The $2.96 Floor: Pricing Math That Keeps You in Business
Every card in my store sits at $2.96 or above. Not because I'm stubborn — because I did the math.
Run your floor math
It costs me about $1.10 just to mail one card, before marketplace fees take their cut. Sell below your floor and you're not running a business — you're running a donation program with extra steps. Your floor is the price where shipping + fees + the card itself still leaves you whole. Compute it once, then respect it on every listing.
Set the floor BEFORE you list
Not after you're staring at a comp sheet at midnight. When the 30th Anniversary Celebration set dropped about 70% from launch, all 52 of my listed Celebration singles were suddenly "above market." I stared at the comps, did the math again, and made the call: the floor holds. They stay at $2.96 — if they don't sell, I collect them till they sell. A floor you abandon under pressure was never a floor.
Best Offers without breaking the floor
Best Offer is on across the store, with auto-decline set so nothing can drag a card under its floor (on the $2.96 wall, offers more than about 20% off decline automatically). Let the system guard the line while you sleep.