Plenty of busy card shops do not know their real margin, because the number that determines it is recorded worst.
The numbers that matter
- Cost basis per item — what you actually paid. Without it, margin is a guess.
- Realised margin — on what has sold, not on what you hope to sell.
- Ageing stock — how long items have sat. A card held eighteen months at a good margin may be a worse position than a fast-moving one at a thin margin.
- Channel mix — which channels produce sales, net of their fees.
- Cash flow, which is not profit and is what actually closes shops.
Why cost basis goes missing
It is captured at the buy counter, which is the busiest, most interruption-prone moment in the shop. If it is not recorded there, it is never recorded — and reconstructing it later is guesswork.
The discipline that fixes it is unglamorous: every acquisition is a recorded transaction before it becomes stock. Bought, traded, or from a supplier, it gets logged on the way in.
Reading the numbers honestly
- A high margin on stock that never sells is not a high margin.
- Turnover growth with flat cash is a warning, not a win.
- One good collection buy can flatter a month. Look at the trend.
How the platform handles it
Everything entering stock goes through Intake, and every buy, trade and sale is a Deal — so cost basis is captured at the moment it is known, not reconstructed. The transactions ledger and dashboard show realised margin and cash flow, and a weekly Intent Report flags stock to hold, trim or sell. See reporting and intent reports.