Opening boosters to sell singles: the rules and the VAT
Can a card shop open its own boosters and sell the cards as singles? Yes. What French law says, which VAT applies, and how to cost those cards in your stock.
By the Echo TCG team — software editor, working hand in hand with card shops.
Open a display, keep the cards that sell well as singles and offer the rest as bulk: many shops do it, and many owners wonder whether it is allowed. The answer is yes. The real issue is tax: these cards do not follow the same VAT regime as the ones you buy from your customers.
Yes, selling singles is allowed
The boosters you buy from your distributor belong to you. No rule of French law prevents you from opening them and reselling their contents card by card. It is how the singles market normally works, in shops and online.
Two limits apply. The first is commercial honesty: an opened booster is never resold as sealed, and a product presented as new must be new. The second is contractual: reread your distributor's terms or the publisher programme you belong to, which may frame some practices. When in doubt, ask in writing.
VAT: these cards are new
This is the most common mistake. A card pulled from a booster bought from a distributor is a new item: you paid VAT on the booster and deducted it. On resale, standard VAT applies to the sale price, at 20%.
The VAT margin scheme (article 297 A of the French tax code) only covers second-hand goods bought without VAT, typically cards bought from private individuals. Applying it to cards from your own boosters under-declares VAT.
- Card pulled from your booster, sold for €12: VAT = 12 × 20/120 = €2.
- Card bought for €5 from a private seller, sold for €12: margin VAT = (12 − 5) × 20/120 ≈ €1.17.
Same card, same price, two different VAT amounts: that is why every card in stock must keep track of where it came from.
What does a card pulled from a booster cost?
Your invoice covers the booster or the display, not the card. To follow your margins and value your stock at year end, you still need to give each card sold as a single a cost.
Several methods exist: for instance, spreading the display price across the cards kept as singles, in proportion to their market value, and counting the rest as bulk. Choose with your accountant; what matters is to keep one method and apply it at every opening.
Organising singles stock
- Record each card with its set, language and condition: they make the price.
- Keep new stock (your boosters) apart from second-hand stock (your buybacks), since VAT depends on it.
- Base prices on a market reference such as Cardmarket, and review them as sets come out.
- Keep common cards as bulk at a fixed price: they sell better in lots than one by one.
In Echo TCG
Every stock item carries its regime, new or second-hand, and the register applies the matching VAT with no manual calculation. A single is created as second-hand by default, because it usually comes from a buyback; one pulled from your boosters switches to new in one click. You find a card by typing the number printed on it, with its image and Cardmarket price when available.
This article is for information only and does not replace advice from an accountant.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a shop open boosters to sell the cards as singles?
- Yes. The boosters you bought are yours and no rule forbids selling their contents as singles. An opened product must simply never be resold as sealed.
- Which VAT applies to a card pulled from a booster?
- Standard 20% VAT on the sale price. The card is a new item, bought with VAT that you deducted.
- Can the VAT margin scheme apply to cards from your own boosters?
- No. The margin scheme is reserved for second-hand goods bought without VAT, such as cards bought from private individuals. Applying it to your boosters under-declares VAT.
- How do you work out the cost of a card pulled from a booster?
- By spreading the price of the booster or display with a fixed method, for instance in proportion to the market value of the cards kept as singles. Choose it with your accountant.
Echo TCG: the all-in-one software for card shops.