{
  "url": "https://www.moonstonehq.com/articles/the-condition-tax",
  "slug": "the-condition-tax",
  "title": "The Condition Tax: LP Costs You a Quarter, Damaged Costs You Two-Thirds",
  "summary": "Across 4,915 cards with live per-condition prices, a lightly played copy fetches a median 76% of near mint, moderately played 54%, damaged 32%. And the more valuable the card, the harder the tax bites: on $50-plus cards, LP drops to 71%. The spread between those numbers is where careful buyers eat.",
  "section": "Buyer's Guide",
  "published": "2026-08-26",
  "readMinutes": 6,
  "publisher": "moonstone",
  "findings": [
    {
      "value": "76.5%",
      "measures": "LP, median share of NM price",
      "basis": "4,915 cards"
    },
    {
      "value": "54.2%",
      "measures": "MP, median share of NM",
      "basis": ""
    },
    {
      "value": "31.9%",
      "measures": "damaged, median share of NM",
      "basis": ""
    },
    {
      "value": "71.2%",
      "measures": "LP share on $50+ cards",
      "basis": "the tax steepens with value"
    }
  ],
  "tables": [
    {
      "title": "The three harshest real condition ladders on $20-plus cards",
      "columns": [
        "Card",
        "NM",
        "LP",
        "LP share"
      ],
      "rows": [
        {
          "Card": "[Rayquaza](/card/col1-20), [Call of Legends](/set/call%20of%20legends)",
          "NM": "$599.46",
          "LP": "$96.83",
          "LP share": "16.2% (MP 9.3%, DMG 3.4%)"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Melmetal](/card/smp-SM181), SM Black Star Promos",
          "NM": "$105.48",
          "LP": "$19.99",
          "LP share": "19.0%"
        },
        {
          "Card": "Suicune, e-era Japanese",
          "NM": "$95.00",
          "LP": "$18.08",
          "LP share": "19.0% (MP 13.4%)"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "charts": [],
  "sections": [
    "Expensive cards punish wear harder",
    "How to spend this information"
  ],
  "method": [
    "Sample: 4,915 unique cards whose cached moonstone market payloads carried live TCGplayer per-condition prices (NM and LP required; MP and damaged where quoted) as of August 26, 2026. Ratios are per-card condition price over NM price; medians reported per segment (under $5: 2,881 cards; $5-50: 1,450; $50+: 584). Two apparent sub-6% LP ratios on cheap promos were excluded as stale-listing artifacts; the harshest-ladder table starts at $20 NM. Prices are listings-derived market quotes, not our valuations. Not financial advice."
  ],
  "terms": "Figures are moonstone's own recorded measurements, dated as published. Quote them with the population stated beside them. The article at `url` is the human form of this file."
}