General Forum

Some of my observations after 150 trades (WARNING: Parts of this may sound like a rant):

• Kindness goes a long way.
• Communication is key.
• There are many great traders on here! I have friended many over numerous trades.
• The best trades are the ones where I can tell out of the gate that the trade partner sees my collection and wants to help me out while I am equally helping them out with their collection.
• There are also many not-so-great traders on here. Traders who will try to swindle me out of premium cards for commons. And they have the nerve to get pissed when I counter or decline! See ya!
• My "Don't do this" or "Just say no up front" alarm is getting good at going off at the beginning of a bad trade proposal.
• My "This is a great trade" alarm is getting good as well. I love those kind of trades!
• Including a handwritten letter in the package to the trade partner is something I have done since my first trade. I think it adds an extra "thank you" and a human element to the trade. It's not just about the cards. It's about working with other traders to meet their collecting goals. I think the letter helps.
• Sometimes, you can tell a trader's intent by what they are NOT offering in a trade.
• There are many traders who go for inserts and more valuable than common cards in exchange for a few more common cards. I've found that them offering a "few more commons" is not the answer in my book.
• A $4 card = 20-40 commons. It really does. You can't argue that point standing in a local card store. Why argue it here?
• Dig deeper than just the trade. Go to the offering trader's profile page and trade match, you may see all kinds of decent comparable cards that could have been offered instead. Counter with those cards to even-up the trade. Why didn't they offer these up front?
• The price on a card does not reflect its value. The real indicator of a card's "value" is by comparing the red/green numbers. That's where the true value of the card lies on this trading site. Supply and demand. How many people here want your card?
• There's nothing more frustrating than receiving a trade proposal without a message attached to it. No "Hello" or "What's up?" or "Howdy!". The message box is there to express the intent of your trade proposal. Use it!
• I've noticed that certain trades stress me out. Especially when it comes to obviously unbalanced trades, where I KNOW the other trader is trying to get over on me or take me for some kind of moron. Clearly inserts for commons scenario. I don't desire common 80s cards enough to trade away vintage or insert cards for them. Why are they asking for this type of trade in the first place?!?
• The more trades I get under my belt, the more I'm find myself declining trades.
• Some traders will hide big value cards in the middle of a large trade proposal while offering all commons. The number of cards match, but the "values" don't. Be on the lookout.
• Some trade proposals are absolutely ridiculous. You'd like $57 worth the inserts for 16 common cards, and you were nice enough to "throw in a few extras"? Very generous of you. Declined.
• I look back on my early trades and wonder why I agreed to some of them. I got ripped! Shame on me once... not twice!
• It's best to almost ALWAYS counter a trade. Very rarely do incoming proposals come in perfect. They can usually be improved with a counter.
• The absolute worst is my unanswered trade proposal sitting for weeks when the member is logging in everyday! I hate having an unanswered trade proposal sitting in my "Proposed" transactions section that is causing other incoming proposals to pop up with duplicates from that unanswered proposal. I answer trade proposals within a day or two at most. It's a courtesy thing.
• I find it unusual how the most expensive cards are the ones a trader "can't locate" or are "wrapped up in another trade" when pulling cards. This is usually followed with an ask for me overlook it and proceed with the trade. Um, no. You just devalued your side of the offer! Always counter this by pulling value cards going out or ask for another similar card.
• Bait and switch is a real thing. Beware!
• As a set builder and team collector, I find it difficult to trade with player collectors. After 150 trades, I've figured out that our collecting goals just don't match up well for trading. I usually have to ask for numerous cards to equal the trade out, like 10 to 1. It usually doesn't go well. They get pissed and think I'm nuts. Oh well. Declined. Your loss, not mine. I'll hold my start player card for the next, more reasonable, trade.
• I'm getting good at recognizing a garbage trade when it arrives. Following my gut feeling about a potentially bad trade almost always works.
• I've found that having more than 10 active trades going on at once stresses me out. Hard to clear those with work/life going on.
• Having my incoming trades turned on can lead to some creative incoming trade proposals that I would have never thought of to make myself.
• Having a large trade list and want list is the key to getting trades. Once either of those lists gets short, the trades will dry up.
• I find that long stretches of having incoming trades on can pull me away from my collection. I find myself focusing too much on the trades, rather than my collection.
• It's a good to turn incoming trades off every once in a while and focus on my collection such as organizing, inventorying, etc... even cracking open boxes and enjoying the cards with no purpose in mind.
• Having an accurate trade list and matching storage is key to trading success.
• Large trades can be exhausting, especially when the cards are from many different years, sets, and boxes. The best large trade is when all of the cards I'm pulling are from within the same set!
• My late 80s and early 90s traders will be hard to move. I have to accept that. It's actually surprising when a trader asks for them! Anyone need late 80s cards? LOL!!!
• Everyone wants either 80s Drakes cards, '89 Swell Baseball's Greatest, or Fleer stickers or some other kind of 80s insert or oddball card, usually one-for-one for commons. No, they are not equal or they wouldn't be sought after.
• It's OK to say "no" to a trade. Explaining why I'm saying no hopefully indicates to the other trader why their proposal doesn't meet my expectations of a fair trade.
• Show some compassion and patience to your trade partner. If they are having a rough patch in their life and can't get a trade out the door, acknowledge that and let them know that it's OK. Communication is key. 
• In the end, this stuff is just a bunch of cardboard. Life comes first.

There's probably more to this list that I'm not thinking of right now. What are some revelations or insights you've had over the course of your trades on this site?

I agree with pretty much all of these. I'm not the person to worry about inserts for commons and all of that. Most of my inserts that I have for trade were acquired at my LCS for cheap so I'm not worried about getting equal value, more about getting them out of my doubles boxes, and into peoples collection, and if I'm getting commons I don't have, so be it! It's what I want for stuff I don't thats how I look at it. I generally accept most trades without a counter, but that's because of the above statement. For me this is all about turning cards I don't need into ones I do and having fun in the process and I think I've done that so far.

I'm super new to this site. I only have 2 completed transactions and 1 in progress. I'm here to track my PCs and hopefully add to them. 

I found this post to be very helpful with do's and don'ts. I completely understand the frustration behind uneven trades.

Thank You for Your Post

I have traded away many inserts for common cards in the past to help others out more than what I got in return. Yesterday I declined a 12 for 12 card trade. I was to get 12 88-90 nothing commons for 12 cards. The first 2 on the trade away list were 2 1977 Hostess cards, a hard to find error card (I paid $5 for it) that can be bought on ebay for about $18 and the other 9 I did not have to be concerned with as the trade was so far out of whack it did not matter.

People, there is nothing wrong with skewing the trade value in the favor of the person YOU are requesting cards from. I do this when I propose trades as much as I can.

Agree whole heartedly!

I particularly enjoy the proposals where the sender has 25 cards they want and offer 4 lower priced cards.  Ask them how they think it’s a fair trade and the response is I’m giving you something I need.

Like 4 common cards are equal to a few serial numbered out of 25 or less plus a few exchange cards.

or, “well I have postage expense in the deal”, as if we both don’t have that!

At least put some effort into it!

I have this in my profile and I think it has helped some.  I would add another tip to read profiles and keep yours up to date.

Tips for proposing a trade with me

• Cards are on my trade list because they are duplicates and not because I think they are junk and am trying to get rid of them on a fire sale
• Staying within the era (modern for modern or vintage for vintage) is good since I save my vintage for other vintage that I need
• Don't ask for inserts, stars, and hot rookies for commons in return
• It is human nature to try to slant the transaction in your favor,  do your best to realize that and don't do it

I think it is important to put yourself in your proposed trade partners shoes.  If you would not accept the trade if you were on the other end, then you should not be proposing it.   It also is important to understand that people are different and have different priorities.  A trade that you think it is completely fair may be perceived as a ripoff by them.  That is ok and both parties should walk away with a better collection from the trade or it should be declined.

Great post!  I'm with you on almost all of it.

Though I fear I may be viewed by a few as the guy on the other side.  I have used the site for years, contributed images, etc. but never catalogued my collection.  I have around 300k cards in sets, player collections etc. so the data entry would take me weeks.  I'm just not up for it.  I've also got 15+ monster boxes of extra stuff I'd like to move which aren't entered either.  I've just begun to make trades here, so I'm finally getting the hang on how to enter stuff on the different lists. 

I had an early trade where I pulled a stack of a couple hundred cards of the same team for a guy.  I only wanted a few dozen in return.  I said they were directly off his want list and included serial numbered and parallel cards.  I said I hadn't entered them, but would if it was really important.  He rejected the trade before I could.  I don't understand that - what do you do when you buy cards yourself?  Don't you enter those manually?

Now I've figured out how to add cards to my trade list as I find them on people's wants, so it's not such an issue.  I do occasionally have a big pile of one set that I may not enter - but I make the trade so lopsided in the other person's favor that it shouldn't matter much, I hope.

I might propose to get a few dozen cards that include inserts etc., but I will offer a few hundred base & some inserts in return.  I did make the mistake of entering a whole set of football into my trade list (that I have a whole monster box full) and forgot to check for missing cards.  Turns out I don't have a few of the key rookies. Dangit.

First off, Congrats on 150. Second you hit it out of the park on alot of your points. Keep up the great work and you have been a great trading partner, and always look forward to trading with you

Value is an interesting thing when it comes to card collecting. 

Perfect example is the 1971 Roberto Clemente card.  I was trying for months to track down that card.  Every card show I went to had dealers selling it for fair prices but far outside my price range (I limit myself to $5 per card).  I kept hoping to get it on ebay for $5 or less even in bad condition.  I watched a card missing a corner go for $20 and most good condition cards were way outside my range.  Then one day at a card show I see a dealer with that same card on his table with a $3 sticker on the plastic sleeve.  I asked if that was the correct price and he said yes.  I even said, are you sure that's all you want for it?  And he confirmed that was the price even as I explained to him that I haven't been able to find it anywhere near that.

Then to the flip side, I was looking up a card that I see everywhere in bargain bins that I would say would maybe max out at $1 and there on ebay people were increasing the bids for it up to $20.  They were willingly paying far more than what I considered the value of a card.

I don't think there are many users here intentionally trying to rip people off as much as they may just see the value of cards differently or in some cases, they may just not know any better.  I know there are a lot of cards I see that look interesting that I put on my want list that I have no idea the value of.  They might be worthless, they might be worth $100 per card.  When I try to trade for them, I'll make my best guess on what is fair.  A lot of political cards (which I LOVE FYI!!!) are very all over the place with prices.  I have no idea what would be fair for them so I do my best to guess.

being mostly a team/player collector (with a few sets on the side usually) My only real hard fast rule is I don't trade vintage cards for junk wax era or newer even the hot rookies of today unless it is heavily in my favor. Vintage cards especially in really nice shape are too hard to come by.

As for the rest of your long rant my advice is trade the way you like and don't sweat how others trade, trades work for both or don't work at all. At the end of the day neither you or I have to trade.