★ Terms of Service
The fine print, in plain English.
This is the legal agreement between you and CardPrepAI (a DBA of X3 Collectibles LLC, parent X3 All-American Holding LLC). By using the service, signing in, or buying any product, you agree to everything below.
Effective: May 11, 2026 · Version 1.0 · Entity: X3 Collectibles LLC (DBA "CardPrepAI"), Howell, Michigan, USA
- What CardPrepAI Is
- Predictions Are Estimates, Not Guarantees
- Your Account & Acceptable Use
- Fees, Subscriptions & Credits
- Refunds & Cancellation
- Lifetime Founder Tier
- Affiliate Program
- Your Taxes Are Your Responsibility
- W-9, 1099-NEC & Information Reporting
- API Tier & Developer Use
- Verified Dealer Directory
- Your Data & Privacy
- Intellectual Property
- Limitation of Liability
- Disputes & Governing Law
- Changes to These Terms
What CardPrepAI Is
CardPrepAI is a software-as-a-service tool that uses artificial intelligence to provide grade predictions, market analysis, counterfeit screening, listing generation, submission paperwork, and related collector-decision tools for trading cards, sports cards, sealed product, and other collectibles.
We are not a grading service. We do not grade your cards. We do not encapsulate slabs. We do not authenticate, certify, or issue grades. We provide AI-generated analysis to help you make your own decisions.
We are not a marketplace. We do not list cards for sale, hold cards in escrow, or process transactions between collectors. Where we link to marketplaces (eBay, Goldin, PWCC, Heritage, Fanatics Collect, etc.), we may earn affiliate commissions, but the actual transaction is between you and that marketplace under their terms.
We are not a financial advisor. Any commentary on "expected value," "ROI," or "fair value" reflects our model's output. Card values can collapse, parallels can be reprinted, populations can spike, and market sentiment can shift. You alone bear the financial outcome of any decision you make using our tools.
Predictions Are Estimates, Not Guarantees
This is the single most important section of these Terms. Read it.
CardPrepAI predictions are AI-generated probability estimates. They are not, and never will be, guaranteed outcomes.
- The actual grade your card receives is determined solely by the human graders at PSA, BGS, SGC, CGC, TAG, or whichever third-party grading service you use. CardPrepAI has no influence on, and no relationship with, the grading service's final decision.
- Different graders disagree on the same card all the time. This is why crossovers, regrades, and price spreads exist between TPAs.
- Our predictions include a confidence score and a probability distribution across grade tiers. A "PSA 10: 41%" prediction means we estimate a 41% probability — not a promise.
- We target 70%-or-better accuracy within one grade tier on top-population cards. Predictions on edge cases, very recent releases, or unusual variations will be less accurate.
- If the actual grade comes back materially different from our prediction, that is not a breach of these Terms and is not grounds for a refund of subscription or credit fees.
- You acknowledge that you understand a prediction is a forecast, not a contract, and that you assume all financial risk of submitting, selling, buying, or holding any card based on our output.
Your Account & Acceptable Use
To use the service beyond the free trial, you need an account. By creating an account you confirm:
- You are at least 18 years of age. CardPrepAI is not intended for use by minors under any circumstance. Accounts found to be operated by anyone under 18 will be terminated without refund.
- The information you provide is accurate. You'll keep it current.
- You're responsible for everything that happens under your account, including charges. Don't share credentials.
- You won't reverse-engineer the service, scrape our model outputs at scale to train competing systems, abuse the free trial via multi-account schemes, or use the service for any unlawful purpose.
- You won't upload card photos you don't own the rights to, or photos containing other people's personally identifying information.
- You won't use the service to deceive buyers about a card's grade, authenticity, or condition.
We may suspend or terminate your account for violations, fraud, chargeback abuse, or any conduct that puts other users or our Stripe processing at risk.
Fees, Subscriptions & Credits
Current pricing is published at cardprepai.com/pricing and is incorporated into these Terms by reference. As of this version:
- Free trial: 3 AI analyses per account, one-time, no payment required.
- Credits: $29 / $99 / $299 for 10 / 50 / 200 credits. One credit = one AI analysis. Credits never expire.
- Pro: $49/month, unlimited analyses across every tool. Renews monthly unless canceled.
- Pro Annual: $490/year (~2 months free). Auto-renews annually.
- Lifetime Founder: $1,499 one-time. Capped at 500 buyers. See section 6.
- Shop tier: $199/month (5 seats) or $399/month (15 seats). Monthly invoicing.
- API tiers: $249 / $1,499 / $4,999 per month for 10K / 100K / 500K API calls.
- Concierge add-ons: Expert Review ($19/card), Strategy Calls ($99/30 min, $199/60 min). Delivered by CardPrepAI staff or contracted grading experts. Digital only — we never take possession of your physical cards.
- Premium Report: $99, one-time, deep-dive PDF on a specific prediction.
- Trial Code 50-pack: $250, one-time. Codes expire 90 days from purchase.
- Verified Dealer listing: $99/year, annual renewal.
- ★ Tax Export: $39 per tax year. Automatic — billed January 1. This fee is automatically charged to any user whose cumulative payments from CardPrepAI in the prior calendar year exceed $600 (the IRS 1099 reporting threshold). You will receive a Stripe invoice; we file your 1099-NEC and email you a copy with the export by January 31. Pro / Annual / Lifetime Founder / Shop subscribers receive one Tax Export per calendar year included in their subscription. The Tax Export is not available as a standalone manual purchase.
All prices in USD. Payment via Stripe. Sales tax applied where we have nexus. We reserve the right to change prices for new customers and for renewals; we'll email you at least 30 days before any subscription price increase.
Refunds & Cancellation
You can cancel any subscription at any time from your dashboard or by emailing hello@cardprepai.com. Cancellation stops future charges; it does not refund prior charges except as noted below.
- Credit packs: Non-refundable once purchased. Credits never expire — buy what you'll use over time, or move to Pro for unlimited monthly access. We do honor a 24-hour buyer's-remorse window for accidental clicks ($29 / $99 / $299 packs only) if no credits have been consumed.
- Pro monthly: Cancel anytime. The current billing month is not prorated; you keep access until the period ends.
- Pro Annual: 14-day full refund. After 14 days, refund the unused months less the value of consumed months at the monthly rate.
- Lifetime Founder: 30-day full refund window from purchase. After 30 days, non-refundable.
- Shop tier: Cancel anytime for the next billing cycle. No prorated refunds.
- API tiers: Cancel anytime. Already-consumed calls in the current period are not refundable.
- One-time products (Premium Report, Trial Codes, Expert Review, Strategy Call): Refundable if not yet delivered. Once delivered or codes redeemed, non-refundable.
- Tax Export: Non-refundable. It's billed automatically alongside your 1099-NEC issuance — by the time it's invoiced, the export is being generated.
- Dealer listing ($99/yr): 30-day refund from initial activation. Non-refundable on renewal.
Chargebacks initiated without first contacting us are grounds for immediate account termination and a permanent ban on future signups. Talk to us first; we resolve almost everything.
Lifetime Founder Tier
- $1,499 one-time payment. Capped at 500 unique buyers, ever. Once filled, this tier closes permanently.
- Includes: lifetime access to every tool that exists now or is added to CardPrepAI in the future, locked-in pricing on every paid add-on we introduce, founder badge in your dashboard, founder-only Slack channel.
- The "lifetime" promise is for the lifetime of the CardPrepAI service. If we shut the service down, sell it, or merge it into another entity, your access continues only as long as that entity continues to operate the service. We'll give 90 days' notice if shutdown happens.
- Non-transferable. You can't sell your founder slot to someone else.
- Non-refundable after 30 days. Within 30 days, full refund and your slot is returned to the pool.
- Does not entitle you to ownership in, equity in, or revenue share from X3 Collectibles LLC or any related entity. It is access only.
Affiliate Program
- Every account gets a personal referral link in their Earnings dashboard.
- Commission structure: 30% recurring on every paid month a referred collector maintains an active subscription with CardPrepAI. If the referred customer cancels, pauses, or fails payment, commission stops for that period. If they later resubscribe under the same email, commission resumes (first-touch attribution is permanent). Founder-tier referrals pay a 10% one-time commission on the $1,499 purchase. No first-month bonus. No tiered ladders.
- Active subscription required. No active subscription on the referred customer's account means no commission for that month. Credits-only and free-trial users do not generate recurring commission (you earn 30% on the credit-pack purchase itself, but no ongoing commission until the user subscribes to a recurring plan).
- Cookie: 60-day first-touch attribution. The first affiliate to deliver a click that converts within 60 days wins permanent credit for that customer.
- Payouts: Monthly on the 15th. $50 minimum (rolls over). Via PayPal, Stripe Connect, or US ACH at our option. International wires net of fees.
- Refunds & clawbacks: If a referred customer is refunded, your commission for that period is reversed. If a refund happens after we've already paid you, we deduct from your next payout.
- Prohibited: bidding on "CardPrepAI" or close variants in paid search; misleading creative; spam; self-referrals (you can't refer your own second account); promoting on platforms that target minors.
- Affiliates are independent contractors, not employees. You're responsible for all taxes on commissions earned. See Section 9 for W-9 and 1099 obligations.
- We may modify commission rates or terms for future periods with 30 days' notice. Prior commissions paid under prior terms are not subject to retroactive change.
Your Taxes Are Your Responsibility
CardPrepAI is not a tax advisor. Nothing we provide constitutes tax advice.
- You are responsible for determining your own tax liability on any transaction, gain, or loss related to cards you trade, grade, or sell.
- Trading cards are typically classified by the IRS as collectibles, subject to a maximum federal long-term capital gains rate of 28% (versus 20% for most other capital assets). Short-term gains are taxed at ordinary income rates. Your state may impose additional tax.
- Our Tax Export product ($39/year) packages your CardPrepAI prediction history into a CSV. It is a data export — not a tax return, not tax advice, and not a substitute for a CPA's review.
- If you make sales through marketplaces (eBay, Whatnot, etc.), those platforms have their own 1099-K thresholds and reporting; we have no involvement in or visibility into those.
- If you are an affiliate earning commission from us, see Section 9.
- Talk to a CPA. Especially before tax filing season. Especially if you're approaching $20K in card-related revenue in a year.
W-9, 1099-NEC & Information Reporting
If you receive any form of payment, prize, bonus, or cash-equivalent award from CardPrepAI and you're a U.S. person, the following applies. The $600 threshold applies to the cumulative total of all payments — not just affiliate commissions. This includes (but is not limited to):
- Affiliate program commissions (30% recurring + Founder-tier commissions)
- Cash awards, prizes, or bounties from any CardPrepAI contest, giveaway, raffle, or referral promotion
- Content-creator partnership payments (Creator Partner tier compensation, sponsored content fees)
- Co-marketing revenue share with breakers, podcasters, or shops
- Bug-bounty or research-finding rewards
- Any other cash payment, gift card, store credit, or cash-equivalent we send you
For all of the above:
- If your cumulative payments from CardPrepAI exceed $600 in a calendar year, IRS rules require us to issue you a Form 1099-NEC (or 1099-MISC for prize/award income, as applicable) and to have a completed Form W-9 on file with your correct legal name, address, and Tax Identification Number (TIN — either your SSN or your business EIN).
- We track your W-9 status in your Earnings dashboard. If you cross the $600 threshold without a W-9 on file, payouts will be suspended until you complete one. We can't legally pay you above $600 without a W-9 — this isn't us being difficult, it's the IRS.
- We use Track1099.com (or a successor service) to file your 1099 with the IRS and to send you a copy by January 31 of the following year.
- If you're a non-U.S. person, we collect a W-8BEN (or W-8BEN-E for entities) instead. Tax withholding may apply per applicable treaty.
- You're responsible for reporting all income from CardPrepAI on your own tax return regardless of whether we issue a 1099. Our reporting threshold doesn't change your reporting obligation.
- If we issue a 1099 to you, the $39 Tax Export is automatically billed on January 1 (unless you're a Pro / Annual / Founder / Shop subscriber, in which case it's included free). You'll get a Stripe invoice. The Tax Export is not a manual purchase you opt in to — it's a required line item tied to your 1099 issuance.
If your business structure or tax residency changes, update your W-9 in the dashboard immediately. We are not responsible for tax withholding errors that result from outdated information you have provided to us.
API Tier & Developer Use
- API keys are issued to a single account and may not be shared or resold.
- API keys are server-side only. Embedding a key in client-side code (browser, mobile app, public repo) is grounds for immediate revocation without refund.
- Calls beyond your monthly quota return HTTP 429. Calls do not "roll over" to the next month.
- You may not use the API to build a directly competing grade-prediction service, to bulk-export predictions for resale, or to train derivative AI models on our outputs.
- We provide best-effort uptime. Growth and Scale tiers include an SLA outlined in your service agreement.
Verified Dealer Directory
- Verified Dealer status is a paid marketing listing in our public directory ($99/year).
- We do not vouch for any dealer's individual transactions, authenticity claims, or service quality. We verify only that the dealer exists, the contact info is accurate, and the dealer has signed our Code of Conduct.
- Buyers transacting with Verified Dealers do so at their own risk and should exercise the same due diligence they'd use with any other seller.
- Dealers who violate our Code of Conduct (misrepresentation, fraud complaints, chargeback patterns, hostile behavior toward CardPrepAI staff or other users) may be removed without refund.
Your Data & Privacy
Full privacy practices are in our Privacy Policy. The short version:
- You own your prediction history. You can export it or delete it at any time from your dashboard.
- Card photos you upload are stored encrypted on Cloudflare R2 and retained for 24 months by default.
- We use aggregated, de-identified data to improve the model and to power data-licensing products. Your individual user data is never resold.
- We don't sell email addresses or other personal data to third parties.
- We comply with applicable privacy laws including CCPA, CPRA, and GDPR where they apply.
Intellectual Property
- The CardPrepAI brand, software, model, training data, and content are owned by X3 Collectibles LLC. You don't get any ownership by using the service.
- You retain rights in card photos you upload. You grant us a non-exclusive license to use them to provide the service and to improve our model (in de-identified, aggregated form).
- Card names, set names, publisher logos, player likenesses, and other trademarks belong to their respective owners. CardPrepAI is not affiliated with PSA, BGS, SGC, CGC, TAG, eBay, Goldin, PWCC, Heritage Auctions, Fanatics Collect, Whatnot, The Pokémon Company, Wizards of the Coast, Konami, Bandai, Ravensburger, Fantasy Flight, Riot Games, Topps, Panini, Upper Deck, Bowman, Fleer, or any other named brand or service.
Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law:
- The service is provided "as is" and "as available." We disclaim all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
- We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost grading fees, lost auction wins, or diminished card value, regardless of legal theory.
- Our aggregate liability to you for any claim is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid us in the six months before the claim, or (b) $100 USD.
- You agree that the predictions, comp estimates, and verdicts provided by the service are advisory only. You will not seek to recover from us the difference between a prediction and an actual outcome.
Disputes & Governing Law
- These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.
- Disputes are resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, in Livingston County, Michigan, or remotely at our mutual agreement.
- You waive any right to participate in a class action, class arbitration, or representative proceeding.
- Claims must be brought within one year of the event giving rise to the claim.
- Notwithstanding the above, either party may bring a small-claims action in Livingston County, Michigan.
Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we'll bump the version number, update the Effective date, and (for material changes) email registered users at least 30 days before the change takes effect. Continued use of the service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
Questions about these Terms? Email legal@cardprepai.com.
Entity: X3 Collectibles LLC, doing business as CardPrepAI · Howell, Michigan · A subsidiary of X3 All-American Holding LLC.