Why a 90% Buyback Doesn't Mean 90% Back: The FMV Haircut

A 90% buyback means 90% of the site’s own number, not 90% of what your card would sell for. That number is set by the buyer, and it’s where the real cost hides.

There are two discounts packed into that one percentage. The first is the buyback itself: 90%. The second is the gap between the site’s “fair market value” and what the card is actually worth. The site sets the FMV, then applies the buyback percentage to it. Two cuts, one headline.

The two cuts, worked out

Say a card’s real market price is $25, the kind of price it would actually change hands for between collectors. Say the site’s FMV estimate for that same card lands at 94% of that: $23.50. That six percent gap is the haircut, and it’s not outrageous on its own. Estimates are estimates.

Now the buyback pays 90% of the site’s number, not the market price:

$23.50 x 0.90 = $21.15

You got $21.15 for a $25 card. That’s 84.6% back, not 90. The headline percentage survived, the money didn’t.

90% x 0.94 = 84.6%. Every percentage point the site’s FMV trails the real market costs you the same as a percentage point off the buyback rate. The “90%” is printed in the headline; the FMV estimate lives in an algorithm nobody audits.

What “fair market value” actually is

FMV is the site’s estimate, not a market price. Courtyard’s own help documentation defines FMV as an estimate of what an item would reasonably sell for on the secondary market, based on historical auction comps and updated regularly to reflect market conditions. Estimates built on past sales drift, and they drift downward when markets move. (Courtyard listing)

CrownCards is more blunt. Its terms set no buyback percentage at all: items sell at “market value,” defined as the display price less a sale fee, based on an estimated value the site says isn’t guaranteed. When the value itself isn’t guaranteed, any percentage attached to it is decoration. (CrownCards listing)

The extreme version of this is Rips by Triumph. Its App Store listing advertises 100% of fair market value, but some users report their actual offers came in nearer 75%. When the advertised rate is 100% and the paid rate is 75%, the entire gap is the site’s FMV estimate doing the cutting. (Rips by Triumph listing)

What the big offers actually pay

Figures from our directory listings, researched September 29 to October 11, 2026.

The fine print below the percentage

A few more things shave the number. The window decides whether you get the offer at all: Arena Club’s lasts 24 hours, Courtyard gives seven days. The form matters more than the number: cash beats crypto, and both beat site credit. DOPA’s 100% is paid in credits you can never withdraw, which makes it a discount on your next pack, not money back. And fees take their own cut on the way out: HypeDrop’s 2% processing fee turns 98% into 96.04% (0.98 x 0.98), before crypto network fees get involved.

So when a site advertises 90% buyback, ask three questions: 90% of whose number, paid in what, and what fee comes out on the way. The honest version of the offer would read “90% of our estimate, as withdrawable USDC.” That’s the only sentence that means anything.

Compare buyback terms across all 41 platforms in our directory, and read our earlier piece on what counts as a good buyback rate. Our methodology explains how buyback feeds into each listing’s Value score. You must be 18 or older to use any of these sites.