Your collection & the Vault

Where your cards live, how to read them, and what the details mean.

By Admin

• 7 articles

What is the Vault?

Where your cards are stored and why they stay there. Your Vault is every card you own on HOLO. The cards are legally yours from the moment you pull them, but they stay physically at HOLO's facility until you ask us to ship them. Why cards stay with us - Cheaper shipping. Pull ten cards over a month, ship them together once, pay postage once. - Selling without shipping. If you list a card and it sells, ownership transfers and the card never has to move. No packing, no postage, no risk of damage in transit. - Condition. Cards sit in controlled storage rather than in an envelope in the post. Storage costs nothing There's no fee and no time limit. A card can sit in your Vault indefinitely. What you can do with a card in your Vault | Action | Result | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | Ship it | We post it to your address; you pay shipping | | Sell it back | HOLO buys it at 90% of assessed value, instantly | | List it | Sell it to another collector on the Marketplace | | Nothing | It stays where it is, free | Card locations A card in your Vault shows a location. Most of the time this reads as being held for you at HOLO. During a shipment it moves to in-transit, and once it's posted, it's marked as shipped out. If it's reserved against an active Marketplace order, it's held until that order settles.

Last updated on Aug 11, 2026

Reading a card page

What every field on a card's detail page means. Each card has a detail page. Here's what the fields mean. Identity - Name — as printed on the card, in its original language - Set — the set it was released in - Card number — its number within that set, e.g. 017/185 - Year — year of release - Variant — special printings such as reverse holo or promo - Franchise — the game it belongs to Condition - Graded cards show a grading company (PSA, Beckett, and others) and a numeric grade, typically 1–10. A graded card is sealed in a tamper-evident plastic slab and its condition has been assessed by an independent third party. - Raw cards are ungraded and show a condition instead, such as Near Mint. The card is genuine but hasn't been through formal grading. Value The assessed value is HOLO's estimate of what the card is worth. It drives the instant buyback offer and is a reference point if you're pricing a listing. It's an estimate, not a guarantee — the market moves. Rarity tier The HOLO tier the card sits in. See Rarity tiers explained. Actions From a card page you can request shipping, sell it back to HOLO, or list it on the Marketplace.

Last updated on Aug 11, 2026

Graded vs raw cards

The difference between graded and ungraded cards. Raw cards Ungraded. The card is loose (in a protective sleeve) and its condition is described rather than certified — for example Near Mint. Condition descriptions are HOLO's assessment. They're careful and consistent, but they're our opinion rather than an independent verdict. Graded cards Assessed by an independent grading company, assigned a numeric grade, and sealed in a tamper-evident plastic slab with a unique certificate number. A graded card shows: - Grading company — PSA, Beckett and others - Grade — usually 1 to 10, higher is better - Certificate number — verifiable on the grader's own website Why grading matters Grading removes the argument about condition. A PSA 10 means the same thing to every collector, which is why graded cards usually command more than raw copies of the same card — sometimes dramatically more at the top grades. Can I get a raw card graded? Grading is done by third-party companies, not by HOLO. You'd need to ship the card to yourself first, then submit it to a grader directly. The slab is part of the card If you ship a graded card, it arrives in its slab. Breaking a slab open destroys the certification and generally the value with it.

Last updated on Aug 11, 2026

Bronze cards — why they're pooled

How Bronze differs from the other tiers. Bronze cards work differently from every other tier. Understanding this saves confusion later. Individually tracked vs pooled Silver and above are individually tracked. Each is a specific physical card with its own record, its own history and its own page. Bronze is drawn from general stock. When you pull Bronze you're receiving "a Bronze card from this pack's stock" rather than one specific pre-identified card. What this means for you - Your Bronze cards show as a quantity rather than as individual cards - They don't have individual detail pages or provenance histories - They can't be listed individually on the Marketplace Why it works this way Bronze cards are the low-value bulk of the hobby. Individually photographing,cataloguing and tracking each one would cost far more than the cards are worth, and that cost would end up in pack prices. Shipping Bronze You can absolutely ship them. Request a shipment and specify how many Bronze cards to include — they're posted alongside any individually tracked cards in the same package. What you actually receive Genuine cards from the pack's Bronze stock. We don't guarantee which specific cards, and they aren't chosen to be the worst available — they're simply drawn from stock.

Last updated on Aug 11, 2026

Sealed products in packs

When a pack contains a booster box rather than a single card. Some pack pools contain sealed products — factory-sealed booster boxes, Elite Trainer Boxes and similar — instead of single cards. Spotting them Sealed products are marked distinctly in the pool and at reveal. They show a product type and, where relevant, how many packs are inside. They behave like cards A sealed product sits in your Vault the same way a card does. You can ship it, sell it back, or list it. Shipping is different Sealed products are bulky. A booster box is far larger and heavier than a card, so shipping costs more than a card shipment. The quote you're given at request time reflects the real parcel. Opening one If you ship a sealed product to yourself, what's inside is yours to open — but that happens at home, off HOLO. Cards from a box you opened yourself aren't tracked in your HOLO Vault and can't be listed on the Marketplace. Selling it sealed generally realises more than opening it. Sealed product tends to appreciate; opened boxes usually don't.

Last updated on Aug 11, 2026

Card provenance

The recorded history of an individually tracked card. Every individually tracked card carries a provenance record — its history on HOLO. What's recorded - When it entered HOLO's inventory - Which pack pool it was assigned to - When it was pulled, and by which collector - Any Marketplace sales, with dates - When it was shipped out, if it was Why it exists - Authenticity. An unbroken chain of custody from intake to you. - Confidence when buying. On the Marketplace you can see a card's history rather than trusting a stranger's description. - Provenance is part of the appeal. For a notable card, knowing it came out of a specific pack on a specific date is genuinely interesting. Privacy Provenance shows usernames, never real names or contact details. Bronze cards Pooled Bronze cards have no individual provenance, because they aren't individually tracked. See Bronze cards — why they're pooled. After shipping The record ends when the card leaves us. What happens to a card after it's in your hands is outside our knowledge, and re-selling it privately doesn't update the HOLO record.

Last updated on Aug 11, 2026

What "Pulled" status means

The marker showing a card has already been claimed from a pool. When browsing a pack's card pool you may see cards marked as pulled. What it means That specific physical card has already been drawn by another collector. It's no longer available in that pack. Why show it at all Transparency. Showing what's already gone lets you see honestly what's left — particularly whether the cards you actually want are still in there. A pack whose headline cards have all been pulled is a different proposition from a fresh one, even at identical published odds. Not every pack shows it Pack creators choose whether to display pulled status. Where it isn't shown, the pool displays only what remains available. It doesn't affect your odds Pulled cards are already out of the pool. On pool-proportional packs, the published percentages reflect what's genuinely left.

Last updated on Aug 11, 2026