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Sportlots Buyer’s Guide

Buyer’s Guide — Page 1
Aligned to User Agreement Effective: December 18, 2025

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Overview

Sportlots offers millions of fixed-price cards listed by hundreds of sellers. Each seller operates independently and sets their own prices and shipping methods.

What Buyers Can Do

Buyers can:

• Search by player, set, team, sport and year
• After search is complete, filter by card and inventory attributes
• View seller profile information before adding items to your cart
• View seller postage rates
• View seller report card metrics
• Ask the seller a question about that particular card
• Review pricing history for the card
• Submit offers on cards when applicable

Shopping Cart and Save for Later

Items added to your cart are not reserved and may become unavailable prior to checkout. Sportlots may also move items between Shopping Cart and Save for Later based on seller availability or system rules.

You can also manually move items into Save for Later at any time.

Group By: The Shopping Cart includes a Group By feature that lets you group cards by Set or by Seller. This makes it easy to move all cards for a set or seller to and from Save for Later in one click.

Move All: The Move All button allows you to move all items to or from your Save for Later section.

▶ Watch: How to Save for Later (55 sec)

Shipping Options

Before checkout, Sportlots lets you choose a shipping preference for each seller involved in your order.

Budget, Premium, and Box — what they mean

• Budget Shipping: Is typically the lowest-cost option and is best for small, lightweight orders. Some sellers restrict Budget shipping and may automatically upgrade the shipping method to Premium based on the order value. When sellers ship with Budget, they are using cheaper and riskier shipping methods in order to save buyers shipping costs. Sellers are not liable for damage to orders due to shipping. The buyer is waiving this in order to save on shipping costs.
• Premium Shipping: Is used when an order needs stronger packaging and/or tracking (for example, larger quantities or higher-value orders). It generally costs more than Budget shipping. Sellers will take stronger methods to ensure cards are well packaged and shipped in bubble mailers or boxes (when there are larger quantities).
• Box Shipping: Lets you combine multiple orders into one shipment. Instead of each seller shipping directly to you, sellers ship your orders (along with other buyers’ orders) to Sportlots in one shipment. This allows sellers to save on shipping and pass those savings on to you. Once Sportlots receives the Sellers package, your order is added to your bin and ready to ship to you when you are ready in one package.

How to decide which option is best

• If you are placing a small order with few sellers and want the lowest cost, Budget is typically used.
• If your order is larger or more valuable and you want a quicker turnaround time, choose Premium to reduce risk and improve reliability.
• If you place large orders across multiple sellers or are willing to amass multiple orders over longer periods of time, Box Shipping is typically the best solution if you prioritize lower shipping costs over faster delivery.

▶ Watch: How to Set Shipping Options (57 sec)

Box Shipping Calculator

The Box Shipping Calculator is a planning tool available in your shopping cart that helps estimate whether using Box Shipping will save you money compared to direct shipping options.

Shipping cost savings are not always the only factor to consider. Box Shipping generally results in slower overall delivery times, so if you have tight deadlines or need cards quickly, direct shipping options may be a better choice.

For a full explanation of how Box Shipping works operationally, see the Box Shipping Guide.

What the calculator compares

The calculator estimates and compares:

• Estimated shipping costs using direct shipping (Budget or Premium)
• Estimated shipping costs using Box Shipping
• Your estimated overall shipping savings

Required calculator inputs

To run the Box Shipping Calculator, you’ll choose:

• Which cards to include:
  • Only Shopping Cart items currently set to Box Shipping; or
  • Include outstanding Box orders already in Being Filled, En Route to Box, and In Box status
• Which shipping method to compare against:
  • Lowest possible direct shipping option
  • Premium Shipping only

Understanding the results

After clicking Calculate, the tool displays:

• Estimated cost if each seller shipped directly
• Estimated cost using Box Shipping
• Estimated shipping cost of the final box shipment
• Your estimated total savings

Things to keep in mind

• Box Shipping prioritizes cost savings over speed
• Delivery time is usually longer than direct shipping
• International shipments include customs forms listing full item values
• Insurance costs on higher-value shipments may not be included in estimates

If saving on shipping is your priority and timing is flexible, the Box Shipping Calculator can help you decide if Box Shipping is the right choice for your order.

▶ Watch: How to Estimate Box Shipping Savings (1:34 sec)

Checkout and Payment

Fixed-price store orders require payment at checkout. Sportlots supports multiple payment options including credit/debit card, PayPal and related services, and Sportlots Credit.

▶ Watch: How to Check Out your order (57 sec)

Adding Sportlots Credit (Deposits)

You can add Sportlots Credit to your account to pay for orders without using PayPal or a credit/debit card at checkout. Once added, credit is applied automatically to eligible orders during checkout.

• Minimum deposit: $25.00 per funding transaction.
• Funding options: Credit/debit card, PayPal (including Venmo where available), and check or money order.
• Min Value Fee avoidance: the $1.50 Minimum Value Fee is not charged when a fixed-priced order is fully covered by Sportlots Credit.

Refund fee for deposited credit: If you later request a payout of any remaining credit balance that was added through the deposit/funding process, a $1.50 fee may apply to cover transaction and processing costs. This refund fee applies only to credit added through the funding process and does not apply to credit earned through selling or adjustments made to previous orders.

▶ Watch: How to Add Credit to your Sportlots Account (57 sec)

Requesting a Payout from Credit

When available, buyers can request a payout of eligible Sportlots Credit from the Profile screen. Funds may be made available by PayPal and/or Check, depending on your account settings and location.

• Allocation rule: payout requests apply Marketplace Credit first, then Deposited Credit (if needed) to reach the requested amount.
• Seller’s Loot: Seller’s Loot is promotional credit and cannot be withdrawn.

Withdrawal fees: Fees depend on your country and the type of credit used. When a fee applies, it is deducted from the payout amount.

• United States (and non-Canada): withdrawing Deposited Credit has a $1.50 fee. If the withdrawal is only Deposited Credit and is under $1.50, the fee equals the Deposited portion (resulting in a $0.00 payout for that portion).
• Canada: the fee for withdrawing Deposited Credit is the greater of $1.50 or 2% of the Deposited portion.

For additional details, use the “Learn more” link on the credit withdrawal screen.

▶ Watch: How to Request a Payout from Credit (92 sec)

Minimum Value Fee

For fixed-priced store orders with a value less than or equal to $5.00, Sportlots may apply a $1.50 Minimum Value Fee at checkout. This fee offsets credit/debit card or PayPal transaction fees for very small orders. The fee (when applicable) is displayed before the order is submitted.

To avoid the Minimum Value Fee on smaller orders, buyer can:

• Add Sportlots Credit ($25.00 minimum) and draw from that credit to place small oders. If orders are fully paid with Sportlots credit, the Minimum Value Fee does not apply.
• Place orders greater than $5.00

Offers

When available, Make-an-Offer allows buyers and sellers to negotiate the price of a specific item. Offer activity follows required timelines:

• Buyers and sellers have 72 hours to act whenever an offer status changes (for example, after a counteroffer is sent).
• If no action is taken within 72 hours, the offer is closed.
• If an offer is accepted and added to the buyer’s cart, the buyer has 72 hours to order and pay for the item.

Inventory availability is validated periodically. Offers will be canceled if inventory becomes unavailable.

▶ Watch: How to View Offers Made (45 sec)

Seller’s Loot

Seller’s Loot is promotional credit issued by sellers and can only be used on eligible purchases from the same seller.

• Loot becomes available 48 hours after it is earned.
• Loot expires after 90 days.
• Loot is applied automatically when eligible.
• Loot has no cash value and cannot be withdrawn.
• Loot is not transferable between users or accounts.

▶ Watch: How to View your Seller's Loot (56 sec)