How we write and check what you read here

Every guide, set note and product description on this site is written by Josh Lingenfelter, the founder and owner of the shop, a UK collector who also owns CardTrack and UltraBall. This page says how that writing is done, so you can hold it to the standard. It is written before the shop opens and before the first sale, so nothing here is bent around stock.

Who writes it

One person writes the copy and answers for it; the author page says who he is, what he collects and how cards are described. Where a page's text is assembled from the catalogue rather than written, such as the About section of a set we have not written up, the page says so.

Where the facts come from

Each guide ends with a Sources section listing what its facts were checked against and the date each source was checked. Official Pokémon pages, the graders, government and legislation pages and marketplace policy pages are linked. Sister sites that supply data are named without a link. A fact that cannot be traced to a source we can name does not go in.

Catalogue facts, meaning the sets, the products in each, when a set came out, how many cards it has, its set code and the cards in it, come from the CardTrack catalogue, with card data from Scrydex. They are synced on a stated date, and that date appears on every set, product and card page.

What the figures are

Where a page shows a figure, it is one of these, and the page says which:

• A US market reference for a sealed product: the TCGplayer market price via CardTrack, with the date it was checked, shown in dollars and converted to pounds at the European Central Bank rate on a stated day, before UK import costs and VAT. It is never our selling price.
• A US figure for a single card, raw or in a PSA 10 holder, via CardTrack, with the date.
• PSA's count of graded copies, with the date of the PSA report it came from.
• Dated sold figures in pounds from marketplace listings, in the chase-card guides, with the window of dates the sales fall in.
• Our own stock outlook tier (likely to stock, reprint watch, out of print), with the date it was set.

These are not blended. A figure is shown with its own source and date or not at all, and a data block shows nothing rather than a wrong number when its feed is missing. No figure on this site is a forecast.

Dates and reviews

Every guide shows the date it was published and the date it was last updated. The updated date moves when the words change, and only then; a refresh of the figures behind a data block does not move it, because the words did not change. Most guides also carry the date they are next due a review and the event that would bring the review forward, such as a reprint reaching UK shops or a figure moving by more than a fifth.

Set notes and the condition and authenticity pages carry the same two dates. Where a page's text is assembled from the catalogue, the page gives the date of the catalogue sync instead.

What we will not write

• Claims of experience we do not have. The shop has not opened, so there are no customers, orders or sales to refer to, and the copy does not refer to them.
• Invented credentials, awards, press mentions or counts of anything.
• Selling prices, stock claims or orders ahead of release before the shop opens.
• Affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid mentions. A product is named because it answers the question, not because anyone paid.
• Links to sellers as a way to buy. Links go to sources.

Corrections

If something is wrong, email hello@tcgemporium.com and say which page. We will check it against its source, correct the page and move its updated date, and where the correction changes a fact that matters to a buying decision we will say in the Sources what changed.

How we describe cards

The words used for a raw card's condition, the test behind each, and how cards are photographed and packed are on our condition standard page. The checks run on raw cards, sealed product and graded slabs before anything is listed are on the authenticity page. Both were written before the first card was listed so they could not be bent around stock later.