Off-Topic Forum

In my recent experiences on the site, I've seen the best, but also the worst. I won't name no one here, but I wonder what they're thinking.

First of all, I sent an offer to someone I never traded with. My proposal was to send several low value hockey commons from 89-90 he needed for the same number / value of cards I needed to build a 93-94 set. He answered me that his lists were incorrect, he thought to already own the cards he listed and to keep my offer active while he was searching his boxes. Later in the week, he sent me a message that he can't make the trade, because my offer was totally unacceptable and 89-90 and 93-94 are not the same vintage, not the same era. Unless your definition is trading in the very same set of the same season, how do you define era then?

Here comes the second trader. In a recent trade, I also swaped with someone new to me and I received part of the trade (shipped in multiple PWEs). What was my surprise to see he shipped the cards loose in the envelope. No pocket page nor toploader nor sleeve nor cardboard nor paper sheet. Just a bunch of cards by themselves in the envelope. No need to say that they all magically turned VG or VG/EX at best. Also, the postage was incorrect on his envelopes, but they managed to appear in my mailbox with postage due.  The only time something did that since I am trading/buying/selling by mail was someone on Sportlots who was selling singles at that time. That person is now selling by Sportlots auctions only, but never again to me. 

What are they are thinking? It is easy for us to simply avoid them in the future, but do they think that we would be interested to work with them again?

Edit: You can also add the Sportlots sellers who decided to double or triple their shipping rates to Canada earlier this week. Some rates have indeed increased, but I saw nothing on the USPS website that justify going from $6.00 to $25.00 for shipping less than a dozen cards (that can be shipped for $1.41 or less in a PWE). Do they think that buyers don't know how much rates are and how much you paid in postage on your envelope? Just have a look on the postage meters and stamps to see the amount and voila! Maybe they want to make up for the fees they pay to the website, Paypal and so on, but they forget that they're not the only ones selling on these sites and others don't follow them. I noticed that most of these sellers were among the ones who already charging more than the average. Look to me as a good way to kill your golden hen.

Well written post with many topics I can relate to..Card value is such a sticky topic, I won't comment on that one..

Bad packaging will result in me not wanting to trade with you again..

I see many envelopes that arrive with less postage than required..It's either people dont know the proper postage or they are trying to save some money..(these are typically PWE trades)..I also cant figure out all of the stamps on envelopes, seems to be many variations these days..

You've done enough trades to develop a good pool of trade pals and those are the people (people Ive traded with before) I usually end up trading with over and over again..I trust them, they are fair, they package cards well and most times, all goes smoothly..

I see many envelopes that arrive with less postage than required..It's either people dont know the proper postage or they are trying to save some money..(these are typically PWE trades)..I also cant figure out all of the stamps on envelopes, seems to be many variations these days

I will also say, of my 48 trades the postage variesd to the postal clerk, as to how they think it should be best mailed, and I can tell by who is at the counter if it going to be expensive or not (I few the postage as if I am treating the person I am trading with to lunch, some of you get Taco Bell others Chipoltle.

DP

That's a mouthful!

When I trade I am not fussy and quite frankly dont care about the year or vintage. I'm trading my doubles away - the cards I dont care about - for ones I want. I could care less if I am giving you 80s for 2010s. My objective with my doubles is to get rid of them. To be honest, most of the time I dont even care about the dollar value as long as I am getting cards I want in the end.

Packaging...I take care of my cards and I want to make sure that they are received in the same condition they left. That's just me. If I ever received just loose cards in a PWE I can assure you I would not be trading with that person again. I'm not asking for bubble rap and protection shields but I am expecting others to make an effort.

The whole postage thing I dont understand at all - it must be a US thing. If I stick a PWE in the mail and there is not enough postage on it, it gets returned to me with a note saying it needs more postage. And if I go into the post office to have it mailed they calculate the correct postage and add it to the package. I'm not sure i understand how you can receive a PWE or other package that had insufficient postage to begin with.

The whole "same vintage" thing is one of the dumbest things I've read. 80s vs 90s? That dude has issues and you should probably avoid him anyway. 

Mike, I believe it's the postal worker's option to determine if an envelope gets returned to the sender for postage or delivered postage due. I've never received either, but have seen an envelope stamped with insufficient postage that a trade partner repackaged with the correct postage (he included the original envelope as proof that it was delayed for that reason).

I send lots of large PWEs (in business envelopes), so I'm hopeful that the postage due situation hasn't happened to my partners because of my error (or postal worker's decision). No one's said anything like that to me and I've traded with each one of you.

I was thinking the same thing, if postage is short why does PO mail item. It made me wonder if anything I mailed PWE arrived postage due how would I know. After becoming more trade active I bought a very cheap scale and after my PWE is complete I weigh, up to 1 oz goes with 1 forever stamp if it weighs less than 2 oz I add 1 $.15 cent stamp. That is per Post Office rules. I can mail 18 cards with protection using this system. However if some clerk along the way decides i shorted the postage how would i know? If my postage is ever short my trade partners should be letting me know, please. I also have been frustrated with sloppy mailing but it was original. The sender created a cardboard envelope only a little larger than the cards it was taped and cards in sleeve. However he put my address on one side and his on back postage was wrapped both sides i received with post it note added to direct to correct location I am glad it arrived put as a hobby we didn't make it very easy for those who handled it. For  99% of trades as far as I know nothing was left out from my shipping or received trades. Love this hobby!

I think the mindset of the Sportlots sellers who jack up the shipping for Canada is that they don't really want to have to deal with shipping to Canada, so they make it prohibitively expensive to discourage orders.  There is not an option in the Sportlots store system to simply not offer shipping to Canada, so they have to put something in there.

I've only ever had one come back postage due. That was because I completely forgot to put a stamp on it. It was back in my hand in two days and I put the stamp on it and sent it back out. 

As for pwe I know that a top loader with 24 cards and one stamp it fine. After that is depending on the thickness of the cards the envelope and count and it starts going higher then one stamp. A lot of times a 2ed stamp is overkill. But I find it's easier to just stick another stamp on it and post it. It's just a stamp. There are other things to think about then if I'm wasting the full price of one extra stamp. Like looking for missing cards and working on trade proposals. 

I thought 1989-90 was the first year of overproduction for hockey cards.  So I don't know why it would be a different vintage than 1993-94.  1988-89 would be a different vintage because it wasn't over-produced.  

Sending cards without protection is inexcusable.

I wanted to send some cards to Canada with tracking, but it would have cost me over $26.  So I sent them without the tracking and paid $2.83.  Sending cards with tracking in the U.S. costs me $4 something.