Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

I'm new to trading/selling on the site. What are some basics I need to know before I start. 

The best thing to do is list what you have available to trade. It's a tedious process but it is very helpful. And don't think that something is too common to list- there are people collecting every set, and when I listed my tradelist, the set I considered the most common and figured nobody would want was the first set that people asked for.

Shipping is big. Most people don't like getting a PWE- Plain White Envelope- because there is a long history of the cards getting bent up and mangled doing that. The preferred method is in a padded mailer, with cards in toploaders and team bags. If multiple cards putting them inside a team bag with toploaders on the end is also acceptible.

Try to ship as quick as possible. If you can't tell the other person. I can only mail on Saturdays as a general rule but I tell every trade partner and not one has had an issue with that yet.

The main thing is to finish a trade if you agree to it. Don't take people's cards and run. Real collectors aren't going to do that, so it shoudnt need to be said. But I have seen, over the years, enough people not following through that it does need to be said.

If you don't like an offer, tell the other person that it's not going to work or maybe something else can be tried. Don't just ignore them. It's really frustrating when you are trying to make a trade or purchase and the other person doesn't bother to reply.

Those are pretty much the basic of basics. Hope that it helps!

Billy pretty much handled the trading end of things. For selling shipping the ways he suggested also apply. And Please don't OVERCHARGE for Shipping. Most card collectors have a good idea on what it costs to ship individual cards and lots of cards due to their trading or their own selling. Offer combined shippping or even Free Shipping when possible. When selling always price at a reasonable price. Do some research first on how much the cards you are trying to sell have gone for. One way to do that is to do an "advanced" search on Ebay and check sold auctions and/or completed listings. Just because everyone is listing that Derek Jeter card for $100 doesn't mean that they have actually sold it for that much or that their copy even sold. CheckOutMyCards (comc.com) can give you an idea for an upper range and sometimes for a lower range. But like most places many cards there tend to be way overpriced. You can also check Beckett prices if you have access to their online guides, but those usually require a paid membership to be useful. If you have access to a card shop in your general area see if they carry the yearly or monthly printed versions of price guides. 

Also remember the VERY OVERPRODUCED Years of the mid 1980s to mid or late 1990s that are nicknamed "The Junk Wax Years" (Some collectors hate the term "Junk" used in any connotation relating to our hobby) Cards from those years are rarely worth much of anything due to the MILLIONS yes Millions of cards that were printed. Before that era cards were produced by maybe 100,000s of thousands or at least up to about 100,000 per card.The dozens of cards companies at that time were super overproducing and many card "collectors" were INVESTING in the hobby in the hopes that the dozen or two dozen copies of that Joe Schmo RC they hoarded would be worth the $1,000s that cards like Mikey Mantle's 1952 Topps "RC" was worth. Well even if that Joe Schmo was John Elway it doesn't bring much today. Basically you won't become a millionaire from selling cards from post 1980. Unless you have a couple hundred Micheal Jordan RCs and a couple of Walter Payton's 1976 RC.

Thanks billy and captainkirk. This was extremely helpful. 

One thing that I would like to add that Billy touched on is the communication. The members on this site are great and very understanding. Can't ship on time because of a couple delays? Just let them know and you'll find that they are pretty understanding. Same goes for not liking a deal; just communicate that you're looking for something else and most members will work with you. The worst thing you can do is be silent. 

Jason

With everything said already, I'll throw in my 2-cents worth. To me, communication is #1! I don't care if you can't ship for a week or so, as long as I know that BEFORE agreeing to buy or trade. #2 would be shipping costs and methods. If you want to really make an impact with a buyer (or even a trader), ask them how they would like to receive the cards. Some people are okay with a PWE for only a couple of cards, as long as they are protected correctly. You can also ship a small amount of cards in a bubble mailer only using stamps, but make sure you trust that person first and make sure you have enough stamps on there. USPS does not usually send a bubble mailer through sorting machines like they do with a PWE, no matter what method you use. Rule of thumb is one stamp per ounce of weight. I generally like a tracking number on my packages going out or coming in and the extra cost is worth the peace-of-mind. The larger the number of cards being shipped, the more options you have for shipping safely and each have different prices and supply costs. I could literally write a book on shipping through USPS, but it would have to be updated every 6-12 months, depending on their changes. I use them instead of UPS and FedEx b/c it seems simpler that way.

You can always check out the USPS website for every bit of info that you need and never even have to leave the house.