There are so many used Tarot decks on Ebay.

 How do you know you are getting a good deal? How do you know that you are getting a complete deck? What are the right questions to ask a seller who may have picked this deck up at an estate sale and know even less than you do about the Tarot?

The very first thing to do is to look at how much the seller is charging for shipping and handling. The average deck of cards doesn't weigh that much, does it? If the item is a tarot kit, then you are looking at the deck with its full-sized book. If it says "deck and LWB", then it is still a lightweight package. The LWB is the "little white book" that nearly every Tarot deck comes with. This pamphlet will include a very brief sentence or two for each card to give you an interpretation.

The next thing you want is a count of the cards in the deck. Seventy-eight (78) is the normal count for a Tarot deck. There are twenty-two (22) Major Arcana beginning with the Fool (0) and ending with The Universe or World (21) in most decks. Have the seller verify in writing that there are 22 Major Arcana before you bid!

Next ask about the Minor Arcana. There should be a total of four suits: Cups, Coins, Wands, Swords. These vary widely so just ask what the four suits are. In each suit you should have Ace through King. A normal suit will be: Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Page, Knight, Queen, King. The last four are called Court cards and may have different names. But there will be fourteen (14) of cards per suit.

The total count of the cards including the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana is 78. Some decks such as the Osho Zen deck put in extra cards. Also, most decks have one to three informational cards that tell about the deck and the deck's publisher. Please make sure that your seller is not counting this as one of the cards.

The last thing you want to do before bidding is to check on the going rate. If you find the Hermetic Tarot for under $200, let me know! Grin! But really, there are some extremely collectible decks out there and some others that are hard to find. The 1971 Rider Waite Smith (RWS) is absolutely NOT rare but you will see it advertised as such here on Ebay. So buyer beware! Do your research. Ask your questions. Google that deck!

Good luck and happy Ebaying!
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Stephanie Arwen Beck (Arwenn61)
Tarot By Arwen