Two people, every time
Cards and collectables

Trade Pokémon cards for things you actually want.

You have a folder of doubles and a short list of cards you are still missing. Everywhere else turns that into a sale and a postage argument. Here it is a swap: somebody wants what you are sitting on, you want what they are, and no money changes hands either way.

What to do with duplicate Pokémon cards

The honest answer first: a duplicate common is worth almost nothing on its own, and no amount of listing it individually changes that. People spend evenings photographing single cards, and the postage costs more than the card does.

The value is in the pile. A sorted folder of several hundred doubles is a real thing with a real band — it is worth something to a collector filling gaps, worth something to a parent starting a child off, and worth nothing broken into pieces. So list the folder, not the card.

That is also the only shape this site can value. We work out a band from what the thing is and how worn it is, and a single common gives us nothing to go on, so it comes out unvalued and never gets matched. A lot gives us something to work with, and it is the version somebody wants anyway.

What to list

List the folder, the binder or the bulk lot rather than single cards. Say roughly how many, which sets they span, and whether the holos and rares are separated out. Then say what you are after — a set, an era, or the exact cards you are missing.

48-hour window

The questions people ask first.

Where can I trade Pokémon cards without selling them?

Here. You list what you have, say what you are after, and we only show a trade when it works in both directions — you want theirs and they want yours. There is no cash leg, no fees and no offers from people who just want to buy your collection cheaply.

How does a trade actually work?

Both of you have to agree before anything is reserved. Once you do, a 48-hour window opens, you each post or hand over, and the swap only completes when you have both confirmed you received what you were expecting. Either of you can pull out before that, and it releases both sides at once.

Is it safe to trade with someone I have never met?

That is the real question in this hobby and the reason most people stay in group chats. Everyone here signs in with a code to a verified email address, every swap is on a clock both parties can see, and pulling out is recorded on your profile rather than being something you can do quietly. You are not relying on a stranger's goodwill and a screenshot.

What are my cards worth?

We put every listing in one of twelve bands and never show a price. A wide band means we are not confident yet and are saying so. You never set your own value, and neither does the person you are trading with, which is what stops a trade turning into a haggle.

Nothing here has a price.

Barterama is a barter marketplace: a swap site where value is shown as a band rather than a figure, and where no money changes hands at any point. Every item sits in one of twelve bands that we work out — you never set your own, and neither does the person you are swapping with. If we are not confident, the band gets wider rather than more precise.

Where two sides do not quite balance, a small extra item closes the gap. Cash never does, and there is no balance or credit on this site to close it with.

Other things people swap.