Livin In The World Of Today's Trading

Trading is just one of many fun aspects in the hobby. Up until recently, I had always traded the same. Beckett book value vs Beckett book value. If you had $50 BV (book value) in cards, I would trade you $50 (and freebies) for them. However, I found out this is old school compared to how trading is done now. It actually caught me off guard in a trade recently and is taking me awhile to adjust to it. Because in my well trained mind, all I can still see is Beckett values floating around.

In today's world of trading, the new way to trade is taking that supposed $50 BV in cards and breaking it down on eBay to see what each card sold for. So what you thought at first was $50 worth of trade bait, could easily flop down to $15. Yes, $15. My eyes hurt seeing the huge difference between those two numbers and this concept completely racked my brain. In my mind I still saw the $50 BV. I mean it's listed in the hobby's only price guide so they gotta be right....right? $15...ARE YOU KIDDING ME? There was no way I would lose $35 worth of trade bait......would I?

To answer that, yes I would have to once I was further explained this new updated way to trade. I was explained that my $50 in BV card(s) might sell for less than my trading partners $50 in BV card(s). Meaning that my trading partner could just sell off their cards they were trying to trade me, buy the card I am trying to trade them and keep a few bucks for themselves. So why would they want to trade for book value when they could be making out better the other way? All in all, from what I understood there is no true way to gauge a cards value per say. You can only estimate a fair trade by what the card sold for and whatever the card may mean to the person you are trading it to. My mind was blown. But, it made sense.

I guess in today's trading world, cards are not worth their book values or what they used to be worth. We are all given so much access to buy whatever we want when we want that it drives down values having it all within a finger-touch. The market is also a lot more flooded, bet you never thought it could get anymore flooded than the late 80's and early 90's, but it has and that doesn't help with values either. Back when I first started collecting, eBay wasn't really a big thing yet and the only way you could get a card you wanted was trading by book value or buying by half book value at local card shows or the one shop. Boy, those were the days. Would give up my best card now to have a card show or LCS nearby.

In closing, I am sure there are still collectors out there trading like I used to and I am sure there are traders trading in other ways, but it seems like the main trend is the one I am speaking about and trying to move towards. This is just one of many changes I have had to get adjusted to since I joined the hobby back in '93. Some of those changes have been good, some not so much. Whether they are good or bad changes, the hobby is what you make of it. So enjoy it!

***********************************************************************************

Alright, I gotta ask, how do you trade? Do you use book value? The method above? Have your own way? I wanna hear your thoughts!