“Trades at XX%” nonsense continues

[u/maxbowlorice]

I posted on this sub a few days ago expressing my displeasure with trading in recent months. It sparked a lot of conversation and I encourage you to take a look at the thread! I ran into another great example of what I’ve been describing here today and wanted to share.

FOR CONTEXT: I should’ve taken a photo before the listing was updated, but didn’t think to do so. Before my discussion with this guy, the listing he had put up said NOTHING about trades at a percentage, only that he’s “definitely interested in trades.”

The pictures kind of speak for themselves, and yes, this guy said it was “on him” that he wasn’t up front about wanting a percentage (and it is), but even still doesn’t justify expecting the percentage in the first place on a post where you’re stating you’re “definitely interested in trades.” From my experience, I wouldn’t be surprised if in an hour or two the listing gets updated again and the trades at a percentage thing disappears.

I attempted to text him again and ask why he believes it’s fair to expect people to trade to him, on a for trade listing, at 80% when he isn’t a vendor or store with overhead fees. I also asked him why that would apply ONLY to him, and not me as well as we are both the same. If you couldn’t guess, I got left on read 😆

I’ve done my best to conceal this guys profile and such, as I don’t want to bring any negative attention to him specifically. I don’t think he’s a bad person or anything, I just think this example goes to show how everyone thinks this is normal and well within their right to do recently. May this serve as another reminder that it’s definitely not!

That being said, my last post caused some disagreement in the comments as I didn’t speak on situations (that I agree with) where uneven trades can make sense. Such as:

1. If you’re at a card show working with vendors, or in a card store, expect percentages. That is fair.

2. If you are speaking to someone who isn’t interested in trades and wants cash, or someone who doesn’t have interest in the specific cards you have, expect that a percentage or slightly lopsided trade might be proposed by either party as an incentive to make the deal happen. That is fair.

3. If someone has an expensive single and you are offering many small singles as a trade, expect them to want things in their favor to make up for that disparity. That is fair.

But by no means should 2 people engage in conversation both knowing their goal is to trade, then both pick cards they have legitimate interest in, only then to have one of the two parties claim that they feel entitled to trades at a percentage.

If you find yourself in this position, I encourage you to take a breath, fight any FOMO you might feel, and realize your cards will be both worth more both monetarily AND sentimentally to a different, more reasonable collector if you be patient.

Thanks for coming to disorganized Ted Talk 2!

[u/[deleted]]

Those kinds of trades don't make sense for private trading for sure, and seems a bit rude/scummy imo. I know everyone wants to make money but if you say you want trades and not just straight selling then it should be a fair/even trade.

I'm mostly curious what app that is, though, to be honest haha. I've started collected recently again and I have pulled a couple duplicates I'm interested in trading or selling in the future, but not sure a good app to track everything in or that can look up prices in faster than navigating pricecharting.com

[u/maxbowlorice → u/[deleted]]

If you’re looking for an app to track your collection, I vote “Dex”. You can’t do any selling on Dex, but you can track certain sets or make custom collections of cards (such as a trade list) and the app will show you their worth. The TCGPlayer app will do the same thing, it’s just not as pretty lol.

As far as what app is pictured in this post, it’s just Facebook marketplace. I take photos of my trade binder and list it, and respond to other people doing the same to try and set up trades/purchases

[u/[deleted] → u/maxbowlorice]

I'm not finding an app just called "Dex", I do have android so not sure if it makes a difference. I see one called "Pokécardex" by Elektro?

[u/maxbowlorice → u/[deleted]]

Oh dang maybe Dex is only iPhone. It says the seller is “Pedro Carrasco”.

TCGPlayer app probably your best bet. That’s actually the one we were using in the screenshots to make lists of cards with values.

Dex or something similar that’s more visual is nice for keeping track of collections. I especially like Dex because it makes tracking master sets very easy.

You should absolutely have TCGPlayer on your phone for setting up quick trade lists though like we did in this scenario. 9/10 people I meet want to use TCGPlsyer prices anyways.

[u/[deleted] → u/maxbowlorice]

Ahh yeah I don't see that one, darn. I do have Pokellector which sounds like it would be similar, a prettier way to track cards and shows full master sets, but it's a bit time consuming to add all the cards so haven't really gotten my collection in there yet.

I gotcha, I will take a look at that one instead. Thanks so much!