Frequently Asked Questions
The questions vendors and collectors actually ask, answered plainly
The short version: both apps are free. ShadowSnap scans cards and tells you what they're worth and how fast they sell. ShadowTag turns your inventory file into printed price labels. Neither asks for an account, and your collection is never locked in.
ShadowSnap
What is ShadowSnap?
A free iPhone app that identifies trading cards with your camera and tells you three things about every card: what it is, what it books for, and how fast it actually sells. It also builds cash offers for buying collections, tracks your own collection in a Vault that reprices itself daily, and moves your data in and out of the other big collection apps.
How much does it cost?
Nothing. The scanner, the liquidity droplets, the offer builder, and the Vault are all free. There is no subscription, no account, no scan limit, and no paid tier hiding the good features. That list took longer to write than the pricing did.
Why is it free?
Because it was built by a vendor for his own table first. Splash & Shadow is a Las Vegas card vendor, and ShadowSnap is the tool we wanted to exist. Sharing it costs us little and makes the hobby better.
How do I get in? Why do I need a code?
ShadowSnap unlocks with a free access code. Codes go out by hand: follow @splashandshadowstudio on Instagram and send a DM, and you'll get one. Codes are anonymous. They are not tied to your name or email, and we don't use them to track you. A code only tells the app it should unlock.
How fast is the scanner?
Fast enough to work through a binder at the table. Point the camera at a card and the match appears while the card is still in your hand, with its set, number, finish, condition, and market value. You can also capture a whole binder page in one shot and let it identify every card on the page.
How accurate is it?
Every match comes with a confidence badge, so the app tells you when it is sure and when you should double-check. If a match is wrong, tap it and correct it. Those corrections also make the recognition engine better over time.
What cards does it recognize?
ShadowSnap is built for Pokémon today: English cards plus more than 25,000 Japanese and Chinese cards. More trading card games are on the roadmap. It is not a sports-card scanner, so if you're hunting rookie cards, this isn't your app yet.
Where does the pricing data come from?
ShadowSnap runs its own pricing service, built on real market listings and sales data, including TCGplayer market pricing. Values are pulled fresh when you scan, and the whole Vault is repriced every day, so you're never working from a stale price guide.
What is liquidity and how is it measured?
Liquidity is our estimate of how fast a card actually sells, shown as one to five droplets next to the price. A high price does not mean money in your pocket. An $80 card that sits for a year is not an $80 card, and the droplets are how you tell that card apart from an $80 card that sells in a week. The read is built from real market activity, and every card gets at least a baseline estimate.
Do liquidity droplets guarantee a card will sell?
No. Droplets are an informational estimate of relative sell speed. They do not guarantee a sale, a sale price, or a sale date. They exist to help you compare faster-moving and slower-moving cards before you put cash on the table.
How does the offer builder work?
Scan cards into a stack and ShadowSnap totals the market value and suggests a buy percentage informed by how fast those cards sell. Slide the percentage wherever you want it, lock it in, and tap Show Customer to hand over a clean full-screen offer: every card, its market value, and the cash number. The suggestion is a starting point. The final number is always yours.
What can the Vault hold?
Singles, graded slabs (PSA, BGS, and CGC, with the grade and grader tracked), sealed product, quantities and individual copies, and whole collections you can name and organize. Market values refresh daily, and every card keeps its price history along with what you paid for it.
What is the grading tool?
Open a card and compare its raw value against its potential graded value using historical population and gem-rate data, minus grading fees, to estimate whether a card is worth submitting. Grading outcomes and future prices are never guaranteed; this gives you more information before you spend the fee.
What other apps is it compatible with?
ShadowSnap imports and exports CSV files compatible with Collectr, Shiny, and TCGplayer, plus its own full-detail ShadowSnap CSV that re-imports perfectly with serials and collections intact. You can export a stack or the entire Vault. Your collection is never locked in.
Does it work with ShadowTag?
Yes. Send a scanned stack or your Vault straight to ShadowTag and it opens there ready to turn into printed price labels. ShadowTag is a separate free app and is not required to use ShadowSnap.
Does it work offline?
New card identification and pricing need an internet connection. If your signal drops after a capture, which happens in every convention hall, the capture stays queued on your phone and sends automatically when service comes back, so you don't lose the scan.
What happens to my card photos? What about privacy?
Card photos travel to our own scanning server for one purpose: identifying the card and returning its value. Photos, scan results, and correction taps may be retained to run and improve recognition. They are never tied to your name or any account, because there are no accounts, and nothing is used for advertising or cross-app tracking. Your scan history, stacks, offers, and Vault live on your phone. Full details in the privacy policy.
What devices does it run on?
iPhone, running iOS 17 or later. Finally, a compatibility question with a short answer.
ShadowTag
What is ShadowTag?
A free iPhone app that turns the collection file you already keep into printed price labels: card name, your logo, a QR code back to your shop, and the price, sent over Bluetooth to a label printer at your table.
How much does it cost?
The app is free forever. No subscription, no account, no trial that quietly ends. Your only cost is hardware you own outright: a supported label printer (under $30) and whatever label rolls fit it, bought wherever they are cheapest.
How is that different from the subscription label services?
With subscription services you rent the software, and the printer and labels only work with them, so quitting means abandoning the hardware. With ShadowTag the app is free and the printer is an ordinary Nelko or NIIMBOT that stays yours no matter what you do next. See the full DeckTradr and CardForge comparisons.
How do I get in? Do I need a code?
No. ShadowTag is on the App Store, it's free, and from version 1.3 it opens straight into your inventory. No code, no account, no sign-up. The only thing left between you and printed labels is the download button. (Earlier versions asked for a code; that's gone.) ShadowSnap still uses a free code, so don't be confused if you've set that one up too.
Where do the prices on my labels come from?
From you, and only you. ShadowTag does no price lookups and never overrides your numbers. The price on every label is the price in the file you imported, passed through the rounding rules you set. Your pricing stays your business.
What files can I import?
TCGplayer, Collectr, Shiny, ShadowWave, and ShadowSnap files import directly. You can also share any CSV to ShadowTag from Mail or Files. When you import, you choose whether the file adds to your current inventory or replaces it.
What are price bands?
Rounding rules you set once so labels print the way you actually sell. For example: round up in dollar steps at the low end so $14.19 prints as $15, and odd dollars with a cushion up top so $157.65 prints as $163. The app shows how many of your cards land in each band, and every label follows the rules automatically.
Do I have to reprint everything before each show?
No. Every card is tracked as New, Changed, or Printed. Import a fresh export before a show and only the cards whose prices moved come back to the top. Print those and leave the rest alone. The app estimates how long a print run will take before you start it.
What printers does it support?
NIIMBOT D11 and D110 printers and the Nelko P21, over Bluetooth. Pairing shows live signal strength, you can print a test label before committing a roll, and the app reconnects to your printer automatically at the venue.
What labels do I need?
Any roll that fits your printer. There is no proprietary label requirement, so buy wherever labels are cheapest this month. We have strong opinions about card prices, not label brands.
What goes on a label?
Your call: the card name or custom text, the price, a QR code pointing anywhere you like (your shop, eBay store, or Instagram), and your logo. The preview renders at true printer resolution, so what you see is what comes off the roll.
Does it need internet at the show?
No. Importing, pricing, and printing all run on the phone. Convention halls treat cell signal as an optional amenity; ShadowTag never asks for it.
What happens to my inventory data?
It never leaves your device. No upload, no sync, no account. Files you import, your prices, your layouts, and your print history are processed locally, and we have no ability to see or recover any of it. When you delete the app, that data is gone. Full details in the privacy policy.
What devices does it run on?
iPhone, running iOS 17 or later. Finally, a compatibility question with a short answer.
Both apps
Who makes these apps?
Splash & Shadow Studio, a Las Vegas card vendor and app studio run by Ludwig and Renee. Both apps were built for our own booth first and shared because other vendors kept asking about them.
Are you affiliated with TCGplayer, Collectr, or Shiny?
No. References to those apps describe compatible import and export file formats, and in ShadowSnap's case, market pricing data. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, and ShadowSnap and ShadowTag are not affiliated with or endorsed by The Pokémon Company, Collectr, Shiny, or TCGplayer.
What's new in the latest versions?
Each app keeps its own release notes: ShadowTag release notes and ShadowSnap release notes.
Something matched wrong or looks broken. How do I report it?
Email [email protected], or DM @splashandshadowstudio on Instagram. For a wrong card match in ShadowSnap, correcting it in the app also feeds the fix back to us.
Where is the privacy policy?
splashandshadow.com/privacy covers both apps.