Trading in 2023
 

I am seeing more and more in 2023 is sellers (including dealers) accepting trades in lieu of cash. Example:

T206 Cobb - $10000 or $13000 in trade

This was prevalent at the National and at some recent cards shows.

Anyone else notice this? Personally, I would want the cash if I was a dealer, but to each his own. I wonder if this trend will continue in 2023/2024.

Trading down, especially when you can value your big cards higher than cash seems like a win-win....Probably easier to sell several $1-3k cards than a $10k card for the average dealer. There are only so many whales in the hobby.

I wonder if trading is used more by newer collectors. Given how crazy the market is for vintage now, it can be really tough to get into the bigger cards (especially if you don’t have the patience to save up). Much easier to make smaller purchases and combine them to trade up, even if it means overpaying a little.

Trading is...fun! They were called trading cards after all.

https://us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/...ed-wax-box.jpg

I am just a collector and I love trading. I have made way over 100 trades on here with some great members. I have traded everything from worthless junk wax cards to a T206 Cobb to HOFer game used/issued bats.

I find if you don't think your items are worth 100 times what they really are and don't try to extremely lowball the other persons trade items that trades are very easy and common on here.

Trades are a great way to get impossible to find stuff by giving up other impossible to find stuff. Sometimes money just won’t shake it loose, so you have to be willing to dangle something they really want.

Is there really a lot of impossible to find stuff at this point?

Now excuse me while I carry another 9 pounds of catalogs down to the recycling bin.

it seems like the $10k cash- $13k trade is done by many dealers as a way to "win" the trade. Not many cards I have to have that will make me want to pay a 30% premium in cards to do it so I usually don't work w/those people. While I appreciate the transparency, it makes no sense to me to give up more cards than cash when i can sell the cards for $13k anyway. To each their own.

I think those dealers would happily say go get the 13 and come back with the 10

For someone strictly buying and selling it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to depend on a last comp as a guarantee theirs will sell for that

Probably so but a 30% delta seems a little crazy. I can appreciate a dealer in it to make a profit but when the card they're trading was likely purchased for less than 100% of value, seems like it's a parlay into a very rich margin. Good gig if you can get it and not disparaging anyone for trying to make a profit. Just not something I'd be willing to do If I'm trading equally valuable stuff of similar quality and quantity.

HA.

I suppose there are degrees of difficulty. You’re right that most stuff can be found with a little patience and work. But still plenty of stuff that’s maybe not impossible but nearly impossible, and you might have to wait a very long time for it to come onto the market.

Edited to add:

As an example: A recent 3-way (sounds a little dirty) trade completed, as brokered by Fred McKie. I traded the Jello Box, and got back the Canadian Post Panel. Arguably both pretty darn impossible to find.

Amen to this I feel the exact same on this.

For me there is, I would love to see more rare stuff surface. Lots of rare cards that may not see the light of day for 5-15 years or are only available in the off market.

I've been collecting for 3 decades, and love trading. Always fun trying to create a deal that's mutually beneficial, and then executing on it.

For example, there's a small circle of advanced T206 collectors. We do a good amount of trading, have done so for many years...this was acquired recently via a pretty epic trade with Ryan (Hi Ryan!)...

It all depends on what you collect. I tend to go after some obscure stuff. The two most famous athletes in the world, Muhammad Ali and Pele, had cards issued all over the world and some of the really obscure issues have one or a few known examples. Want an Israeli Ali or Pele card? Good luck with that.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...eli%20Clay.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...eli%20Pele.jpg

I also totally agree with Raulus. If I don't need the cash, there is simply no way that I will part with a rare card for money (unless the offer is obscene) but a trade, definitely worth consideration. For me, it is because I can tell myself a trade is a win-win. I swapped extreme rarities with a fellow collector fairly recently and it was perfect. He got the better player and I got the player I actually collect. Financially hard to say who got over, but I preferred his card and he preferred mine, so it worked.

$10k cash, 13k trade is extreme.

Ive seen stuff more along the lines of $10k cash, $11k trade. Makes sense to me.

Speaking as the old geezer I am, the only way to try and get a card you coveted was by trading, in my case with the neighborhood gang under an old Sycamore tree, which was considered neutral territory. The bickering, hyping, inflating and mass hysteria was reminiscent of a crypto exchange during a panic. There were no full time dealers, no ah's, shows, VCP nor grading cos, only kids playing capitalists. Sure is a different world today.

I suspect when dealers do it, it's less that they're trying to "win" the trade and more that they're willing to trade but would rather have cash.

Personally, when I trade it's with other collectors, and the monetary value of the cards hasn't ever come up.

A nice trade all the way around, with another board member. This was a card for a card...

If dealer is parting with a $10,000 T206 card of Ty Cobb, asking for $13,000 worth of cards seems reasonable to me. Same applies to Matty, Ruth, and so on. After all, that's top-tier material. I'd also expect the dealer to be picky with what they'd take in trade. No shimmer rainbow Zebra foils of a draft pick who has never played a professional game.

Now, if they say, "this card is worth $1,000...I'll give you $750 in trade for it" and so on...then pull the $13,000 in trade for this $10,000 card thing, that seems like an issue. In that case, they're taking their cut twice. No bueno, in my opinion.

Awesome card and an awesome trade Leon.

trades
 

Thought provoking topic that is near and dear to my heart. I just attended
a local show yesterday and I bought from, and traded with, different
dealers. Some observations:

1) On net54, I don't typically reach out to someone for a trade until their
card has had a chance to sell. I'll politely inquire if the person would
consider trading, and ask if they'd look at a list.

2) I am mildly surprised when people refuse to look at a trade list out of
hand. Trading has always been one of the most popular and available
ways to obtain material. The typical objection- "I only want to sell"-
makes sense. It doesn't make much sense, however, to refuse even to
look at a trade list that may contain better cards to sell(!). Help me, help
you. There's no down side to looking at a list, the worst the other person
can say is, "I'm not interested in anything on the list".

3) Just as dealers "only want to sell", there are times when a collector
only wants to trade. Perhaps the collector already has an example of
the card in question, or the card is outside their normal collecting focus
but the collector was just attracted to it. I've often found it's useful to
have "pigeon bait" when I'm trading- Mantle, Clemente, Aaron, nice
looking T206- the stuff many dealers automatically acknowledge. I think
Adam mentioned above, that many collectors desire a specific card over
common popular cards, and will trade accordingly. It also helps to offer
some cash in a trade scenario, to make it more palatable to the other
person.

4) There are some wonderful, fair, willing traders on net54. It's my pleasure
to know them and to enjoy this hobby with them.

Trent King

I wonder if

1. Some if it is for tax reasons
2. Some of the cash plus trade is because people are either not as liquid with inflation or bought so much they have a lot tied up in cards more than they thought or budgeted for

Either way I also prefer trades I like to have a card in hand vs cash(even though you can use cash to buy a card but if the card does not come up that you want many spend it else where)

As long as the card you're "trading" has a similar premium above comps it could be a win-win

In almost three years on here, I have yet to complete a trade. The biggest roadblock I've found is that I don't have the breadth of collection that can accommodate people's "looking to trade for" wants, which are typically extremely narrow. I honestly don't even look at most "for trade" posts, because I know I won't have a "red Hindu of player X in an SGC 3.5" or whatever.