The short answer
If your scanner does both sides in one pass, yes, always: the second image is free and it removes the most common buyer complaint before it happens. All 3,383 of our cards have a front and a back scan.
If you are photographing by hand, no. Doubling the slowest step in the process to prevent a rare problem is the wrong trade at two dollars a card.
This is the last open question in our whole equipment setup, and the answer turns entirely on one thing: whether the back costs you anything.
What the back actually shows
Three things a front image cannot. Edge whitening, which is the most common condition issue and is far more visible on the blue back than on artwork. Bends, which show as a light line across the pattern. And the print itself, which is how you rule out a counterfeit.
That last one matters for trust more than for accuracy. A buyer looking at a back scan can see the card is real, and they do not have to take your word for the condition grade.
The cost side
| How you capture | Cost of the back | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Duplex document scanner | Zero, same pass | Always do it |
| Flatbed, one side at a time | Double the scanning time | Only above about $10 |
| Phone photos | Double the slowest step | Only for cards worth photographing twice |
With a duplex scanner the back arrives whether you want it or not, so the only real cost is storage, which is nothing. That is why our answer is all of them, and why it would be a different answer with a flatbed.
What it prevents
Returns and condition disputes. A buyer who saw the back before buying does not open a case about edge wear afterwards, and one avoided return on a $2 card is worth more than the scanning time for a hundred cards.
The arithmetic is stark at these prices: our average sale nets about $2.25, so a single dispute costs the margin of several sales plus the time to argue it.
Where the back earns its keep most
On anything you are grading as less than near mint, because the description is doing work and the image has to back it up. On vintage, where authenticity is a live question. And on any card above about $10, where the buyer is being careful.
On a floor card from last year's set, honestly, nobody looks. We still include it, because the cost of including it is zero and the cost of deciding case by case is not.
Where to keep the second image
A back scan only helps if it can be found. Name it paired with the front from the start, same identifier plus a suffix, because separating two thousand pairs months later is a job nobody wants to do twice.
The setting that makes it free
Duplex scanning with the right software gives you two files per card automatically, named as a pair. The work is not the scanning, it is keeping the pairs matched, and that is a naming convention rather than a labour cost.
If you are still deciding on hardware, whether a scanner does both sides in one pass is the specification that decides this question for you.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I photograph both sides of a trading card?
With a duplex scanner yes, because the second image costs nothing. All 3,383 of our cards have both. Photographing by hand doubles your slowest step, so reserve it for cards above about $10.
- What does the back of a card show?
Edge whitening, which is the most common condition issue and far more visible on the blue back; bends, which show as a line across the pattern; and the print itself, which is how a buyer rules out a counterfeit.
- Does a back photo reduce returns?
It removes the argument. A buyer who saw the wear before paying does not open a case about it afterwards, and one avoided return is worth more than the scanning time for a hundred cards.
- Where does the back matter most?
On anything graded below near mint, on vintage where authenticity is a live question, and on any card above about $10 where the buyer is being careful.
