Guide
Is a card scanner worth it?
We sell the route that goes through photos. So this starts with what argues for the other routes. The question is too expensive to answer with advertising.
Three routes, the same work
In the end every card has to stand there as a row with version, condition, language and quantity. The only difference is who fills the row.
- Sorting machine: feeds cards itself and reads them. Four-figure purchase, plus space and maintenance.
- Your own device: phone camera, webcam or flatbed scanner. You already paid for it.
- Typing: nothing to buy, but every card by hand.
What a machine solves, and what is left
A machine takes the moving and the reading off your hands. It does not take away the decision of which print version this is, what condition the card is in, and which language it was printed in. Those decisions fill exactly the columns the price hangs on. Buying a machine and then doing the matching by hand means the most expensive part was never replaced.
The fine print decides
What separates one version from the next is usually printed small along the bottom edge: set code, number, edition mark. That spot needs pixels. The biggest lever for a clean result is therefore image quality: closer, enough light, let the camera focus. An old webcam that cannot focus costs you more rework than any software decision.
What CardEntry is here, and what it is not
CardEntry sells no hardware and needs none. The images come from the device you already have: capture with a camera or upload existing files, including those from a flatbed scanner. If you already own a sorting machine, you can upload its images just as well. The matching happens afterwards.
When hardware pays off anyway
At high, uniform volumes that keep coming, and when you need the physical sorting, not just the capture. A machine that puts cards into compartments does work no software does. With fluctuating stacks, mixed games and irregular intake, the purchase sits idle most of the time.
Run the numbers yourself
Take the purchase price, divide it by the cards you realistically process per month, and add the time that still falls to you after the machine. Compare that against the cost of the route you take today. We deliberately give no example figure here: any figure we picked would be ours, not yours.
More guides
- Importing a CSV into TCG PowerTools
- Listing bulk on Cardmarket
- When is a single listing worth it?
- What does TCG PowerTools cost?
- Listing cards on Cardmarket in bulk quantities
- Selling Yu-Gi-Oh on Cardmarket
- TCG PowerTools explained in plain terms
- Finding the right card version
- Grading card condition correctly
- Selling cards on Cardmarket
Try the capture part.
Process 500 card images for free. No subscription, no credit card. You see the finished file before you commit to anything else.