Arena Club puts every card's odds on the table before you rip

Arena Club sells Slab Packs, one graded card a pack from $25 to $5,000, with the odds on every card in the pack shown before you pay.¹ You don't see what Arena Club thinks your card is worth until after the rip. Its 90% buyback is based off a value they choose.²

I like the buyback, because when Arena Club's estimate matches what the card sells for, 90% beats what you'd keep selling the same slab on eBay, but the catch is you only have 24 hours to decide what to do. This guide will help you understand your options.

Arena Club at a glance

• What you buy: one PSA or BGS slab a pack, revealed in the app, from 58 live packs on Nov. 2 that ran from a $25 Bronze to a $5,000 Crown Jewel.¹
• What you see first: every card in the pack, its grade and its hit rate, updated as other buyers pull cards.¹
• What you get back if you sell: 90% of Arena Club's estimate, paid straight to your Arena Club Wallet, with one Japanese Pokémon pack paying the full 100%.²¹
• How you cash out: from the Wallet to a bank or debit card through Stripe, usually in one to three business days.³
• Who's behind it: ArenaClub.com, Inc. of Santa Monica, with Brian Lee as founder and CEO and Derek Jeter as founding partner.⁴

How does Arena Club work?

You pick a pack, read its checklist and buy it, then open it in the app and have 24 hours to take Arena Club's offer or keep the slab in its vault.²³

1. Pick a pack. Packs run in tiers, Bronze $25, Silver $50, Gold $100, Ruby $250, Emerald $500, Diamond $1,000, Legendary $2,500 and Crown Jewel $5,000, across baseball, basketball, football, Pokémon, One Piece, soccer, hockey, Disney and Lorcana, and Marvel.¹
2. Read the checklist. Every card in the pool is listed by tier with its hit rate. A pulled card is swapped for a backup from the same tier, so the list can change between the moment you look and the moment your pack opens.¹
3. Buy it. Arena Club sells one pack per checkout, paid by credit or debit card, a US bank transfer or your Wallet balance.³²
4. Rip it. The slab is revealed in the app and added to your showroom, where you can sell it, trade it or have it shipped.³
5. Decide. Take the offer within 24 hours, or keep the slab in the Oregon vault and pay $1 a card plus shipping whenever you want it sent home.³

What are the odds in an Arena Club pack?

Most packs land in the bottom tier: a $100 Gold Pokémon pack opens one of its 50 Lineup cards 98 times in 100.¹

• Four tiers in most packs: Lineup, Chase, Grail and, in the baseball, basketball, football and Pokémon tier packs, a single Super Grail.¹
• The Mantle in every baseball, basketball and football tier pack: a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 in PSA 2 is the Super Grail in all 24 baseball, basketball and football tier packs, at 1 in 2,000,000 on a $25 Bronze and 1 in 10,000 on a $5,000 Crown Jewel.¹
• The Gengar in the Pokémon tier packs: a 2000 Gym Heroes 1st Edition Sabrina's Gengar #14 in PSA 10 holds the same spot in all seven Pokémon tier packs, at up to 1 in 25,000 in the $2,500 Legendary.¹
• Odds you can read: Arena Club and PackDraw are the only two of the 11 rip sites we checked that print a hit rate for every card.⁵

How does Arena Club's buyback work?

Arena Club offers 100% of its estimated value for your card, less a 10% fee, so you see an offer of 90% of its estimate that stays open for 24 hours after the reveal.²

• How the estimate is built: Arena Club says it values a card “by researching recent sales on trusted platforms,” taking the average of recent sales, or a single recent comp when sales are thin, then moving to similar cards and grades when the exact one hasn't sold.⁶
• Where the money goes: accepting puts the amount in your Arena Club Wallet at once, where you can spend it on another pack or withdraw it.²
• Insurance: Collect Safe costs 10% of the pack price and guarantees an offer of at least 80% of what you paid, so a $100 Gold pack becomes $110 with an $80 floor.⁷
• The one pack that pays full value: the $75 Japanese Pokémon pack buys back at 100% of the estimate.¹

How do you check an Arena Club offer before you take it?

Every offer hides an estimate. Divide by 0.9 to find it, then check it against recent sales of that card in that grade.

1. Find the estimate. Divide the offer by 0.9, so a $45 offer means Arena Club values the slab at $50.
2. Pull the recent sales. Search the exact card, set, parallel and grade on eBay's sold listings and an auction archive. Skip anything that isn't the same grader and grade.
3. Compare. If recent sales sit near the estimate, take the offer, because you won't beat it selling the slab yourself. If they sit well above it, pass on the offer and keep the slab, which stays in the vault as long as your account is in good standing.²³

Thinly traded cards are the most difficult to comp. When a slab hasn't sold in its exact grade, Arena Club says it works from similar cards and grades, where a collector who knows the card may read those comps differently.⁶

Is a 90% buyback good?

Yes, if the estimate is fair. 90% matches the best rip sites and leaves you more than you'd keep selling the same slab on eBay.⁵

• Against other rip sites: LastPack pays 100% of fair market value, Tilt and Beezie usually pay 90%, Collector Crypt runs 85% to 93%. Fanatics Instant Rips pays about 85%, in store credit you can't cash out.⁵
• Against eBay: a $100 card sold on eBay costs a seller without a store about $14 in fees, leaving about $86 before shipping, while Arena Club's offer on a $100 estimate is $90 in your wallet instantly.⁸
• The catch: the percent is only as good as the estimate under it. 90% of a lowball loses to 85% of a fair number.⁵

Arena Club promo codes and deals

Arena Club takes promo codes at checkout. Its deals are a first-pack discount, a FanDuel pack and offers that show up inside your account.³

• 25% off your first $25 pack: a pop-up on the Slab Packs page trades the discount for your email, good only on a Bronze pack.¹
• FanDuel Loyalty pack: a free $100 pack for new Arena Club members with a code FanDuel sends its customers, one per account.³
• Rewards tab: Pack Protect tokens, free Collect Safe and Arena Cash appear under Rewards, though Arena Cash can't be withdrawn as money.³
• Free entry: every “No Purchase Necessary” pack is also a sweepstakes entry, with a mail-in route at the same odds through Dec. 31.⁴
• No referral program: Arena Club's help center says it doesn't run one.³

Arena Club FAQ

Is Arena Club legit?

Arena Club is a Santa Monica company run by founder and CEO Brian Lee and co-founder Jesse Glass, with Derek Jeter as founding partner. It says the security firm IOActive audited its pack shuffle. It rates 4.5 from 7.3K ratings on the App Store and 4.2 on Google Play, while Trustpilot has it at 1.6 from 42 reviews and its BBB file holds 25 complaints with a B+ grade.⁴

How long do I have to accept an Arena Club Offer?

24 hours from the reveal.²

How fast can I withdraw money from Arena Club?

Withdrawals to a bank or debit card usually take one to three business days, through a Stripe account you set up to cash out.³

What is Collect Safe on Arena Club?

An add-on that costs 10% of the pack price and guarantees an offer of at least 80% of what you paid.⁷

Can I get the actual card?

Yes. Retrieval costs $1 a card plus shipping and takes up to a week. Cards you keep stay in Arena Club's vault in Oregon.³

How old do you have to be to use Arena Club?

18, or the age of majority in your state if it's higher.²