How to Trade Magic Cards Online with Cardsphere

Last updated on March 12, 2025

Commander's Sphere | Illustration by Ryan Alexander Lee

I’m stoked to share my Cardsphere experience with you today! I’ve been using the site regularly for over two years, and it’s the main way of trading for the Magic cards I need without spending money out of pocket. If you’re like me and don’t have much time to devote to visiting your local game store (LGS) for in-person trading but still have the itch to build new Commander decks, or if you need to fill out some staples for a tier-1 Constructed deck, Cardsphere is an excellent alternative to simply buying singles through an online marketplace.

Today I’ll be showing you how to register with Cardsphere and how to navigate the website and initiate trading, and I’ll even offer some tips and tricks for maximizing your time with the site. This is ostensibly a review of cardsphere.com, but if you can’t tell already, I’m a believer, and I’m excited at an opportunity to get more people involved in the community!

What Is Cardsphere?

Sphere of Annihilation | Illustration by Jason Felix

Cardsphere.com is a website that allows players to trade Magic: The Gathering cards with one another online. The website has been around for some time, but it was acquired by the EDHREC family in November 2023. That puts them in affiliation with the online deck-building website Archidekt, another useful tool for the Commander players among us.

Cardsphere serves as a sort of middleman between MTG traders. Players/collectors send out cards to others based on curated haves/wants lists, accumulate a bankroll based on the cards they’re mailing out, then receive pre-selected cards using that bankroll as payment. You’re essentially selling your cards to another trader, then using the money you’ve generated to cover the costs of cards being sent to you. You can also forego receiving cards altogether and simply sell cards and cash out.

When joining Cardsphere, I was told this is more of a “financier’s” trading site, and having used it for a while now, I see what that means. People are allowed to set what percentage of a card’s market value they’re willing to trade a card at, and percentages lean on the low side, typically close to 50% or less. In other words, if you send a card to someone on Cardsphere, you’re usually getting about half of the card’s market value. However, that goes both ways, and you’re often receiving cards at a much lower rate than market value, so it all evens out in the end. And you can even get especially good deals going both ways if you fish around enough.

Why Trade MTG Cards Online?

Trading online involves sending and receiving cards in the mail, which can be a bit cumbersome and time-consuming, so why trade online at all? Plenty of reasons!

First and foremost, sites like Cardsphere are godsends for people like me who can’t necessarily get out to an LGS all too often and aren’t normally in the presence of other people trading Magic cards. Some people don’t even have an LGS, so this gives them an alternative to just buying from a typical online vendor.

Cardsphere is also a great source for offloading bulk Magic cards. I wouldn’t expect anyone to want your 52 copies of Typhoid Rats, but I’m consistently surprised by how often people are interested in random rares and uncommons I have sitting around. If someone can make use of those and I can put the money I make towards cards that I want, that’s a win-win across the board!

Lastly, it’s just kind of fun to trade online. Instead of buying cards from a normal marketplace, everything I send is going to another human (presumably), and the same goes for everything I’m receiving (I think?). It’s just a little more personable, which is something I appreciate. Cardsphere even has its own Secret Santa event; that’s not something you’re going to get through a typical online retailer or Amazon.

How to Use Cardsphere

Register a New Account

1. Start by heading to cardsphere.com and click Sign Up on the upper menu bar.

2. Create an account, including a display name (which can be changed at a later time). After this you’ll receive a confirmation e-mail where you can finalize your account.

3. Return to Cardsphere and enter your credentials. Hopefully you’re not a robot!

Create a Wants List

Trading cards on Cardsphere revolves around wants/haves lists. The only cards that can be sent to you are ones you’ve specifically added to you Wants list, so the question is: What did you come to this website for? Are you here to fill out a Standard deck? Foil out a Commander deck? Find rare and expensive cards that your LGS doesn’t have in stock? These are the cards you need to add to your Wants list. Let’s see what that looks like.

Ok, well that's a lot to take in. As much as I love this site, one of the major knocks I have against it is the sheer amount of info thrown at you on screens like this. Granted, a lot of it is pertinent information, it’s just not exactly easy to look at. I’m willing to forgive a busy UI if the site is functional, so I’m okay overlooking the cluttered feel of some of these menus.

Here you’ll add cards you want to receive. Remember: No one can send you cards that aren’t on your Wants list, so you should be as picky and choosey as you want to be. If you want a very specific version of a card, now’s your chance to make that clear. Let’s go through the information you’ll want to enter as you add a card to your Wants.

Pro Tip: While it's completely possible to get rare and expensive cards on Cardsphere, players are likely to continue sending you cards whenever you have funds available. In other words, if you fill your Wants list up with cheap bulk, and players continue sending that to you, it can be hard to accumulate funds to cover more expensive cards. Pick your priorities and make sure anything on your Wants list is something you're happy to receive. If you want to “save up” towards more expensive cards, try using Vacation Mode or remove smallball cards from your Wants that would otherwise “eat up” funds you're trying to save for something else.

Item Name

Pretty straightforward: Start typing in the name of the card you’re looking for, then click the appropriate name.

Specific Set

Once you’ve selected a card, the Magic Sets dropdown menu is narrowed down to all the different versions of that card. I want that sick fracture foil Llanowar Elves, so let’s pick that. Cardsphere’s database is excellent, and I’ve rarely had issues finding an exact version I’m looking for.

Condition and Finish

Now you want to specify the condition and finish (foiling) you want to receive. The defaults are Near Mint and non-foil. You can check off any conditions you’re fine receiving, noting that a percentage of the total price is subtracted for anything less than Near Mint. You can get some pretty great deals if you’re willing to receive SP/MP cards, though I never recommend Heavily Played, especially if you plan to use these cards in a tournament setting.

Finish is as simple as toggling foil on/off, depending on your interests. Make sure if you select foil that you also unselect non-foil, or else people can still send you that version. Cards like my fracture foil Llanowar Elves only come in foil, so I can’t change this setting for this card.

Price

Finally, and most importantly, you want to set the price you’re comfortable paying. The higher percentage you’re willing to pay, the more likely people are to send cards to you. Vice versa for real low-ball offers.

My recommendation is to aim between 50-60% of a card’s value and increase that amount for cards you want ASAP. I know it feels bad to settle for 50% of a card’s value, but you’ll also be receiving cards at roughly the same value, so don’t get too greedy and be reasonable with your asks. If you set all your Wants at 20%, you probably shouldn’t expect anyone to ship anything to you. I personally set all wants to 75%, which is higher than necessary, but in doing so people send me cards almost immediately after any funds are added to my account.

Create a Haves List and Send Cards

Here’s the thing: Before anyone can send cards to you, you have to have money in your ledger. You can find that amount displayed in the upper left of the menu at all times.

You can get money in your ledger in two ways. First, send cards to others, and once they confirm they’ve received them, the value of those cards is added to your ledger. Alternatively, you can add personal funds manually. I’ve never done this myself, but you can spend money out of pocket (responsibly) if you want to just buy something outright.

You can add between $25-1,000 in a single transaction using PayPal or a debit/credit card. That’s the easiest method of getting funds in your account, but you probably came here to trade, not to buy outright. So what does that look like?

Start by making a Haves list to complement your Wants list. You’ve already listed the cards you want to receive, so now list the cards you’re willing to part with.

The Haves tab is a little cleaner than the Wants tab. Here you can enter the card name, quantity, condition, and finish of the cards you’re looking to “sell,” with a few other modifiers. A couple tips for this part:

• Make sure you list the exact version of the card you have. People are often looking for something specific, so if you have an etched foil, or a Mystery Booster version of something, make sure that’s what you’re entering in. I strongly dislike when someone sends me an alternate version of something I was expecting.
• Be objective and fair with card condition. Take some time to familiarize yourself with what NM, SP, MP, and HP all mean, and consult Cardsphere's Condition Guide if you're unsure. It’s better to be accurate with your conditions than to have someone file a complaint about the cards they received.
• Keep the physical cards you’re listing as Haves organized somewhere, so it’s easier to find them when it’s time to actually ship them out.

Once you have your Haves listed out, it’s time to find some trades! Click the Send tab and Cardsphere automatically pairs you with potential traders based on your Haves list.

Another complex screen, but here you’ll see “packages” of cards based on your Haves list and other users’ Wants list. All the cards you’re seeing here are ones I own that I’ve listed on my Haves and want to send out. There are some features you can use to narrow or widen your search. For example, I only look at cards listed at or above 50%, and I only send within the United States, though you can adjust these accordingly. Also consider the price of envelopes and postage. It’s not really worth it to send a package worth less than the price of a stamp; my general rule of thumb is to aim for $2 minimum for a package.

Each package displays the cards you’d send to that person, the total percentage of the value of the cards you’d be receiving, and the exact amount that’ll be added to your ledger once the cards are received. Note that Cardsphere takes 3% of this transaction, which is accounted for in the cash total listed on the packages. If everything looks good, hit the green Review button on the package you want to send, make sure you have all the cards listed in the correct versions and conditions, then click Confirm.

Once you’ve confirmed a package, you can see those package details on the Sending tab. Here you’ll find the Package #, a Home icon displaying the receiver’s address, and a green button that says “Mark Shipped”. Only click that button once you’ve actually placed the cards in the mail, and it’s good practice to include the Package # somewhere inside the envelope.

And now, just wait! Hopefully within just a few business days they’ll receive your cards, click “Confirm Receipt” on their end, and the funds will be added to your account. Trade complete!

Now it’s your turn to receive cards. People can send you anything on your Wants list within the amount of money you have available. They can’t exceed that amount, but anything on your Wants list is fair game, so be picky about what you add!

The Receiving tab displays any cards being sent to you by other users. You’ll see all the relevant information, and a colored button on the right-hand side. “Confirm Receipt” means you got your cards and you’re finishing the trade. Don’t worry too much about the orange “Dispute” button; that usually means the cards just haven’t been confirmed as sent out yet. There’s a 3-business day window in which you can send cards.

If you receive the wrong card or the condition isn’t accurate, you can dispute the claim and a Cardsphere admin will help you via the messaging system, but I haven’t had to do this often.

Other Cardsphere Features

I wanted to note a few other things about Cardsphere that are worth mentioning:

• Vacation Mode is a useful tool if you’re trying to accumulate funds for a big-ticket item. While in vacation mode, you can still send cards and add funds, but people can’t send cards to you. This is especially useful if your mailing address is going to be changing soon, or if, you know, you're actually on vacation.
• Cardsphere has an exceptionally large and accurate card database. They don't have the most aesthetically pleasing or user-friendly search features, but if you’re looking for something highly specific, odds are it’ll be listed on Cardsphere. Whether any users have what you’re looking for is a totally different question.
• You can upgrade to Cardsphere Premium for $6 a month or $60 annually, which adds a few extra perks like a golden badge next to your name on the packages screen and unlimited tags for collection management. A premium membership also unlocks the ability to sell sealed product, though this will become a free user feature in 2025.
• Cardsphere has some excellent articles on their blog! There’s a decent mix of finance-related articles, EDH content, Top Trades lists, and so on. I know that’s a bit of competition with us here at Draftsim, but I won’t tell if you don’t!

Is Cardsphere Safe?

Yes, all my experience with Cardsphere has led me to trust the site and the people using it. As with anything involving shipping and receiving through the mail, problems can arise, like a missing or damaged envelope. This is often a fault of delivery services or sometimes user error (someone stuffed an envelope with too many cards and it was damaged in transit). Rarely, if ever does anything on Cardsphere’s platform go awry, and users have been largely great at making sure they’re sending the right cards in the correct condition, and packaged correctly too.

In the rare instances when my cards go missing or I don’t receive a package I was expecting, Cardsphere’s admin have been great at handling the transaction and assigning refunds where necessary.

How to Properly Mail MTG Cards

I wanted to add a very quick how-to on shipping cards in the mail. If you’re committing a trade to someone via mail, it’s your responsibility to ensure you’re taking the correct measures to make sure their items get there in the proper condition.

Here are some general rules of thumb:

• Put cards in sleeves and a hard toploader of some kind. Do not overstuff sleeves! About 3-4 cards per toploader is appropriate; toploaders with wider openings can fit a few more.
• Make sure the cards won’t jostle around in the toploader. You do not need to use a bunch of tape. As long as the cards are secure in a sleeve + toploader, it’s 100% unnecessary to tape the toploader shut. If you do use tape, use it sparingly, and make sure there’s no way the tape will come in contact with a card.
• Seal the envelope with tape. It’s the 2020’s, we don’t need to be licking envelopes anymore. Everyone will thank you for not doing that.

If you want a quick tutorial on sending cards in the mail, I recommend this “How to Package Cards” video suggested on Cardsphere. It was published in 2017 but the same process still applies.

Wrap Up

Watcher of the Spheres | Illustration by G-host Lee

And that’s the basic ins and outs of Cardsphere! This is an awesome tool for trading cards online, and one of the only sites of its kind. I prefer the interpersonal action of trading cards with another human being to just buying cards straight-up online and have acquired some truly excellent stuff over my 2+ years using this site. I can only hope their acquisition by EDHREC leads to more site improvements and features over time.

If you’re on the fence about trading online or you never found a home after the shutdown of PucaTrade (a story for another time), I can’t recommend Cardsphere more. And hey, find me (Jank Diver Tim) on the site and see if you’ve got anything I’m looking for! If you have any follow-up questions about Cardsphere or online trading in general, let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

Thanks for making Draftsim your #1 stop for all things Magic!

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