How it works
Kids bring in the cards nobody is using. We buy them. The school gets the money. That is genuinely the whole model.
Sign your school up
- 1Apply at /signup. Name, level, and a contact. Two minutes.
- 2We check the school is real and approve it, then link your account.
- 3Put a box in the front office and tell families. That is the entire setup.
Cards come in
- 1Students and parents bring in Pokémon cards. Commons, duplicates, whatever is not being used.
- 2Whoever is at the desk counts them roughly and types the number into their phone.
- 3Optionally credit the cards to a student, which drives the class leaderboard. It is not required.
- 4There is no event, no date, and no volunteers to schedule. Collection is simply always on.
Ship them to us
- 1Create a shipment in the dashboard. Every drop-off logged since your last box is attached automatically.
- 2Ask us for a prepaid label, stick it on the box and hand it over. Add the tracking number and the shipment moves to in-transit.
- 3We receive it and count it ourselves — on calibrated scales, with a hand-counted sample from every box checked against them.
We pay the school
- 110¢ per verified card, up to $10,000 per school.
- 2Payment goes directly to the school. Nobody has to sell anything or collect cash.
- 3The dashboard shows exactly what has been verified, what is earned, and what has been paid.
What cards are worth
| Cards | The school gets | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | $50 | One good week at a small elementary |
| 5,000 | $500 | A term of steady collection |
| 25,000 | $2,500 | A whole-district push |
| 100,000 | $10,000 | The cap |
100,000 cards is $10,000, and $10,000 is the most we pay any single school. Cards beyond that are still welcome — they just stop adding to the total.
Two counts, and only one of them pays
Your school types in what it counted. We recount every card when the box arrives, and the verified number is what the school is paid on. The two are shown separately in the dashboard so nobody is surprised. If our count comes out lower than yours, we tell you which shipment and by how much — miscounting a shoebox of cards is normal and not something anyone gets in trouble for.Which cards count
Nearly all of them. The exceptions exist because we cannot resell a card that is bent, torn or counterfeit, and paying ten cents for one is a straight loss — so it is fairer to say so on the poster than to argue about it after the box arrives.
Yes, send these
- Any genuine Pokémon TCG card
- Commons, duplicates and bulk — these are the point
- Played condition is fine: soft corners, light scuffs, minor wear
- Any set, any year, any language
We cannot pay for these
- Bent, creased or folded cards
- Ripped, torn or water-damaged cards
- Fake, proxy or home-printed cards
- Anything that is not a Pokémon card
When you log a drop-off you choose what happens to anything unsellable: we recycle it, or we post it back to the school. The choice is per drop-off, so one family wanting a damaged card returned does not commit the whole school to anything.
What we do with the cards
We sort them, and they go back into circulation — resold in bulk to collectors, shops, and other kids. That is how we can afford to pay for them. Buying donated cards is our business; the fundraiser is what makes it worth a family’s while to hand them over rather than let them sit in a closet.
What it costs the school
Nothing, and that includes postage. There is no fee, no subscription and no minimum. When you have enough to fill a box, ask us and we email you a prepaid shipping label — the school never fronts money and never files an expense claim. Very small boxes are worth holding onto until there is more in them, simply because a label costs us the same either way.