For the last dozen or so years, I’ve been trying to catch the trend of trading online. I’ve done it. I like it to an extent. But there is always one problem: How on earth do I get EVERYTHING organized in a way for people to view it.

I know I am not alone. Lots of collectors are frustrated by the tiresome process of listing or scanning cards — many of which likely will be passed up by other collectors because they, too, are usually looking to upgrade their own more common cards.

When I started online trading in 1997, I was astonished to think I could agree to make a trade with someone I’d never really met or spoken too and then send the cards through the mail. One of my first online trades was through the America On Line message forums. I swapped a bunch of Emmitt Smith cards for a 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn rookie. Big win for me. I disliked Emmitt and needed the Gwynn for my then-blossoming rookie card collection.

Over the years many more trades were made, but the process was still the issue.

And then it hit me a few years later: The most effective method of trading is actually selling on eBay. I might not get card for card what I would have liked, but it was an effective means to lump a bunch of cards together in an auction and then take the proceeds of that sale to buy something else I liked.

I’m not breaking news to anyone here. There are hundreds of collectors who are in the same boat. And there are probably as many or even more who still enjoy the process of a trade.

What’s funny is that two or three times a year I actually do a more traditional online trade through one of the good trading sites like The Bench, Sports Card Fun, etc. But that fun only lasts so long for me. I simply do not have my cards stored in a fashion where they can be listed or scanned with great ease. Besides, I’ve changed my collecting habits. No longer am I chasing cards for sets. I like to buy/trade for singles for the aforementioned rookie card collection.

This entry was posted on October 12, 2010 at 6:13 am and is filed under Newspaperman with tags baseball, baseball cards, eBay, rookie cards, sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.