Most card resellers under-deduct because they don't know what counts. The IRS rule is straightforward in IRC §162: ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred in carrying on a trade or business are deductible. "Ordinary" means common in your line of work. "Necessary" means appropriate and helpful. Both standards are easy to meet for a working reseller. Here are the deductions most card resellers leave on the table.
Card supplies (Schedule C Line 22)
Penny sleeves, top loaders, semi-rigid holders, magnetic cases, team bags, and resealable poly bags are all Line 22 supplies. Cards arrive in mailers, get sleeved, and get protected for shipment. This is supplies in the textbook IRS sense.
Track receipts from BCW, Ultra Pro, Cardboard Gold, your local card shop, and Amazon orders. A reseller selling 200 cards a year easily spends $300 to $500 on supplies. That's $300 to $500 of taxable income that gets eliminated.
Grading fees (Line 27a)
PSA, BGS, SGC, and CGC submission fees are deductible business expenses. Express service, pre-screen fees, and reholder fees all count.
Report grading fees on Line 27a (Other expenses) with a dedicated "Grading" sub-line in Part V. Line 17 (Legal and professional services) is a defensible alternative if you classify grading as a professional service. Don't use Line 22 (Supplies); grading is a service, not a consumable supply. The IRS doesn't care precisely which deduction line it sits on as long as the expense is real and documented, but Line 27a with a clear label is cleanest at audit.
Shipping (Line 27a)
Shipping is one of the largest deductible expenses for active resellers. This includes:
USPS, UPS, and FedEx postage. Shipping insurance. Shipping label software (Pirate Ship, ShipStation, eBay Labels). Shipping supplies bundled into outbound packages (bubble mailers, painter's tape, shipping boxes, dunnage).
Track every shipment. eBay, Whatnot, and most platforms have downloadable shipping cost reports. Pull them quarterly.
Platform fees (Line 10)
Line 10 (Commissions and fees) captures the cost of selling on platforms. eBay final value fees, Whatnot platform commissions, Goldin auction fees, PayPal/Stripe processor fees, and Mercari fees all belong here.
These are typically reported on the platform's annual Form 1099-K or 1099-NEC summary. The platform reports gross sales to the IRS, but you can deduct the platform's cut here.
A reseller with $50,000 in gross sales on eBay at the standard final value fee structure has roughly $6,500 in deductible platform fees. That deduction goes here, on Line 10.
Software and subscriptions (Line 27a)
Schedule C does not have a dedicated software/subscriptions line. The cleanest place for this category is Line 27a (Other expenses) with a "Software/Subscriptions" sub-line in Part V. Examples:
KKATC Cards subscription. eBay store subscription. Whatnot seller fees if separately billed. Pirate Ship Plus. Card data services like Card Ladder or Sports Card Pro. Inventory management tools.
If you use a software for business purposes only, deduct 100%. If you use it for both personal and business (a Google Workspace plan used for both family and reseller email, for example), deduct only the business-use percentage and document how you arrived at it.
Show fees and travel (Line 27a)
If you attend card shows to buy or sell, the costs are deductible:
Table fees and admission. Hotel for multi-day shows. Meals at 50% deductibility per IRC §274(n)(1) for business travel, subject to the §274(k) limitation that meals must not be "lavish or extravagant under the circumstances." Airfare to out-of-town shows.
Local card shows attended occasionally and recreationally don't qualify if you don't actually transact business. The test is whether the show is genuinely a business activity, not a hobby outing.
Mileage (Line 9)
Mileage is one of the most under-claimed deductions. The standard business mileage rate is set annually by the IRS each fall via Notice (the 2025 rate is 70 cents per mile per IRS Notice 2025-3). Verify the current year rate at irs.gov before filing.
Deductible miles include:
Driving to card shows for business. Driving to the post office or shipping center to drop off outbound packages. Driving to your local card shop for inventory purchases. Driving to grading service drop-off sites or shipping facilities.
You need a contemporaneous mileage log. A simple spreadsheet with date, destination, business purpose, and starting/ending odometer (or distance) is sufficient. Apps like MileIQ automate this. The IRS will reject mileage deductions reconstructed from memory in an audit.
A reseller who drives 100 miles a month for card business at the 2025 rate produces $840 in annual deduction.
Storage (Line 20b)
If you rent a storage unit specifically for card inventory, the rent is deductible on Line 20b (Rent or lease, other business property).
If you store cards in a closet at home, the deduction comes through Home Office (Line 30) if you qualify.
Home office (Line 30, Form 8829)
Home office is the most powerful and most under-used deduction for card resellers who work from home. It requires:
Exclusive use of a portion of your home for business. The card storage room, the office where you photograph and list inventory, or the corner of your basement where you process orders all qualify if used exclusively for business.
Regular use. Occasional use is not enough.
You can use the simplified method ($5 per square foot, max 300 square feet, max $1,500) or the actual expenses method (a percentage of mortgage interest, property tax, utilities, insurance, and depreciation based on the business-use percentage of your home). The actual expenses method requires Form 8829 and produces a larger deduction in most cases.
A reseller with a 200 square foot dedicated card room in a 2,000 square foot home (10% business use) and $24,000 in annual home expenses deducts $2,400 via the actual method. Adjust to your actual home expenses; the $24,000 figure is illustrative.
Documentation requirements
The IRS expects contemporaneous records. The standard for "contemporaneous" varies by deduction:
Mileage requires a log kept at the time of travel. For travel and entertainment expenses, receipts are required for individual expenses of $75 or more per Treas. Reg. §1.274-5. For non-travel business purchases, retain documentation (receipts, invoices, or bank/credit card statements) for all material expenses.
Photograph your storage area, your office, and your shipping setup once a year. These photos prove home office and storage use if questioned later.
For a deeper look at how each of these deductions interacts with the hobby vs business question, see "Hobby to Business: When Does the IRS Care?"
Bottom line
A reseller leaving deductions on the table pays more tax than they owe. The deductions above are not aggressive. They are ordinary and necessary expenses of running a card business. Track them as you go, document them at the time, and let your Schedule C reflect the real cost of your operation.
KKATC Cards Costs tab pre-populates every Schedule C line. Don't leave deductions on the table.
This is general tax information, not tax advice. Talk to a CPA or enrolled agent about your specific situation.