How to read an EV calculator
A field-by-field checklist for price basis, coverage, model scope, central estimates, intervals, product cost, and update times.
Trading Card EV Learning Center
Expected value compresses many possible openings into one average. That makes it useful, but easy to misuse. These guides separate the questions that a single headline number cannot answer: what was modeled, which prices were available, how selling costs were applied, how wide the outcome range is, and whether the estimate matches the sealed product you are considering.
Reviewed by The Expected Value editorial team · Updated
Start here
Box EV versus pack EV
Why this site models the public product at the box or display level and keeps pack context inside the matching product calculator.
Fees, sift, and net value
How price floors and percentage fees change sellable value—and why the pack must be drawn before the sift is applied.
Worked examples
Sift threshold example
A six-row illustrative box shows exactly which value remains after a $1 price floor and a percentage selling fee.
Same EV, different risk
Two deliberately simple products share a $100 mean but produce radically different medians, loss rates, and outcome ranges.
Reference pages
- EV methodology — how product rules, card pools, local price data, and simulations become a calculator.
- Confidence bands — a live demonstration of percentile ranges and run-to-run variability.
- Seller fee values — the shared marketplace fee constants used by calculator math.
- About and editorial standards — review process, limitations, corrections, and contact information.
These materials explain how to question an estimate; they do not turn it into a guarantee. Before making a purchase decision, verify the exact product, current price, selected pricing basis, modeled coverage, and your own selling costs.