Courtyard rips more than cards, from Pokémon slabs to a $20,000 watch box

Every Courtyard pack, from $15 to $20,000, pays out a single real item: a graded Pokémon or sports slab, a comic, a coin, a pair of sneakers or a watch. Each pack lists its value ranges, the odds of landing in each and what the average pull is worth before you pay.

Its packs logged nearly a million pulls in the last 30 days by our tally of its own pack data. I'd take Courtyard's 84.6% buyback when recent sales in the same grade sit at or under its value. Anything worth more I'd list on its marketplace, where I don't pay any fees, but I need to wait for a buyer. For hits above $7,500, I would take advantage of eBay's lower fee schedule for high priced items.

Courtyard at a glance

• What you buy: one item a pack, held in Courtyard's vault in Delaware and tracked as a token tied to that item.
• What you see first: its value ranges with their odds, the average item value and a "Heavy Hitters" list of the pack's top items, all in Courtyard's pack data.
• What selling back pays: about 85% of Courtyard's own value for the item, per its pack data, with the offer open for seven days.
• How you cash out: Venmo, PayPal, a debit card or a bank, after an ID check.
• Who's behind it: Courtyard, Inc., a Delaware corporation that lists NEA, Y Combinator and Cherry Ventures among its backers.

How does Courtyard work?

You pick a pack, read its odds and buy up to five at once on most packs, then choose what happens to each pull.

1. Pick a pack. 95 packs were on sale on Nov. 9, across Pokémon, One Piece, sealed boosters, five sports, comics, coins, sneakers and watches.
2. Read the odds. Each pack lists its value ranges, the chance of each and its Heavy Hitters.
3. Pay. A card, Apple Pay or your Courtyard balance. Credit cards carry "a small fee" that Courtyard doesn't publish.
4. Rip it. The item lands in your account, drawn at random.
5. Decide. Sell it back within seven days, list it, keep it in the vault or ship it home.

What are the odds in a Courtyard pack?

Most pulls come back under the price. In the $25 Pokémon Starter, its most-pulled pack in the last 30 days, seven pulls in 10 land under $25.

• Ranges, not cards: Courtyard prints the odds of each value range, not of any one card.
• The average pull: Courtyard's "average item value" was 96% of the price on 93 of the 95 packs on sale Nov. 9. The two $25 Starter packs, Pokémon and Wildcard, posted 100%.
• Who carries the average: in the Starter, the 27% of pulls worth $25 to $50 are the largest single share above the $25 price. The 1-in-100 slabs worth up to $400 add a few dollars at most to the average.
• One slab, many packs: the same item can sit in several packs' Heavy Hitters. A 1999 Jungle 1st Edition Flareon PSA 10 showed in six on Nov. 9, from the $999 Diamond (Spicy) to the $10,000 Cosmic.
• The odds move: the Pokémon Legend pack page said on Nov. 2 that its distribution is "calculated in real-time," so ranges shift as items are pulled.

How does Courtyard's buyback work?

The offer comes from Courtyard's value for the item, not what you paid for the pack.

• Who sets the value: Courtyard, with "a proprietary pricing algorithm" built on the item's recent sales, category trends and grade comparisons.
• The rate: the offer shows 84.6% of that value on every pack, per Courtyard's own pack data.
• The fee: its NFT terms list a 6% fee "of the total consideration" on an accepted buyback. Courtyard doesn't say whether the 84.6% offer already includes it.
• The window: seven days, then the offer expires.
• A floor you can get: a Protected Pull code sets a minimum offer on one pack, paid only if you sell back.
• Sell every pull back: at a 96% average item value and an 84.6% offer, its pack data works out to an offer of about 81 cents on each dollar you spend.

Is Courtyard's value close to what the card sells for?

Mostly, yes. We checked eight Pokémon slabs from its packs, from a $1,500 Mega Charizard Y ex PSA 10 to a $144,000 Neo Discovery Umbreon PSA 10, against their last 30 days of sales on eBay, Fanatics Collect, Alt, Goldin and Heritage.

• Seven of eight: within 10% of the 30-day market.
• The one under: Courtyard's $1,500 on the Mega Charizard Y ex matched a $1,500 eBay sale on Nov. 8.
• When the market drops first: two 1st Edition Jungle Flareon PSA 10s sold for $15,600 each with buyer's premium on Fanatics Collect on Nov. 8. Courtyard still valued its copy at $22,200. Its buyback offer on that slab is about $18,780, more than either of those copies brought at auction.

How do you check a Courtyard offer before you take it?

Look up the item's recent sales in the same grade, then hold them against Courtyard's value.

1. Find the sales. Search the exact card, set and grade on eBay's sold listings. Each Courtyard item page lists recent sales too.
2. Compare. If the newest sales sit at or under Courtyard's value, take the offer.
3. List it. If they sit above it, list the item on Courtyard's marketplace, where sellers pay no fee.

Is an 85% buyback good?

It's close to what eBay leaves you on most pulls, while listing on Courtyard's own marketplace costs nothing.

• Against eBay: a $100 sale leaves about $86 after eBay's fees, before shipping. Courtyard's offer on a $100 value shows about $85, paid right away.
• Where eBay wins: eBay's trading-card fee drops to 2.35% on the part of a sale above $7,500. A slab Courtyard values at $20,000 shows an offer of about $16,920 and about $18,700 on eBay if it sells for the same, before FedEx.
• My call: I'd take the 84.6% when recent sales in the same grade sit at or under Courtyard's value. Above that, I'd list it on Courtyard's marketplace and keep the whole sale price. Only a hit worth $7,500 or more goes to an eBay auction. That trip is one way, because shipping cancels the offer and Courtyard has paused taking cards back into its vault.

Courtyard promo codes and deals

Courtyard showed no sign-up offer on its homepage when we read it on Nov. 9. Its deals come from rewards, codes and points.

• Courtyard Rewards: Silver to Diamond tiers, set by pack spending each quarter. Each tier gets a monthly free pack and a Protected Pull, from a $15 pack and a $25 floor at Silver to $100 and $500 at Diamond.
• Free shipping: five shipments a month at Platinum, 10 at Diamond.
• Points: 5,000 points buy $25 of pack credit. They come from daily claims and pack buys and expire after a year.

Courtyard FAQ

Is Courtyard legit?

Courtyard, Inc., a Delaware corporation that announced a vault partnership with Brink's in February 2022, now holds every item in its own insured vault in Delaware. Its iPhone app rates 4.6 from about 9,300 ratings, its Android app rates 4.3 from about 4,000 reviews with more than 500,000 downloads. Its Trustpilot reviews average 3.7 from 1,073.

How long do I have to accept a Courtyard buyback offer?

Seven days. After that the offer expires.

How fast can I withdraw money from Courtyard?

Venmo usually takes minutes. A U.S. bank transfer takes the same day or two to three business days, after an ID check on your first withdrawal.

Can I get the physical card?

Yes. Courtyard ships by FedEx at cost and can take up to 10 business days to process the request. Items you keep stay in its vault with free storage and insurance.

Can I send my own cards to Courtyard's vault?

Not right now. Courtyard says vaulting is "temporarily paused" and returns new shipments to sender.

How old do you have to be to use Courtyard?

18, or old enough to sign a binding contract where you live, per its terms of service.