General Forum

I am seeking wise council from anyone who has done trades on the site. I was wondering how many cards of a player you should list on the Sale/Trade list. For example I have 10 Tom Paciorek cards from the 1977 Topps set. Would 3 for a maximum be a good rule of thumb?

Put everything you have. 

Honestly, it’s however you prefer. Personally, I put all of the cards I don’t collect on my sell/trade list. I see it as a good way to inventory exactly what I have. Even if I have 15 copies of the same card, I put all 15 cards on the list. 

Due to the fact there are very few cards that match my wants.  (a few 100 for me and 1000s for you guys)   As most members prefer to trade and not buy.  There are really no reason for me to add all the cards I have. (150,000)  I have been adding cards a little at a time.  Mainly when someone ask about a player or set it is easier to add all of them instead of looking there my cards and looking through their want list.  I have looked through boxes and want lists for trades but prefer our matching system to do the work.

As far what you asked.  As one card that I have, say 20 of them I just add just a few so if they are traded/sold I will add some more.   This way when a match is shown I do not have to see 20 cards that are the same.  I have matches that shows I have 30 cards for them but really have only 12 different cards.

That is just me.  We all can do our own thing here.

I think it will come down to how you keep your traders separated from those you are not trading. I would put them all in for accuracy because what you will quickly find out is it is easy to get mixed up if youre not careful with organization. 

I have many partial sets for trade but also have many duplicates organized by players last name in a few other boxes. Anything not marked for trade is not in those spots to avoid confusion. The more you upload the less work down the road to go back and add them in. Easier to "add multiple" now then go back and see who needs to have a top-up later inmho.

I only put 3 or 4 as my number only for this reason,

"This way when a match is shown I do not have to see 20 cards that are the same."

 It's a headache scrolling through 15 of same card or multiple cards when you match someone for them. 

I put everything that I have.  I am more likely to put a card that I have double digits of up for trade.  It is easier to give up cards that you have a lot of and also I know I won't have any trouble finding them plus it gives options on condition. 

I think all the answers are good, and shows that it depends on how you want to do it.  I don't trade on here, but on my second account I started adding every copy of the card I have.  I don't have tons of cards, but I would think if I had over say 50,000 cards that I would trade, I would keep doubles on my trade/sale list to 3-5.  That way once you would happen to trade or sale all of them, you can check to see if you have more and it would make your online sale/trade list a bit less cluttered.  Also because the matching options mentioned above.

That's the best part about collections on here, whatever you choose to do to make it easier for you.

List them all that way when you trade a few you don't have to remember to list another.  For example, I have/had at least 12 1985 Topps Mattingly cards listed on my trade list. Just rememer to keep your physical forsale trade inventory organized so you are not hunting and hunting for cards within a trade. 

I do the opposite of most who have responded - I only list one card for trade and add another for trade if and when a card is asked for in a trade. Yes there is the odd double entry but this is mostly because a trade went bad and the cards were never traded.

Why do I do it this way? In some sets, I have over 20 cards of each card in the set (1988 Donruss, I have one that I have over 1,000 - anyone need a Mike Deveraux card?) If I listed all the cards I have, when others would trade match, they would be seeing so many multiples of cards, it gets discouraging.  As well, when I pull a trade and see that I have a second card for trade of one being asked for (need to be well organized), I simply click on the card link and add another one for trade as I am filling out the present trade. Once I have pulled the trade, my trade lists are still accurate. Yes it means a bit more time to pull a trade but I can still pull a large trade in a day. I have found that doing this causes match alerts with other traders looking for the same card and often get another trade proposal soon after.

The one negative that some have pointed out to me in the past is that some collectors want all cards of certain teams and players no matter how many duplicates there are so by only listing 1 of every card I have for trade no matter how many I actually have, I may be missing out on some trades.  Again, anyone want some Mike Deveraux cards? How about Kevin Elster? I think I have over 600 1988 Donruss of his card.