TCGplayer Redesign
Improved marketplace usability by designing experiences for card collectors and sellers that balanced transparency, trust, and transaction efficiency.
Organization
Personal project
Team
Independent project
Role
UX Researcher & Designer
Timeline
1-2 months
Challenges
The main challenge was that players and sellers lacked reliable ways to evaluate card prices and track how they changed over time. While TCGplayer provided three different price points, lowest, median, and market, most users either didn’t understand how they were calculated or simply didn’t find them useful.
To solve this, I set out to redesign the experience by creating more transparent market insights, introducing pricing history tools, and developing streamlined list-building features that would empower both buyers and sellers to make more informed decisions.
Design Process
Research Approach
To better understand user needs, I combined quantitative and qualitative methods. I began with a survey to capture broad player sentiment about the current site and app, then followed up with in-depth interviews with active buyers and sellers. Through this research, I learned that most users preferred the web experience over the mobile app due to usability issues. Only a third found the pricing tools useful, largely because they didn’t understand how “market value” was calculated. Players typically prioritized the lowest cost, quantity available, and seller rating when making purchases, and while many felt the site was generally simple enough to use, they expressed a strong desire for clearer data and visual market insights.
I consolidated these findings into an affinity map that highlighted recurring themes around trust, transparency, and efficiency. I also conducted a competitor audit of StockX, Amazon, Troll & Toad, and smaller TCG sites. Competitors often excelled in filters, wish lists, and smoother list-building tools. TCGplayer’s advantage was its breadth of sellers and price points, but some of its most valuable features, such as the Mass Entry list builder and a content hub with articles and decklists, were hidden or undiscovered by most users. This reinforced the opportunity to make existing features more visible while also adding stronger market-tracking tools.
How Might We?
To structure ideation, I reframed my research insights into guiding questions.
How might we help players quickly understand card price history?
How might we make deck and list-building less tedious?
How might we surface hidden features to increase adoption? And how might we provide transparency for buyers while supporting sellers who fear aggressive undercutting?
These questions anchored the design process and ensured that the solutions would address both sides of the marketplace.
Feature Prioritization
I mapped potential features against impact and effort to focus scope. Market graphs and watchlist improvements were high-impact features that could be implemented quickly, while predictive pricing and mobile deck-building offered more ambitious, long-term opportunities. Meanwhile, features such as revamping the content hub were deprioritized due to their high effort and lower user impact. This approach ensured that I would deliver meaningful value early while still leaving room for future growth.
Flows
In the current experience, users searching for a card often opened multiple tabs, cross-referenced third-party sites, and manually added items to their carts. This process was inefficient and made it difficult to feel confident in purchase decisions. In the redesigned flow, users would be able to search for a card, view its price history and market trends directly on the site, add it to a watchlist or decklist, and then share or purchase their collection in just a few clicks.
Ideation
The early sketches focused on building upon familiar layouts while introducing features that would improve usability and trust. Inspired by stock-tracking tools, I designed a market history graph that would allow players to visualize price changes over time. I also explored adding visual price indicators, such as arrows and color-coded signals, that could quickly communicate whether a card’s value was rising or falling.
Prototyping & Usability Testing
I built a mid-fidelity prototype and asked a small group of active TCGplayer users to complete two tasks: search for a card and evaluate its price, and create and manage a decklist. The results were promising. Users found the market graphs helpful in understanding trends, and the additional pricing data gave them more confidence in making purchases. Sellers raised valid concerns about undercutting, which highlighted the need for careful balancing in how transparent data should be presented. Some users preferred a grid layout over the default list view, and many wanted more control over managing their watchlists. Overall, the new features were well received, and users agreed that the redesign made them feel more informed as both buyers and sellers.
Refined Designs
Based on the feedback, I refined the prototype across several key pages. On the product list page, I added trend charts so users could quickly spot market shifts. On the item detail page, I expanded pricing to include multiple sets and historical data, giving users a more complete view of a card’s value. The personal listing page was redesigned with a broader table view and quick-access modules on the homepage for lists. The list-building page was simplified to allow for faster deck creation, price evaluation, and direct checkout.
Product List Page
Incorporating a quick trend chart into the item's card will help players and sellers quickly glimpse current market trends.
Personal Listing Page
By expanding the table, users have access to a more extensive view range of information regarding the items on their list. Adding a list window to the home page will also help users access their lists quicker.
Mobile Refinement
Most users handle transactions and price checks while at tournaments or card shops, so a mobile-first approach was essential. The design focused on quick scanning, helping players make fast, confident decisions about a card’s value.
Reflection
Lessons Learned
One of the key lessons from this project was the value of early research and competitor benchmarking, which shaped stronger design decisions. Another was the importance of avoiding replication traps; in early iterations, I leaned too heavily on existing layouts, which limited exploration. Finally, I realized that scope matters, narrowing down to one or two high-impact features can deliver more meaningful improvements than spreading effort across multiple smaller enhancements.
What’s Next?
Looking ahead, the natural next step would be to extend these redesign concepts into the mobile app, where usability gaps are most pronounced. Additional opportunities include introducing price alerts, predictive pricing models, and advanced seller analytics, as well as developing a design system to unify the TCGplayer experience across platforms.
Interested in this project?
If you are interested in learning more about this project and my design process, please feel free to contact me.