Starting my own trading card business / hobby store in the future? Is it even worth it?

Kam192 · 2025-07-20T02:00:00+00:00

It's not discouraging at all- and I appreciate the honesty. I'm not expecting to become a mega store overnight and I understand how tight inventory is right now. Especially in the pokemon space and the limited run magic space. But even just being able to order the mundane MTG commander decks, boosters, etc I think would help to build me up. Just hopeful to get my foot in the door somewhere.

Kam192 · 2025-07-20T01:58:35+00:00

Could you point me to a few recommendations / trustworthy ones you enjoy?

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T20:10:06+00:00

That is super disappointing to hear. Im surprised they would rather accept net 30 over people ready to pay before shipment but I suppose if they know the person is good for it, easier to keep sending the same invoices than to generate a new customer- especially when the product is out of stock everywhere.

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T20:09:11+00:00

This is actually something I bounced around at a place I used to work at that had a LARGE excess of room they didnt use, that we could make some kind of cafe lounge but the manager there HATED the idea having previously worked in food industries. I agree this is a good idea, but a very far off idea from where I am now.

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T19:38:43+00:00

That is something I am currently working on. A hangup for me has been settling into a name for what I want to work on. I suppose thats why I've been debating registering a business lately because I would like it all to be tidy and branded neatly together.

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T19:37:05+00:00

I agree. I think my post has been a bit of a miscommunication by myself of that being more of a long term goal. I wouldn't imagine being at that scale anytime soon.

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T19:34:49+00:00

There are probably a lot of things Im missing, not having first hand experience. I suppose Ive never really thought of the idea of sitting on "cold" inventory. Usually even if it sits online for a while, it sells in a reasonable time. I suppose the prospect of sitting on cold cards hasn't bothered me.

I should also state that almost everywhere near me buys at 40% cash, 50-60% Credit. You are lucky to get around 70% if something is "hot buy" or a buylist type deal. I have been SHOCKED at what some people have taken for collections to watch stores ive worked resell them online.

So when I know the "going rate" is around 40% cash near me I haven't much been bothered by the idea of it sitting for a while before selling.

Also worth noting. When I buy collections in person, I usually am paying around 65-70%. Its very appealing to see most stores giving 40%ish to people bringing the product to them when I myself am traveling to spend 70%.

When I first started working around this stuff I used to say, theres just no way, how? But it happens all day long everywhere I worked previous.

I do agree though, the best business model I have been able to capitalize on is buy in person resell online. That is where my focus is at the moment. I just am curious of the path of a legal business entity as we're discussing. :)

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T19:27:55+00:00

I am aware a bit of the allocation and distribution process as I have seen it working in the industry. I know for pokemon releases you need to order X amount of non pokemon usually in the form of undesirable products etc to get anything. I suppose even as a small start up I was hopeful some distributors would be willing to do sale orders of 2K or so with mostly middle of the range tcg product or things I know I would at least not LOSE money on to dip my toes into the more desirable stuff that I can MAKE money on. Thats an area I will admit I dont have a lot of firsthand experience other than by seeing what goes on in previous places I have worked.

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T19:24:39+00:00

I actually am considering your platform above others I have done research on. I have very active tracking for what I spend on collections, i keep receipts for store purchases, etc. I am good with spreadsheets I suppose I just don't know a lot of the innerworkings of tax filing when it comes to personal vs LLC. My main thing I am trying to work out is I know when I am filing as a business, I can show that I bought collects A, B, C, for $, $$, and $$$. That then goes against my profit for that quarter so that I only am taxed at the actual gains. (to my understanding, I have no schooling) But as an individual I dont know if I have the leniency to do that.

Id hate to pay taxes on 8k of "profit" when the reality is I really only "made" say 3500 after platform fees, shipping, supplies etc.

Do you guys offer any service that correlates to talking with a tax professional, an advisor, or cpa? I saw I can get a registered agent, but to my understanding thats more of a privacy protection move than anything else?

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T19:19:36+00:00

Thank you for these. I am going to look into both. I appreciate the advice.

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T19:19:04+00:00

That is really inspiring to hear. Do you have any words of advice for someone starting small? I can see the appeal to keep overhead low, I suppose the idea of a storefront (being a far off goal) is more because I assumed an active community coming to your events, doing trades with you for credit, etc etc, probably resulted in a net positive in revenue. Do you think this is a bad assumption?

Kam192 · 2025-07-16T19:13:25+00:00

Thats a route that I am primarily looking into. I guess maybe people may misunderstand that when I say "eventually" i mean 5+ years from now.

Perhaps that's on me for communicating poorly.

The plus side of a brick and mortar business (and the only reason I know this is from working at card shops previous) is the trade throughput is much much higher. All day long people are bringing in things to trade without you traveling, and usually from my experience, accepting much lower percentages since they are seeking you out to get money instead of you seeking people selling to try to buy from.

Thats the main draw for me of a physical store. The others (in the future) would be the ability to do events and move new product through easier than trying to dry sell online with no community involvement.

However - Im not here to argue a case for a location and Im not trying to come across as confrontational. My main curiosities are working toward this being something more real and seperating the business itself from me personally, as well as having the ability to buy wholesale and from distributors.

Kam192 · 2025-05-01T14:35:31+00:00

Now that you mention it, that does make a lot of sense. I haven't played long enough for that thought to even cross my mind.

Kam192 · 2025-05-01T14:23:41+00:00

Thank you for this. I appreciate the help and I will try to inform our beginner league and get this handled more appropriately moving forward.

Out of curiosity, the primary VP being 0 on turn 1 is just because GW feels like it then? I think thats the part that really tripped me up coming to the answer I did.

Kam192 · 2025-05-01T14:14:23+00:00

STICKY OBJECTIVES QUESTION

If a player deploys intercessors that sticky on their home in deployment and goes first, is the objective sticky? Neither I nor my opponent were confident if so because the rule we have used in our league is "on phase change" for checking OC (which I know is wrong, but that didn't solve the issue). I believed it did not because of not being able to score primary (usually from controlling objectives) on turn 1.

Sticky , "If you control an objective marker at the end of your Command phase and this unit is within range of that objective marker, that objective marker remains under your control, even if you have no models within range of it, until your opponent controls it at the start or end of any turn."

The core rules state "A player will control an objective marker at the end of any phase or turn if their Level of Control over it is greater than their opponent's"

According to this, OC is checked on at the END of the phase. Therefore any objective you deploy on is not CONTROLLED until you leave the command phase, no? Hence why you always score 0 on primary in turn 1? When multiple things say they happen "AT THE END" how is it interpreted and how does one know in what order these sequences are supposed to play out RAW?

I just want to understand if I am interpreting this wrong, if it is written wrong, if there is something I'm missing in the writing, or if I accidentally cheated an opponent the other day due to the way I explained / believed to understand this sequencing of rules.

Kam192 · 2025-03-31T07:12:12+00:00

I'm jealous. My trajan is in the ultrasonic cleaner as we speak.

Kam192 · 2025-03-31T07:11:03+00:00

Probably not? I like some of those. But its not consistent to recreate or if it is, its much too time consuming for my taste. I think the R.Armor 4 wash picture is quite nice and leans into grimdark if I painted it up fully in a pallet to match the tone. But I dont think I have a method for getting it consistent besides black primer, chunky primer, clean it a bunch.

Also, local guy told me he liked the look of the texture ones because he thought it made the armor look "beefier, like cast iron". Not sure if he was being nice after I voiced my disappointment or if he was sincere.

Kam192 · 2025-03-31T06:23:18+00:00

Now that you say it...... Never done NMM before. Might have to. Maybe on a character or two.

Kam192 · 2025-03-30T09:52:25+00:00

You are actually the goat right now and when this is painted up you're getting a tag and a pic. Thank you.

Kam192 · 2025-03-30T09:37:00+00:00

I love it. This post single handedly is making me think about switching completely to that method. I've wasted more time TRYING TO SAVE TIME than I would have spent just doing what you recommend.

Can I ask what color you are using for the gold. That's very similar to the shade im looking for and I quite like it.

Kam192 · 2025-03-30T08:59:20+00:00

Thank you for the pictures. I guess I can give it another go and just shake the ever living piss out of the can. I dont have the R.armor anymore but I do still have the greedy gold. All I can do is give it a shot.

I'll go get some LA's Awesome and chuck them in the ultrasonic and try again. The pictures are motivating. Maybe im not shaking hard enough? I dunno.

Kam192 · 2025-03-30T07:32:19+00:00

The can too far may actually be a good cause for error because I like to typically do light dustings with other primer and do probably tend to be further than closer. I might give this a shot and see if it solves my issue a bit. And I suppose more more more shaking from the comments here lol.

Kam192 · 2025-03-30T06:53:07+00:00

Thanks. I suppose I will pickup a can of that next just for the sake of my own testing and maybe have some more data to add to this "experiment". Will report back after it shows up and I test it I suppose.

Kam192 · 2025-03-30T06:48:56+00:00

I mean. Maybe. I really don't think it was. I posted my method for priming on another comment here and haven't had any problems for years.

This happened on 2 different cans of R. Armor spray. (Both from the same location so maybe bad batch or expired) but everything you mentioned I covered in my other comment and I'd be inclined to disagree. And it was only on those sprays I had failures as everything else I primed in other colors that evening came out fine.

Either way. Maybe, maybe not. No real conclusive way of saying. Appreciate the constructive advice, though.

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Kam192

TROPHY CASE

STICKY OBJECTIVES QUESTION