You Are Losing Money on Every Card You Sell. We Built the Fix. (And It Is Copyright Protected.)
How a family-owned card shop applied industrial engineering principles to solve a problem every trading card seller faces — and turned the solution into a copyright protected software product.
THE PROBLEM
Most Card Sellers Are Pricing to Sell. Not to Profit.
You look up a card on eBay. It sold for $50. You list it for $50. You ship it. A week later you check your bank account and wonder where the money went.
Here is where it went: eBay took 13.85% off the top. Payment processing took another 3%. Shipping costs $6. Packing cost $2. You netted $31.66 on a $50 sale — and if you paid $35 for that card, you just lost money.
This is not rare. It is how most card sellers operate every single day. They price at market value and are surprised to find they are barely breaking even. The problem is they are using one input to make a decision that requires six: market price, platform fee, payment processing, shipping, packing, and cost basis.
“Most card sellers price at market value and wonder why they are not making money. The problem is not the cards — it is the math.”
THE SOLUTION
What We Built — And Why
My wife, Nicole, and I co-founded V’s Cards & Trading, LLC in Chelsea, Michigan. We started online and grew into a multi-channel operation — a retail storefront at Suite F, a regional card show vending circuit across Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, and an active e-commerce presence, including 2,800+ sales on Whatnot as a Gold Star Seller.
I come from an industrial engineering background. When I looked at how we were pricing cards, I saw a classic process inefficiency: incomplete data driving a repeatable decision. So, we built a tool to fix it.
The V’s Cards & Trading Retail & Vending Pricing Calculator calculates in real time:
• Online list price — market value plus the platform fee rate, so fees zero out and you net close to true market value.
• In-store and show table sticker price — 8% below market, rewarding walk-in buyers with a genuine deal.
• Platform fees per channel — eBay Top Rated (13.85%), Standard (15%), and multiple marketplace options.
• Grading costs — PSA, BGS, CGC, TAG, and Custom, integrated directly into the cost basis.
• Buy rate tiers — four-tier cash buy rate logic by market value.
• Break-even floors — the minimum list price to recover your total investment per channel.
• Real-time margin analysis — net profit percentage updates with every keystroke
The tool accepts prices from any source — eBay, ALT, TCGPlayer, PSA, or your own data. Source-agnostic by design. No platform affiliation.
THE LOGIC
The Pricing Model That Took Years to Figure Out
The most important thing the calculator does is correct a mistake almost every card seller makes: pricing online and in-store the same way.
Online sales carry 13–15% platform fees plus payment processing, shipping, and packing. A $100 card listed at market value nets approximately $72 after all deductions. In-store and show table sales carry almost no overhead — POS processing at 3% plus $0.49 flat. That is the entire fee structure.
THE PRICING MODEL
Online list price = Market Value × (1 + Platform Fee Rate)
In-store sticker = Market Value × 0.92 (8% below market)
Online buyers cover the cost of the platform.
In-store buyers get rewarded for showing up.
“Your walk-in customer deserves a better price than your eBay buyer. They are doing you a favor by buying in person.”
THE IP
Why Copyright Protection Changes Everything
On June 2, 2026, V’s Cards & Trading, LLC filed a copyright registration application with the U.S. Copyright Office for the calculator as a Literary Work — Computer Program (Case No. 1-15176727711, effective June 2, 2026). Under U.S. copyright law, the work is copyright protected from the moment of creation — registration strengthens enforcement by enabling statutory damages of up to $150,000 per willful infringement.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTION DETAILS
U.S. Copyright Office — Literary Work / Computer Program
Case Number: 1-15176727711
Effective Date: June 2, 2026
Owner: V’s Cards & Trading, LLC
Statutory damages up to $150,000 per willful infringement (17 U.S.C. § 504)
This was a deliberate business decision. The tool represents proprietary business logic, original source code, and a commercial software product with a defined roadmap. It is an intellectual property asset on our business balance sheet.
We are a family card shop in Chelsea, Michigan. We are also a copyright protected technology IP holder. Both things are true.
THE MARKET GAP
No Other Tool Does This
Every existing pricing tool is buyer-side — it tells collectors what a card is worth, not what a seller should charge. Platform-specific calculators exist for individual marketplaces, but none calculate across channels simultaneously. No tool on Google Play is built for the seller operating across retail, vending, and online at the same time.
We are not aware of any other tool that combines source-agnostic market price entry, multi-channel fee calculation, simultaneous online and retail pricing, grading cost integration, tiered buy rate logic, and break-even analysis in a single interface. That gap is what we built the tool for.
THE ENGINEERING CONNECTION
What Industrial Engineering Has to Do with Card Selling
My professional focus in industrial engineering is organizational readiness for continuous improvement — evaluating how people, processes, equipment, systems, and technology interact when change is introduced. I do this for manufacturing operations, healthcare systems, financial institutions, and retail organizations.
What I found when I applied that lens to our card business was a decision-support gap: sellers were consistently making pricing decisions on incomplete data. The calculator closes that gap. It gives you the six inputs you actually need before you list a card, sticker it, or buy it from a customer. That is industrial engineering applied to a $300+ billion hobby market.
THE ROADMAP
Where This Is Going
• Progressive Web App (PWA) build — installable on Android and Windows
• Google Play listing — targeting card sellers, shop owners, and show vendors nationwide.
• Version 3.0 copyright filing upon next major feature release
• Potential USPTO trademark registration for the tool name
Subscription revenue from Member Areas funds the PWA build. The PWA enables Google Play distribution. Google Play puts the tool in front of every card seller who has ever searched “how to price cards for eBay.”
We are executing this one step at a time from a 700-square-foot storefront in Chelsea, Michigan.
TRY THE TOOL
Free preview at: vscardsandtrading.com/pricing-calculator-preview
Monthly ($4.99) and Annual ($39.99) subscriptions available for full access. If you sell trading cards — on eBay, at card shows, or in a shop — this tool was built for you.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nicole Vergeldedios | Chief Executive Officer
Co-founder and CEO of V’s Cards & Trading, LLC.
Leads brand strategy, retail operations, and community engagement.
Gelver Vergeldedios | Chief Procurement Officer
Co-founder and CPO of V’s Cards & Trading, LLC. Industrial Engineering Leader applying IE principles to the collectibles industry.
V’s Cards & Trading, LLC — 134 W. Middle Street, Suite F — Chelsea, Michigan 48118
© 2026 V’s Cards & Trading, LLC — Copyright Protected — Case No. 1-15176727711 — All Rights Reserved
