# Price

> One price observation: what it is, where it came from, and when it was seen.

Source: https://pokemontcgapi.com/docs/objects/price

Returned inside a card when you ask for `include=prices`, and as `quotes` on `GET /v1/cards/{id}/prices`, `GET /v1/prices/current` and `GET /v1/sealed/{id}/prices`. A card typically carries a dozen rows: one per source, variant, printing and grading combination that has a live observation.

Prices are the part of this API with legal weight, so every row states its own provenance. A number without a source, a basis and a date is not a price — it is a rumour.

A source appears only if it is on the redistribution allow-list **and** the observation is older than that source’s minimum delay. A source absent from the policy table never leaves the database, which is the safe default: adding an importer without adding its policy means the data lands and stays put.

## Fields

| Field | Type | Null | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `source` | enum | no | `TCGPLAYER`, `CARDMARKET`, `CARDTRADER`, `EBAY`, `PRICECHARTING`, `COMMUNITY`, `PTCG_INDEX` — the seven on the allow-list today, listed live by `GET /v1/prices/sources`. The source names where the price formed and who delivered it; `provenance` on the same row is the printable form. What each covers and how delayed it is: [price methodology](https://pokemontcgapi.com/price-methodology). |
| `variant` | enum | no | `LOW`, `MARKET`, `TREND`, `AVG_1D`, `AVG_7D`, `AVG_30D`, `MEDIAN_GRADED`, `INDEX`. |
| `basis` | enum | no | `SOLD` (completed sale), `ASKING` (listing), `GUIDE` (published guide value), `DERIVED` (computed by us). Read it before comparing two rows: a Cardmarket or eBay figure is what someone is asking, a PriceCharting figure is built on sales history. Averaging the two mixes offers with transactions. |
| `amount` | number | no | Decimal, in the currency named by the next field. Not converted — the row is served in the currency it was observed in. |
| `currency` | enum | no | `EUR`, `USD`, `GBP`, `JPY`. `PTCG_INDEX` rows are EUR; the marketplace sources are mostly USD, so a single card returns rows in more than one currency. |
| `locale` | string | yes | Language of the printing the price refers to, when the source distinguishes them. |
| `condition` | enum | yes | `MINT`, `NEAR_MINT`, `EXCELLENT`, `GOOD`, `LIGHT_PLAYED`, `PLAYED`, `POOR`. Null when the source does not grade condition, which is most of them. |
| `printing` | enum | yes | `NORMAL`, `HOLOFOIL`, `REVERSE_HOLO`, `FIRST_EDITION`, `FIRST_EDITION_HOLOFOIL`. Null when the source quotes one number for all printings. |
| `grading` | object | yes | `{ company, score }` for graded slabs — `PSA`, `BGS`, `CGC`, `SGC`, `ACE`, `TAG`. Set on the `MEDIAN_GRADED` rows that name a grader; null on the ungraded ones. |
| `as_of` | date | no | `YYYY-MM-DD` of the observation, not of the request. |
| `sample_n` | integer | yes | Observations behind the number. Null when the source does not disclose it — which is itself worth surfacing to your users. |
| `provenance` | string | no | Human-readable attribution string. Display it wherever you display the price. |

## Example

`price.json`

```json
{
  "source": "PTCG_INDEX",
  "variant": "INDEX",
  "basis": "DERIVED",
  "amount": 561.84,
  "currency": "EUR",
  "locale": "en",
  "condition": null,
  "printing": "HOLOFOIL",
  "grading": null,
  "as_of": "2026-08-26",
  "sample_n": 2,
  "provenance": "pokemontcgapi composite index"
}
```

## A graded row

`MEDIAN_GRADED` is where `grading` earns its place: the same card in a PSA 10 slab and in a CGC 10 slab are different markets, and collapsing them into one number would be the single most misleading thing this API could do.

`graded.json`

```json
{
  "source": "PRICECHARTING",
  "variant": "MEDIAN_GRADED",
  "basis": "GUIDE",
  "amount": 20061.40,
  "currency": "USD",
  "locale": "en",
  "condition": null,
  "printing": null,
  "grading": { "company": "PSA", "score": "10" },
  "as_of": "2026-08-24",
  "sample_n": null,
  "provenance": "PriceCharting"
}
```

## Attribution is not optional

The `provenance` string exists so you can comply without reading a contract: show it next to the number. It is also why the delay exists — aggregating and delaying is what keeps redistribution defensible, and we would rather ship a price that is a day old than a price we cannot serve at all.