Manual Pricing
Sideboard’s pricing rules handle the bulk of your inventory automatically. But some cards need a price that reflects your store’s specific situation rather than the raw market. Manual pricing gives you that control, on a card-by-card basis.
What manual pricing means
When you set a price manually on an item, Sideboard marks it as price overridden. From that point on:
- The item’s price is locked to the value you entered.
- Pricing rules do not affect it, even after a market sync.
- The current market price is still visible alongside your override (for your reference), but Sideboard will not change your price automatically.
A manually priced item stays manually priced until you explicitly tell Sideboard to switch it back.
How to set a manual price
Open the item in your inventory and enter a price directly in the list price field. Sideboard records your entry and marks the item as manually priced automatically — you don’t need to toggle anything separately.
How to return an item to auto-pricing
On the same inventory item view, clear the price field or use the reset option. Sideboard will:
- Clear the manual override flag.
- Immediately recalculate the price using your current pricing rules and the latest market data.
- Show you the newly calculated price.
If you haven’t changed your rules and the market price hasn’t moved, the result will be what the rule would have set when you originally overrode it.
Common reasons to use manual pricing
High-value singles
For cards above a certain threshold, some stores prefer to set prices by hand. Market data is accurate on average, but individual listings can vary significantly for cards in the $50–$500+ range. Reviewing these yourself means you’re not leaving money on the table — or accidentally overpricing into a slow mover.
A common setup: use an Exclude rule on anything above $50 (see Setting Up Pricing Rules), then price those cards manually.
Signed or altered cards
A Revised Dual Land with an artist signature isn’t the same product as an unsigned copy, and the market price won’t reflect the premium. Manual pricing lets you charge what collectors in your area will actually pay.
Cards affected by errata or rules changes
When a card gets hit by a ban, restriction, or rules change, market prices often lag for 24–48 hours while the market digests the news. If you have confidence in the direction, manually pinning the price — up or down — ahead of the next sync lets you act on your read of the situation.
Hype windows
Format announcements, content creator coverage, and tournament results all create short-term price spikes. If you’re watching a card move in real time, a manual override lets you capture the moment rather than waiting for the next scheduled sync.
Bundles and lot pricing
If you’re listing a playset (4x) as a unit at a discount to individual copies, or bundling several cards together, the per-card market price doesn’t map cleanly to the bundle price. Set the bundle price manually.
Cards with thin market data
For newer games or niche printings, market data can be sparse or slow to appear. If you have a better read on local demand than the market feed does, manual pricing lets you act on that.
Manually priced items and Exclude rules
Exclude rules do not affect manually priced items. If you have an Exclude rule targeting cards over $50 and you’ve already set a manual price on one of those cards, the card remains priced and available. The exclude rule only affects items that are under auto-pricing control.
Checking which items are manually overridden
Each item in your inventory shows whether its price is manually set or auto-calculated. Use this to do periodic reviews and make sure you’re not carrying stale manual prices from a spike that has since corrected.
What’s next
- Setting Up Pricing Rules — Configure auto-pricing rules to minimize how often you need manual overrides.
- How Pricing Works — Understand the full pricing flow from market data to your list price.
- Price Inference — How Sideboard estimates prices for conditions with no direct market data.
- Adding Products to Inventory — Get your cards into Sideboard.
- Setting Up Buy Pricing Rules — Apply rule-based logic to your buylist prices.
Was this page helpful?
Spotted something wrong, or want to suggest an improvement? Email support → — your message goes straight to engineering.