In April 2024, what started as a simple day out at a card show turned into something much bigger: five friends, a shared frustration, and a very clear gap in the UK hobby.
We kept running into the same problem — finding reliable UK card prices was far harder than it should have been. There were scattered sources, but nothing built specifically for collectors here in the UK.
So we decided to build it ourselves.
Where it began: a UK collector problem
If you collect in the UK, you already know the pain:
- Prices are often US-first (or US-only), even when you’re buying and selling in GBP.
- Data is spread across spreadsheets, marketplaces, and half-a-dozen tabs.
- It’s hard to track what you actually own, what you paid, and what it’s worth right now.
That’s what we wanted to fix — not with another generic tracker, but with an app built for UK collectors from day one.
Five friends. No investors. Just graft.
We all came from IT backgrounds, each bringing different skills and real-world experience across technology, data, systems, and delivery.
We didn’t have investors, outside help, or a big budget — just five friends who believed the collecting community deserved better. So we built Slabbed from the ground up.
Our mission was simple:
Create the UK’s first app dedicated to helping collectors easily find card prices and make smarter decisions.
Building from scratch (and learning a lot on the way)
From day one, everything was built from the ground up. We started researching UK pricing, creating proof of concepts, and testing what would actually solve the problems collectors face every day.
We:
- Built our own databases of Pokémon cards and images
- Wrote all the code ourselves
- Tested relentlessly (and kept iterating when things didn’t work)
- Learned through every challenge as we went
This wasn’t a “boardroom idea”. It was a “we’re collectors and this is annoying” idea.
Taking it seriously: becoming a real start-up early
As the project grew, the structure behind it had to grow too. We formalised responsibilities across:
- Data
- App development
- Social media
- Communications
- Databases
And we brought in the tools and workflows we knew from our day jobs — including JIRA — so we could build properly and keep shipping.
We didn’t want to guess what collectors needed.
We spoke directly with the collecting community to understand what actually matters — and we’ve used that feedback to shape every feature and decision. If you’ve messaged us, replied to a post, reported something that looked off, or suggested a feature: you’ve helped build Slabbed.
We’re only just getting started
Version 1 is the foundation. From here, we’ll go from strength to strength — always improving, always listening.
We built this for the community we love, and we’re not going anywhere. In 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years, we’ll still be here — still working hard, still pushing to make this platform better.
Because Slabbed was never built just for money.
It was built for all of us.
Roadmap: what’s coming next
A quick look at what we’re working towards. (Timelines can shift as we test, ship, and respond to community needs, but this is the direction.)
Version 2 (Q2 2026: April – June)
- Support for live emails / ticketing system
- Pull to refresh on each set
- Enable cache for all users
- More advanced search features / indexing
- Users portfolio into Firebase
- 30 eBay sold links
- Pokémon English sealed
- Lorcana sealed
- Expanded Analytics Hub (filtering)
Version 2 (Q3 2026: July – September)
- Show number of cards sold
- Set values
- Set card totals
- Quick buttons for trading
- Active eBay listings
- DBZ Fusion World cards & sealed
- One Piece cards & sealed
- Vendor tier (VAT, inventory etc)
- Support for iPads + screenshots
Version 3 (Q4 2026 and beyond)
- Trade calculations on Lists
- Set completion (tracking)
- Portfolio caching for users
- Trading analyser
- Weekly plot points
- KPI indicator on cards
- Card quick add button
- Clickable tags
- Batch scanning
