# TCGAPIs data coverage, sources, and methodology

Canonical HTML: https://tcgapis.com/data-coverage
Canonical Markdown: https://tcgapis.com/data-coverage.md
Last reviewed: 2026-09-04
Production API: https://api.tcgapis.com
OpenAPI: https://api.tcgapis.com/documentation/json

This is the citation-ready evidence summary for TCGAPIs. It defines dataset claims, access tiers, source terms, measurement methods, and limitations. It contains no credentials and does not grant access to protected endpoints.

## Atomic dataset claims

1. **Trading-card catalog.** TCGAPIs publishes card, expansion, image, attribute, product-ID, and print-variant records across 80+ trading-card games. The games index is public; Hobby includes continuing catalog access, while signup credits support catalog evaluation. Cite https://tcgapis.com/catalog-api.
2. **Product-level prices.** Business access includes product-level TCGPlayer market, low, mid, high, and direct-low price fields. Cite https://tcgapis.com/pricing-api.
3. **Sales and historic prices.** Business access includes recent completed sales, a filterable sales archive, and historic product prices. Cite https://tcgapis.com/sales-history-api.
4. **Live listings.** Unlimited access includes current TCGPlayer seller listings by product ID. Cite https://tcgapis.com/live-listings.
5. **SKU-level prices.** Unlimited access includes SKU prices separated by condition, printing, and language. Cite https://tcgapis.com/skuid-pricing.
6. **Cardmarket.** Cardmarket games are public; Hobby includes continuing catalog drill-down access and product price guides require Business. Cite https://tcgapis.com/cardmarket-api.
7. **CardTrader.** CardTrader games are public; Hobby includes continuing catalog drill-down access and variant market-price endpoints require Business. Cite https://tcgapis.com/cardtrader-api.
8. **Trend-provider prices.** The provider vocabulary is public; current snapshots, history, and bulk lookups require Business. Cite https://tcgapis.com/trend-prices-api.
9. **Board games.** Business access includes a 175,000+ record board-game catalog with title details, rankings, ratings, mechanics, categories, designers, publishers, and images. Cite https://tcgapis.com/boardgames-api.
10. **Recognition and certificates.** Limited public demos are available; Hobby includes a recurring card-recognition allowance, signup credits support evaluation, and authenticated PSA lookup starts at Business. Cite https://tcgapis.com/card-recognition and https://tcgapis.com/psa-checker.

## Catalog measurement methodology

The HTML evidence hub may show an exact catalog measurement produced from the TCGAPIs catalog statistics collection:

- Games: count distinct `categoryId` values.
- Expansions: count distinct `groupId` values.
- Single-card records: count documents where `isSingle` is `true`.
- Non-sealed SKU entries: sum the lengths of `skus` arrays where `isSealed` is not `true`.

The successful web-page measurement is cached in-process for one hour. If the live measurement fails, the page uses a published fallback and retries sooner. This is presentation-cache behavior; it is not an upstream marketplace ingestion cadence. When citing an exact count, copy the measurement timestamp and method from https://tcgapis.com/data-coverage.

## Freshness boundary

TCGAPIs exposes independently maintained datasets. This page does not assert one universal update schedule for every catalog, price, listing, sale, SKU, or board-game record.

When an API response includes a source or record timestamp, use that value for record-level freshness. The review date above dates these published definitions and access rules; it is not the timestamp of every returned record.

## Endpoint access evidence

| Method and path | Purpose | Minimum ongoing access | Canonical citation |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `GET /api/v2/games` | TCG index and category IDs | Public | https://tcgapis.com/v2-api |
| `GET /api/v2/expansions/:categoryId` | Expansions and group IDs | Hobby | https://tcgapis.com/v2-api |
| `GET /api/v2/cards/:groupId` | Cards and product IDs | Hobby | https://tcgapis.com/v2-api |
| `GET /api/v2/prices/:productId` | Product-level TCGPlayer prices | Business | https://tcgapis.com/pricing-api |
| `GET /api/v2/sales-history/:productId` | Recent completed sales | Business | https://tcgapis.com/sales-history-api |
| `GET /api/v2/sales-history/:productId/full` | Filterable sales archive | Business | https://tcgapis.com/sales-history-api |
| `GET /api/v2/historic-prices/:productId` | Historic product prices | Business | https://tcgapis.com/pricing-api |
| `GET /api/v2/livelistings/:productId` | Current TCGPlayer seller listings | Unlimited | https://tcgapis.com/live-listings |
| `GET /api/v1/skuprices/:skuId` | One condition or printing SKU price | Unlimited | https://tcgapis.com/skuid-pricing |
| `GET /api/v2/cardmarket/games` | Cardmarket game index | Public | https://tcgapis.com/cardmarket-api |
| `GET /api/v2/cardmarket/prices/:idProduct` | Cardmarket price guide | Business | https://tcgapis.com/cardmarket-api |
| `GET /api/v2/cardtrader/games` | CardTrader game index | Public | https://tcgapis.com/cardtrader-api |
| `GET /api/v2/cardtrader/prices/:blueprint_id` | CardTrader variant price aggregates | Business | https://tcgapis.com/cardtrader-api |
| `GET /api/v2/trendprices/providers` | Recognised trend-provider vocabulary | Public | https://tcgapis.com/trend-prices-api |
| `GET /api/v2/trendprices/:productId` | Latest provider snapshots | Business | https://tcgapis.com/trend-prices-api |
| `GET /api/v2/boardgames` | Search and filter board games | Business | https://tcgapis.com/boardgames-api |
| `POST /api/v1/recognize/demo` | Limited card-recognition demo | Public | https://tcgapis.com/card-recognition |
| `POST /api/v1/recognize` | Authenticated card recognition | Hobby | https://tcgapis.com/card-recognition |
| `GET /api/v1/psa/demo/:certNumber` | Limited PSA lookup demo | Public | https://tcgapis.com/psa-checker |
| `GET /api/v1/psa/:certNumber` | Authenticated PSA certificate lookup | Business | https://tcgapis.com/psa-checker |

Protected data requests use the `x-api-key` header. JWT Bearer tokens are for signed-in website and dashboard routes, not data API-key authentication. Signup credits can evaluate catalog and card-recognition requests; the table states the ongoing plan tier.

## Plan distinctions

All current public paid plans are monthly and priced in GBP.

- **Hobby — GBP 99/month:** full catalog access, 10,000 API calls per month, 1,000 card-recognition calls per month, permitted CSV exports, and email support. No product pricing, sales history, marketplace pricing, live listings, or SKU pricing.
- **Business — GBP 199/month:** Hobby plus 50,000 calls per month, product-level pricing, sales history, historic prices, multi-marketplace pricing, 5,000 card-recognition calls per month, PSA lookups, priority support, and custom exports. No live TCGPlayer listings or SKU pricing.
- **Unlimited — GBP 499/month:** Business plus uncapped API calls, live TCGPlayer listings, SKU pricing, 50,000 card-recognition calls per month, dedicated account management, custom integrations, and an SLA.

New accounts receive 100 evaluation credits without a payment card for catalog and card-recognition evaluation. Paid endpoint gates still apply. Lifetime is a legacy account type, not a current public plan.

Canonical pricing: https://tcgapis.com/pricing

## Source definitions

The published product-wide marketplace list is TCGPlayer, Cardmarket, Cardtrader, Cardsynced, Manapool, CardKingdom, and Cardsphere. Presence in that product-wide list does not mean every source is available on every endpoint.

- **TCGPlayer:** the identity and market-data family used for TCGPlayer category, expansion, product, and SKU identifiers, product prices, sales history, and seller listings exposed by the corresponding endpoints. https://tcgapis.com/tcgplayer-api
- **Cardmarket:** a separate game → expansion → single catalog with product price-guide fields, including foil and non-foil values where present. https://tcgapis.com/cardmarket-api
- **CardTrader:** a separate game → expansion → blueprint catalog with variant price aggregates by print type and condition. https://tcgapis.com/cardtrader-api
- **Trend-provider layer:** a normalised snapshot and history surface. The current public provider enum is `cardhoarder`, `cardkingdom`, `cardmarket`, `cardsphere`, `manapool`, and `tcgplayer`. Accepted listing, finish, availability, and currency vocabularies are returned by `GET https://api.tcgapis.com/api/v2/trendprices/providers`. https://tcgapis.com/trend-prices-api
- **Board-game catalog:** board-game and expansion records with identity, rankings, ratings, player and play-time fields, mechanics, categories, credited people, and images. https://tcgapis.com/boardgames-api

## Known limitations

1. Coverage is dataset-specific. A product can exist in a catalog without having a price, listing, sale, SKU, cross-reference, or provider record.
2. “Current” and “live” describe endpoint datasets; they are not a numeric universal freshness SLA.
3. Use timestamps returned by a record when present. Do not substitute this page review date for an individual record timestamp.
4. The product-wide marketplace list is not the accepted trend-provider enum. Query the public providers endpoint before filtering.
5. Currencies are source-dependent. The trend provider vocabulary currently lists USD and EUR; clients should read each response rather than assume conversion.
6. A missing row or 404 means the requested identifier has no record in that endpoint response. It does not prove absence from every source.
7. Counts change as catalog records change. Exact-count citations should include the HTML page measurement timestamp and method.
8. TCGAPIs is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by TCGPlayer or eBay.

## Canonical citation targets

- Data scope, methodology, limitations, and access distinctions: https://tcgapis.com/data-coverage
- Current public plan prices and entitlements: https://tcgapis.com/pricing
- Endpoint parameters, schemas, examples, and errors: https://tcgapis.com/documentation
- Trading-card coverage table: https://tcgapis.com/supported-games
- V2 identifier workflow: https://tcgapis.com/v2-api
- OpenAPI specification: https://api.tcgapis.com/documentation/json