Wow that's impressive. I dont have that many cards total, let alone cards for trade! So I guess I got no excuse.
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I'm going to reevaluate how I collect after the new year. It's just getting way too expensive for the new stuff. Sometimes I just want to buy a pack, not a whole box or even blaster.
What gets me is the people that have 1000s of cards on their want list but nothing on their for trade list nor have they ever made a trade. I hate having to work my way through all these "matches" when they have nothing at all to trade.
"What gets me is the people that have 1000s of cards on their want list but nothing on their for trade list nor have they ever made a trade."
Agreed, though I understand now that this is a first and foremost a collection database site. However, one would think that when word got out that trading was an available option, all those folks who log in regularly with large want lists would think about keeping those cards flowing in. I've definitely found trading to be a much more enjoyable and collection fulfilling experience than continuing to buy off of Ebay, but to each their own.
I suppose it'd be worth sending a message to a non-trader to check and see if they're interested if one feels that a match might be too good to pass up.
I have 19,373 cards on my want list. I have 7,753 on my FS/FFT list.
Out of the 19,737 I have approx. 167 matches. When you take in the members that are not active, Only selling, Only collecting the newer stuff, The ones that will not return messages, Members only using the site for their haves and have nots and not trading. I have approx 15 cards that I'm trying to work deals with. Some of them I'm not that interested in as they are the Var. or it is not worth doing a trade.
A year ago I asked here if it was worth it if I added more cards. It came back as a NO Need to. I do not even look at the matches that I have for other members any more.
I think I have sent messages to every match that I get. About 50/50 on replies.
I like seeing the various opinions on this subject, but I would add that each collector/trader comes from a different place as far as organization, approach, or status of entering their collection or trade list.
In my case, I had my traders for modern baseball for main brands like topps base, heritage, fleer etc in spreadsheets and happy to have done that years ago.
I started logging traders here with a few boxes of misc other brands that I did not have in spreadsheets. After finishing those, I added the ones in spreadsheets later (months in between areas/boxes/brands.
While adding traders I was glad to have traded with some patient folks that were flexible enough to trade with me for cards in my spreadsheets not logged here yet.
For example, 50 commons from 2002 topps from your want list, but not listed individually here yet, for trade for these 50 singles listed on other side of trade.
I suggested awhile back, and am 99% certain I'd put in an official New Feature proposal to have members identified as those who are wanting to simply use the site to manage their collection including wants but not interested in trading and keep them from being matched to anyone, but it fell through apparently for lack of interest.
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"Oh, it hit me alright. It hit me as soon as that ball Yordan hit over the moon out there. That's when it hit me." Dusty Baker on the realization that he'd finally get a World Series ring as a manager.
Trying to always have more in my FOR SALE/TRADE List than in my WANTLIST. This will become really evident, once I get an acceptable point in my inventory of the the thousands of cards that I have yet to Inventory. Looking forward to placing all my doubles into TRADE LIST, as then that list will be in the several thousand (1960's - 2020) . . .
I agree with this. I have spent lots of time going through match reports only to find people with only wants or non-trading members. For the record, I am ok with both of these. Use the site and the resources the way you need to, as long as you're not breaking the rules, but imo it would be good to have trading turned off by default for new accounts, and those who would like to trade could turn it on, and those who don't wish to trade could carry on. Just a thought.
I think some are missing my original point. I agree - members should use the site the way they wish to track their collection, be it wants or haves, or both. That I believe is what the initial intended use was for creating this site.
My point is that if you are going to want to initiate trades on this site, then load up your For Sale / Trade inventory with the majority of what you have to trade so that if you offer a trade to someone, they can see if there are cards you have for trade that are more desirable to them than the ones you are offering. To only load the few cards that are offered in the trade leaves the recipient of the offer with 2 choices, Accept or Decline. After too many of these, the Decline option is becoming more and more attractive.
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Bruno
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Check my Profile page to see my 2020 Goals and my Lists of sets near completion (5 cards or less) or sets getting close (less than 100 cards missing and 75% complete).
