A Pokémon Seller's Playbook: Analyzing My Jan & Feb 2026 Sales Data

The 2026 Game Plan: Focus on Shopify

My main focus for this year is to drive more traffic and orders to my Shopify store. The reasoning is simple: Shopify gives you a direct line to your customers through email, and the average order value is significantly higher than on other platforms. You'll see the hard numbers on that later, but building that direct channel is the priority.

Experimenting with a Direct Mail Campaign

To kickstart the year, I ran a campaign to re-engage past buyers and pull them over to my Shopify store. I designed a small flyer with a QR code linking to the site, put it in an envelope with a free Pokémon card, and sent it out to 160 previous customers.

Campaign Results: Was It Worth It?

The whole process took about four to five hours of manual work—stuffing envelopes, printing labels with my thermal printer, and getting them sent. Here's how it shook out:

• About one in three recipients scanned the QR code to visit my site.
• I gained around 10 new email subscribers.
• It generated only two direct orders, but they totaled $340.
• Around 15-20 people replied to thank me for the card, which helps build good customer relationships.

Overall, it wasn't a massive financial success, but for a few hours of work, getting new subscribers and strengthening relationships with existing customers isn't a bad return.

The Ongoing Battle with Google Merchant Center

One of my biggest frustrations right now is getting my products listed for free on Google Shopping. I've been trying to get my Shopify store connected to the Google Merchant Center since November of last year, but I keep getting hit with a vague 'misrepresentation policy' error.

I've requested reviews 10-20 times, changed everything I can think of on my site, and even talked to support, but they won't tell me the exact problem. I've now hired an expert on Fiverr to look into it, but even our first attempt failed. It's a huge potential setback because Google could drive a massive amount of targeted traffic from my region, Switzerland, to the 22,000 cards I have in my inventory that are currently blocked.

This is a real problem... if you sell your stuff on eBay or on other platforms... they handle stuff for you and hopefully you list at the top.

A Breakthrough: Getting Ricardo Back Online

On a more positive note, I finally got my Ricardo store running again. Ricardo is the largest marketplace in Switzerland, basically our version of eBay. I had stopped selling there because I couldn't figure out how to sync my inventory from Shopify.

I've now found a way to do it. Sales are already picking up, and it's bringing in new customers. This is a big win, as Ricardo was a huge part of my revenue when I first started.

Solving the High-Value Singles Listing Bottleneck

Another challenge has been listing higher-value singles. My automatic sorting machine is great for bulk, but it struggles with sleeved cards, toploaded cards, and cards with a lot of shimmer, like EX cards. The image quality is poor, and the recognition rate is below 50%, making it unusable for my best inventory.

My Custom Listing Workflow

To solve this, I revived an old side project—a custom card detection tool. My new process for listing my 500+ high-value cards looks like this:

1. Take a photo of every card with my smartphone.
2. Upload the images in batches of 100 to my own web tool.
3. My tool's AI detects the card and formats the data.
4. I create an export file formatted for TCG Power Tools, which is necessary for listing on Cardmarket in Europe via their API.
5. TCG Power Tools lists the cards on Cardmarket and syncs the inventory to my Shopify store.
6. From Shopify, the inventory is then synced to Ricardo.

Building this took time away from other things, but having a reliable process for listing valuable cards is essential.

January 2026 by the Numbers

• Gross Revenue: Nearly $2,000
• Profit: ~$400
• Cards Sold: ~700
• Total Orders: 133

The most interesting data point is the average order value (AOV). On Shopify, my AOV was nearly $120. Compare that to Cardmarket at just $12 and Ricardo at $18. This is why focusing on Shopify is so important. The fees tell a similar story: Shopify's payment processing is only 3%, while Cardmarket is 4.5% and Ricardo is 8%. You keep more of every sale.

February 2026 Performance

• Gross Revenue: ~$2,000
• Profit: Over $700
• Cards Sold: ~672
• Total Orders: 90

February was one of my best months for profit, even with fewer days. The revenue was driven by some large Shopify sales and renewed activity on Ricardo. My current listed inventory is heavily skewed toward bulk, with nearly 49,000 cards valued under $1. Most of my more valuable cards have either been sold or sent off to PSA for grading.

Key Takeaways for Sellers

Looking at the data from these two months, a few things are clear. While selling on multiple platforms is a good strategy, building a direct channel like Shopify provides the best margins and highest order values. Technical hurdles are part of the game when you run your own shop, unlike on marketplaces where they handle it for you (at a cost). Finally, having an efficient workflow for listing all types of cards—not just bulk—is critical to scaling.