Comparing Online Tarot Card Purchases: Reviews and Recommendations

The first time we ordered a tarot deck online, we spent more time scrolling through seller photos than we would have handling a single deck in a shop. The image on the screen could not tell us the cardstock weight, the finish, the scent of new ink. Yet the deck arrived, and it was exactly what we needed. That is the paradox of buying tarot online: you have less sensory data, but more choice. The key is learning to read the signs that are available.

What Does Comparing Online Tarot Card Purchases Actually Mean?

Comparing online tarot card purchases is the process of evaluating decks, sellers, and user feedback to make an informed buying decision without physical access. This article reviews the criteria that matter: deck authenticity, print quality, seller reliability, and the honesty of user reviews. We draw on decades of community practice and the documented history of tarot distribution to separate signal from noise.

History: How Tarot Went from Carters to Click

The earliest tarot decks were hand-painted for the Visconti-Sforza court in Milan around 1440. By the late 15th century, printed decks were sold by carters traveling between fairs. The standard distribution model remained unchanged for 400 years: a publisher printed a deck, wholesalers shipped it to bookshops, and you bought what was on the shelf.

The first major shift came with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck in 1909. William Rider & Son of London sold it through their catalog and a network of occult bookshops. If you lived outside London, you wrote a letter and waited weeks. The deck arrived by post, often with a printed guidebook, but you had no way to see the cards before buying.

The internet changed that. The first online tarot retailer, Tarot.com, went live in 1997, offering scanned images of each card. Independent artists soon followed: in 2000, Uusi founder Linnea Gits began selling hand-printed decks through a personal website. The real explosion came with Kickstarter in 2009 and Etsy in the early 2010s. Today, the Tarot Association estimates that over 5,000 different decks are available for purchase online, with new ones launched every month.

Why Comparing Decks Online Has Become a Necessary Skill

That history explains why the act of comparing online purchases is now a skill. What follows is how we do it.

Symbolism and Meaning: What the Deck Actually Says

The deck is not a neutral object. Its imagery mediates every reading, and the choice of deck is a choice of symbolic language. When you compare online purchases, you are comparing visual systems: the Rider-Waite-Smith system (RWS) with its 78 cards and clear narrative scenes, the Thoth system with its astrological and alchemical markers, the Marseille system with its abstract pips and historical lineage.

Some decks use the same system but different artistic styles. A RWS-based deck by a modern artist may preserve the original meanings while changing the color palette and character expressions. A Thoth-based deck may shift the Egyptian symbols toward Celtic or Norse equivalents. The buyer must decide whether the symbolic vocabulary matches their own practice.

How to Properly Evaluate and Compare Tarot Decks Before Buying

Reviews that ignore the system are incomplete. A five-star review that says “I love the art” but does not mention whether the deck follows RWS or Thoth is half a review. The recommendation that matters tells you the system first, then the aesthetic.

Practices: How to Evaluate a Deck Without Holding It

We cannot feel the cardstock through a screen, but we can read the signs that experienced reviewers leave. Here is the method we use:

Check the cardstock and finish. A US Games standard deck is 310 gsm, smooth and matte. An indie deck might be 400 gsm linen finish, which bends differently and does not slip. Reviews that mention “the cards slide like butter” or “the edges are sharp” give you the tactile information that the seller’s photos omit.

Look for unboxing videos. The most reliable source of truth is a video where someone fans the entire deck, shows the backs, and thumbs through the guidebook. The visual alone tells you the color accuracy, the size (which varies wildly), and whether the box will survive a year of use.

Read the one-star reviews first. Not because they are always right, but because they reveal the flaws that the seller’s copy hides: cards that stick together, guidebooks printed in illegible font, decks that arrived warped. If the one-star reviews complain about the same thing, that thing is real.

Verify the seller. A deck sold by a major publisher (US Games, Llewellyn, Lo Scarabeo) is almost certainly authentic. A deck sold by “TarotDeals2024” on a third-party marketplace may be a counterfeit. Compare the listing images to the publisher’s official site. If the card edges in the listing are blurry or the box color is off, it is a counterfeit.

Mass-Market vs Independent Decks: Which Should You Choose?

The most common choice a buyer faces is between a mass-market deck and an independent one. Both have strengths, and both require different evaluation criteria.

Mass-market decks (published by US Games, Llewellyn, Lo Scarabeo, AGMüller) are consistent. The cardstock is standardized, the printing is reliable, the guidebook is usually written by a professional. The trade-off is that the art is often conservative, designed to appeal to the widest possible audience. Reviews for these decks are numerous and generally trustworthy, because the volume of sales dilutes the influence of any single buyer’s bias.

Independent decks (published by the artist, often through Kickstarter or Etsy) vary enormously in quality. A deck from a first-time creator may use a print-on-demand service that produces cards with a slightly different color on each run. The best indie decks are works of art, printed on premium stock with gold foil edges and hand-numbered boxes. The worst are disappointing. Reviews for indie decks are more personal and less critical, because buyers who backed a Kickstarter have an emotional investment in praising the result.

The recommendation that works for both is the same: find a reviewer who has bought multiple decks from the same creator. Their comparison of the creator’s previous decks to the current one tells you whether the quality is improving or declining.

Common Myths About Buying Tarot Decks Online, Debunked

“You must see the deck in person before buying.” Not true. Online resources now provide enough information to make a confident choice. Unboxing videos, detailed reviews, and high-resolution scans are more reliable than a five-minute flip through a deck in a shop, where the store lighting warps the colors.

“All reviews are fake or paid.” Most are genuine. The platforms that matter (Kickstarter, Etsy, Amazon) have algorithms that detect and remove astroturfed reviews. The real problem is not fake reviews but biased ones: a buyer who loves the deck’s theme may overlook its poor print quality. Learn to read between the lines.

“Recommendations from famous readers are always objective.” They are not. Many well-known tarot readers receive free decks in exchange for a review. Some are paid affiliates. A recommendation that does not disclose the relationship is incomplete. Compare the famous reader’s review to the average user review. If the famous reader praises the deck and the average user mentions warped cards, the famous reader likely did not handle the deck.

“A cheaper deck is always worse.” Price does not correlate with quality in the indie market. Some of the best decks we have used cost $25 and are printed on excellent stock. Some of the most expensive decks are beautiful but impractical for shuffling. The price reflects the artist’s time, not the card quality.

FAQ

Can I trust Amazon reviews for tarot decks? Partially. Amazon reviews are useful for mass-market decks where the volume is high. For indie decks, the reviews are often sparse and may be from friends of the creator. Cross-check with video reviews on YouTube.

How do I know if a deck is a counterfeit? Compare the listing images to the publisher’s official site. Counterfeits often have blurry edges, wrong box colors, or a misspelled publisher name. The cardstock is usually thinner and the colors are off.

What is the best way to compare two decks? Open both in separate browser tabs and compare the card images side by side. Look at the same card (e.g., the Death card) in each deck. Read the guidebook samples for the same card. The difference in interpretation will tell you which deck suits your reading style.

Should I buy a deck from a Kickstarter campaign? Yes, but with caution. Read the creator’s previous projects. If they have completed similar campaigns successfully, the risk is low. If this is their first project, wait for the first backers to receive their decks and read their reviews.

Your Tarot Deck Comparison: Where to Go From Here

The deck you choose is the lens through which you will read for years. Comparing online purchases is not a chore; it is a practice of discernment that sharpens your own understanding of what a deck should be. We keep our own comparison notes in a leather-bound journal, with cardstock samples taped to the pages. If you want to explore further, start with our tarot vertical hub for the full scope of the tradition, then examine the specific anatomy of a tarot deck to understand what each component means. For a deeper look at the choosing process, see our guide on selecting your first deck. The right deck is out there. You just need to know what to look for.