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Guide 6 of 7
How Auto-Linking Works
The AI that connects your cards to purchases, sales, and grading
The Big Idea
- CardZen's auto-link engine connects cards to their purchase, sale, and grading records automatically
- Instead of manually linking every card, AI suggests matches and you confirm with one tap
- The system uses three tiers of matching, from exact matches to intelligent fuzzy scoring
Tier 1: Deterministic Matches (Exact)
- Cert Number → Grading: When you photograph a graded slab, AI reads the certification number. If that cert number exists in one of your grading submissions, it's auto-linked with 100% confidence.
- eBay Item ID → Sales: If a card's eBay item ID matches a sale record, it's auto-linked with 100% confidence.
- These run automatically during card capture — no action needed.
Tier 2: Batch Context Matches
- When a batch is linked to a purchase (created via the purchase placeholder pipeline), the system knows which purchase these cards belong to
- Single card in batch + single item purchase = auto-linked (100% confidence)
- Multiple cards: Fuzzy matching compares card details against the purchase title
- This is why importing purchases first, then capturing into purchase-linked batches, gives the best results
Tier 3: Fuzzy Matching (AI-Scored)
When you open a batch for review, the auto-link engine runs a sweep across all cards. It compares each card against your recent purchases, unlinked grading cards, and unlinked sales.
Composite scoring considers:
- Card name vs purchase title (30% weight)
- Set name overlap (25% weight)
- Year match (15% weight)
- Date proximity — purchases close to batch creation date score higher (15% weight)
- Quantity match — purchase quantity similar to batch size (15% weight)
- Bonus: seller name appears in batch name (+20%), eBay source match (+10%)
Confidence Levels
- Suggestions above 80% confidence show as "auto-linked" (green)
- Suggestions between 50-80% show as "suggested" (amber)
- Below 50% are not shown
What You See in the UI
Link Summary Bar (top of batch review)
- Shows "15/20 linked" with a progress bar
- Filter chips: Linked | Has Suggestions | Needs Linking
- Each card in the list has a colored dot: green, amber, or gray
Per-Card Link Section
- Green dot = confirmed link (purchase, grading, or sale)
- Amber dot = suggestion waiting for your confirmation
- Actions: Accept (checkmark), Change (see alternatives), Dismiss (X)
- "+ Add" button for manual search when AI doesn't find a match
Confirm All Button
- One-click button in the batch review header
- Accepts all high-confidence (80%+) suggestions across the entire batch
- Shows a summary: "12 links confirmed (8 purchases, 3 sales, 1 grading)"
Reverse Matching (Purchase → Cards)
- Open any purchase and look for the "Suggested Cards" section
- Shows unlinked cards that fuzzy-match the purchase
- Accept or dismiss from the purchase side
Both directions work
- Card → Purchase: "This card looks like it belongs to this purchase" (in batch review)
- Purchase → Card: "This purchase might contain this card" (in purchase workspace)
- You can confirm from either direction — the link is the same
Tips for best auto-link results
- Name your batches after sellers (e.g., "stevebcards March haul") — the seller name matching gives a 20% score boost
- Import purchases before capturing cards when possible — Tier 2 context matching is the most accurate
- Don't stress about linking everything — unlinked cards are still fully functional for inventory and listing
- Use the "Needs Linking" filter to focus on cards that need attention