tracks up to 25 cards. Pro, Dealer, and Enterprise are all unlimited, so once you're on a paid plan you can hold as many as you want. If you're on free and hit the cap, you'll get a heads-up, and upgrading lifts it right away.
How is my collection value calculated?
It's the sum of every card times its current market price, using the real sold value for that card and grade. We re-run it as prices move, so the total tracks the market through the day rather than sitting on whatever it was when you added the card.
Does my collection sync across my devices?
It does. Your collection is tied to your account and saved on our servers, not just in the browser, so it follows you to your phone, your laptop, wherever you sign in. We back it up daily. You're never stuck with your data trapped on one device, and you can export the whole thing to CSV anytime.
Watchlist
How does the watchlist work?
Add any card to your watchlist to keep tabs on its price without owning it. The list shows everything you're following with its current price, the change, and the trend, and clicking a card opens the full price history. Free gives you 10 watchlist slots; Pro and up are unlimited.
What's the watchlist limit?
Free watches up to 10 cards. Pro, Dealer, and Enterprise are unlimited. If you hit the cap on free, you can either clear out a few you've lost interest in or upgrade to drop the limit entirely.
Do I get alerts for watchlist cards?
You do. Set a price alert on any card — say, tell me if this drops 20% or crosses $50 — and we'll email you and drop an in-app notification when it hits. Free includes 3 alerts; Pro and up are unlimited. There's more on how those work in the Price Alerts section below.
Card Database
How many cards are in the database?
More than 6.9 million, across every major sport (baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer), the big trading-card games (Pokémon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh), and vintage going back decades. We add new releases as they drop and keep fixing the catalog as we go.
How do I search for a card?
Use the search bar (the magnifying glass) and type a player, team, card number, brand, or set name. You get every match with its category and current price; click one for the full detail, the price history, and the buttons to add it to your collection or watchlist.
What price data is shown?
For each card you see prices by condition and grade — raw (loose), PSA 10, PSA 9, PSA 8, BGS 9.5, CGC 10, SGC 10, and so on — alongside recent sold activity and the trend. The numbers are real completed sales, not asking prices, so they reflect what cards are actually changing hands for.
Where do the prices come from?
Real sold prices. We track completed sales across the market — eBay sold listings plus the major auction houses and graders — and pull them together into one number per card and grade, drawing on more than 150 sources. We take a daily snapshot for the history charts and keep the live number moving as fresh sales land. They're real comps, not estimates and not asking prices.
What are the grade columns (PSA 10, BGS 9.5, etc.)?
Each column is the market price for that card in that specific grade. PSA, BGS, CGC, and SGC are the grading companies, and the number is the grade on a 1-to-10 scale, where 10 is gem mint and 1 is beat up. Higher grades sell for a lot more, which is the whole reason the Grading ROI tool exists.
Market Movers
What are Market Movers?
Market Movers is the cards making the biggest moves, up or down, in a category and timeframe you pick. They're ranked by percent change, with the ones running hot in warm colors and the ones sliding in cool colors. It's the fastest way to see where money's flowing on a given day.
How is hot or cold decided?
A card runs hot when its price is climbing over the window you're looking at, and cold when it's falling. The bigger the swing, the stronger the color. We don't hard-code one magic threshold across the board, because a big move in vintage isn't the same size as a big move in a modern parallel, so the ranking adapts to the category.
What timeframes are there?
The last 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or the past year. Short windows show you what's moving right now; longer ones show the real trend underneath the noise. Use the timeframe dropdown to switch.
Which categories are covered, and is it free?
Every major category — baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, Pokémon, and the other TCGs — and several of them split modern from vintage. Free gets you a look at the movers; Pro opens the full list of top movers per category plus the category drill-down. Pick a category to see what's specific to that market.
Grading ROI Scanner (Pro Feature)
What is the Grading ROI tool, and is grading worth it?
It answers the question every collector asks before mailing a card off: is grading this thing actually worth it? We take the raw price, compare it to what the card sells for in a given grade, subtract the grading fee, and show you the likely return. Cards with real upside float to the top so you can prioritize what to send. It's a Pro feature.
How does it work out the ROI?
Straight math: (graded price minus raw price minus the grading fee), divided by the raw price. Say a raw card runs about $10, the PSA 10 sells for around $50, and grading costs $15. That's ($50 - $10 - $15) over $10, or roughly 250% if it comes back a 10. The tool ranks your cards by that potential return so the strong candidates are obvious.
What grading costs does it assume?
Standard PSA, BGS, and CGC pricing, usually somewhere in the $15-25 range per card depending on the company and how fast you want it back. You can set your own number in settings to match the service level you actually use, and the math updates to match.
How do I use the results?
You get a ranked list of your cards by potential ROI. Click one to see the raw price, the graded price, the fee, and the projected profit. Send the strong ones, sit on the rest. Keep in mind it's a projection — the card still has to come back at the grade you're hoping for, and prices move, so treat it as a guide, not a guarantee.
Why is it a Pro feature?
It leans on real-time pricing across your whole collection plus a nightly pass that re-runs the numbers, so it's built for people who are actively deciding what to grade. That's why it sits in the paid tiers rather than the free one.
Player Research Hub (Pro Feature)
What is the Player Research Hub?
It's a research desk for a single player. We pull together their stats, recent news, injury and contract notes, and how their cards are actually performing, so you're not opening six sites to figure out whether a guy is worth chasing. It's a Pro feature.
What does it show?
For each player: stats and team and position, recent headlines, what's coming up on the schedule, injury status, contract details, and the card side — total sales, price trends, and how the grading population breaks down. It's meant to connect the on-field story to the card market in one view.
How fresh is it?
The research refreshes daily off news feeds, official data, and card-market activity. Big stuff like a trade, an injury, or a signing can take a little while to filter through, so check the 'last updated' stamp on the player's page if something just broke.
Can I research Pokémon or other TCG characters?
Not yet. Player Research is built around real athletes right now (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS). Pokémon and the other TCGs are fully in the card database and Market Movers, but character-level research isn't there yet. It's something we may add down the line.
Prospects Hub (Pro Feature)
What is the Prospects Hub?
It ranks MLB prospects by a performance score built from their stats and minor-league trend. The point is to get ahead of the curve: a prospect's cards usually start moving before he ever debuts, so spotting the riser early is the whole game. It's a Pro feature.
How do I use the Prospects Hub?
The list comes ranked, so the names climbing the board sit right at the top. Click any prospect for a full research page — profile and stats, an AI scouting write-up, the cards that exist for him, recent sales, live eBay listings, and the news around him. Use it to decide who's worth a flyer before the rest of the market catches on.
What prospect data is available?
For each one: the profile (age, team, position, stats), the cards and parallels that exist for him, price trends on those cards, the grading breakdown, and his news. It's the same idea as Player Research, just pointed at guys who haven't made it to the show yet.
Market Intelligence
What is the HCI 500 Index?
Think of the HCI 500 as an S&P 500 for cards. It tracks the top 500 by market cap and trading volume, so you can read the whole market in a single line instead of going card by card. Alongside it there's a Market Temperature score from 0 to 100 that reads how hot or cold things are right now — above 80 is a hot market, below 40 is cold.
How are the indices calculated?
Each category index is rebased to 100 so you're comparing apples to apples. A reading of 110 means that category's prices are up about 10% from the baseline; 90 means down about 10%. It's built off real sold activity — which cards are rising versus falling, by how much, and how heavily they're trading. There's a separate volume index, also rebased to 100, that tracks daily sales activity rather than price.
What is the Heat Map?
The Heat Map is the whole market color-coded in a grid. Green is growth, red is decline, and the duller the color the flatter the movement. One glance tells you which sports, eras, and card types are running and which are just sitting there.
What is the AI chat?
It's a chat where you ask plain-English questions about the market, your collection, or a specific card — something like why are 1952 Topps up this month, or which of my cards has the best grading ROI — and it answers with the real data behind it. It's in the Pro, Dealer, and Enterprise plans.
Wax Database
What is the Wax Database?
The Wax Database tracks sealed product — booster boxes, hobby boxes, blasters, factory sets, all the unopened stuff. Whether you're sitting on a 1986 Fleer basketball box or a modern Pokémon case, it shows the current market price and the trend so you can decide whether to rip it or hold it.
What products are tracked?
Sealed product across eras and brands: vintage boxes from the '80s and '90s, modern factory sets, booster boxes, special editions, and the harder-to-find sealed packs. We add products as they release and start trading.
How are wax prices set?
Same idea as singles — real sold prices. We track what sealed product actually sells for on eBay and in public auction results. Condition matters a lot with wax (original packaging, storage, corner wear), so two of the same box can price differently. You get the going rate plus recent activity for each product.
Sold Listings / Price History
Where do sold listings come from?
Mostly eBay — it's where the largest volume of real completed sales in the hobby happens. We watch it continuously and match new sales to the right card in the database. Because these are actual completed transactions, you're looking at what people really paid, not what sellers are asking.
What is match confidence?
Match confidence is how sure we are that a given sold listing is actually the card you're looking at, shown as a percentage. It's based on how well the title lines up, the seller, and whether the price makes sense. Green is high confidence, yellow is so-so, red is shaky. It's worth a glance at the listing itself before you lean on a low-confidence match, since titles can be sloppy.
Why do some cards show no sales?
Some cards just don't trade much — rare parallels, oddball vintage, low-numbered stuff. If we can't find recent completed sales, we say 'no recent sales' rather than invent a number. Try a more common version or parallel of the same card; there's often history on that even when the exact one is quiet.
What do Auction, BIN, and Best Offer mean?
Auction means it sold through bidding. BIN is Buy It Now, a fixed price someone took. Best Offer means the seller accepted a negotiated number below the asking price. They're worth reading: auctions can run hot when two people want the same card, while BIN prices tend to track the everyday going rate.
How do I open the original eBay listing?
Click 'View eBay Listing' on any sold comp to open the original on eBay. Heads up — eBay pulls sold listings after a couple of months, so older ones may drop you on a search page instead of the exact item. The link carries our eBay affiliate tag, which we mention for transparency.
Pricing & Subscriptions
What plans are available?
There are four: Free, Pro, Dealer, and Enterprise. Free is $0 and a real plan, not a trial. Pro is $8.99 a month, or $89.99 a year. Dealer is $24.99 a month ($249.99 a year). Enterprise is $49.99 a month ($499.99 a year). Paying yearly works out cheaper than month-to-month on every paid tier. The full feature-by-feature breakdown is on the Pricing page.
What's in the free tier?
Free gets you the card database with real-time prices, price-history charts, Market Movers, a collection of up to 25 cards, a 10-card watchlist, 3 price alerts, and 5 AI scans a month. You can look around the whole app; the Pro tools — Grading ROI, Player Research, Prospects, the AI chat — are the parts that stay locked until you upgrade.
What does Pro add?
Pro takes the caps off — unlimited collection, unlimited watchlist, unlimited price alerts — and bumps you to 5,000 AI scans a month. It also opens the research side: the Grading ROI tool, Player Research, the MLB Prospects Hub, the AI Buy/Sell/Hold signals on every card, the full Market Movers, and the Market-Intel AI chat. It's the plan most members land on, at $8.99 a month.
What's the Dealer plan?
Dealer is everything in Pro plus the business tools, at $24.99 a month. You get 15,000 scans a month, full Dealer Mode for running your inventory, batch scanning up to 100 cards at once, eBay listing templates, an auto-pricing engine, profit-and-loss tracking, SKU and storage-location tags, and CSV import and export. It's built for shop owners and full-time sellers.
What does Enterprise include?
Enterprise, at $49.99 a month, is everything in Dealer plus scale: 30,000 scans a month, full REST API access with your own keys, bulk CSV and JSON export, up to 10 team-member seats with roles, webhook integrations, white-label reports, and priority support straight to the dev team. It's for teams and high-volume operations.
How do I upgrade, cancel, or manage my plan?
Hit 'Upgrade' in the top nav, or go to Settings > Billing, pick a plan, and enter your card. Payment runs through Stripe and your new features switch on right away. To change or cancel later, the same Settings > Billing screen lets you switch tiers or cancel. A cancellation runs to the end of the period you already paid for, and you can turn it back on anytime.
What happens to my data if I downgrade or cancel?
Nothing gets deleted. If you cancel or drop to a lower tier, you keep your account and your data and just lose access to the paid features. If you end up over a free-tier limit — say you tracked 400 cards on Pro and then dropped to free — those cards aren't wiped. You won't be able to add more until you're back under the cap or you upgrade again.
Price Alerts
How do price alerts work?
Set an alert on any card and tell it the trigger — drops 20%, climbs above $100, crosses a target you name. When the card hits that, we email you and drop an in-app notification. It's how you catch a dip to buy or a peak to sell without refreshing the page all day.
What kinds of alerts can I set?
A few. Price-below and price-above, which fire when a card dips under or breaks over a number you set. Percent-change alerts on the day or the week, which fire if it swings more than your threshold in 24 hours or 7 days. And a volume-spike alert — a sudden jump in how much a card is trading, which often comes right before a price move.
How many alerts can I set?
Free includes 3 alerts. Pro, Dealer, and Enterprise are unlimited. We check them on a regular cycle against fresh prices, so you'll hear from us shortly after a card hits your trigger, not days later.
Security & Privacy
What is two-factor authentication (2FA)?
Two-factor authentication adds a second lock to your account. After your password, you enter a 6-digit code from an authenticator app on your phone. Even if someone gets hold of your password, they can't get in without that code. It's optional, but a good idea, especially if you're tracking a valuable collection.
How do I set up 2FA?
Go to Settings > Account > Two-Factor Authentication and hit 'Enable 2FA'. You'll get a QR code — scan it with an authenticator app like Google Authenticator, Authy, or Microsoft Authenticator — then type in the 6-digit code to confirm. You'll also get a set of backup codes. Save those somewhere safe; they're your way back in if you lose your phone.
Is 2FA required?
No, it's optional — you can run your account without it. We'd still recommend turning it on, since it's the single best thing you can do to keep your account locked down. On the admin side a few sensitive actions ask for a fresh code as a step-up check, but that's not the same as forcing 2FA on your everyday sign-in.
What's a trusted device?
When you log in with 2FA, you can tick 'trust this device' to skip the code on that browser for 30 days. After that it asks again. It keeps your own computer convenient while still checking in now and then. You can clear all trusted devices anytime from Settings > Account if you want the code back everywhere.
What are backup codes?
Backup codes are one-time emergency codes you get when you turn on 2FA. If you lose your phone or can't reach your authenticator app, you punch in a backup code instead of the 6-digit one. Each works once, so cross it off after you use it. Keep them in a password manager, or print them and stash them somewhere safe.
I lost my phone — how do I get in?
Use one of the backup codes from when you set up 2FA, in the code field at login. Each one works a single time. If you've burned through all your backup codes and lost the phone too, email [email protected] from your account's email address and we'll verify it's you and help you back in.
How do I turn 2FA off?
Settings > Account > Two-Factor Authentication, hit 'Disable 2FA', and confirm with a current code. Since it's opt-in, you're free to switch it off whenever you like, though we'd nudge you to keep it on.
How do you protect my data?
Standard, boring-in-a-good-way security: passwords are hashed with bcrypt and never stored in plain text, every connection runs over HTTPS, sessions are tracked by device so you can see and end them, and your data is backed up daily. We don't sell or share your personal information.
Can I see what's logged into my account?
Yes. Settings > Account > Active Sessions lists every device currently signed in — device type, rough location by IP, and when it was last active. See one you don't recognize? Revoke it there and it's logged out on the spot. Worth changing your password too if that ever happens.
Dealer Mode
What is Dealer Mode?
Dealer Mode is the business side of HCI — a full setup for shop owners, booth vendors, and high-volume sellers. Inventory management, cost and profit tracking, eBay listing tools, shipping, card-show logging, consignment, and customer records, all sitting on top of the same pricing data the rest of the app runs on.
Who can use Dealer Mode?
It comes with the Dealer plan and is included in Enterprise. On Free or Pro you won't see it in the sidebar; upgrading to Dealer switches it on. A few of the more sensitive dealer actions can ask for a 2FA step-up code, but 2FA itself stays opt-in.
How do I add inventory?
Hit the '+' in the Dealer Mode toolbar to add cards by hand, or use the AI scanner to shoot a photo and auto-fill the details. For bigger jobs you can batch-scan up to 100 cards at once, or import in bulk from a CSV. Each card carries its cost, asking price, grade, quantity, and storage location.
Can I track profit and loss?
Every card carries what you paid and what it sold for, so you get per-card and overall P&L. The stats bar up top shows your total inventory value, your cost basis, unrealized P&L on what you're holding, and realized P&L on what's sold. The analytics view breaks it down further by category, time period, and margin.
Does Dealer Mode connect to eBay?
Yes. You can build eBay-ready listings straight from your inventory, with titles, descriptions, and pricing pre-filled off the market data. It makes listing faster and keeps you priced in line with what's actually selling.
What's the shipping feature?
It helps you pick a shipping method, work out the cost, and track packages, with the options card sellers actually use — plain envelope, bubble mailer with tracking, Priority, and graded-slab Priority. It folds the shipping cost into your profit math so your margins stay honest.
Can I track card shows?
It can. The Shows tool lets you log upcoming and past shows, note which inventory you brought, record what sold at each, and see which ones actually made you money. Handy if you're working a booth circuit.
What's the guided dealer tour?
First time into Dealer Mode, you can run a step-by-step tour that walks the whole thing — the toolbar, the stats bar, the action bar, the sidebar, the detail panel, shipping, the eBay tools, and shows. You can start it again anytime from the 'Tour' button in the toolbar.
Scanned Cards
What is the Scanned Cards page?
It's your scan history. Every card you run through the AI scanner gets saved here with its details, prices, and the date you scanned it, so you've got a running log instead of losing scans on a refresh. You can come back to any of them and add the card to your collection or watchlist later.
How long are my scans saved?
They stick around — saved to your account, not the browser, so they're there across sessions and on whatever device you log in from. Scan something six months ago and want another look? It's still there.
Can I add a scanned card to my collection?
Sure. Open any scan from the Scanned Cards page and add it straight to your collection or watchlist in a click. The details it pulled — player, year, brand, grade — carry over, so you're not re-typing anything.
Live Breaks
What are Live Breaks?
Live Breaks is a feed of box and case breaks happening right now and coming up. We pull live break auctions off the market so you can see what's running, jump over to watch on the breaker's stream, and stay plugged into that side of the hobby. It's free for everyone.
Can I buy into a break through HCI?
Not directly. We round up the breaks and point you to them; to actually buy a spot you follow the link to the breaker's stream — Whatnot, YouTube, wherever they're running it. We help you find and compare what's live, but the break itself happens on their platform, not ours.
Games & Community
What games and community features are there?
A few fun extras for the community: Card Battle (two cards go head-to-head on value, trend, and grade), the Card Show Finder (find shows near you), and more on the way. They're free for everyone and add a bit of play to all the data.
What is Card Battle?
Card Battle puts two cards head-to-head — market value, price trend, trading volume, grade spread — and you call which one wins. There are a handful of modes (classic, versus, rookie, parallel, Pokémon, by decade). It's a fun way to poke around the database and run into cards you'd never have searched for.
How does the Card Show Finder work?
It helps you find upcoming shows, cons, and hobby events. Search by location, date, or name and you get the venue, dates, hours, and a link for more. You can also add a show you know about. Good for staying on top of the in-person scene.
Blog & News
Does HobbyCardIndex have a blog?
We do. The Blog has original pieces on the card market — price-trend breakdowns, rookie spotlights, set reviews, grading guides, and hobby news. They're written off our real market data, so the takes are backed by actual numbers rather than vibes.
How often do new articles go up?
Regularly, as the market gives us something worth writing about. When a rookie pops, a vintage set runs, or there's real news in the hobby, you'll find it covered on the Blog. Check back, or look for the Blog in the sidebar.
Exporting Your Data
Can I export my collection?
You can. Go to Settings > Data, or use the export option on your collection, and download it as a CSV — opens straight in Excel, Google Sheets, or whatever you use. It includes the card details, quantities, grades, what you paid, current value, and your P&L.
What formats can I export?
CSV is the main one, and it plays nice with any spreadsheet or data tool. There's JSON too if you're feeding it into something else. The file carries the full set of fields per card: player, year, brand, set, card number, grade, quantity, cost basis, current value, and category.
Is my data portable if I leave?
Completely. Your data is yours — export the whole collection to CSV whenever you want and take it with you. We're not going to hold your data hostage to keep you around. That's the whole point of making export easy.
Account & Settings
How do I change my display settings?
Settings > Appearance. You can switch the theme (several dark and light options, or auto to match your device), set an accent color, adjust the text size and density, and turn on compact mode to fit more cards on screen. Changes take effect right away.
What themes are there?
A range of dark and light themes, plus an accent color you can set to taste. There's an auto option that follows your device's light or dark setting on its own. Dark is the default, since most of us are staring at this at night, but light is right there if you prefer it.
Can I change the currency?
Yes. Settings > Currency, and pick from about a dozen — USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, JPY, and more. Prices across the app convert and show in your currency at live exchange rates, with a sensible fallback if the rate feed ever hiccups.
How do I sign out?
Click your profile icon, top right, and choose 'Sign Out'. You're logged out and back at the sign-in screen. Your data is safe on your account, so log back in anytime and it's all still there.
Troubleshooting
Card prices look wrong
First, double-check you're on the right card — brand, year, and parallel all matter, and a base and a parallel can look almost identical. Prices do swing on recent sales. If something's clearly impossible, like a common modern card showing six figures, refresh the page or clear your browser cache. Still off? Email support with the card name and we'll take a look.
Scanner not working
Run through these: your browser has camera permission, you haven't used up your monthly scans, and the photo is well-lit with the card centered and filling the frame. Try a fresh shot from a slightly different angle. If it keeps failing, email support with a screenshot. Remember a failed scan gets refunded, so retries don't burn your quota.
Page won't load
The usual fixes: refresh (Ctrl+R or Cmd+R), clear your browser cache, try a different browser, and check your connection. If it's still down across browsers, it may be on our end, so give it a few minutes or reach out to support.
Collection value seems off
Collection value is quantity times current market price per card. Check that your quantities are right, that the grade you're holding matches what's priced (a PSA 10 and a raw copy are worlds apart), and that prices have had a chance to refresh. If it's still wrong, hit 'refresh prices' to force an update.
eBay links are broken
eBay drops sold listings after a couple of months, so older links land you on a search page instead of the exact item. That's normal. For recent sales the link should go right to the listing; if a recent one's broken, the seller may have pulled it. Let support know if it keeps happening.
Images not loading
Card images are cached locally so they load fast. If one won't show: refresh the page, clear the image cache (Settings > Advanced > Clear Image Cache), and try another card to see if it's just the one. If images are broadly missing it could be a CDN hiccup, so email support and we'll check.
Contact & Support
How do I report a bug?
Email [email protected] with what went wrong, your browser and OS, the steps to reproduce it if you can, and a screenshot or a quick video. The more concrete it is, the faster we can fix it. There's also a contact form on the site that does the same thing and lets you attach screenshots.
How do I request a feature?
Email [email protected] with the idea and how you'd actually use it. We read everything, and plenty of what's in HCI today started as somebody's request. The 'how you'd use it' part helps more than you'd think.
How do I contact support?
Email [email protected] for anything technical, [email protected] for billing questions, or use the contact form at hobbycardindex.com/contact. We aim to get back to you within a day.