What happened to Fair Trading on this Site?

[YoungGuns1988]

No disrespect intended. I do enjoy this site and there are deals to be made. I think everyone has their own preferences on which mediums suit them best. At the risk of sounding rude (not trying to) I find this site attracts an older demographic collector (late 30s-50s) vs something like Instagram attracts a younger demographic. This can impact on each collectors personal experience, the way trades are valued, traders available etc.

[jameslacarte]

Here's something else i have run into the last week or so... Guys message you about some nice cards, send you a trade list with basically a pile a junk, then, a few days later you see them post a For Sale or For Trade thread with lots of nice cards in the same price range as the card or cards they were asking about.
™™™ is up with that?? If you want good cards you gotta be willing to give up good cards!!!

[creasecollector]

No disrespect intended. I do enjoy this site and there are deals to be made. I think everyone has their own preferences on which mediums suit them best. At the risk of sounding rude (not trying to) I find this site attracts an older demographic collector (late 30s-50s) vs something like Instagram attracts a younger demographic. This can impact on each collectors personal experience, the way trades are valued, traders available etc.

I'm in the younger demographic (mid-20's), but I find forums like these very useful and I enjoy interacting on hobby sites as oppose to social media. Forums have a better community feel that I prefer.

But I think you're absolutely right as I feel like it does have an impact on the collector experience and how things are looked at or valued. I have seen some examples of collectors on Instagram (for example) do want to constantly 'win' the trade so they can show off their latest and greatest card (while giving up the least amount) for the most amount of interactions before their post is silently pushed into the mixer that is social media, never to be seen again. That is an extreme example, but I feel like the influence of social media (the good and the bad) can defintely seep into whatever hobby you're showcasing on that platform, which includes card collecting. I found this happened a lot when the Instagram card scene was first starting to begin and it had a lot of young kids on there.

These practices can also happen off of social media as well no doubt, most of which we have all previously dealt with at some point in the hobby.

I think there is a lot of reasons for this, part of it being the price/value of products now, along with the 'hit based' structure products we see being pumped out nowadays. The often short-sighted culture that can exist in the hobby being 'big hit or bust' or a 'winning' type of attitude that can take hold also, instead of phrases like 'completing' or grinding it out for a big PC 'milestone' which refer to longer periods and can often take years to accomplish. I feel like a little bit of that has been lost along the way in this hobby. It's not all doom and gloom, and there will always be exceptions to that, but these are just my observations as someone who's been in this hobby since 2005.

NOTE: I do not want it to appear like I'm discrediting the social media or the card 'scene' that exists on there at all. I find, like any social platform, there are a large demographic represented on there (young to old) and social media has done a lot to add to my collection and I feel like there are a lot of positives to give to the collector as well.

[scottkoz20]

No disrespect intended. I do enjoy this site and there are deals to be made. I think everyone has their own preferences on which mediums suit them best. At the risk of sounding rude (not trying to) I find this site attracts an older demographic collector (late 30s-50s) vs something like Instagram attracts a younger demographic. This can impact on each collectors personal experience, the way trades are valued, traders available etc.

i did not read it as disrespect - just providing your viewpoint

[Feno]

Here's something else i have run into the last week or so... Guys message you about some nice cards, send you a trade list with basically a pile a junk, then, a few days later you see them post a For Sale or For Trade thread with lots of nice cards in the same price range as the card or cards they were asking about.
™™™ is up with that?? If you want good cards you gotta be willing to give up good cards!!!

lol so true. Trading higher ends RCs is also trickier since value can change drastically within months.

To me the hardest part is finding someone who is willing to trade stuff I want since I only collect Cup RCs but once I find something I really want I usually end up trading.

[Maggot]

I've been trading online since it became a thing (initial creation of Beckett Online), albeit with some hiatuses. Let's not fool ourselves, it's never been easy to trade. There have been people looking to "win" trades, people offering base for high end, Beckett vs Sale, people that list cards for trade but are hesitant to actually trade them.. none of these are new things. People are people.

What I have noticed has changed is there are fewer set collectors and fewer team collectors.
It's tough to trade with player collectors. Their wants are few and trading really requires sending a certain number of cards in order to make shipping worthwhile. It's also tough to trade high end cards and the cards get more expensive and higher end with each passing year.

At the end of the day the solution is simple, expand your wantlists and add to your trade buckets - that's a certain winning formula for more trades.

[piper1]

It also doesn't help that close to half of the active traders keep posting and offering the exact same cards from 5+ years ago. If I didn't want them last week why would you ask me again this week.

[Leafsman]

I'll pick up from @piper1's point.

For me, the situation is difficult. I live on a fixed income and I'm three hours from my "local" hobby shop and that in itself is cost-prohibitive. As a result, it is difficult to acquire new products and keep my traders fresh and current. The only way I can pick up traders is if the other trader is kind enough to toss in an extra or two. Even when that happens, it is generally a card that they themselves could not get rid of, so as much as I appreciate their kindness, it really doesn't help me. Not being in a position to have a PayPal account does not help either. Seems like if you don't have PayPal, you are largely ignored and mocked for not "getting with it". Terrible.

My situation has caused me to consider selling my collection and retiring from the hobby on many occasions. I continue to stay in the hobby because I enjoy the camaraderie, occasional deals, and conversation.