Methodology — RipTier

How we score every rip site

Every site on RipTier is scored the same way, on the same eight criteria, using information the site makes public. No opinion, no paid placement, and the same rules for the site at the top as the one at the bottom.

Our readers collect Pokémon, so the rubric is weighted for a Pokémon collector. We put the most weight on the things that decide whether you actually keep value: what a site pays you back for a card you do not want, whether the cards are graded, and how deep the Pokémon catalogue runs. Fun features matter, but they do not protect your money, so they carry less weight.

The eight criteria

Each site is scored from 0 to 100 on every criterion. The scores are combined using the weights below to give a single figure out of 10.

Buyback rateThe share of a card's market value the site pays when you sell it back. Higher means less value lost on the cards you do not want to keep.18%

Card gradingWhether cards are professionally graded and slabbed. An all-PSA site scores highest; mixed or raw cards score lower.16%

Pokémon depthHow deep the Pokémon catalogue runs. We weight this heavily because our readers collect Pokémon first.15%

Odds transparencyWhether pull odds are published before you buy, and whether they can be independently verified.14%

Value floorWhether every pack guarantees a minimum card value, so a pull is never worth nothing.12%

Payout optionsHow you get paid, the withdrawal minimum, and how quickly the money actually lands.10%

ShippingCost, speed and protection when you ship a real card to your door.8%

Track recordReview scores, total paid out and community size, as evidence the site pays what it promises.7%

Tiers are score bands

The letter grade is not a judgement call. It is a fixed band, so an S always means the same thing whichever site earns it.

SSElite · 9.0+

SGreat · 8.0+

ASolid · 7.0+

BFair · 6.0+

CRisky · below 6.0

How we keep it current

Pack pricing, buyback rates and odds change, so we re-check every site weekly and update its scores when the facts move. If a site improves what it pays back or starts publishing its odds, its score goes up. If it quietly walks something back, the score goes down.

Scores are based on publicly available site information and are for information only. They are not financial or purchasing advice.