Built for people who love the hobby — not the ones ruining it.

I came to this from collecting. I love these cards — and somewhere along the way I started selling, and got as into the operation of it as the cards themselves: working out what's worth listing, what to bundle, what a fair price is, what I actually made at the end of the month.

Somewhere along the way, the hobby got harder to love. Scalpers and flippers descended — buying out stock, gaming pre-orders, treating cards as nothing but an asset to squeeze. They price out the kids, sour the community, and give every seller a bad name. I didn't want any part of that. But I also knew the other side of the story: people who came from the hobby, who love it, and who've turned that love into a real little business — and who were getting no help at all.

The sellers no one built for

Those sellers were stuck. Fourteen browser tabs, a spreadsheet that never balanced, a shoebox of cards you couldn't find when they sold. The tools that existed were built for collectors tracking a portfolio, or for flippers chasing a quick margin — nothing for the honest seller who just wanted to know what's this worth, what should I do with it, and what did I actually earn?

So I'm building it

I'm a designer by trade — not a reseller shark. I build things for people, and I wanted to build something fair for a community I care about. So Curio does the boring, decisive parts of reselling: the fees maths, the “is this even worth listing” call, the real profit at the end — with a companion iPhone app for capture on the go. It's early, and I'm building it in the open.

What we believe

Sellers deserve honest tools. Real sold-price data, not guesses. Clear profit, not vanity revenue. And no pretending an AI can grade your cards — Curio shows you the evidence and lets you make the honest call. We'd rather tell you what it can't do than oversell what it can.

No scalper tools, ever

This isn't a marketing line — it's a product promise. Curio will never build the bulk-buying, pre-order-sniping, price-gouging features that help scalpers hurt the hobby. It's a tool for people who love Pokémon and happen to be good at selling it — and it always will be.

Where we're going

Decisions, profit and fulfilment first; the iPhone app for capture; buying tools and more games later — always in service of the honest seller. Follow along, or tell me what you need.

— Ben, founder of Curio