Big Investments And A Better Template (September Cardmarket Recap)

September Recap: Business Performance

The creator runs a small trading-card resale business, primarily selling Magic: The Gathering cards through Cardmarket. September was a month of heavier inventory investment: cash flow worsened, but the business added substantial stock that may generate future sales.

Sales and Operating Results

• September gross revenue: about €1,645
  • Cardmarket sales: €1,525
  • Other income: about €120, including affiliate revenue, YouTube revenue, and a bulk-card lot sold on Kleinanzeigen
• Orders processed: 326
• Cards sold: 2,173 through Cardmarket; roughly 6,373 including the large lot
• Net sales after estimated fees, shipping, inventory sold, and materials: about €450
• After general expenses, the spreadsheet showed about €145 for September, before accounting for new inventory purchases.
• The creator estimates September’s cash-flow result at roughly –€1,476, largely because of inventory purchases and postage and materials bought ahead of use. The cumulative cash deficit since starting the business was estimated at about €3,449.

These are rough management estimates, not tax accounts. The creator notes that postage and materials from prior months were not tracked consistently, making cumulative figures especially uncertain.

August remained the best month so far, at about €1,771 in total revenue. September was lower despite the creator taking time off and sending no orders for an extended period. He believes newly added, higher-value inventory helped offset the interruption.

Inventory and Investment

September inventory purchases totaled about €1,908, making it the largest investment month so far. Purchases included:

• A 7.5 kg Magic collection for €847
• 500 bulk rares for €61.89, which the creator considered a weak purchase: breaking even could take months, and making a profit could take years
• 50 kg of bulk Magic cards—about 24,000 cards—for €250. The cards had already been sorted, so he does not expect many valuable finds.
• About 1,000 rare and mythic cards for €349.04, not yet fully processed and viewed as a marginal deal
• 1,500 wholesale rare and mythic cards for €400, which he expects to offer better margins on after reviewing their condition and pricing

He aims to buy higher-value cards at roughly 70% of market value, seeking about a 30% gross price spread before fees and other costs. He adjusts prices for condition and may hold slower-selling foils longer.

The spreadsheet showed about 76,925 cards in total, including roughly 40,000 unprocessed cards. The estimated market value of recorded inventory was about €5,347, though some categories and valuations are approximate.

The business is still in a build-up phase. The creator expects it may take about another year before he can reduce purchasing and let the operation run more consistently for profit.

Tracking System and Operating Playbook

The creator reorganized his spreadsheet into separate tabs for sales, expenses, goods and materials, and a year-to-date overview.

His current tracking approach includes:

• Recording every transaction manually, including sales, fees, shipping, and other income
• Separating expense categories such as inventory, shipping and commissions, tools, consumables, and other costs
• Distinguishing wholesale stock from budget and bulk stock to compare average purchase costs and inventory performance
• Estimating the cost of inventory sold using the approximate assumption that stock is bought at 70% of market value, while recognizing that this is not a precise cost-of-goods-sold calculation
• Reconciling supplies at month-end. He began counting remaining stamps and packaging materials so purchases made in one month are not incorrectly treated as fully consumed that month.
• Comparing monthly performance using gross sales, cards sold, inventory purchased, estimated stock sold, fees, shipping, and other income

He plans to build a more complete, partly automated spreadsheet template for 2027, after deciding which metrics are useful and correcting gaps in the current system.

Costs and Operational Observations

• Cardmarket fees were €63.69, approximately 5% of Cardmarket sales.
• Tracked shipping-related outlays rose from €141 in June to €300 in July, €478 in August, and €572 in September. These figures are affected by buying postage in advance, so they do not necessarily equal the postage consumed in each month.
• At month-end, he estimated that about €186.15 of packaging materials remained, along with substantial unused postage. Tracking these balances should improve monthly profit estimates.
• A scanner purchased earlier was written off in September in the spreadsheet. The creator emphasized that this was a management-recording choice, not formal tax accounting.
• A TCG Portals account had moved to TCG Portals Pro following increased sales volume; the creator expected a recurring charge of about $39.99.

Year-to-Date Context

The business began in March. Monthly sales grew from €51 in March, €283 in April, and €160 in May to stronger results in the summer, peaking at €1,771 in August.

Through September, reported cumulative gross revenue was about €4,473, with roughly 29,000 cards sold. The spreadsheet showed cumulative net sales of about €858, but cash-flow and asset-adjusted totals differ because inventory and supplies remain on hand. The creator’s broader inventory-adjusted estimates vary, reflecting incomplete records and approximate valuations; they should not be treated as audited profit.

Actionable Takeaways

• Track cash spent separately from inventory value and cost of goods sold. Buying stock can make cash flow look poor even when assets are accumulating.
• Count postage and packaging at month-end to avoid assigning all advance purchases to the month they were bought.
• Evaluate bulk purchases against processing time, expected sell-through, and margin, not just card count or apparent market value.
• Record card condition and price inventory accordingly. This can protect margins on collections bought before every card has been fully inspected.
• Use a consistent monthly dashboard, but label estimates clearly until historical data is complete and reconciled.

Presenter/source: Mr. Cartoon of SGB Cards. Figures are drawn from his spreadsheet and the platform and sales information he discusses, including Cardmarket, YouTube analytics, affiliate income, and Kleinanzeigen.