General Forum

Hey all...just want to let anyone know who has a trade offer with me, I am moving a bit slow on trades right now. I had a lot of trades going at once, and became a bit overwhelmed, and adding to that, now I need to pre check to make sure I have all the cards before agreeing, and double checking to see that the cards came off properly. I am down to 3 trades in progress, just waiting for final completions. I see some offers coming in, if I don't get back to you right away, it's nothing personal. Trying to keep this more of a hobby and less of a job. Thanks for understanding. ~ Ed

I have a note on my profile as well, as I am doing one or two small trades at a time

I have a lot that I have to put away/log from trading in past few months

mark

Thanks for the update.  Take your time, I am in no hurry.

I've been doing the same thing lately, Ed! Offers continue to overwhelm me to the point that I just flat-out refuse the small ones. And every time I start dealing with the bigger ones, it seems like some new life issue comes up to delay that more (laptop fried, car broke down, etc.). I have a list of members that I've rejected good offers from b/c I needed time to get back to them. And then when I did get back to them, I had to put them on-hold again. My real problem is that I can't stay away from the card sites, even if I don't want to bother with the cards themselves! Even though I'm trying to not trade now, I have 4 active on 2 trading sites. I couldn't resist the offer to trade cards for NES games! I also have a long-running trade in progress on another site that we will make in-person at a NASCAR race later this month. That one has been in-progress for at least 4 months now. I also have one offer on this site and one on that other site in the past week that I just can't refuse b/c time is short for them. It's easy to get overwhelmed with trades, but I always try to take it slow anyway. I generally ship fast, but I accept much slower these days.

For the record, I tend to make large trades. Hundreds of cards is where I want to be but most of my trades this year tend to be only 20-50 cards each way and they aren't more than regular base cards. I miss the BIG trades and loathe the small ones now that are a card here and there from multiple years and sets! It's becoming more of a hassle than a hobby (or as you put it "a job"). Perfect analogy! I already have a job and my hobby shouldn't be a 2nd job. At least not yet!

I try to work things a trade at a time and generally around 18 cards at a time. I can pull them rather quickly and ship them in a 9 pocket sheet for $.70 postage usually and when I get my side of the deal it is a similar feel to getting a pack of cards that has all cards I wanted. For me it keeps things from becoming overwhelming.

I'm also in the same boat. I apologize to any folks I seemed to ignore. I'm trying to complete a few at a time - once I accept a couple, I disable my trade offers and wait until they're done to reopen them. Nothing personal to anyone, so please try again!

I have been on the other side of this too and so I hope others understand when an offer is made and pulled after several days or a week if there has been no response.

When the hobby becomes work we have to step away for a while or just slow down.     As for me I'm about at that point.   It starting to feel like work.

I have withdrawn 7 offers only one has informed me they could not do the deal at this time.

Agreed!  I get alot of trade offers that I just can't get to, and can only do about two a week.  I can do more if they are small PWE trades.  I try to keep a list and propose trades to people I can't get around to right away!

It's weird how so many of us are pulling back a bit, and enjoying the hobby less right now. I know I'm not the only one, but it's a strange phenomena. I know I'm cyclical, in that I go all-in on one thing, doing nothing else, then getting burned out and doing something else.

But everybody at the same time? 

There's got to be a reason for that. 

My tradelist is currently turned off because it's too challenging for me to get to the trade stash, thanks to my health problems.