Four letters set a raw card's price — NM, LP, MP, HP — and the drop from Near Mint to Moderately Played typically costs about 30% of the card's value. Learn to grade condition accurately and you stop overpaying for other people's optimism and underselling your own cards.
The scale, as marketplaces actually use it
These are the working definitions on TCGPlayer and similar platforms, along with what each condition typically fetches relative to NM. The percentages are market tendencies, not rules — thin-supply cards compress the gaps, heavy-supply cards widen them.
| Condition | What it means in practice | Typical % of NM price |
|---|---|---|
| Near Mint (NM) | Looks unplayed. Minimal-to-no wear visible on inspection | 100% |
| Lightly Played (LP) | Minor edgewear or corner whitening, small scuffs; presentable in a binder | ~85-90% |
| Moderately Played (MP) | Obvious wear: border whitening, surface scratches, maybe light creasing | ~65-75% |
| Heavily Played (HP) | Major wear: creases, heavy whitening, possible water damage | ~50-60% |
| Damaged (DMG) | Structural problems: bends, tears, writing | ~30-40% |
Note what NM is not: it's not "mint" and it's not "gradable 10". A card can be honestly NM and still have the centering or factory flaws that cap it at a PSA 8 — the raw scale and the graded scale measure with different microscopes. See card grading explained for how the 1-10 scale differs.
The big four defects
Whitening. The card's white core showing through worn edges and corners, most visible on dark borders and card backs. Corner whitening is the classic NM-to-LP demotion. Check all eight corner faces — front and back of each corner wear independently.
Edgewear. Chipping and roughness along the cut edges. Run your eye down each edge against a dark background; a clean edge reads as an unbroken line.
Scratches. Surface scratches hide in holofoil and only appear under angled light. Print lines (factory) and scratches (wear) look similar; either way the market discounts them. Whether they came from the factory or a binder page doesn't change the price — packs damage cards more often than people think, as covered in pack fresh isn't gem mint.
Creases and bends. The condition killers. A visible crease sends a card straight to HP or Damaged regardless of how clean everything else is. Check by holding the card at eye level and looking across the surface, then flexing light across it.
The 20-second light inspection
Angled light is the whole technique. Overhead room lighting hides surface flaws; a single light source at a low angle reveals them.
- Hold the card under a desk lamp or phone flashlight at roughly 45 degrees.
- Tilt the card slowly through the light and watch the surface sheen — scratches, clouding and dents flash as the angle changes.
- Check the back the same way. Backs take more wear and get half the attention.
- Finish with corners and edges against a contrasting background.
Do this for every card you'd sell for $10+, and every card you're about to buy in person. It's also the pre-screening step before grading — along with centering, which is its own discipline with its own numbers, covered in the card centering guide.
A worked example, in dollars
Take Umbreon ex SIR from Prismatic Evolutions, around $1,430 NM in our July 2026 snapshot. Applying the typical condition curve:
- LP: roughly $1,215-1,290 — the first $150-200 evaporates with minor corner whitening.
- MP: roughly $1,000 — a $400+ haircut for visible wear.
- HP: roughly $700-850 — half the card gone to creases.
Two lessons. First, condition care on a chase card is worth more per minute than almost anything else in the hobby: a $2 sleeve-and-toploader setup guards $400 of downside, which is why storage discipline matters (how to store trading cards covers the setup). Second, the curve cuts both ways as a buyer — if you want the card and not a grading candidate, LP copies are the honest discount rack, and MP is where collection-fillers get cheap.
One more honest note for sellers: condition disputes are the most common source of marketplace grief. Grade conservatively. Calling a true LP card NM earns you a return, a refund and feedback damage; calling it LP earns you a smooth sale at 88%. The math favors honesty even before the ethics do — and the fees on that sale are their own story, covered in the Pack Value Calculator's default 15% selling haircut.
FAQ
Is a pack-fresh card automatically Near Mint?
Almost always NM by marketplace standards, but not automatically gradable-mint — factory scratches, print lines and bad centering are common straight from the pack.
What's the difference between LP and MP?
LP is wear you find when looking for it; MP is wear you see immediately. If whitening or scratches are visible at arm's length, grade it MP.
Does whitening on the back matter?
Yes — condition grades consider both faces, and back whitening on dark-backed cards (Pokémon's blue backs included) is often the first wear to appear. Check backs as carefully as fronts.