What the scanner reads — and what it doesn't

The scanner is very good at one thing: recognising which card you're holding. Everything else about your copy — what language it's printed in, what shape it's in, whether it's foil — is not read from the card. Knowing where each detail comes from is what keeps your inventory accurate — and, if you sell, what keeps a scanning slip from turning into a cancelled order.

What the scanner detects

• The card itself — name, expansion, print number and artwork, matched against the game's full catalogue

• The game it belongs to

• Close look-alikes — when several printings look alike, it shows you the candidates and asks you to pick

What comes from your settings, not the card

Every scanned card is saved with:

• Language — your default language, whatever language the card is actually printed in

• Condition — your default condition (Near Mint if you never changed it). The scanner does not grade your card

• Finish — your default (Standard or Foil if possible). The scanner doesn't detect whether your copy is foil — if a card only exists in one finish, that one is used; if several are possible, the app asks

• Quantity — 1 per scan

Graded cards (slabs) are not recognised as graded either — a slabbed card scans as the regular card.

A concrete example: if your default language is French and you scan a binder of English cards, every one of them is saved as French. Your inventory no longer matches reality — you own English cards, but your collection says French. If you later put those cards up for sale, it becomes a real problem: buyers will order French cards, and receiving the wrong language is a valid reason for them to cancel or open a dispute.

The market value next to each scan

When a card is recognised, its market value appears with it on screen, reflecting the market value source and currency you chose in your account settings. Values add up as you go — watch the session total climb at the top of the scanner screen as you work through a binder.

Make your settings work for you

The fix takes five seconds, before you start:

1. Open Scanner options → Settings → Default settings

2. Set the condition, language and finish to match the batch in front of you

Changing cards mid-session? The quick-adjust bar at the bottom of the scan screen switches language, condition, finish or quantity on the fly — each change applies to the card you just scanned and becomes the new default.

💡 Tip: Sort your cards into piles by language and condition before scanning, and update the controls between piles. That's the whole trick — scan 500 cards without checking them one by one, and still list them accurately.

Check before you sell

Your scans wait in Scanned cards until you add them — that's your safety net. Before sending a batch to your inventory, and especially before Put for sale, give it one pass:

• Language — does it match the printed cards? Use Change language to fix the whole session at once

• Condition — are played cards marked as played? Use Change condition, or edit the cards individually

• Finish — foils marked as foil?

• Printing — spot-check a few: tap a card and change the printing if the scanner picked a look-alike

As a seller, you're responsible for the accuracy of your listings — the scanner speeds up the typing, but what goes on sale is what you confirmed. A listing that doesn't match the physical card usually ends in a cancellation, and seller cancellations come with an automatic review on your profile (see Cancelling an Order and How Ratings & Reviews Work).

Good to know

• Your scanner defaults for condition and language are shared with your account's default settings — set them once, they follow you

• Market values are stored on your phone with each game's data — keep your game data updated so the values you see while scanning stay current

• We're actively improving the scanner — but today, language, condition and finish detection is not part of it. When that changes, you'll read it in Freshly Sleeved first