Setting Up Pricing Rules

Pricing rules let you define your sell-price strategy once, then let Sideboard apply it automatically every time market prices update. You decide the logic — Sideboard does the arithmetic.

Rules are per-inventory. If you run multiple inventories (for example, separate inventories for in-store and online), each gets its own ruleset.

How rules work

When Sideboard calculates a sell price for a card, it evaluates your rules in order from top to bottom. The last rule that matches the card wins.

This cascade means you build your ruleset from general to specific:

1. Start with a broad base rule that applies to everything.
2. Add more specific rules below it to override the base for particular sets, rarities, or price ranges.

Because the last match wins, you don’t need complex “unless” conditions — you just put the override below the thing it overrides.

Example cascade

Rule 1 (All cards):   100% of market
Rule 2 (Mythics):     120% of market
Rule 3 (Under $1):    Fixed $0.25

For a Mythic worth $5:

• Rule 1 matches → $5.00
• Rule 2 matches → $6.00 ← this wins (last match)
• Rule 3 does not match

For a Mythic bulk rare worth $0.50:

• Rule 1 matches → $0.50
• Rule 2 matches → $0.60
• Rule 3 matches → $0.25 ← this wins (last match)

Rule criteria: what a rule can target

Each rule can match cards based on any combination of these criteria. Leave a criterion blank to match everything.

Multiple criteria within one rule are combined with AND: a card must match all specified criteria to be selected by that rule.

Color matching modes

Includes: matches any card that contains the specified colors. A Dimir (Blue/Black) card would match if you filter for “Blue.”

Exactly: matches only cards whose color identity is exactly what you specified. Useful for targeting mono-colored cards precisely.

Rule actions: what to do with matching cards

Once a rule matches a card, its action determines how the price is calculated.

Pricing modes

Formula pricing

Formula mode gives you the most control. The calculation runs in this order:

1. Pick a base price (market price, low price, or high price)
2. Apply a multiplier (e.g., 1.2 = 120% of base)
3. Add a markup percentage on top of the result
4. Apply condition adjustments for LP, MP, HP, DMG
5. Enforce minimum and maximum price bounds
6. Round to your preference

Example: market = $10, multiplier = 1.2, markup = 10%, min = $0.50

$10.00 × 1.2 = $12.00
$12.00 + 10% = $13.20
→ Final price: $13.20

Condition adjustments

Formula rules let you specify a multiplier for each condition grade. These control how LP, MP, HP, and DMG prices relate to the Near Mint price for matching cards.

Default adjustments most stores start with:

You can customize these per rule. A rule for high-value singles might use tighter LP/MP drops than a rule for bulk.

Price floors and ceilings

Use min price to ensure a card never sells below a threshold (a floor), and max price to cap a price so you stay competitive on expensive cards.

Rounding options

Exclude mode

When a rule’s action is Exclude, Sideboard clears the list price and pushes quantity 0 to your Shopify store. The card stays in your inventory records but stops appearing as available for purchase. Cards with manual price overrides are never affected by an exclude rule — only auto-priced cards.

Cookbook recipes

These are starting points. Adjust the percentages to match your store’s margin targets.

Recipe 1: Base + premium tiers

A common setup: start at market for everything, then add margin for higher-value cards.

Rule 1 — All cards
  Criteria: (none — matches everything)
  Action: Formula, 100% of market, min $0.25

Rule 2 — Mid-range singles
  Criteria: min price $2, max price $19.99
  Action: Formula, 110% of market

Rule 3 — High-value singles
  Criteria: min price $20
  Action: Formula, 115% of market

Result: bulk is priced at market with a floor, mid-range has a small margin, expensive cards have a slightly lower margin to stay competitive.

Recipe 2: Modern staples at 95% of market

If you want to move Modern inventory quickly by pricing slightly below market:

Rule 1 — All cards
  Criteria: (none)
  Action: Formula, 100% of market, min $0.25

Rule 2 — Modern staples
  Criteria: Set codes = [all Modern-legal sets], min price $5
  Action: Formula, 95% of market

Recipe 3: Floor of $0.50 on every Common

Prevents bulk Commons from falling below your break-even point:

Rule 1 — All cards
  Criteria: (none)
  Action: Formula, 100% of market

Rule 2 — Commons floor
  Criteria: Rarity = Common
  Action: Formula, 100% of market, min $0.50

Recipe 4: Exclude graded cards from auto-pricing

If you carry graded slabs, you want to set prices manually rather than apply auto-rules:

Rule 1 — All cards
  Criteria: (none)
  Action: Formula, 110% of market

Rule 2 — Graded cards
  Criteria: Card name = [specific graded cards, listed individually]
  Action: Exclude

Then set manual prices on those specific items. The exclude rule prevents any auto-rule from overwriting your manual pricing if you ever reset the override.

Recipe 5: Manual pricing for anything over $50

A common operational preference: trust the rules for low-to-mid-value cards, but review anything expensive yourself.

Rule 1 — All cards
  Criteria: (none)
  Action: Formula, 110% of market, min $0.25

Rule 2 — Expensive cards — auto-exclude
  Criteria: min price $50
  Action: Exclude

With this setup, Sideboard won’t automatically price cards worth $50+ — you’ll price those manually. Nothing will appear on Shopify for excluded cards until you set a price.

Enabling and disabling rules

Every rule has an on/off toggle. A disabled rule is skipped during calculation entirely — it stays in your list so you can re-enable it without rebuilding it.

Use this for seasonal pricing (disable the “Holiday markup” rule in January) or for testing (disable a new rule to compare prices before fully committing).

Reordering rules

Drag rules up and down to change their evaluation order. Remember: last match wins. The rule at the bottom of your list has the highest priority.

After reordering, Sideboard immediately queues a recalculation of your entire inventory. Prices will update in the background within a few minutes.

How many rules should I have?

There’s no hard limit, but most stores run well with 3–8 rules. A few focused rules are easier to reason about than a large stack. When in doubt: fewer, broader rules with well-placed overrides beat a long list of narrow rules.

What happens when no rule matches?

If a card doesn’t match any enabled rule, it gets no calculated price. It will still appear in your inventory, but its list price will be blank and it won’t show as available on Shopify. This is intentional — Sideboard doesn’t guess. A base rule that matches everything (leave all criteria blank) prevents this situation.

What’s next

• Manual Pricing — Override auto-pricing for specific items.
• How Pricing Works — Understand the full price-update chain.
• Price Inference — How Sideboard handles missing condition prices.
• Setting Up Buy Pricing Rules — Apply the same logic to your buylist.
• Adding Products to Inventory — Build the inventory your rules will price.

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