# TCG Price Arbitrage - Cardmarket vs TCGplayer (`lowlanddata/tcg-price-arbitrage`) Actor

EU vs US card prices in one run: Cardmarket trend (EUR) against TCGplayer market (USD), matched card-by-card via collector number, converted at the daily ECB rate. Spread percent, cheaper side and both product links per row. Aggregate prices only - no listings, no sellers.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lowlanddata/tcg-price-arbitrage.md
- **Developed by:** [Lowland Data](https://apify.com/lowlanddata) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 75.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## TCG Price Arbitrage - Cardmarket vs TCGplayer

Compares the **European market price (Cardmarket, EUR)** against the **US market price (TCGplayer, USD)** for the Pokémon cards you search - matched card by card via collector number, converted at the daily ECB rate, and delivered as spread rows sorted by the biggest gap. One run answers: *which of these cards are meaningfully cheaper on one side of the Atlantic?*

### Quick start

1. Type a search: **"umbreon gx"**, "charizard vmax", "pikachu promo".
2. Run. Rows come back like:

```json
{
  "name": "Umbreon GX  (SUM 80)",
  "cardNumber": "80",
  "setNameUs": "SM Base Set",
  "trendEurCardmarket": 27.66,
  "marketUsdTcgplayer": 26.66,
  "marketUsdInEur": 22.9,
  "spreadPct": 20.8,
  "cheaperSide": "US",
  "eurPerUsd": 0.8589,
  "urlCardmarket": "https://www.cardmarket.com/en/Pokemon/Products/Singles/SM-Base-Set/Umbreon-GX-SUM80",
  "urlTcgplayer": "https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/126952",
  "priceGuideDate": "2026-08-28"
}
```

### How the comparison works

- **EU side**: Cardmarket's official daily price guide (trend and 30-day average) plus the live cheapest listing.
- **US side**: TCGplayer's market price and lowest listing, from its public storefront search.
- **Matching**: cards are joined by name **and collector number** (SUM 80 = 80/149). Ambiguous or numberless matches are dropped rather than guessed - a wrong match would fake an arbitrage.
- **Currency**: USD prices are converted at the daily ECB reference rate (override with `eurPerUsd` if you hedge differently).

### FAQ

**Which direction does it report?**
Both. `cheaperSide` says which market is cheaper for each card; `spreadPct` is the gap as a percentage of the cheaper price. Sort or filter as you need.

**Does the spread include shipping, customs and fees?**
No - it is the raw market-price gap. Cross-border selling costs (shipping, marketplace fees, possible import duties, grading) are yours to subtract; that is why the default threshold is 20%, not 5%.

**Why only Pokémon?**
The card-number matching that keeps results trustworthy is verified for Pokémon's numbering. More games follow once their matching is equally reliable.

**Why did a card I expected not appear?**
Either its trend price is under `priceMinEur`, the spread is under your threshold, or the card could not be matched unambiguously across the two markets - unmatched is silent by design, never guessed.

**How fresh is the data?**
Cardmarket prices are from today's official price guide; TCGplayer prices and the ECB rate are fetched live at run time.

**Any seller data involved?**
None. Both sides are aggregate market prices - no listings, no seller identities.

**Can I run it on a schedule?**
Yes - daily runs per niche query make a continuous spread monitor. Pair it with the Cardmarket Deal Finder to act on the EU side of a spread.

### Something broken or missing?

Open an issue on the Issues tab - it is read daily. More games and sealed-product coverage are on the roadmap.

# Actor input Schema

## `game` (type: `string`):

Pokémon for now - the cross-market card matching is verified for its numbering scheme.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Cards to compare across markets, e.g. "umbreon gx", "charizard vmax".

## `minSpreadPct` (type: `integer`):

Only report cards whose EU and US market prices differ by at least this much.

## `priceMinEur` (type: `integer`):

Skip cards under this Cardmarket trend price - spreads on bulk are noise.

## `eurPerUsd` (type: `string`):

Leave empty to use the daily ECB reference rate automatically.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Upper bound on delivered spread rows.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Cardmarket requires Apify's Site Unblocker proxy (the UNBLOCKER group, preset here).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "game": "pokemon",
  "searchQuery": "umbreon gx",
  "minSpreadPct": 20,
  "priceMinEur": 5,
  "maxItems": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "UNBLOCKER"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `rows` (type: `string`):

One row per card with a cross-market price spread.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQuery": "umbreon gx",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "UNBLOCKER"
        ]
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lowlanddata/tcg-price-arbitrage").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchQuery": "umbreon gx",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["UNBLOCKER"],
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lowlanddata/tcg-price-arbitrage").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQuery": "umbreon gx",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "UNBLOCKER"
    ]
  }
}' |
apify call lowlanddata/tcg-price-arbitrage --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lowlanddata/tcg-price-arbitrage"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/2iiCWgxXhekYXNJAj/builds/cHsV50JcveZWiHGRi/openapi.json