The Shopify TCG app for singles and sealed

The job

What a TCG app for Shopify has to do

Shopify is a good shop for cards, but it knows nothing about them. It has no card database, no idea that a Near Mint and a Lightly Played copy are the same card at two prices, and no market price to start from. A store that sells singles by typing products in by hand ends up with hundreds of products to create and thousands of prices that go stale every week.

Whatever you call it, a TCG app, plugin or integration, it should take that work off your hands. Here is the checklist we built Synq against:

• Find the card, not type it. Search a catalog by name, set or number, and pick the exact printing.
• Conditions as variants. One product per card and printing, with a variant for each condition, so stock and price are per condition.
• A market price per condition. A played copy should start from what played copies sell for, not from a flat cut off Near Mint.
• Your prices, kept current. Rules that turn market prices into your prices, with a minimum, and run on their own.
• Bring your stock in. Import a file or adopt the products you already have, without duplicates.
• Sell it at the counter. Barcodes on each condition so Shopify POS rings up the right card.

Prices

TCGplayer prices for every condition

Every price in Synq starts from the TCGplayer market price for that card, printing and condition. A Lightly Played copy follows what Lightly Played copies sell for. When Near Mint or a sealed product has no price of its own, the printing's market price is used.

Synq's catalog updates once a day. Your store's prices change only when a price rule runs, never in between, so nothing moves without a rule you can preview. The setup creates a rule called "All products" that runs every day at 6:00 AM in your store's time zone. More on the data on the TCGplayer page.

Price rules

Price rules that run on a schedule

A price rule says which products it prices and how. Make one for every game, or one for a single game narrowed by set, rarity, printing or condition. When rules overlap, the most specific one prices the card, so a rule for one set can sit on top of a store-wide rule.

• Base and change. Start from the market price, move it by a percent (from -99% to +1000%), then add or take off an amount in your currency.
• Each condition. Follow each condition's own market price, or price every condition from Near Mint less a percent. The defaults are LP 10%, MP 25%, HP 40% and DMG 60% below Near Mint.
• Rounding and a minimum. Round up to .49, .99 or a whole number, and set a floor: a fixed amount, or your cost plus or minus a margin.
• Preview, then run. Every rule opens on a preview of each price it would change. Run it now, or schedule it every day, on some days, or once for a sale.
• Exceptions. A single card can follow its own formula or keep a price you set, and no rule touches it.

A store can have up to 50 rules. The pricing strategy guide shows how to set them up, and the docs cover every option.

The rest of the week

Bulk edits, imports and the counter

The work around the prices is in the same app:

• Import. Bring in a TCGplayer export or your own sheet, up to 5,000 products per import. Synq matches each row to its card and lets you review before anything is created. See the import guide.
• Link what you have. Products already in Shopify can be linked to their card one at a time. Synq keeps the product and takes over its price and stock.
• Edit many at once. In Inventory, tick products or select every match, then add or remove stock, set cost, remove conditions, set exceptions, set products active or draft, and add them to collections.
• Shopify POS. Each condition of a single gets its own barcode and sealed products get the box UPC, so a scan rings up the right card. See the POS guide.