The most you can pay for each card and still clear your target margin. Decide the limit before you shop — evaluating a listing after you've found it is how you talk yourself into a bad buy.
| Card | Raw Value | 30d | PSA 10 Value | Best Play | Pay Up To | Break Even | Listed At | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piplup Phantasmal Flames · Illustration Rare | $0.33 | — | $350.00 | PSA 10 | $154.73 | $225.00 | $14.39 | BUY · $140.34 under |
| Bulbasaur Mega Evolution · Illustration Rare · thin data | $5.06 | — | $240.00 | PSA 10 | $81.12 | $129.30 | $19.95 | BUY · $61.17 under |
Pay Up To hits your 30% margin. Break Even is where profit hits zero — the space between them is your negotiating room, not a target.
This assumes every card comes back PSA 10, which won't happen. Real submissions spread across grades, and the value gap between a 9 and a 10 is often several times the gap between an 8 and a 9. Once Performance has your actual grade rates from enough submissions, weight these limits by what you really hit — and until then, treat PSA 8 as a deliberately conservative floor rather than a forecast.