Monday, August 28, 2017

Monday Question Day- Traders?


Today is question day:

Do you consider yourself to be a trader (trade with other collectors)?

I usually do a couple of trades a year but I know that there are people who trade regularly and when I see these posts I think “Damn, I need to do more trades”. I think my issue is that I am rather shy in real life so I find it hard to reach out to people.

16 comments:

  1. I consider myself a trader. It was the main reason I started my blog. As a whole trades have really slowed on the blogs, but I still have around 10 go to people I trade with a few times a year.

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  2. I'm also shy in real life, but I'm a bit more outgoing online. I'm trying to trade more, but my budget is very limited and I dont have a whole lot of cards that a) other bloggers are looking for, and b) dont fit my collection.

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    1. I am in the same position. My budget is very tight so I pick up a couple of rack packs and a blaster or two a year when I want to rip packs but I would prefer to just pick up cards for my collection so I have a limited amount of tradebait.

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  3. I've made several hundred trades over the years, to over a dozen countries on 5 continents. It's harder for me now because I can not afford to bring in cards like I once did, so I have less to offer and usually not new stuff. Further, there are less people working on sets now than ever before.

    99% of the trades I make come from the Trading Card Database. I listed my trade stash there back in December 2014 and I average 2 trades a month, all other people asking me because I can't figure out how to initiate one myself.

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  4. I am a trader but my volume of trades has decreased significantly over the last year or so. Most of my trades seem to be random packages going back and forth between blogging buddies.

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    1. I'm in this group as well. I used to to do around 50 trades a year, but I turned my collecting budget to increasing my Vogelbach collection and I haven't brought nearly as many cards into my overall collection to send out to bloggers this year. There's always next year!

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  5. Not much of a trader. I try from time to time but like others I don't seem to have what others want. I rarely get new product when it first comes out. I can find plenty of things I want or "need" from others trade/sale lists but usually I don't have any of the specifics they collect. I can't afford to buy everything and some collectors don't sell, or they want too much for the cards, or they only take some difficult form of payment or just cash. Or they have to trade exact base value for base value. I gave up trying to figure out what the cards I already have are worth ages ago. I only worry about price when I'm buying or setting up to sell. I don't like complications.

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  6. Yes, I am a trader. I trade through the blogs and I belong to a point keeping vintage card group. As most people who "trade" with me have found out, what I am accustomed to, are called "blind trades" for the majority with the infrequent straight up trade. This is a big time saver. Separate all of the teams and a few player collectors out, and when I get a card I don't have a need for, then in goes into the stack, and every so often mail them out. I most definitely do a lot of trading. I spent the weekend packaging up 400, yes 400 PWE's to send out to my OCT buddies. Some people consider them RAOK (random acts of kindness), but most wind up sending cards back to me, hence "blind trade" It works. The 400 leaving out this week will break a record within our trading group (currently held by me, yeah me... at 399 set last summer). Trading is a blast and it is especially fun to get a package in th email you didn't know was coming, and then to be able to knock off want list needs. Trading is the best, and being shy is okay. Just look at someone's want list and reach out, or just send them the cards with a little note.

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    1. I have done a number of blind trades over the year. I am happy to pull aside cards for other collectors, better in someone's collection who will appreciate the cards than in a 5000-ct box in my closet.

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  7. I am a trader as you will find out in my upcoming posts.

    I only trade with trusted traders and I have found a good group of 12 I mainly stick with. I don't take many risks when it comes to trading amd some traders I prefer over others.

    I find trading with fellow bloggers the best as we appreciate cards of all kinds and not just hits

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  8. I traded with bloggers way more in the beginning than I do now. Occasionally I'll just send out a few cards to a blogger I've traded with before, but now that my dupes are housed about an hour away, it's even less frequent.

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  9. I don't really trade anymore. I just don't have the inventory, nor the time. I do send care packages out to people from time to time. In fact I have a stack that need to be wrapped up and shipped. But I always find an excuse not to go down to the post office. They'll go out one of these days.

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  10. I am not much of a trader. I like to mail out an occasional package to someone else, and I like to get the occasional package, but I feel like a formal trade can often lead to unmet expectations on one side or the other.

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  11. I've got so many cards that belong in other people's collections. I would rather just send them to them. If I get something back, great, but I don't worry about it. Now if I see something they have, I may ask to trade but I'm not too worried about it.

    Now the sad (good?) part is that I will purposely buy things at shows that fit other people's collections. I should really worry about sending out what I already have for people first.

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  12. Definitely a trader. I don't have the volume of trades of some other people but I definitely enjoy it. You and I have had a couple of great trades and I look forward to more in the future!

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  13. Still do a bit of trading myself, but the diversity of trading partners seems to have dropped a bit. Hard to keep new stuff around once you do a couple runs through the duplicates box.

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