Sports Card Sales API

Platform coverage

All seven platforms are included on every tier, including the free tier.

Code examples

Search for recent eBay card sales in your language of choice.

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "https://thecardapi.com/api/v1/market/sales",
    params={"q": "Mike Trout PSA 10", "date_from": "2025-04-01", "limit": 50},
    headers={"x-market-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)
for sale in resp.json()["data"]:
    print(f"{sale['sale_date']}  ${sale['sale_price']:,.0f}  [{sale['listing_type']}]  {sale['platform']}")

const params = new URLSearchParams({ q: "Mike Trout PSA 10", date_from: "2025-04-01", limit: "50" });
const res = await fetch(`https://thecardapi.com/api/v1/market/sales?${params}`, {
  headers: { "x-market-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" },
});
const { data } = await res.json();
data.forEach(s => console.log(`${s.sale_date}  $${s.sale_price}  [${s.listing_type}]  ${s.platform}`));

curl "https://thecardapi.com/api/v1/market/sales?q=Mike+Trout+PSA+10&date_from=2025-04-01&limit=50" \
  -H "x-market-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id":           "ebay_3941827461",
      "title":        "2011 Topps Update Mike Trout RC #US175 PSA 10",
      "platform":     "eBay",
      "listing_type": "BestOffer",
      "sale_price":   2450.00,
      "sale_date":    "2025-04-12",
      "listing_url":  "https://www.ebay.com/itm/...",
      "category":     "Baseball Cards"
    },
    {
      "id":           "ebay_28391047",
      "title":        "2011 Topps Update Mike Trout Rookie #US175 BGS 9.5",
      "platform":     "eBay",
      "listing_type": "Auction",
      "sale_price":   2900.00,
      "sale_date":    "2025-04-10",
      "listing_url":  "https://www.ebay.com/itm/...",
      "category":     "Baseball Cards"
    }
  ],
  "total": 184,
  "page":  1,
  "per_page": 50
}

Common use cases

What developers are building with The Card API.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Sports Card Sales API?

The Card API is a REST API that provides programmatic access to individual trading card sale records from eBay. Each record is a single completed transaction — one card, one sale, one price — with the true sold price, listing type, and date. It is not a price guide or average estimate; it is raw market transaction data.

How is this different from eBay's own API?

eBay's Browse API lets you search active listings and completed items, but it does not expose the true accepted price on Best Offer sales — it shows the listing price. The Card API captures the actual negotiated price on Best Offer transactions, giving you the true market value that eBay's own API hides.

How many card sales are available per day on the free tier?

The free tier allows 5,000 sale records per day with a 3-day lookback window. No credit card is required. This is sufficient for most hobby projects, comp tools, and AI agent use cases.

Which card categories are covered?

The API covers 38+ card categories including Baseball Cards, Basketball Cards, Football Cards, Hockey Cards, Soccer Cards, Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, non-sport cards, sports memorabilia, golf, tennis, boxing, UFC/MMA, racing, and wrestling. All categories are available on all tiers.

Does the API include Best Offer prices from eBay?

Yes. The Card API captures the true accepted offer price on eBay Best Offer sales. This is a critical differentiator — most price guides and data sources report the listing price for Best Offer transactions, which can overstate actual sold prices by 15–40%. The listing_type field on every record identifies whether the sale was Auction, FixedPrice, or BestOffer.

Can I access historical card sales data?

Yes. The free tier includes a 3-day lookback window. The Pro tier ($199/month) extends this to 90 days, which is useful for trend analysis and price modeling. The Enterprise tier provides access to the full historical database from the API's inception.

Is there an MCP server for AI agents?

Yes. The Card API includes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server at https://thecardapi.com/api/mcp with 7 AI-native tools. Any MCP-compatible client — Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code — can query card market data directly using natural language. Configure it with your API key as a Bearer token.