Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

Preface: This is not meant to call out any traders on this site. This is more of a general observation I've made through trading over the years on multiple different sites now. I'd also like to note that 99.5% of the traders I have dealt with, especially on TCDB, have been fantastic, and I very much appreciate all the help that the vast majority of you have given me over the past few years. I hope I have given back as much as I have received from you. But without further ado, lets get into the rant...

Alright, maybe I'm the only this bothers, but it really irks me when some traders try to make uneven trades and sometimes even try to "hide" that its uneven. For example, last year someone tried to trade me something like 20 1989 Donruss commons for a bunch of current era commons PLUS a Bellinger rookie card in the middle. First of all, my general rule of thumb when trading or trading for overproduction era commons in exchange for current era commons is 2 for 1 in favor of the one receiving overproduction cards. (There are exceptions of course, and I'm not super strict about that general rule. Its just a guideline.) Second of all, in the middle of the cards they wanted was a 2017 Topps Update Bellinger rookie card. Like, seriously? How on God's beautiful green earth do you think this is remotely fair? I'm not even that crazy about the value of trades. If it is just a bit in your favor, no big deal. But that is ridiculous. At the time, I believe this was a $15 card and it had (has) enormous potential to grow higher in value say if Bellinger becomes the next Trout (which is certaintly possible). I'm sorry, but come on. No one in their right mind would do that trade... which leads me a speculation. 

I'll admit this might be a stretch, but it seems that some offers, like this one, the other individual tries to "hide" the jackpot card in the middle of a stack of commons, hoping the other person doesn't see it and just mindlessly accepts the deal, not realizing their error until they start pulling the cards, essentially traping the victim. If they back out of the deal, they will almost certainly receive negative feedback and might even get blackballed on their respective trading site. If they give in, they lose and have to trade the "jackpot" card for basically nothing. Further evidence of this happening is when I decline these type of trades, politely explain why I won't do it, and I counter with a much more balanced trade (still usually in their favor), it is often immediately rejected with no explanation... almost as if they were hoping to get something for free...

Okay, thats enough conspiracies for today.

Let's assume that the person offering the trade is not malicious and just made a very unbalanced offer. I understand my want list is a bit hard to find cards for (It was much worse before I added all the Nola cards to it), but if it was me, I just cannot in good conscience offer such an unfair trade to someone. If there is a good card on someone's for sale/trade that I want, but I don't have the value in return for it off of their wantlist, I usually message that person to see if there's anything else they like of similar value that is not on their wantlist, or even offer cash to help compensate, if necessary. I know I would feel bad if I made a trade heavily in my favor due to another's lack of knowledge or something like that. So, while I do accept part of the blame for having a pretty narrow wantlist, it still blows my mind when I see offers like the above example. Keep in mind, this is not a one time thing. I have had 10s of offers like this through the years. 

In conclusion, if there is a card that you really want that someone else has, but you don't have remotely close to the return value on that person's wantlist (Trust me, I understand its frustrating. We've all been there.) contact them and see if you can work something out. I am always happy to try and work out a deal in which you receive a card you want that I dont necessarily need, but I will not give it away for nothing. Please don't just throw an offer out there for my $10+ card for your 5 cent commons. Trust me, it won't happen, ever.

Edit: Sorry, I probably should have put this in the general forum. My bad

I just counter the offer, remove the card, send it.  Then make a message that says, That card is too valuable and you don't have anything I of equal value I want.  Try again.  If they go for another card that is too valuable, I decline the trade.  This lets them them know that I am aware of what they are doing and I'm done with them.  

^^ That's fair. I'm sure that there are just as many people trying to trick you as there are people who've just input all the cards they're looking for in hopes that you would make some sort of a deal, or that you'd take a closer look at their list and pick out a few things of their own. I'm also aware of two types of traders. Some set builders don't necessarily look for the highest value in each card, as much as the value it holds in completing the set. Some traders are looking to get dollar for dollar trade value, so I guess it all depends who the other person is and what their goals are. Certainly there are a bunch of people on sites like COMC where they will buy low just so they can flip it later on down the line, and then make videos about it after. However, I still agree with ravensray52. It has to be fair for everyone, not just one person. If you're not happy with the deal, you are entitled to counter it or flat out decline it as you see fit.

Back when I was actively trading, I just declined with a comment like "I think I can get more for that card".

I have declined 4 trade offers today where I am getting 89 donruss commons for vintage in return. one other had a Griffey jr. but looked like it was valued at $20 in the trade. You dont have to put much effort in researching value when I  know I can buy a complete 89 donruss set for $5.

I only seem to get trade offers when I have Junk Wax on my wanted list

Make it 6 declined today. I just added this to my profile page.

Please feel free to propose a FAIR trade offer. Junk Wax for vintage is Not what I consider fair, especially as most offer 1 for 1 . If you do that is fine, Then offer me your Vintage for my junk wax.

Ugh. Off topic but reminds me of callers on radio shows. "Yeah, so I think the Sox should trade Marco Hernandez, Eduardo Nunez, Steven Wright, and Marcus Walden to the Rays for Blake Snell"

And another that on the surface doesn't look that bad. 81 donruss commons to me for 72 cards, Donruss puzzle cards, quite a few Fleer stickers and in the middle this.

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/168951/cid/10822621/1990-Donruss---Preview-Cards-5-Dave-Stewart

which with a quick look on ebay the few (different players) from the 1990 preview series of 12 have recently sold for $23-$35 each.

I really hate to decline and make the people feel like it was a waste of time but ...Really?

For the last several months I have been making a list of all the issues with trades/buys/sales.    I have had over the years.    This issue is one of them.  Just have not posted them.     What I have find is some people use diff areas to get their prices for trades.  Just like the old days when dealers looked at Beckett when selling cards but looked at TuffStuff when buying cards.  I have had several offers using prices posted here.   As we know the prices here are not always right.   I know lot of members here use E-bay for prices but I use COMC.  If I can buy a card there for $1 that is what I'm willing to use for a trade price.  That also goes for their cards.    So far only had a few trades not work out because of the diff in trade value.

I'm always willing to trade/sale in the others favor just to help them out and get a card or two for me.

I've gotten offers that I looked at thought it looked off.  And then I didn't know what to do.  If I countered with an offer I thought was fair, would I be offending them?  That's certainly not my goal.  Or did it mean that I was just way off base?

I find it so much easier to trade within eras.  And base for base, insert for insert.  Those are definitely not a hard and fast rules by any means, I've done trades that weren't and I'll do them again.  It just makes it easier to see that things are pretty balanced.