What is the Industry Page?
The goal of the Industry page is to reflect the total online secondary market for trading card singles on platforms that specialize in selling trading card singles and publish their sales. This includes platforms such as eBay, auction houses, and independent websites specializing in the sale of trading card singles, like MySlabs. To the extent that these platforms also publish sales of sealed products in addition to trading card singles, that data is included as well.
What is not Included on the Industry Page?
- Sales that happen on retail websites like Dave and Adam's Card World are not included.
- Sales occurring on social media marketplaces, such as Facebook, are not included, unless they are reported as private sales and verified by a Card Ladder researcher.
- Sales information from card shops, card shows, and in person transactions are not included, unless reported and verified by a Card Ladder researcher.
Important Data Limitations
The data displayed on the Industry page is subject to certain limitations which are detailed below. These limitations impact analyzing this data and should be understood in advance.
Additionally, there are general technological improvements from time to time, as well as the occurrence of general informational inaccuracies, including but not limited to items being miscategorized or mislabeled, sham transactions, and adjustments in the way information is published, that require interpreting this data with caution and scrutiny.
The Three Eras of Data
Due to certain limitations in data availability at various points in time, there are essentially three eras of data represented on the Industry page. These eras are signified by different colored dots on the Industry page's graphs. This is explained below:
- Era I.) January 1, 2010 - November 30, 2021: This period is lacking most of eBay's fixed price and best offer sales and has limited tracking of sealed product sales on eBay. Indicated by green dots.
- Era II.) December 1, 2021 - December 31, 2023: This period incorporates most of eBay's fixed price and best offer sales but has limited tracking of sealed product sales on eBay. Indicated by purple dots.
- Era III.) January 1, 2024 - Present: This period has an increased amount of tracking of eBay sales of all types (auctions, fixed price, and best offer), especially lower end sales, and incorporates an increased amount of tracking of sealed product sales on eBay, too. Indicated by blue dots.
Additional Information
- Typically, when a new platform is added to Card Ladder's database, its historical sales are added too, and are retroactively included into the data on the Industry page.
- Sales of items other than trading card singles and sealed products, such as memorabilia, are excluded from this data set to the extent that such filtering is possible.