REVIEWS POLICY
Welcome to the Levels PTCG Product Reviews policy, where we explain how we test and review Pokémon TCG products. Following the guidelines explained here onwards allows us to deliver high-quality reviews that are accurate, unbiased, and most importantly, helpful to you.
Got a question or concern about how we review products? Please Contact Us!
1. Why We Review Products
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the sheer variety of PTCG products on the market? We’ve all been there at some point. That’s why Levels PTCG creates product reviews.
From official Pokémon releases like Battle Decks, to generic accessories like card sleeves, we test products and explain their pros and cons. This means you can confidently decide whether a product is worth buying (or not!).
2. How Reviews Are Published
All product reviews are published as articles on this website.
Additionally, articles are typically released with an accompanying YouTube video showing the product being used by the reviewer. Furthermore, reviews will always include media in the form of original photos, tables, and charts created by the reviewer.
We do all this to show you the product in a way that words alone cannot do.
3. Product Review Process
Our aim is to share comprehensive, trustworthy, and reliable opinions about PTCG products. To ensure this is achieved, we follow a process for creating reviews:
a) Selection:
PTCG products are chosen based on:
- New Releases. These are often the hottest products to review.
- Recent Trends. Some products, despite not being a new release, can be extremely popular with the Pokémon TCG community.
- Community suggestions. We listen to requests submitted by our followers on this website and social media. You can send suggestions through a post comment or email!
By following this criterion, we ensure product reviews are relevant and helpful for you.
b) Obtaining
After selection, we acquire the product through purchasing or sponsorship deals. This allows us to conduct a physical unboxing and testing. In other words, we try the product before sharing our thoughts on it.
This gives you a trustworthy review based on first-hand experience.
c) Testing:
After we’ve obtained the product, we will unbox and conduct testing. Throughout the testing phase, the reviewer will scrutinize the product, make notes, and take photos for future articles. The testing session will also be recorded on video to be edited and published on YouTube.
d) Evaluating:
Depending on the product, reviews consider different factors during testing.
Official products like Promo Boxes and Battle Decks are tested for what they bring to gameplay, how rare the contents are, artwork, value for money, and the intended audience. Generic TCG products such as sleeves and binders are tested for build quality, material durability, aesthetic appeal, functionality, price, and what they should and should not be used for.
In both cases, we share balanced, objective, and unique insights that can only come from first-hand testing.
e) Rating System
After thorough testing, products are summarized with scores and metrics that follow a system to ensure consistency in our reviews:
- Pros and cons list.
- Overall star rating (out of 5).
- Numerical ratings (out of 10) for metrics like build quality, value for money, etc.
Our quantitative and qualitative approach allows you to quickly get a feel for the product at a glance.
By following this review process, we ensure we deliver on our promise of giving you reliable PTCG information.
Visit see our content creation guidelines for details on our article standards.
4. Reviewer Credentials
You can enjoy our reviews knowing they are created by knowledgeable reviewers. Levels PTCG is owned and operated by a team of professional writers, videographers, and content creators who have decades of combined knowledge in playing and collecting Pokémon cards.
Kalam Tang specializes in gameplay, whilst Hoson Leung is an expert on trading, collecting, and grafing.
Visit About Us to learn more about the Levels PTCG team.
5. Unbiased Perspectives Guarantee
Your trust in our thoughts and opinions is essential to us.
For this reason, reviewers are under strict instructions to give balanced perspectives. As such, our reviews will always share both the good and bad things about the product being reviewed. If a product has no evident flaws, then we will at a minimum share problems that some users could potentially face with the product.
6. Sponsored Reviews
Our promise to give you balanced perspectives also applies to sponsored products. These are products that have been given to us for free for the purpose of a review.
In these cases, our reviews remain unbiased and impartial. Our view is that how we obtain the product should not influence our opinions.
Above all else, providing you with an honest and objective review is our priority.
7. Affiliate Recommendations
You will sometimes see us make buying recommendations in our reviews. Recommendations are made using affiliate links which are links that direct you to a third-party site like Amazon where your purchase could earn us a commission.
As always, we prioritize transparency.
Affiliate links are always clearly marked and using our links comes at no cost besides what you would normally pay for the product. Furthermore, we only recommend products that we would either purchase ourselves as a paying customer or otherwise recommend the product to friends and family.
We typically recommend multiple sites. This is done to help you choose a vendor that is suitable for you in terms of location and price.
Visit our Advertising & Affiliate Policy to learn more.
8. Review Updates
Changes to reviews are sometimes necessary to ensure information accuracy as the PTCG evolves over time.
Reviews are updated every year- together with other content on our website- during our annual content review which is conducted in January.
Any updates made will be communicated clearly at the top of the post.
9. We Value Your Opinion
Our reviews are created based on first-hand testing and scrutiny to provide a qualitative and quantitive assessment of the product of interest. Ultimately, however, they are our opinions and we value user-generated discussion in order to help others make their own judgment.
You can contribute to the discussion by commenting on review posts.
Please visit our Terms Of Service for rules about making public comments on Levels PTCG!
10. Contacting Us
Please Contact Us if you have questions or concerns about how we review PTCG products.
Thank you for trusting our team to deliver helpful product reviews!