I look at the first dozen or so trades I did on here and am a little embarrassed, I had virtually nothing loaded in FS/FT and just asked people what they wanted when sending offers. It was tedious, but people were very patient with me and helped me find the value in getting everything added, not just on-demand. I'm very thankful for this community in helping me get to that next level.
So I will echo Bruno here, take the time and load in what you have to trade! It will pay many dividends to your collection in the long run.
I try to keep mine pretty equal. My trade list is around 30k cards with a good amount of inserts too. I have so much to upload still but have been digging boxes for inserts to get a variety. I have been noticing over the summer what is and isn't worth taking the time to load. Hockey I had spent days loading last spring, after all summer of only 1 small trade involving hockey I just took them off my trade list and gave em to the recycling man; not worth the box space to move in .0001 % of trades. I may do the same with soccer soon, that doesn't move at all. Was hoping football would start moving with the season, but it isn't. Taking time to build the trade list will hopefully save time in the long run by seeing what is and isn't worth listing and what should go to the goodwill.
When I started on this site (not too long ago) I grabbed one trade book 1980-1989. It took some time and the cards were separated by year and brand in alphabetical order. Before I got my 2nd book listed I had a trade offer. I didn't have any cards in my want list but I knew who I collected so I told my fellow trader just add a nolan ryan to the offer and I will send the offer back and he can adjust the trade by taking some off or adding some more he wanted.
Now I have about 30,000 cards listed and over 200 trades completed.
Are we ever done to adding cards to the trade list. No. But once you buy a box, or a pack you know what you want to keep and what you want to trade. A true collector knows it takes about an hour to look through a box and organize from keep to trade. Once you gone through the box you put your keep cards up however you do it then numerical the trade cards and start listing. Depending on how many you have it could be 5 minutes to an hour. A true collector sets time aside every day or every other day (maybe an hour before bedtime that's what I do)
Trading is supposed to be fun entering cards for keep and trade is supposed to be fun as well. If this is too time consuming for you just imagine how much time consuming it is to go back and forth through the PMs and hashing our a trade. I did this once and by the time all was said and done with no reply for a day or 2 I traded the cards he wanted and swore I will never do PM trading again.
It would also be nice for instance if someone spends hours pulling the cards getting them ready to ship to agree to the trade. It has happened to me where I pulled over 200 cards from 18 different books and all different brands (something like 74 ) and the trader who offered the trade cancelled the trade. Now I have to go put all of those cards back where I got them so they don't get lost misplaced or damaged. That's a lot of time the trader wasted on my end. He gave no reason to why he did that nor ever responded to my PMs but posted looking for trades. Needless to say I don't care if he offers cash I will not deal with that person again.
Before anyone who asks it was not on this site everyone here followed through with the trade or gave me a reason why they cancelled the trade.
Most members here now know I work away from home and when they send me a trade offer I remind them I am away and it could be 2 weeks before I can get to it. If they cancelled the trade I have no hard feelings towards them for they didn't waste my time pulling them canceling and I hope they didn't waste theirs pulling cards waiting on me to get home and then canceling.
Trading is a respect thing between collectors. Always has been and always will be
I'm new here--have completed only a couple of trades. I have slowly been entering cards from collection into the database to see what I need to complete the sets I want to complete, and what extras I have. It doesn't take too long, and whenever I get a chance, I try to enter. Once the baseball sets slow down, I will have more opportunity to enter cards and organize what I have. I mostly collect to make whole sets of certain sets that I like--usually from Topps and Baseball.
To figure out trades, I use the Trade Matching link and see what comes up. If I get matches, I make the offer for as many as I can. Is there an easier way (or more appropriate way!) to offer trades.
Also, do most just do one for one trades or is there consideration for the value of the cards? Just trying to get a better system down...
There are several ways to build a trade. We all have the same aim in a trade - get cards we need for cards we don't need. I have used different ways in finding cards I want. I have used the Trade Matching to find potential trade partners, especially for larger trades. I have also focussed in on smaller needs to complete sets by looking at who has cards in a particular set that I am trying to complete. If someone has several for trade, then I see if I have an appropriate amount that he needs to offer in trade. This has helped in my completing some sets in the recent past, e.g. 1974 Topps.
I have made trades where I asked for certain cards and left the other side open as to what they wanted in return (you can always decline greed). I like to use this method for the larger trades where we have hundreds (or thousands) matches int he Trade Matching. With one member, while he was selecting the cards he wanted, he expressed that it was like shopping in a LCS.
As for fairness in trades, often card for card works but not always. If you are looking at different eras, it is not likely to work. If you are a Player collector of HoF / stars, be prepared to offer similar players if you wnat to go card for card. But then sometimes, a trade can be lopsided in the card count yet be acceptable on both sides. I am just finalizing a trade where I will send out 960 cards to the other member for less than 100 cards. I am more than happy with what I am getting and I think he is really happy with his returns. I also just sent out a trade of one card for 14 (now 18 as the other member added 4 more in my package). I think he still thinks he owes me - I was happy with the 14 cards.
Best thing to do is contact a potential trade partner to see the interest in trading for what you want. As well, use your profile page to advertise what you are looking for. I have 2 lists I keep updated as to sets that have priority for me - tehy have payed dividends in completing some sets.
Hope this helps.
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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).
Excellent article at perfect timing as I am about to start a for sale trade list. My question is does the for sale/trade list keep its own inventory or does it pull from my main collection where I would have to enter multiple entries of the same card. Thanks again for the information.
If I have a lot of multiples and they are all sorted I find it easiest to select the add multiples to my collection so I can put in the qty of cards I have and then when done I can select to move all duplicates to my for sale/trade. Sometimes when I am sorting and entering a small stack at a time of something I am adding go in and add each card individually to my for sale/trade list.
The multiples then moving duplicates to For Sale works well. Another way that I have found easy to do is to create a Collection just for traders. This way when I update it, I can use the option to Add/Update For Sale/Trade list. When doing so, clicking on the "box" automatically enters it as a trader. Adding 50-100 cards in a 700 card set is quick adn easy just like adding your own keepers. It also keeps my wants and my keepers out of the way. I personally don't add (very few) multiples of any card I have more than one of to trade. I add a second one if I have it only when the first trader is asked for in trade.
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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).
I have almost 4x as many traders vs wants. Wasn't planned, just how it went. That continues to grow in the same fashion. I look at it as having plenty of trade bait to knock out the Wantlist. I am only around 25% entered but I hope I can really move forward with entering soon.
