"How much is this worth?" is the question every Pokémon collector asks eventually, whether you've just found a childhood binder in the attic or you're sitting on a pull from last week's box. The honest answer is it depends on four things, and once you know them you can ballpark almost any card yourself.
1. The set and rarity
A card's set tells you how many were printed, and its rarity symbol (or full-art, alt-art, secret rare status) tells you how scarce it is within that set. Chase cards from a set like Evolving Skies or 151 hold value because collectors specifically hunt that set for that card. The same Pokémon printed as a common in a different set might be worth a fraction of the price.
2. Condition
This is where most people overestimate their cards. A card that's been sleeved and stored carefully might still show edge wear, whitening, or a soft corner that drops it from Near Mint to Excellent or Good, and the price difference between those grades is often larger than people expect. We price every card we buy or sell to the Cardmarket condition standard (NM, EX, GD, LP, PL, PO), which is the same scale most of the European trading card market prices against.
3. Graded vs raw
A card slabbed by PSA, BGS, or CGC at a high grade can be worth several times the same card raw, but grading costs money and time, and it isn't always worth it.
4. Demand right now
Prices move. A card that spiked because of a tournament result, a new set rotation, or a viral pull can settle back down within months. Checking a live marketplace like Cardmarket gives you today's price, not last year's.
The fastest way to get a real number
Looking up individual cards one by one works, but it's slow if you've got a whole collection or binder to value, and it doesn't account for condition the way a buyer actually will.