In the past few weeks, I’ve added the 1985-1994 Topps Tradrd complete sets and the 1990-1992 Topps MLB debut sets to my collection, and have become 5 cards away from completing the 1987 Topps set. I’m really wanting to complete some older Topps sets because if I know my collection, I am probably 20-50 cards away from completing a number of junk wax sets. My dream would be to complete every Topps/Topps Traded set from 1983- the present, but with some of the prices for rookie cards, it might be cheaper to knock off some of these sets by trading than to get the complete sets. Some of the prices for complete sets (and Traded sets) are starting at 100 bucks plus like 20 dollars shipping for some of the sets, and thankfully, over the past 10-15 years, I’ve accumulated a number of the ‘main’ rookie cards from Topps/Update sets, save for the ‘05 Verlanders, the ‘08 Kershaw, the ‘12 Harpers, the ‘13 Machado, and a few others. Nothing a decent trade couldn’t help me acquire.
That leads me to want to log all of my cards into TCDB. I’ve heard the horror stories about how it’s difficult to learn and how it takes forever to enter everything. I kind of know that going in. I want to be able to enter cards by team (which so assume I could do by typing in a set name and checking the ones I have), and when I have done that with all my teams and have put in whatever cards I have in other binders, then I want to be able to see how many cards from each Topps set I need before they are complete. Is there a way to look that up once all the cards are added to ‘my collection’? Seems like a waste of time if not, but there are some parts of the site that are still a little confusing to me. I would ultimately just like to add only the basic Topps sets to my collection, but I want to have a good selection of stuff that aren’t flagship Topps cards just so I can have a nice trade stash so I can make some trades on the site when all is said and done. I figure it would be cheaper to do some trades, I wouldn’t have all of the doubles that I would be if I got a handful of more sets , and I could find a place for all of my Yankee$/Padre$/cards of idiots like Justin Turner, Manny Machado, and Yadier Molina to go. Sounds like a win to me. I’m sure it has been asked a thousand times around the different blogs, but is logging in all of your cards worth it? Are there tricks that make it easier? Will I be able to see my ‘needs’ and easily make trades once it is all said and done? Any other advice? My username is Karensjer if you want to add me.
Thanks in advance.
-Jeremy
I've almost got a path to the tons of boxes of dupes in my garage in Ocala now. You should drive over and have a field day going through them as they are not organized at all.
ReplyDeleteI've been on the TCDB for almost 9 years now. Entering your collection is a long and tedious process, but once you're done it's very helpful. TCDB has a trade matching feature where you can match your needs with people who have those cards on their For Trade list, and vice versa. It's not perfect, but I've gotten a lot out of it.
ReplyDeleteI've been on TCDB for 2 years now and I have to say that if it weren't for the blogs and TCDB I probably would have left the hobby again.
ReplyDeleteYes adding cards and wants can be painful, but the rewards of easy trading using your collection and wantlist makes it all worthwhile. I've gotten rid of so many cards that I didn't want anymore and found so many formerly elusive cards since I now had a network of trading partners around the continent and around the world.
You can enter your collection by team and see what's missing, although navigating by set works best in my experience. Entering your cards you want and the ones you want to trade away is probably more important than entering your collection in if you want to be an active trader. It's really not hard to enter your cards in, and the time it takes is relative to how large your collection is and how fast your internet connection is. If you are only working with the Topps flagships you can probably get them all listed in a weekend. You can pull up a list of each set and simply click the box next to the cards you have, then another box to click the ones you want, and another box to click the ones you want to get rid of. The Collection Summary page is where you would find those options, and there is a Collection Summary for each and every set, team and person.
ReplyDeleteHi - came across this site from the Penny Sleeves blog. I can probably help with a lot of your junkwax needs even before you get them onto TCDB. Check out my tradelist: https://sites.google.com/view/borosnytradelistwantlist/tradelist
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of the responses. I will try some of the tips you guys gave and keep plugging away at entering cards to trade and maybe in a few months I’ll have enough of a range of cards in there to get some trades started.
ReplyDelete