Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

DISCLAIMER:   Sorry this is long. I’m just blowing off some steam!!! I only trade on 4 sites now. A couple of years ago it was 12 sites. So the issues listed may not be with any members here or this site. Most people are great. So far there only a few deals that the other trader has not made it right or offered to made it right. Most of my frustration is because the issues keeps happening and more people are not willing work out a deal. Some issues may be because of my wants list and my trades are small,

Each issue could be a posting of its own and some do.

Sending the wrong cards. There are a number of cards that are hard to tell which sets they really belong it. Some years and brands of the Hobby vs Retail sets are issues. (Ultra, Playoff Absolute) Then with all the Var, thin vs thick, glossy and Error cards. Even when I commutate what I want and I still have gotten the wrong cards. Sometimes it is my fault for not completely making sure they understood. Some traders may do not know all the diff. I try to help them to understand. Then there are some I think just do not care by their replies. Others are not willing to verify just not worth their time.

Trading lists: Traders wanting you to look through their lists but not willing to look through my list. They want me to do the work even though they asked me about doing the trade/deal. Some of these list are 1000s of cards. Spending hours looking through lists and not finding any cards you need. Why I love this matching system. I have had newbies and others here ask “what are you collecting or Do you have any cards of player X” It appear that some newbies think this site is just like the others.

Cost of shipping: Is it worth doing trades for a couple of cards (commons) anymore? Due to my collection it is hard to get a large trade / buys as most all of mine deals have been under 5 cards. I’m getting to know why a lot of traders are not willing to do PWEs or small deals. The PWE, stamp or stamps, a top loader and the card you are sending. Several members here have been real nice and done PWE for me (even thou they stated they do not do PWE) others not so nice. Most of my trades are to help out the other trader as much as getting cards for me. I did over 100 PIF last year. 25 of them was around Christmas.

Tracking issues: People wanting a $1 card shipped in a $3.99 package with tracking. If it is a sale from me and they are willing to pay for the shipping I have no problem. This includes traders wanting tracking for the cards I send them but do not have tracking for mine. Had several  traders said they was sending with tracking and do not.

Sending first on trades: Traders waiting to ship until they have received their cards without saying anything about that is my issue. I have no problem shipping first if asked. Yes I know there are a few slow senders.

Attitude of some traders. This is just a very few so I can live with that. I stop messaging real quickly when it starts to get ugly. I quit one site because of this.

Too many deals/offers at one time: Why does trades/buys/sales all come at one time? Cannot find anything for weeks then bang I find 5 or 6 deals in a few days. No problem as my deals are small and I can handle them. I try to space out my messages and offers so it does not happen. I have some out there now and more waiting to be sent. This gets back to the message reply issue.

Messages:  My big issue is when messages go back and forth and when you think a deal is done they quit replying. It is bad enough when you send a message someone and get no replies but this worst. Getting no replies here has a posting of its own.

Uneven trades/sales/buys: SEE uneven trades venting post: I’m willing to trade in the other trader’s favor but there is a line.

Who are these cards from:   SEE Please Identify your package posting. No return address or other identify and not a card I collect. It happens but only that once that cause any worrying about.

Packaging: SEE Dan’s PWE venting post Most of mine are PWE as I do small deals,  I'm lucky as I have very few real issues here.

Type of tape: Several postings on this. Some get it and others do not. Painter’s tape for most of us.

This is all I have run across in the last year or so.

Asking for cards in your PC   There is a posting about that.  Never a problem for me but per the post it is for some members

You've hit on several of my peeves in your rant.  And to me, all justified. 

Still wish you would start collecting baseball, even if it is only Nebraska.

Understood on all of these.  I'm a slower sender oftentimes, many here know my story of five kids, two with chronic health issues; but I also usually only do smaller trades with a few commons so that it's not more than an annoyance.  If I ever do higher dollar cards in a trade I do make sure to do that quickly and with tracking.  And of course, communication is paramount.

I do have a question though, what are the other three trading sites you use?

Everytime you use Scotch tape on a toploader Baby Jesus cries.  Please don't make Baby Jesus cry.

I'd say one annoying issue I've found is the unbalanced trades. Asking for all my #'d/SP/MEM/AU cards and just offering commons in return with no message. Generally ill just reject the trade and move on. 

Another is my want lists expand everyday, as there is no easy way of adding all the player cards I want without mass adding a bunch I don't. So I slowly click every box & generally do this when checking people FS/FT list & Collection.

Expand on both those things, I've asked traders if they'd dig in their personal collections to make a trade happen or even out a lopsided trade. Some have dupes of cards I need in their personal, so I politely ask if they'd be interested in doing that. (Am I wrong in doing this?) Almost every time I ask the trade gets withdrawal and no communication back to me about it.

LOL James I think you just hit every problem and pet peeve that you can, All in one post