Transaction table to update multiple tables?

[cmo187265]

INTRODUCTION:
I have a conceptual question regarding a sports card database I am STILL planning to build.

PROJECT BACKGROUND:
I have gathered (with the help of other kind members of this forum) that I will need to have a something like a tblTransactions to update my tblCards (via a query I guess) which holds all my unique sports cards. https://bytes.com/topic/access/answe...te-stock-table


[tblTransactions]
TransID: AutoNumber PK
TransDate: Date
ContactType: (supplier, customer, both)
ContactName: fk from tblContacts
Transaction Type: (BUY, SELL)

QUESTION BACKGROUND:
My questions comes because in addition to my tblCards, which I have screen shots of in the link above, I would also like to have a table to store bulk "wax" products like card packs and card boxes that I may buy and sell.

So instead of a collector needing me to search for:
Card - (1989|Upper Deck|#1|Ken Griffey Jr|Green|Autograph|Refractor)

They may want this:
Box - (1989|Upper Deck|Baseball|Retail) from a table like below:

[tblWaxCards]
ProdID: AutoN PK
Qty: 1
Year: 1989
Product: UpperDeck
Sport: Baseball
Type: (pack, hobby box, retail box)
# of Packs: 36
Cards/pk: 15

QUESTION (finally!):
Before I research how to actually accomplish this my question is, is it best practice or acceptable to have a tblTransactions to update one of several different Stock Tables based on I guess some update query with different inputs to distinguish which table is to be updated or should I try to combine both stock tables into one tblProducts?

Please visit my link above to understand how different tblWaxCards and tblCards are so you can understand me not wanting to combine them into one stock table.

I definitely appreciate any advice given as I am an Access infant and still learning.

[zmbd]

Could you put the packs in the table cards?
Add to table card types "Hobby Box" etc...

[cmo187265]

Thank a ton for your reply.

I could add a field "Types" to tblCards with field values to be Singles, Hobby Box, Retail Box, Fat Pack, etc...and maybe a quantity field.

There would necessarily be a lot of missing data in other fields that are specific to individual cards like Card #, Card Attributes, PlayerName, etc. if the record were for box of cards instead of an individual cards.

Is this acceptable? I didn't think I was supposed to have missing data in a record...

[NeoPa]

Having missing data, in itself, is not a problem. It's an oft-used technique to handle flexibility of data.

It's not the final answer on data design, but neither is it something to be too afraid of.