How CardTradeMate works
Three ideas carry the whole app.
- Cards come in as orders. A purchase on Cardmarket, a CSV from another app, cards bought at a shop or a booster you opened - each becomes an order with the price you paid. That is how CardTradeMate knows what every card cost you. Import
- Your inventory is every single copy. Same card, different language, condition, foil or storage place - each is kept apart, so you always know exactly what you have and where. Inventory
- Everything else builds on it. Decks show which cards you own and which you still need; reports show set completion, sales and profit; the add-on lists and prices cards on Cardmarket.
What the terms mean
- Cost basis & profit (first in, first out)
- When you sell a card, CardTradeMate takes the copy you bought first and uses its price as the cost. Profit = sale price minus that cost (optionally including the shipping you paid, see Settings). If you import older purchases later, use Recalculate profits in your settings so sales are matched again. A sale without a matching purchase has no known cost - that is usually a purchase that was never imported.
- Lot
- The copies of one card that came in with one order line, e.g. "4× Lightning Bolt, German, NM, from order 1234". You can open a lot from the order page to fix its language or condition, split it, or note that fewer copies arrived.
- Personal space and groups
- Your personal space is only yours. A group is a shared workspace: everyone in it sees the same inventory, orders and decks. The chip next to the page title shows where you are working right now - imports and orders always go there. Groups
- Planned and assigned deck cards
- A card you add to a deck is planned until a copy from your inventory is assigned to it. The deck check colours every card: green = assigned, yellow = you own it but it is not assigned yet (or it is in a group), red = you still need it. Already own the deck but never imported the cards? Use I own these cards on the deck page - they go into your inventory as one purchase order.
- Shortcuts in the deck search
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End your search with
*to add a foil (Lightning Bolt *) and with a language code to add that language (Lightning Bolt :de). Codes: en, de, fr, it, es, pt, jp, cn, ko, ru. In a pasted decklist,*F*marks a foil and*DE*the language.#DRC 167picks one exact printing by set and collector number. - Collector or trader
- Collectors get inventory, decks and reports. Trader accounts add sales: importing sales, profit, picking lists, invoices and listing on Cardmarket with your price rules. You can switch any time in Settings - nothing is deleted.
Common questions
How do I add cards I already own?
If you bought them on Cardmarket: install the browser add-on and click its import button on each Cardmarket order page, or upload the Cardmarket exports on the Import page. Everything else - shop purchases, trades, old collections - you enter by hand; the price is optional.
I have decks but never imported the cards. What now?
Create the deck, import its list (Moxfield, Archidekt, Arena …) and tick "I already own these cards". You then choose language, condition and optionally a price, and the cards become one purchase order in your inventory, already assigned to the deck.
Can the add-on import orders automatically?
Yes. In the add-on's options you can turn on automatic import for purchases (when you confirm the arrival) and sales (when you confirm the shipment). Orders that are already imported are never imported twice.
I imported something wrong. Can I undo it?
Yes - open the order and delete it, or delete single lines. Stock and profit are recalculated by itself. Language, condition and storage place can be changed on the lot.
Why does a sale show no profit?
Because no purchase for that card was found - usually it was bought before you started using CardTradeMate. Import or enter the purchase, then use "Recalculate profits" in your settings. If the card was filed under a different set, Merge Candidates helps.
Who owns my data?
You do. Your orders, cards and decks stay in your account and are never passed on. Downgrading never deletes anything.
Is CardTradeMate part of Cardmarket?
No. It is an independent tool for Magic: The Gathering, not affiliated with Cardmarket or Wizards of the Coast. The add-on reads the Cardmarket pages you open yourself.
Something doesn't work or is missing.
Please tell us via Feedback - it goes straight to the people building CardTradeMate.