Lotus ScanHow to Time Your MTG Card Sales for Maximum Value
A step-by-step guide to help you time your mtg card sales for maximum value quickly and accurately.
Timing is the most important skill in MTG finance, and most players learn it the hard way: watching a $40 card drop to $12 two days after a reprint announcement they missed, or holding a $20 spike card for two weeks while it slowly bleeds back to $8. The good news is that most events driving MTG card prices are predictable in pattern even when they are not predictable in timing. Bans, reprints, tournament spikes, and format rotations all move cards in consistent directions, and the players who profit are the ones who have tracking systems in place before these events hit. A reprint of Smothering Tithe in Commander Masters moved copies from $35 to $15 within a week of the announcement. Players who had price alerts set sold on day one of the reveal into collectors buying before supply arrived. Lotus Scan gives you the price history and alert infrastructure to make these decisions with data rather than gut feel.
Step-by-Step Guide
Set up price alerts on your most valuable holdings
The foundation of timing sales well is knowing when something is happening before you have to go check manually. Set price alerts in Lotus Scan on every card in your collection worth $15 or more, with alerts configured to trigger both when prices move up significantly and when they drop meaningfully. Most players only set high-price alerts, but a sudden 20 percent price drop is often the first signal of a reprint leak or ban announcement before official confirmation. Having the alert means you can investigate immediately rather than discovering the news 12 hours late.
Tip: Check your price alerts every morning during the period surrounding major MTG announcements: pre-release seasons, Banned and Restricted update windows, and Masters set previews.
Recognize and react to ban announcements immediately
When Wizards bans a card, its price crashes immediately and dramatically. Oko, Thief of Crowns went from $30 to $8 within 48 hours of its Standard ban. The window to sell is the first 2 to 6 hours after announcement. If you have extra copies and are not planning to play the banned card in other formats, list them on TCGPlayer immediately at a small discount to current market price so they sell before the wave of other sellers buries the listing. Cards that are banned typically never recover to pre-ban prices in the format that banned them.
Tip: Follow the official Magic social channels and r/magicTCG. Ban announcements always post there first, and the community reaction in the comments will tell you within minutes whether the price is going to crater.
Sell before reprint announcements land, not after
Reprints are the single biggest consistent source of MTG price drops, and the market often has warning signs before the official announcement. When a Masters set or Commander precon is announced, speculation immediately begins about which expensive cards might be included. If you own a card that has been on the community's most wanted reprint list for years and a new product is announced that could plausibly include it, consider selling pre-announcement. The upside of holding does not outweigh the 40 to 70 percent drop risk if the reprint lands.
Sell tournament spike cards within 48 hours
When a card spikes from tournament results, you have a narrow window to sell into the hype. The mechanism is predictable: a top 8 list publishes on Thursday or Friday, a card that was previously $8 gets noticed, players and speculators buy in simultaneously, the price jumps to $25 to $30 over the weekend, then corrections begin as sellers list copies, and within one to two weeks the card often settles at $12 to $15. Selling at $24 beats waiting for $30 that never comes and getting stuck at $14. Use Lotus Scan price history to see whether a spike is building or already correcting.
Tip: If you own a spiking card and are not using it in a deck, sell into the weekend hype when TCGPlayer demand is highest. Monday morning prices are almost always lower than Saturday night prices on spike cards.
Read price charts to distinguish real repricing from temporary spikes
Not every price movement deserves a sell response. Lotus Scan price history helps you distinguish between a card that has genuinely repriced based on new demand versus a short-term speculator buyout that will correct in a week. A real reprice looks like: gradual increase over 2 to 4 weeks as players test a new deck, sustained demand across multiple events, buylist prices following the market higher. A speculator spike looks like: sudden jump over 24 to 48 hours, buylist prices not moving, price corrects 30 to 50 percent within a week. When buylists are not following a spike, that is the market telling you the demand is not real.
Choose buylist versus marketplace based on timing urgency
When timing is critical, such as immediately after a ban announcement or reprint confirmation, use a buylist rather than a marketplace listing. A buylist gives you immediate certainty: stores pay you within 48 hours of receiving the package, versus TCGPlayer where your listing might sit for days while the price continues falling. The buylist spread of typically 25 to 40 percent below market is the cost of certainty and speed. When you have time and confidence the price is stable or rising, individual sales maximize your return.
Tip: Card Kingdom frequently raises buylist prices to attract inventory before they run out of stock on popular cards. When you see a buylist above 60 percent of current market on a card you own, that is an unusually good exit point worth considering.
Make It Easier with Lotus Scan
Lotus Scan for iPhone simplifies this entire process with AI-powered card recognition, real-time price tracking, and intuitive collection management. Just point your camera and scan.
Pro Tips
- The Banned and Restricted announcement schedule is roughly quarterly and Wizards signals in advance when one is coming. The days before a B&R announcement are when you want your price alerts most closely monitored.
- Masters set announcements follow a pattern, usually one per year in the spring or summer. When the next Masters set is announced without a card list, immediately evaluate your most expensive eternal staples for reprint risk.
- EDHREC traffic data is a useful leading indicator for Commander price spikes. When a new Commander deck releases and a particular card jumps in EDHREC rankings, the price often follows two to four weeks later.
- Do not let perfect be the enemy of good. Selling at 85 percent of a spike peak is an excellent outcome. Players who chase the absolute top frequently hold too long and exit below their entry point.
- Keep a personal log of every card you sell, the price you received, and what Lotus Scan showed at the time. Reviewing this history quarterly teaches you more about your actual timing patterns than any general advice.