A cross-border trading platform built to help TCG sellers and buyers trade seamlessly across Asia — designed to reduce operational friction, simplify large-scale inventory management, and create a transparent end-to-end logistics experience.
Note: This case study is based on a real-world product design experience for a cross-border trading platform. In compliance with confidentiality agreements and respect for intellectual property, all visual content presented here has been anonymized, reconstructed, or redesigned. The focus of this case study is to demonstrate my design process, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
Background
In early 2023, I joined an early-stage startup as the founding product designer. Our mission was to build Asia’s first cross-border TCG (Trading Card Game) trading platform—one that not only connected buyers and sellers but also integrated a custom-built consolidation and logistics service tailored for TCG cards. This project aimed to solve longstanding fragmentation issues in the Asian secondary TCG market and create a seamless cross-border trading experience.
My Role
The Challenge
By automating critical workflows and providing a user-friendly interface, SYSOP significantly reduces engineering workload, enhances cross-departmental collaboration, and streamlines business operations.
Market Fragmentation
Logistics Complexity
Multi-role Needs
Research & Insights
As part of a strategic initiative to build a cross-border trading platform for TCG (Trading Card Game) cards, I led a series of in-depth interviews with 20+ sellers, dealers, and competitive players across Taiwan and Hong Kong. Our objective was to understand not only user behavior, but also structural inefficiencies in existing platforms.
😣 Sellers Are Willing to Go Global—but Infrastructure Is Holding Them Back
Validated Intent, Blocked Execution
Sellers—particularly those dealing in Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!—expressed strong willingness to expand internationally and are open to platform commission fees if logistics and payout workflows are frictionless.
Core Blocker #1: Fragmented Order Volume
Sellers often receive small-value orders from international buyers, making individual shipping economically unfeasible.
Core Blocker #2: Operational Complexity & Language Gap
Sellers find it tedious to list on overseas platforms, and many are discouraged by the potential need to communicate in foreign languages with buyers.
Implication:
There’s a clear opportunity to introduce a cross-border fulfillment layer, complete with bulk shipping aggregation, multi-language seller support, and automatic payout reconciliation.
⏱️ Listing Workflow Is One of the Most Underestimated Cost Centers for TCG Sellers
Manual, Fragmented, Error-Prone
Sellers across platforms (Shopee, Ruten) reported that listing new cards—especially entire new sets—is time-consuming, error-prone, and often requires manually uploading images, descriptions, and pricing across SKUs with slight differences (e.g. language, rarity, foil type).
Lack of TCG-native tools
Most platforms (Shopee, Ruten) are not designed for card products—requiring manual entry of card name, version, condition, price, and images. Some stores rely on Excel batch uploads or in-house systems to cope, but still experience data mismatches and inventory inconsistencies.
Implication
There is a strong case for designing a TCG-native listing system with version recognition, image autofill, smart filters, and series-level bulk editing—optimizing both speed and accuracy.
⚡️ Professional dealers Want Speed, Not Discovery
Professional dealers—unlike casual players—operate with well-defined price strategies and workflow expectations. Their behaviors closely resemble that of B2B procurement rather than consumer shopping.
They Operate with Custom Target Lists
Dealers maintain their own curated list of “target cards,” often paired with pre-set buy ranges. Their behavior involves systematically scanning multiple platforms for listings that fall within these price thresholds—then bulk-purchasing everything that qualifies.
Current platforms are optimized for hobbyist browsing (e.g. card art, set filters). Dealers, in contrast, need a fast, criteria-driven search tool that lets them surface cards matching their price, condition, and quantity logic.
They Buy in Volume
A typical purchase journey involves adding dozens—if not hundreds—of cards into the cart, then reviewing and editing the cart for inventory duplication, fulfillment complexity, or pricing outliers before finalizing the order.
Friction in Current Global Platforms
Most international TCG platforms (e.g., TCGPlayer, Hareruya) require dealers to check out the entire cart in one go. This inflexible logic forces dealers to manually delete ineligible items, often based on criteria like seller minimums, shipping thresholds, or quantity gaps. For high-frequency traders, this becomes a time-consuming mechanical task.
Implication
The platform can enable flexible cart management—allowing partial checkout without forcing all items to be purchased at once. Additionally, building dealer-focused tools such as customizable target lists with price/condition filters and intelligent inventory matching can streamline bulk purchasing workflows and reduce operational overhead.
Product Strategy & MVP Scope
We focused on the most critical pain points to craft our MVP:
Core Modules:
Key Prioritization Decisions
UX & Design System
We designed responsive modules that adapted to different roles (e.g., seller dashboards vs. buyer flows), and optimized for mobile-first discovery.
To support scalability and consistency, I led the creation of a robust design system that covered:
Key Challenges & Solutions
Logistics Challenge: Consolidated Orders & Card Tracking
Challenge
Consolidated orders often include dozens of cards from multiple sellers. How do we give clear visibility to users, sellers, and warehouse staff regarding each individual card’s status—and how do we handle missing, damaged, or incorrect cards?
Solution
A status lifecycle based on items, not Orders
We introduced a status lifecycle system for each card, tracking it from order to final delivery. Each card transitions through:
Edge Case Scenarios
Seller Workflow Challenge: Bulk Upload & Pre-sale Setup
Challenge
First-time users of our platform — typically professional card sellers with existing large inventories — faced significant friction when onboarding.
Upon joining, sellers needed to bulk upload hundreds or even thousands of card listings. Without automation tools, they had to manually:
This intensive process could take several days, delaying their store setup, missing early sales opportunities, and increasing the risk of data errors.
Solution
Scaling Seller Operations with Smart Data Tools
To help sellers manage large inventories more efficiently, we built a CSV batch upload and export tool.
Sellers could bulk upload card data through CSV files, with auto-mapping of card IDs, languages, and conditions to significantly reduce manual input errors.
Additionally, sellers could export customized CSV files with flexible filters — generating tailored inventory lists for offline management or integration with third-party systems, streamlining operational workflows and minimizing administrative overhead.
Streamlined New Set Prelisting
For new set launches, we designed tools to drastically reduce the preparation burden on sellers.
Sellers could access preloaded card data and images for new series directly through the platform.
We also enabled sellers to input their estimated purchase volume, with the system automatically suggesting rarity-based quantity distributions, allowing sellers to quickly set up accurate pre-order inventories with minimal manual calculation.
Buyer Workflow Challenge: Smart Search & Inventory Targeting
Challenge
Dealers maintain target card lists with specific price/condition ranges, but must manually search platforms to restock.
Solution
Smart Filter & Favorite list
Payment Flow Complexity & Wallet System
Challenge: Managing Cross-border Payments, Refunds, and Payout Transparency
Handling payments across different countries introduced significant operational challenges for both buyers and sellers.
Traditional cross-border transactions relied heavily on external payment gateways, making refund processing slow, payout reconciliation complex, and transaction transparency poor.
Specific pain points included:
Solution
Internal USD Wallet System for Seamless Fund Management
To solve these challenges, we implemented an internal wallet system that decoupled transactional logic from external payment gateways:
Outcome & Learnings
While the product was not publicly launched due to strategic pivot, our MVP design and internal testing delivered key operational improvements: