The TCGPlayer scanner frequently misidentifies card sets and editions, which is a critical flaw for a marketplace app where the correct printing determines the price. Scanning speed is slow, and the connection drops often enough to disrupt workflow. For a company with the resources of TCGPlayer, the scanner quality is surprisingly poor.

The app requires you to log in every single time you open it, which immediately slows down the user experience. If the app closes unexpectedly while you are not logged in, any unsaved work can be lost entirely. The interface feels like it was designed around the marketplace first with scanning bolted on as an afterthought.

As the largest MTG marketplace, TCGPlayer has the most comprehensive real-time price data available. Market prices, median prices, and recent sales data are all accessible directly in the app. This is the one area where TCGPlayer genuinely excels over every competitor.

Collection management is basic and unreliable due to the data loss issues that plague the app. There is no offline mode, so you are entirely dependent on a stable connection. Organizing cards for anything other than marketplace listings feels clunky and underdeveloped.

The app is completely free with no subscription or premium tier required. For users who primarily want to list cards for sale on the TCGPlayer marketplace, the cost cannot be beat. However, the time lost to bugs, slow performance, and data loss has a cost of its own.