Management Software for a Trading Card (TCG) Shop
Multi-format stock, customers, buybacks, online sales and accounting: what management software must really cover in a trading card (TCG) shop in France.
By the Echo TCG team — software editor, working hand in hand with card shops.
People often say POS software for a card shop, but the till is only part of the job. What takes time is stock, buybacks, customers, online channels and accounting. Here is what management software must cover, area by area.
Multi-format stock
A card shop does not sell one kind of product. It sells at least five, sharing neither unit nor counting method.
- Single cards, with condition, language and printing.
- Sealed product: displays, boxes, boosters.
- Graded cards, which are unique items.
- Accessories: sleeves, binders, playmats.
- Goodies and merchandise.
Software treating all of that as identical lines makes the inventory wrong past a few hundred references.
Single stock, the real tipping point
This is the subject that costs the most when handled badly. If the till, the web store and the marketplaces draw on separate stocks, you will sell the same card twice. That is not bad luck: it is mechanical.
The rule is simple: one inventory, and every channel attaches to it. A sale at the till must remove the card from all other channels, immediately where possible, by regular reconciliation otherwise.
Buybacks and their obligations
Buying from a private seller is regulated. The police register records the purchase and the seller's identity; margin VAT (art. 297 A) applies to second-hand resale, distinct from standard VAT on sealed product.
Management software must keep both registers automatically. Keeping them by hand works for a month, then becomes the first source of error.
Customers and loyalty
A card shop customer comes back often. Customer records, points, credit notes and gift cards are not a luxury: they bring people back, and they save you tracking credits in a notebook.
Accounting
Software must produce what the tax office and the accountant ask for: the French accounting entries export, margin VAT, the police register, Z closings. It does not replace an accountant, and should not pretend to.
NF525 compliance
In France, any POS software must be NF525 compliant: tamper-proof, chained sales and a daily closing. It is an obligation, not an option, and it applies from the first euro taken.
Echo TCG was designed and studied for card shops only: multi-format stock on a single inventory, buybacks with a police register, automatic margin VAT and accounting export.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between POS software and management software?
- A till takes a sale. Management covers everything else: multi-format stock, customer records and loyalty, second-hand buybacks and the police register, pre-orders, online channels and accounting. A card shop needs both, in one tool.
- Do I need specialised software for a TCG shop?
- Generic software can sell an item with a barcode and a price. A card shop handles conditions, languages, printings, graded cards, sealed product and buybacks with particular VAT rules. That is where generic software stops.
- How do I avoid selling the same card twice?
- Have every sale come out of a single inventory, whatever the channel. If the till, the web store and the marketplaces draw on separate stocks, overselling is a matter of time, not luck.
Echo TCG: the all-in-one software for card shops.