The 5-dimensional location system

Physical card storage is where dealers waste the most time. The vault solves it with a five-dimensional location address that maps directly to how you actually store cards. Configure it once at /settings/inventory, then attach a location to every card.

The five dimensions

The default schema:

1. Container — the top-level unit. A binder, a box, a card saver tray, a slab vault. Free-text or pick-list.
2. Row — a row within the container. Often a binder page row or a row of toploaders in a box.
3. Slot — the position within the row. Slot 1, slot 2, slot 9. A nine-pocket binder page has slots 1-9.
4. Slab — for graded cards inside a slab box, the slab number within its row.
5. Depth — for stacked storage, how far back. Front, middle, back — or 1, 2, 3.

Not every card uses all five. A raw binder card might only need Container + Row + Slot. A graded slab in a deep slab box might need all five. The schema is permissive — leave the unused dimensions empty.

Customizing the labels

The default labels (Container / Row / Slot / Slab / Depth) work for most dealers, but you can rename them at /settings/inventory to match your vocabulary. Examples we've seen in the wild:

• Binder → Page → Pocket → unused → unused (binder collectors)
• Box → Section → Slot → unused → Stack (toploader box)
• Vault → Drawer → Tray → Slab → unused (graded vault)

The renames are display-only. Internally the columns stay dim1, dim2, dim3, dim4, dim5 so reports and exports stay portable.

Assigning locations

Three ways:

1. Per card — on the card detail page, the Location block has five inline fields.
2. Bulk per batch — set a batch-default location and every card inherits it.
3. Label scanning (coming Wave 5) — print a label with a QR code that encodes the location, scan with your phone to set.

Why this beats free-text "location notes"

A free-text "back room, second box, third row" field looks easier — until you want to find every card in Row 3 of Container A. With a structured location you run a filter on inventory. With free text you read every card's notes by hand.

Searching by location

On the Inventory page, the Filters drawer has location filters per dimension. Show me every card in Container A, Row 3, any slot — done. Show me every card with no location set — also done (useful for catching gaps).

A note on the SKU

SKUs are a separate system — the SKU is for marketplace listings, the location is for finding the physical card. They can refer to each other (the SKU format at /settings/inventory can include location placeholders) but they aren't the same thing.