TCGrader Monthly Grading Competition

The promoter of this competition is TCGrader Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16804394, with its registered office at 203 West Street, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 0EN, United Kingdom.

Contact: support@tcgrader.com.

This is a deterministic monthly competition based on grading activity. Each calendar month, eligible entrants compete to grade the most unique trading cards on the TCGrader platform within the competition window. The three entrants who grade the most unique cards (subject to the unique-card rule in §6 and the tie-breaker in §7) win the three prizes published for that month.

Winners are determined solely by the entrant's grading activity. No chance element is involved at any stage of winner selection. Section 14 of the Gambling Act 2005 requires the winner-selection process of a "lottery" to rely wholly or partly on chance; because the process here has no chance element, the requirements of section 14 are not met and this competition is not a lottery or other regulated gambling activity under that Act.

• You must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry.
• Eligible countries. Eligibility is limited to legal residents of the following countries. We may expand this list over time; the version of these Terms pinned to a particular competition (shown above) governs which countries are eligible for that competition.

• Excluded jurisdictions. The competition is void where prohibited by local law. In addition to any country not on the eligible-countries list above, you are not eligible if you are resident in: (a) any country subject to UK, EU or US international sanctions (currently including Russia, Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba); (b) Quebec (Canada); (c) Rhode Island (United States); or (d) any other jurisdiction in which participation is unlawful, restricted, or subject to registration / approval requirements with which TCGrader has not complied. Where local law in your jurisdiction limits foreign-run prize competitions, it is your responsibility to determine whether you can lawfully enter; TCGrader makes no representation that the competition complies with the prize-promotion or marketing laws of any jurisdiction other than England and Wales.
• You must set your country of residence on your TCGrader profile (Settings → Profile → Country) before grading for those cards to count. Your country must be one of the eligible countries listed above. We use this to know where to ship a prize if you win and to support fraud and eligibility monitoring.
• Prize delivery restrictions: we ship to all eligible countries listed above. If we are unable to lawfully or practically deliver a prize to a winner's address (for example because of customs or import restrictions), we will work with the winner on an alternative delivery arrangement; if no workable arrangement is possible, the prize passes to the next-ranked eligible entrant.
• Tax responsibility (all winners). Any tax payable on a prize is the winner's personal responsibility under their own country, state or local tax rules — see also §11a. As a UK company without a US trade or business, we do not currently treat ourselves as subject to US IRS 1099-MISC filing obligations on prize awards, and we do not routinely collect tax documentation from winners. If, in respect of a particular prize award, applicable law requires us to obtain documentation from the winner before paying out (for example because our US tax position changes), we will request the necessary documentation in writing and receipt of the prize will be conditional on the winner providing it.
• Employees of TCGrader, their immediate families, and anyone professionally connected with the competition are not eligible.
• Accounts in suspended or banned status are not eligible.

Each competition runs for the window published on the public competition page (typically the calendar month). The exact opening, closing and winner-announcement times are displayed on the competition page during the period. Winners are determined and announced after the closing time, typically within 48 hours.

Every successfully completed grading of a unique card on TCGrader during the competition period automatically counts as one (1) entry on the leaderboard. There is no separate entry form and no additional fee charged for the competition itself.

Grading a card uses one grading credit at TCGrader's standard published price (see the pricing page). The per-card grading price during the competition window is the same as outside the competition window — there is no premium, surcharge or "competition rate". A grade counts toward the leaderboard regardless of how the underlying credit was obtained: ad-hoc credit purchase, credits included with a paid subscription tier, referral bonus credits, and credits awarded for authentication voting all count equally.

Credits remain consumable for grading whether or not the user enters the competition; the competition does not change the function, price, or refund position of credits in any way. Credits cannot be exchanged for cash, transferred between accounts, or redeemed for the competition outside the normal grading flow.

A card's identity for competition purposes is determined by the combination of card name, set and card number (the "Card Key"). Each Card Key counts at most once per entrant per competition, no matter how many times that physical card is graded.

Grading a card without sufficient identifying information (no name and no set or number) will not count toward the leaderboard. We reserve the right to invalidate entries that appear to be the same card under altered metadata.

Anti-gaming. To preserve the integrity of the leaderboard, the following are prohibited and will result in invalidation of affected entries and, where appropriate, account suspension or disqualification from the competition:

• Using automated tools, scripts or bots to submit grades.
• Submitting stock photos, generic catalogue images, or photos of cards that are not the actual physical card you are claiming as your entry. Each entry image must be of the physical card being graded.
• Operating more than one account to inflate entries (in line with §12a and the main Terms).
• Patterns of clearly low-quality, deliberately mis-described, deliberately duplicated, or otherwise abusive submissions designed to inflate the unique-card count rather than to obtain a genuine grade.
• Coordinated activity between accounts (e.g. credit pooling, image sharing) to inflate a single entrant's count.

We may apply automated and manual checks at any time during or after the competition, and may invalidate retrospectively if abuse is identified during winner verification.

If two or more entrants finish on the same number of unique cards, the higher position goes to whoever reached that count first — measured by the timestamp of the entry that brought the entrant to that count.

Each competition has three prizes — one each for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The prizes for the active competition (card name, grading authority, grade, estimated value and photos) are published on the public competition page during the entry period.

No cash alternative is available; prizes are non-transferable.

At the close of the competition the top three entrants on the leaderboard (after applying the unique-card rule and tie-breaker) are declared the winners. We may carry out reasonable verification before confirming a winner (e.g. checking country, looking for obvious abuse).

Winners are notified by email and in-app alert. Each winner has fourteen (14) days from notification to provide a deliverable postal address. If a winner does not claim within that period we reserve the right to award the prize to the next-ranked eligible entrant.

Prizes are shipped at our cost to the postal address provided, fully tracked, within fourteen (14) days of receiving a valid address. Customs duties and import taxes (if any) on cross-border shipments are the recipient's responsibility.

Loss or damage in transit. We bear the risk of loss or damage to a prize in transit until it is delivered to the winner. If a prize is confirmed by the carrier to be lost or damaged in transit, we will work with the winner to (a) reship an equivalent prize where reasonably possible, or, if that is not practical, (b) provide an alternative of equivalent estimated retail value. Our total liability in respect of in-transit loss or damage is in any event capped at the estimated retail value of the prize as published on the competition page for that month.

Personal data submitted in connection with the competition is processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Winners' usernames and final card counts are published on the public competition page. Full names, addresses and contact details are not published without the winner's express consent.

Winners are solely responsible for determining and paying any taxes (including income tax, value-added tax, goods-and-services tax or import duties) that may be due on a prize in their country of residence. TCGrader does not provide tax advice and does not act as a tax agent for winners.

The US-specific W-9 / 1099-MISC obligation set out in §3 is a US federal reporting requirement that we must satisfy as the payer; it does not replace or limit the winner's own personal tax obligations in their own jurisdiction. If you are unsure of your tax position, please consult a qualified local tax adviser.

By accepting a prize, the winner grants TCGrader a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use the winner's TCGrader username, final unique-card count, placing and competition month in TCGrader marketing — including the public competition page, the past-winners feed, social-media posts, blog articles and press releases — for the purpose of announcing and promoting the competition. This use is without further compensation and is subject only to TCGrader's Privacy Policy.

Use of the winner's full name, photograph, likeness, quote / testimonial or any other personal detail beyond username and competition placing is optional and requires the winner's separate, express written consent (typically given through a "share your win" form in the dashboard). Declining is not a condition of receiving the prize.

A winner may at any time, by emailing support@tcgrader.com, withdraw consent for any optional publicity item; we will remove the item from public-facing content within a reasonable period (we may retain historical archives of marketing already distributed). Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before the withdrawal.

• By participating, you agree to be bound by these Terms.
• We reserve the right to disqualify entries involving fraud, multi-accounting, manipulation of card metadata, or any other breach of these Terms.
• We may amend these Terms; the version pinned to a particular competition (shown above) governs that competition.
• We reserve the right to cancel, suspend, postpone or modify the competition in the event of fraud, technical failure, force majeure, or any cause beyond our reasonable control.
• To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability to any entrant in connection with the competition is limited to the value of the relevant prize.
• These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales for any dispute arising in connection with the competition.

These Competition Terms apply to the TCGrader Monthly Grading Competition specifically and supplement TCGrader's main Terms & Conditions, which continue to apply to all your other use of TCGrader.

• Conflict resolution: if any provision of these Competition Terms conflicts with the Main Terms specifically in relation to the competition, these Competition Terms prevail.
• Age: the Main Terms allow use of TCGrader from age 13 (with parental consent for 13–18). The competition is more restrictive — open only to entrants aged 18 or over.
• Account rules: the Main Terms' "one account per person" rule applies. Operating multiple accounts to inflate competition entries is a breach and results in disqualification.

If you have a complaint regarding the competition, contact us first at support@tcgrader.com so we can try to resolve it directly.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015, we are required to inform you of our position on ADR. If we are unable to resolve a complaint within eight (8) weeks, we will write to you with our final position. We do not currently participate in a certified ADR scheme for prize-competition disputes; you may still pursue any statutory rights you have, including (for UK / EU consumers) referral to the courts in line with §12, or — for EU consumers — the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.