Sports cards book chapter 6

Once you have learned the art of negotiating a good trade, you will find that there are many people out there who are willing to trade in your favor in a variety of ways depending on what they might want in return. You will want to make sure you do not offend your sports card trading partners by making unreasonable trade offers, but with time you will get to know the various traders on the trading board and how they might be willing to help you in exchange for you helping them.

Keep your eye out for these opportunities! You will meet traders who will be open to:

1. Taking your common cards and giving you game-used, autos or rookies in return.

2. Taking your commons for hot star players.

3. Trading substantially in your favor in exchange for one card they might need to complete a set.

Another way for you to upgrade your collection without spending any additional money is for you to trade non-sports items for cards. Some folks will trade other items such as video games, DVD's, CD's, etc. in exchange for sports cards. You will want to double check the rules of the trading site that you belong to before doing this; if it is okay to do, give it a try and enhance your collection without spending more money!

How to make $MONEY$ by trading online
Trading is not only fun and a great way to build up your sports card collection, but it also allows you the opportunity to MAKE MONEY! Obviously these money making opportunities are not for everyone, but if you are resourceful and hardworking chances are you will be able to turn your sports card trading skills into a way to earn some cash. In order to maximize your money earning potential, I would suggest that you become a very experienced sports card trader before using any of these suggestions. Here are some of the ways you can use sports card trading to turn your cards into cash and have more money in the bank.

1. Trade for cards that your local shop owner will then buy from you. These days most card shops are selective about what cards they are interested in buying from customers. Find out what cards they do buy and then trade your unwanted cards for those cards.

2. Set up an arrangement with your local shop owner to trade the cards that are not selling well in the shop for ones that will. Explain to them that trading takes time and that you would be willing to do this for them in exchange for some store credit or commission.

3. If you are a computer savvy sports card collector with a lot of trading experience, offer to teach someone how to trade. See if your local card shop will let you put a flyer up advertising your trading tutorial services. You could even hold a small seminar about how to trade at your local shop; many shop owners will like this idea because it brings more people into their stores.

4. Many people either have no interest or no resources to get a computer and learn all of this stuff, offer to do it for them in exchange for cards or charge them a fee.

5. Trade for the cards of your local sports teams and sell them at a local card show, flea market, or have a garage sale.

6. Trade away your unwanted cards for cards to give away as gifts to friends and family members. It never fails, every holiday season I see a lot of folks trading for cards to give as gifts! What a great way to turn your unwanted cards into a gift that someone will love, this is an excellent example of saving money with the magic of trading baseball cards, basketball cards, and other sports cards on the Internet!

A sports card price guide reality check
Speaking of all of this money stuff makes me think of the all important price guides. You are going to have to have a good handle on using price guides in order to trade sports cards. The Beckett price guides are the primary resource people use for look up the values of their cards. Beckett offers several versions of monthly and bi-monthly printed guides that you can pick-up at your local card shop or other magazine outlet. Now that you are getting comfortable using the Internet I would recommend you use the online versions of the Beckett price guides. I have found these online price guides to be a real time saver since I do not have to flip through printed pages of tiny price guide text. You will have to subscribe in order to use these, but I find them well worth the $3.99 per month.

Another interesting price guide tool starting to emerge can be seen at cardpricer.com and vintagecardprices.com. These subscription-based guides are a sort of “real world” price index that is integrated into eBay. These new tools allow you to search for a card to see what it has actually sold for on eBay. But you ask “why would I care what the card sold for on eBay? The answer to that question can sometimes be a bit of a rude awakening for some collections, but here is; In the world of buying and selling sports cards, your cards are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them.

Occasionally an incredibly popular/hot card will sell for more than the listed book value. Then again there are times that a card will sell for about what the price guides have listed. More often than not however, a card will sell for far less than the high book value listed in the guides. For example, a card listed in the regular Beckett for a high book value for $100 might only actually sell for $50 (or less). I attribute eBay with providing a hefty dose of reality to collectors, what cards are said to be worth verses what a collector can actually get in cash value are two completely different things. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the faster a collector figures out what his/her cards are really worth in cash value the better. The longer a collector is under the impression that he has a collection worth substantially more cash than what it is really worth, the bigger the disappointment he’ll eventually have to face.

This is also why I feel strongly that most collectors should collect for the fun of it. Collectors should also collect what they like and not what someone says they should like based on who or what the latest hot card is. The average sports card enthusiast should not try to collect as an investment tool, and when it comes to investing their hard earned cash, should instead get the advice of a good financial planner. This is also why trading sports cards can often be a more rewarding experience than buying and selling, since most people trade high book value for high book value. Hence, when it comes to trading sports cards, the price guides are incredibly helpful.

CONCLUSION
Trading sports cards on the Internet is a fun and rewarding way to add to an already fun hobby. You are now among the thousands of other collectors who have figured out what an excellent tool the Internet is for helping them expand their collections. I hope that you have learned that although trading on line is ultimately very easy to do, here is a lot involved to being a great and efficient Internet sports card trader. Put this guide to good use and it will provide you with a solid foundation for earning an excellent reputation as someone we’d all like to trade with.

Contact me for advice
If you ever want an opinion about a trade situation that you are involved in you are welcome to contact me. I may not always be able to give you the answer you are looking for, or the perfect solution to a trade problem, but I am willing to give you an answer based on what I might know about the type of situation you might be struggling with. Contact me at this email address "help at sportscardfun dot com".

But wait, the books not done! Be sure to read Chapter 7 and our resources page.

Chapter - 7 The BIG LIST of “Smart trader tips”