The secondary market and who sets the price

The primary market is everything sold new through the manufacturer's own chain, from factory to distributor to shop to you. The secondary market is everything resold after that, between collectors, on marketplaces and in shops that buy second-hand. There is no price list there and no manufacturer that decides. The price is simply what someone last paid.

Quick facts

Primary market	New, through the manufacturer's own chain
Secondary market	Everything resold after that
Who sets the price	The buyers, through what they actually pay
What counts as the benchmark	Completed sales, never active listings
When a product moves there	When the manufacturer has stopped printing it
Biggest risk	Counterfeits and resealed packaging

How a product moves from primary to secondary

1. Release. The manufacturer ships a set quantity to the distributors.
2. The shops sell. The price is what the shops have set based on their own costs.
3. The allocation runs out. The shops cannot order more at the original price.
4. Restocking gets more expensive. What is left is bought from other links in the chain, at a higher price.
5. Printing stops. The manufacturer moves on to the next set.
6. The product is secondary. Now there is only what has already been sold once, and the price is set by those who own it.

That is why a set can cost less six months after release and more two years later. Between those two points, the printing presses stopped.

What drives the price on the secondary market

How much was printed	The original print run cannot be changed afterwards.
How much was opened	Every opened box disappears from the supply of sealed product.
What is in the set	One sought-after card pulls the whole edition along with it.
Condition	For sealed product it is the box that counts; for cards it is corners, edges and surface.
Attention	A release, a film or a tournament moves prices quickly.
Whether it has been reprinted	A reprint lowers the price of what already exists.

Sold is the benchmark, asking is a wish

The single most common costly mistake is reading the price off active listings. A listing shows what someone hopes to get, not what someone has paid. In a market where most things sit unsold, the highest listing can be twice as high as the most recent sales.

1. Filter on completed sales, not on active listings.
2. Compare only the exact same version, the same language and the same condition.
3. Take the median of the most recent sales, not the highest figure.
4. Check how many have actually sold. Two sales are not enough to go on.
5. Factor in fees and shipping before you compare with a shop price.

The full method is in the guide on what a card is worth.

Why a shop and the secondary market can show different prices

• The shop sells new and sealed with provenance all the way from the distributor.
• The secondary market sells what has already been somewhere else, sometimes through several hands.
• The shop takes responsibility. Complaints, right of withdrawal and a company that is still around tomorrow.
• Private purchases lack that protection. The Consumer Sales Act does not apply between private individuals.
• The shop's price is set in advance and does not change in the middle of an ongoing order.

The risks you carry on the secondary market

Counterfeits	Most common on expensive single cards. See the authenticity guide.
Resealed boxes	Opened and re-wrapped. See the sealing guide.
Weighed packs	Loose packs that have been sorted before being resold.
Overconfidence in condition	The seller's assessment is almost always more lenient than yours.
No consumer protection	Between private individuals the Sale of Goods Act applies, not the Consumer Sales Act.

Common mistakes

• Using the highest active listing as a valuation.
• Comparing a graded card with an ungraded one.
• Buying in the middle of a hype and comparing with the price three weeks later.
• Believing that an old set is automatically valuable on the secondary market. The print run decides.
• Paying a shop price to a private individual without getting the shop's protection.

Frequently asked questions

• What is the difference between the primary and secondary market? Primary is new through the manufacturer's chain. Secondary is everything resold after that.
• Who decides the secondary price? No one. It is the sum of what buyers have actually paid in completed sales.
• What happens to the price when a set is no longer printed? That print run stops growing, while some of what exists is opened or disappears. What happens to the price after that is decided by demand, and it can go either way.
• Is the secondary market the same thing as scalping? No. See the guide on scalping.
• Is it possible to know what something will cost? No. We sell cards and give no advice on future value.

Read more about how the price is set, scalping and what a card is worth.

Shop: trading cards and Pokémon at Bangerpack.

Written by those of us who run Bangerpack. Range and prices change continuously. What applies when you read this is shown in the category.