How do you manage/track and keep a handle on your collection

[aquarius31]

Like other posters, I also use an excel spreadsheet. I initially only collected T206's and had used an excellent spreadsheet which could be sorted by player/pose/grade/back (don't recall the original source). Since my interests have expanded to primarily 19th century, I've built on the original T206 spreadsheet to include everything in my collection.

About a year ago, I took inventory of everything (very time consuming but worth it) including condition, price paid, observations etc. And when I do purchase a new item I immediately update the spreadsheet and add pictures to photobucket so I don't need to go back afterwards. I've also sold 95% of my cards post 1950's so that has helped make the collection much more manageable. I keep the spreadsheet on my computer as well as a USB stick.

[Brian Van Horn]

I scan the cards, title the scans and put the cards in the bank.

[tbob]

You guys are amazing, keeping track of every card you bought, who you bought it from and how much and when you paid. Incredible!
I have no clue. I have a list of every graded card I have, set name, player name, color variations if any, grade. Period. The ungraded cards are in sets and I just have, for instance, "T207 set complete." Period.

[smtjoy]

I use VCP my collection (a few thousand cards), I even enter my raw cards and just make a note that they are raw and guessing the grade. Its great because each group/set value is updated as cards are sold so my values change every day. It will also download into excel which is another bonus. Here is how it looks online-

This is a listing of groups and as you can see how many cards are listed inside, the *cost is the price of cards that have previous sales and the current value of them-


This is a listing inside a group of each card and value-


Been a huge help to my collection.

[HoofHearted]

I used Excel spreadsheets, too. It proved invaluable as I worked to complete my '62 Topps baseball set. It helped to keep track of the costs (including postage, grading of raw cards, etc.). Now that I may need to sell it, I have at least a reasonable idea of what I'd like to get for it.

As I was putting the set together I also used VCP to keep track of the cards I needed and any auctions that were going for the cards I needed. I tried to start an inventory of what I had but liked the spreadsheets better. At one point I thought about what would happen if VCP disappeared -- I'd lose all that work!

I'm now keeping my Senators/Twins collection in a spreadsheet to track what I have, the cost, etc. Very handy!

[FrankWakefield]

Mentally, poorly, and incompetently, that's how.


Recently, I've started chasing an odd set of cards, I have about 3 dozen of them, and I have a ways to go. They're all in a stack beside my desk pc. And this works well. If I see a card from the set listed on eBay, I shuffle through my stack to see if it's in there. Not a perfect system, because I could bid on a card of a player having already bought one of his cards a few days earlier but not yet having arrived.... but it works fairly well. No system is foolproof, not even the spreadsheet stuff. All it takes is some delay in entering whether you've bought a certain card, or whether it's arrived. Then you can buy a card twice or overlook one.

First time through on the white border cards, I used photocopies of pages of an old Beckett catalog. That worked fairly well, I penciled in when I got one. Eventually started adding acquisition date. I numbered the 400th one, and started adding a number for each one thereafter, so I had a running count of how many different fronts I had. I carried that list to a few shows years ago, and would get odd looks.

[Bocabirdman]

I, too, use spreadsheets. My problem is not tracking my collection. My problem is that my collection has expanded to the point that it has outgrown any and all space I allot for it. Thankfully, I keep dupes to a minimum but since I was re-bitten by this hobby two years ago, my collection is getting crazy big. My ID here is my eBay ID. I am sure some of you vendors know me. I am tackling Topps from 51-69. Bowman from 48-55, Red Hearts and Red Man Tobacco, 60 Leaf and 63 Fleer. I took a T-206 detour and have 104 in T-206 top loaders. Lately, I have been hitting Pre War stuff. DoublePlays, Play Balls and Exhibit cards were first. Now I have the Strip Card bug. I also have a few Goudey and a couple Matchbooks, Oh did I mention my blankets?
I had a collection of some note thirty years ago when I had a whole bunch more space. I sold it to finance the 1980's (Anybody that was there knows of what I speak). A couple years ago I stumbled on to a few card blogs and came into some money that I could play with. The wife is cool with it except for the ever-expanding overflow. Also the scraps of bubble wrap, used toploaders and everything else we accumulate is a regal pain in the butt...Wow that's the most I have typed in years.

[tachyonbb]

A couple of years ago, I moved my spreadsheets to google docs. Now my modest collection is available on my iPhone and iPad without any fuss.

I don't recommend google spreadsheets for any real scientific work but it does a great job with simple tasks like a collection.

[t206blogcom]

I put my spreadsheets on Dropbox so I too can access them from my phone or any computer with an Internet connection.

[autograf]

Like 99.9% of the rest........excel spreadsheets for the checklists/etc..........I go into ebay ended auctions and just copy and paste the stuff I've won into a spreadsheet and it works great for all the ebay stuff I win. Other stuff like from B/S/T and auction houses, I try to save invoices when I have 'em but don't do a 100% job on that.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by t206blogcom

I put my spreadsheets on Dropbox so I too can access them from my phone or any computer with an Internet connection.

Any cloud service also serves as backup, if you're a bad driver of have one.

[Matthew H]

Smtjoy, that's awesome! I'll have to try that out

[WhiteWhaleCards]

I too have been using spreadsheets to track my collection for years. I’ve always thought there has to be a better way to track and manage a collection than spreadsheets, so about a year ago I decided to build one.

In mid-July I will release a Web site called White Whale Cards, which will be a vintage baseball card social network. I have built a number of features into the site including being able to easily make a checklist of which cards you own, upload photos of these cards, make a list of the cards on your want list, and share all of this with the community. My hope is to replace the need for excel spreadsheets, Photobucket/Picassa, and other cumbersome tools and instead connect card collectors in the way Facebook has connected people.

I am currently looking for a few beta testers to test an early version of the site over the next two weeks. This would entail using the site to checklist which cards you own, uploading pictures of your collection and then giving us feedback on how well it works and how we can make it easier. If you are interested in beta testing for the site, please PM me.

Thanks,
Jonathan