Importing a CSV into TCG PowerTools

What PowerTools insists on

Two things are mandatory per row: the quantity and at least one identifier. An ID counts as an identifier, the Cardmarket ID being the obvious one, or failing that name plus collector number plus set. And then there is the trap: if language and condition are missing from the file, PowerTools sets them to English and Near Mint. On a German stack that makes every row wrong without a single error message. This is exactly why CardEntry writes both into every row, alongside the Cardmarket ID.

One file per card game

Incoming stock is rarely all one game. The import runs per card game, though, so a mixed stack is split on export: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon and Magic each get their own file. You import them one after another, not together.

The thirteen columns

This is the order and these are the headers the file leaves CardEntry with. It matches the format PowerTools offers as its example file, so the mapping in step three usually already reads correctly. Looking anyway is worth it. This is what a row looks like:

The name is an identifier, not a label

On import, the card name is used alongside the Cardmarket identifier. A typo or a translated name is therefore not a cosmetic issue: it can push the row onto a different card. What comes out of CardEntry is the English name of the matched version, not the text the camera read.

Condition, language, foil and edition

These four decide the price and can only be corrected one by one afterwards. They belong in the file, not in the shop.

• Condition as a code: MT, NM, EX, GD, LP, PL, PO. If a card has no condition, the export profile’s fallback applies.
• Language written out the way Cardmarket lists it: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, S-Chinese, Korean.
• isFirstEd, isReverseHolo, isSigned and isPlayset carry true or false. Empty does not mean false, it means undetermined.

Identical cards appear once

Three copies of the same card in the same condition, language and edition make one row with quantity 3. If any of those differ, or a card carries its own comment, it becomes its own row. That is not a detail: merged rows with mixed conditions would be mispriced in the shop.

Character encoding

The file is UTF-8 with a leading byte order mark. Without it Excel misreads accented characters, and the first time you open the file the names turn to garbage that nobody untangles again.

Storage locations and the extra column

A storage location per card can be assigned from a template, for example AB-C{index} for running numbers in scan order. It can be written into the comment column or into a separate location column. Only PowerTools V2 knows the separate column, and whether older versions load a file with an extra column is untested, which is why it is off by default. If you switch it on, try a small session first.

When rows are rejected

An import is rarely all or nothing. If individual rows do not go through, PowerTools puts a CSV next to them holding exactly those rows and the reason. That file is the fastest way back: it tells you whether it was a missing identifier, a card that does not exist in that set, or a value the field does not know. The rest of your stack is already in by then and does not need uploading again.

What you need outside CardEntry

Building and downloading the file costs you no third-party subscription. Importing and publishing works in TCG PowerTools without paying either: the free version reads files in and publishes up to 50 new changes a day. If you list more than that in a day, or want automatic pricing, you need a paid subscription there. That is a third-party product and not included in CardEntry credits.