Blue Helix TCG
The TCG Operator: One System, Desk and Table
One curriculum for a Pokemon vendor: source, price, grade, sell, ship, keep the books, protect the operation, and stand behind a table you paid for.
The promise: By the end you can run the whole vendor operation, not a desk course with a show bolted on. Source and negotiate inventory, keep tax-aware books, grade for profit, route every card to the channel that actually pays (eBay, TCGPlayer, or the table), ship it, use 0% credit without blowing up, and protect cash, identity, and inventory. Module 13 is the show day inside that same system: buy the table, load the case, close, and buy.
How to use this course
Start here. Read the Start Here brief: operating model, first 90 days, key numbers, glossary.
One sequence. Work all 13 modules in order. Tax, sourcing, pricing, inventory, grading, channels, shipping, credit, content, and OPSEC are vendor skills. The table uses them.
The show day. Module 13 is how you buy a table and run that system standing up. It does not replace the modules before it.
Track it. A spreadsheet is enough. Each module ends with a Track it note, including the one-page show P&L.
Core curriculum
13 modules, one sequence. The table is inside the system, not beside it.
01Operator Mindset & Identity: Inventory Is Capital
Inventory is capital, at the desk and on the cloth. The sentimental binder stays home. If you cannot name the exit, you do not buy it.
02Business & Tax Foundations
Books, sales tax, and net profit for a vendor. Platform sales and cash at a table are both income. The sticker is not the tax return.
03Sourcing Inventory & Negotiation
Buy inventory with a ceiling and an exit, online and at the table. Say the percentage. Condition-check. Do not pay up just to win the conversation.
04Pricing & Valuation
Comps, time-decay, and the six binder anchors. At a show the price is only real if you can close it today.
05Inventory Ops, Aging & Cash-Flow Timing
Age every position and force the exit. A show is a liquidation rung, not a reset of the clock. Trades count at cash value.
06Grading & PSA as a Business
Grade for absolute profit, then sell the slab. At a US show, PSA is the grade that cashes. A 9 that profits beats a 10 you chased for the photo.
07Sales Channels: eBay, TCGplayer & the Table
Route every card. eBay, TCGPlayer, and the show table are the same decision: where this item converts, after fees, without double-selling.
08Shipping & Fulfillment from Home
Ship what you promised, including a card you sold at a show and said you would mail. Pull the online listing the same night. Do not finish the deal in person after you leave.
09Capital & Leverage: 0% Credit as a Controlled Float
One 0% card, hard ceilings, forced exit. A table fee is not a cash advance. Financed inventory in the case still has to pass the gate.
10The Brand & Content Engine: Inbound Deal Flow
Inbound deals, not likes. The person who will text you after the show is the point. Post the recap after you are home.
11OPSEC & Operational Security
Keep value, identity, and timing from connecting. That includes the label and the table: cash on your body, binders secured, no live post from the show.
12Scaling & Operating Rhythm: Building the Cash Engine
The weekly clock covers a show week: price on schedule, ship before you load the car, write the one-page P&L the night you get home.
13Vending & Shows
Buy the table and run the same system standing up. Find the show, pay for the spot, load a case that can sell, close, buy with the sourcing rules, and reconcile that night. Tax, grading, channels, and OPSEC still apply.
Finance
Outside the operating modules. Entity, payroll, and the sheet you hand a CPA.