Step 1: Adopt TCGplayer’s Industry Standard

Delight your customers with a clearly defined conditioning standard. With our Conditioning Guide, you can consistently meet your customers’ expectations with commonly used terms and easy-to-train processes.

This means: 

  • Consistent Scalable Process. We provide a clear set of quality definitions and easy-to use training materials, allowing you to easily train in-store staff again and again.  
  • Defined Quality Labels. We use five categories with clearly defined descriptions to sort cards: Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played, Damaged. The condition of a card is determined by the number and extent of imperfections that a card exhibits. 
  • Better Customer Experience. Customers receive exactly what they ordered, consistently, as each card has gone through a rigorous authentication process.

Step 2: Train Your Employees
Reduce errors and deliver a consistent shopping experience for customers by ensuring staff are rigorously trained in the conditioning process. 

Onboarding: 
Establish an expectation that conditioning and quality are important from day one. 

First 90 Days: 
Provide hands-on instruction using the TCGplayer Conditioning Guide and review team members’ work throughout the training period.

Review and Retrain: 
Keep training fresh and current. Review the impact of the current training, and rework and extend training as often as necessary. Watch our training video. 


Step 3: Customer Service 

  1. Treat customer service as an investment. When you invest in customer service, the benefit is two-fold: you’re able to make new hobbyists happy while continuing to delight your loyal customers.
  2. Respond quickly. A fast response to customer inquiries demonstrates that you care about quality and are committed to ensuring the needs of your customer are met.
  3. Listen and understand customer concerns. Not only does listening support loyalty and retention, but often your customers have insight into how you can better meet their needs and improve your overall customer experience as a result. 
  4. Learn from the experience. Continuously learn how to improve your processes to enhance your day-to-day level of service. 
  5. Review complaints to improve processes. Implement changes based on customer feedback and adapt accordingly to better delight your customer.  

Download and print the How to Establish a Conditioning Standard in Your Store Guide for easy reference.