General Forum

Getting back into collecting last year was truly a godsend in a lot of ways personally,

I quickly realized I wouldn't be able to hang financially with buying a lot of new cards (or even lots of older cards!) so connecting with this site was another blessing to be able to trade with folks, I ended up doing a bit over 75 trades through late summer into the winter.

However I found that I had to scale back and eventually stopped trading temporarily altogether because even a meager weekly postage bill from PWEs had to take a backseat to getting back on track financially. This isn't meant to be a woe is me post because I know lots of people are struggling in this way. It's more to say I miss it and look forward to getting back to a place to pick trading back up regularly. 

Even if we only did a trade or two this past year, thanks to the folks who make this a really great community!

Sorry to hear of your plight.  I think it is the same for many out there, whether they be collectors or just trying to give their family a bit of extra.  I know it is on both sides of the border. Hopefully things improve for everyone.

Annnnndddd...effective today, Forever stamps are .63 a pop!  A rigid three ounce PWE will be a buck and a half ($1.51)!  So apparently, non-machinable charge is now $.40.  Haven't calculated any puffies prices, up as well, I'm sure!  Arrrggghh!

Pretty much just plan on dropping a five dollar bill with a small bubble mailer or padded envelope.  

One approach you may want to think about is to keep trading, but limit to 1 or 2 per week or 3 per month or whatever you budget for time or postage.

I keep my trading off and turn on every now and then to get a few trades going, then turn off again.

thanks, mark 

When you are ready, we will trade again.  Never a rush.  Be well.

We traded once, and I appreciated communicating with you as we put together the deal. When you get ready to trade, there still will be a lot of folks here who would love to swap cards with you. No rush. Take care of yourself. We'll always be here.

I totally get it.  Since this is a hobby, I don't spend a fortune on cards to begin with.  It is making it hard when you find you spend more on trades than if you just went to card shows and bought the cards outright without trading anything.

I'll still stick to trading though because my wife wants all my doubles out of the house and I still have twenty seven 800 count boxes of doubles I haven't even listed on my for trade list yet.  I may have to find a way to get them organized in a way I can have them listed and find the requested card in a reasonable amount of time.

Understand you 100%.    Being retired I have more time than money.    

This last year I have been wondering if it is worth it to trade the way I'm trading.   A .25 card for a .50 card which cost each of us .63 postage.   I understand why members are not willing to do small trades.   I do it to help other collectors out with a card(s) and one for myself.   All the PIF that I have sent out does not help the bottom line, but it is worth it to me.

I have sold a nice amount of cards this year and figured I would be getting a 1099-R from PayPal.   You know the new $600 amount. (now it is not happening).    I went through and checked how much money I spent on postage.    Over $470.00    little over half of what I got through PayPal.