Understand how Cardinal works
This page walks you through the different modes and screens so you always know what is happening: from scanning a card, to reviewing your session, to exporting your listings.
The live scanner
When you press Start, Cardinal opens your camera and begins looking for cards in the frame.
As soon as a card is confidently detected, the status at the top of the page updates with the card name and a confidence score.
Every time we confirm a detection, the card is added to your current scan session, which you’ll be able to review and export later.
- Start: begins a new or continued scan session.
- Stop: pauses the camera but keeps your current session.
- Finish: closes the camera and sends you to the listing page for this session.
- Cancel: discards the current session (no cards are saved).
Capture modes
From the options menu (the small gear button next to the Start button), you can choose how the scanner captures cards.
Cardinal keeps watching the live feed and automatically captures cards as soon as it has a confident match. This is ideal when you have many cards to scan in a row.
- – Move each card into the frame one by one.
- – Wait for the detection chip and confirmation, then swap cards.
- – Use Stop if you want to pause without ending the session.
You stay fully in control: the scanner detects a card, but only captures it when you press the round capture button at the bottom of the frame.
- – Perfect when you need to adjust angle or lighting before confirming.
- – Helps avoid duplicates if several similar cards are on your desk.
- – The session still remembers all cards until you finish or cancel.
Quality picture mode
When Quality picture is enabled in the options menu, Cardinal asks for a nicer “listing picture” right after a card has been detected.
The scanner first uses a quick frame to recognize the card. After that, it briefly pauses and shows a LISTING PICTURE watermark so you can center the card, fix reflections, and take a cleaner shot.
That second, higher-quality image is what will be shown in your exports or in reference thumbnails, giving your listings a more professional look.
- Recommended for marketplaces where photo quality really matters.
- You can turn it off if you only care about fast bulk scanning.
QR code mode
You can toggle QR code mode from the round QR button in the top‑right corner of the scanner frame. This mode is designed to read QR codes on graded slabs so Cardinal can pull the grade and population data directly from supported grading companies.
In QR mode, Cardinal stops looking for raw card detection and instead focuses on the QR codes printed on grading labels. When a QR is recognized, we call the corresponding grading company to retrieve the grade and, when available, the population count.
Session listing page
After you click Finish on the scanner, Cardinal sends you to the listing page for the current session.
Here you’ll see one row per detected card with its image, name, set, and—if available—grading information. This is your opportunity to tidy up the data before exporting.
- Rename cards: type directly in the card name field to adjust titles.
- Fix set names: edit the extension / set field for consistency.
- Reorder: drag the handle on the left of each row to match your desired listing order.
- Remove: use the red trash button to exclude a card from this export.
| Image | Card | Action | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⋮⋮ |
Image
|
Card name (editable)
Set / extension (editable)
PSA 10 (POP 3)
|
✕ |
Exporting your cards
At the top of the session listing page you’ll find export buttons for the supported marketplaces (for example Whatnot and Voggt).
After a successful export, your browser downloads a CSV file. You can then upload that file in the corresponding marketplace interface.