The single-bid auction: how it works and how to decide what to bid

On Pokechrono every card goes to auction for exactly 24 hours, each person can place a single bid, nobody sees the others' bids, and at the deadline the highest wins. This format, the sealed single-bid auction, removes last-second raises and withdrawals, and asks one thing of those taking part: to decide in advance what the card is worth to them. Here is how it works and how to arrive at that figure.

The rules in five lines

The auction starts at a fixed time and lasts one day. During that day you can submit one bid per card, with your email address. The bid must be confirmed with the link that arrives by email, otherwise it does not count. The amounts are never visible: the listing shows only how many bids have come in. At the deadline the highest confirmed bid wins; for equal amounts, the one confirmed first wins.

There is no auction that gets extended, no price rising in front of everyone, no bid that gets withdrawn. The how it works page tells the whole journey, from consignment to delivery.

Why we chose the sealed bid

Ascending auctions reward whoever stays awake until the last second and whoever uses automated tools. The final price depends on who was online, not on what the card is worth to those who want it. And the withdrawal of a bid, common on many platforms, leaves the seller with an auction to run again.

The sealed bid changes the incentive. You cannot react to the others, so the only sensible strategy is to bid the amount you are genuinely willing to pay. Those who bid too little lose the card, those who bid too much pay more than they needed to. In between lies the right price, and the buyers find it, not us.

How to set your bid

The starting point is the value the card has for you: how much you want it, how long you have been looking for that piece, what you would do with the same money otherwise. It is a personal question and no data replaces it.

The second reference is the month's PSA 10 price, which we show on every listing with source and date. It is the average price of completed sales of that card in that grade, according to PriceCharting. A bid close to the price is a market bid; a bid below is worthwhile if the card is not contested; a bid above makes sense only if that card is genuinely worth more to you.

The third element is the costs. The buyer's premium of 12%, with the expert's verification included, and the insured shipping stated on the listing are added to the amount bid. It pays to reason from the total you want to spend and work backwards: a total of €400 corresponds to a bid of about €357 plus premium, before shipping.

An example with a card at auction

Latias ex 239/191, Special Illustration Rare from Surging Sparks (Scintille Folgoranti), is at auction as we write. Its PSA 10 price for the last month is about €370 according to PriceCharting, October 2026, down 42% over twelve months; the raw range is between €120 and €160.

Suppose you like the card and want to stay around the price. A bid of €340 becomes €380.80 with the 12% premium, plus shipping. If you prefer not to exceed €350 in total, the bid comes down to about €312. If the card is worth the full price to you, bid €370 and accept a total of around €414 plus shipping.

The same reasoning applies to Mew VMAX 269/264, the alternate art from Fusion Strike (Colpo Fusione), also at auction: about €360 in PSA 10 in October 2026, down 25% over twelve months. A card that is falling is neither a bargain nor a danger in itself: it is a card whose price today is what it is, and your bid says whether that suits you.

In short: value to you, the month's price, the 12% premium and shipping. From the total you are willing to spend, you work out the bid.

From confirmation to payment

A submitted bid is not valid until you click the confirmation link that arrives by email. It pays to do it straight away: for equal amounts the first to confirm wins, and the link has a limited validity.

At the deadline you receive an email: won or not. The winner pays within three days; if payment does not arrive, the win lapses. Those who do not win need do nothing, and their bid is never made public, not even after the auction closes. Only the winning price appears on the listing.

After payment

Once the card is paid for, our expert re-checks it, slab and certificate, then packs it in a rigid box with custom-cut foam and ships it insured and tracked. Delivery arrives between ten and fourteen days from payment. On arrival you have 48 hours to check that everything matches the listing.

If it is your first auction and something is unclear, write to us from the contact page before bidding. A bid is placed only once, and it is better to place it with all the information.