CARTOGRAPH
Cartograph — Later-Lanes Appendix (buy / sell / trade & mystery drops)
Company: Cartograph (company id retro-games) · Date: 2026-10-01
Status: planned extension — scoped here for completeness, not part of the pilot/MVP and not requested or built now.
1. Rollout order (and why)
- Lane 0 — Collection + wanted list (MVP). You can't sell to someone or surprise them usefully until you know what they own and want. This is already the core product.
- Lane 1 — Declutter ("sell to us / list for sale"). Lowest risk: collectors already have duplicate/extra stock after scanning. No inventory risk if it starts as a referral/listing lane rather than us holding stock.
- Lane 2 — Buy (collection-aware store). "Shop what's missing": wanted-list-driven inventory from partner stores or our own stock.
- Lane 3 — Trade matching. Two collectors, matched on mutual wants. Highest trust/coordination cost; deferred until lanes 1–2 prove liquidity.
- Lane 4 — Physical mystery drops. Collection-aware curated boxes — the headline later lane, gated on verified collections + proven fulfillment.
This ordering puts trust and data before capital-intensive inventory.
2. Physical stock sourcing & edition/condition inventory
- Sourcing: collector declutter intake (we buy collections using the same scan+grade flow, so intake is fast and consistent), partner retro stores on consignment, and convention/flea-market buys. No stock is listed without passing through our edition confirmation + condition checklist — the same pipeline users see.
- Inventory model: every unit carries title, console, region, edition, completeness, grade, intake photos, acquisition cost and location. Conditions are re-verified at ship time; grade disputes go to a documented checklist, not vibes.
- Quality bar: only gradable stock is sold loose/CIB; sealed stock is photographed seal-first and held in climate-controlled storage.
3. Collection-aware, no-duplicate selection
The differentiator: picks are generated against the user's verified collection and wanted list, not a random box.
- Hard rule: never ship an edition already on the user's shelf (region + edition + completeness-aware).
- Soft preferences: consoles collected, era, genre hints, loose-vs-CIB-vs-sealed preference, max item value profile.
- Explicit exclusions: "never send sports titles," "no PAL," user-set blocklists.
- Transparency: each drop lists the pick after purchase (or on reveal, user choice) with the same dated, sourced estimate format as the app — never a hidden, unsourced "value."
4. Shipping & fulfillment (planned)
- Single-carrier start (USPS Ground Advantage for single carts/jewel cases; upgraded for sealed/high-value with insurance at declared value).
- Packing: cartridge-sized rigid mailer + foam wrap for loose; box-within-box for CIB; corner protectors for sealed. Packing spec documented per completeness tier.
- Fulfillment SLA hypothesis: ship within 2 business days; tracked always; signature required above $200 (hypothesis).
- Origin: single fulfillment point at launch (Adam's existing ops or a 3PL quote — unresolved, see §7).
5. Returns & disputes (planned)
- 30-day returns on physical goods, item must return in sold condition; we cover return shipping on our errors (wrong edition, wrong grade), buyer covers it on remorse returns.
- Sealed items: returnable only with seal intact — stated plainly at purchase.
- Mystery drops: a disclosed "accuracy guarantee" — if a picked item is already in your collection (our bug, e.g., stale scan), we replace or refund; remorse returns on mystery items are at a defined restocking term shown before checkout.
- Chargeback playbook: keep intake photos, condition checklist and tracking as dispute evidence.
6. Transparent mystery-drop offer (hypothetical)
"The Blind Cart" — a monthly collection-aware mystery item:
- Price point hypothesis: $39 + shipping.
- Floor: guaranteed minimum sample-estimate floor of e.g. $25 stated value (numbers are hypotheses; real floors get set when we have real cost data).
- Every drop shows, on reveal: identified edition, condition grade, dated sourced estimate — identical UI to the app's estimate card.
- Odds are honest: we publish the pick distribution (e.g., "80% loose carts $10–40, 15% CIB $40–120, 5% chase $120+") — hypothetical illustration of the format, not a live offer.
7. One hypothetical per-order margin calc (illustrative, not an offer)
Scenario: one Blind Cart order at $39.00 + $5.00 shipping paid by buyer.
| Line | Hypothetical cost |
|---|---|
| Inventory (picked loose cart, avg acquisition incl. intake labor) | $14.00 |
| Shipping postage (USPS Ground Advantage, ~8 oz) | $4.60 |
| Packing materials (mailer, wrap, insert) | $1.10 |
| Payment processing (2.9% + $0.30 on $44.00) | $1.58 |
| Refund/return reserve (~6% of order value) | $2.64 |
| Total cost | $23.92 |
| Contribution per order | $20.08 (~45%) |
Assumptions stated openly: buyer-paid shipping covers postage; no pick/pack labor priced in yet (founder-packed at this stage); marketing/CPA excluded; reserve rate is a guess until real return data exists. This math is why mystery drops come after the collection layer — the no-duplicate guarantee is what makes the price point worth paying vs. generic mystery boxes.
8. Open questions for the later lanes
- Marketplace vs. held-inventory first: consignment reduces capital needs but complicates ship times.
- 3PL vs. self-fulfillment at what order volume?
- Sales tax / marketplace-facilitator obligations by state — needs real advice, not vibes.
- Whether trade matching needs escrow/quarantine lanes to be trusted at all.