[dbroockerd]

+1

I started trading base/insert and low end GU cards. Usually under $15 BV for most of my first 10 trades. Once I hit 10-15 successful trades people became more comfortable sending higher end cards back and forth.

A lot of people will ship low-end for the first 25 traded or so then they get a reputation and then they start getting dirty. That's why I use 50 as a base number. If you wanna waste the shipping on 50 deals then your less likely to be a scam artist cause the value in the end will not be what you spent to pull the scam anyway. Just stick to established traders for a while and your odds of getting burned are slim to none.

[krn001]

We have all been in your shoes shipping first. Here are some basics to help keep you safe.
1. Never trade with anyone under 50 trades until you have 50 yourself. I know it limits your trades but if you have to ship first it keeps you safe.

Maybe i'm mis-understanding #1, as a member of 12 years but just a recent trader with a whopping 17 or so trades almost all of my trades were with members with less than 50 trades. If those trades under "50" didn't happen then i would have about a total of 3 completed. What does the 50+ trader have to loose if they ask me to send first which has been the case the majority of the time. Like i said, i might be mis understanding the 50/50 thing but if i had a desireable card f/t a less than 50 trader shouldn't trade for it?

[shezdoni]

We have all been in your shoes shipping first. Here are some basics to help keep you safe.
1. Never trade with anyone under 50 trades until you have 50 yourself. I know it limits your trades but if you have to ship first it keeps you safe.
Wrong!!!, there are a lot of great traders on here, that have less than 50 feedback

2. Always check the bad trader list before making a trade and match addresses before shipping.

The addresses are not put on the bad traders list, so where are you coming up with this at?

3. Always DC until you get enough trades to be established here.

WRONG, ALWAYS USE DC!!!!!

4. Expect to ship first until you get to 25.

WRONG!!, a lot of the better traders on here will trade, and not ask someone to send first if they have 10 completed trades done and all positive feedback

5. Never ship first to someone with less than 25 feedback (50 is better) and with less feedback than you. If you follow rule 1, this is not an issue.

WRONG. if someone has less positive feedback than you, you have the right to ask them to ship first, if you both have the same amount, then ship at the same time, and like I said for #1, there are a lot better members here that have less than 50 feedback

6. If your unsure ask someone like myself, YankeeEmpire, ceocards, etc if we have traded with that person, we are all happy to help. Any member with 200+ trades may have traded with that guy before or check his feedback and contact a regular who you see has dealt with him before.

the only 2 people that you should contact concerning other members is CEOcards or Floydtown if you have questions about their reliability or trading habits, the other two people mentioned have been here a year or less, and they wouldn't even come close to knowing who all the bad/questionable traders from the past year are, let alone 2 yrs, or longer ago, CEO, has access to the master bad traders list that has bad/questionable members from ALL the trade sites that they forward the info to us.

And yes, all the sites do look out for each other, and let each other know who the bad/questionable traders are, it is about the only thing we agree on

Good Luck!

[homerjg007]

welcome to the site - as you can see lots of people willing to help and share their expertise. Hope to trade with you soon!

[johnxgodfree]

I agree with Derek on this. He pretty much said everything soup to nuts on what you need to do. As for sending cards back i had to do that a few times because they looked like a dog took a sqat on them and they were unacceptable. Be sure you label the condition of your cards as best as possible because this will avoid and confrontations on a unhappy trader receiving cards that were not as described. I had this happen and i know Derek did as well. If you have any questions or you are unsure about a trader Myself,dbroockerd,Mdavison or any of the Mods can assist you. We all traded with hundreds of traders so the chances are we would know how they are.....Good luck and Happy Trading!!!

+1 to this...pretty much everyone named will be able to point you in a right direction, or offer you a little insight. I don't do nearly the amount of trading as any of these guys here, but I am on the forums a lot, even when not posting, reading through all the time. they are good folks that know a lot about what is going on here.

I don't follow any set rules for myself...luckily I deal in almost all lower end and 90s stuff, with no real significant BVS ($15-20 tops usually) so my concern of being ripped off isn't too great...if someone is really that hard up for some nolan ryan or cal ripken cards...hope they enjoyed them LOL

but so far so good, haven't run into a single issue while trading here outside of the website actually working right. a lot of it i tend to think is common sense, but i have traded and sold for years online so maybe thats why.

just use your head, if something sounds wrong/weird/off don't be afraid to back away or get bullied into a position where you might get ripped off. make sure to be completely up front about your cards (condition is everything!) when I am completing a trade I make sure to let them know give me a day to locate/pull all the cards and look them over, to make sure there is nothing that I should make them aware about. if there is address is... figure out what we want to do, and then finish up the trade.

also as for sending with DC, if you print your postage online through paypal its cheap as can be, and can save you a ton of time at the post office

[ricelynnevans75]

Always go with your gut instinct. If something feels off, just avoid the whole deal altogether. Your life will go on with/without the cards your trading for.

Yes, there are people who will require you to ship first until you've hit a certain number of completed trades with good feedback. However, this should be communicated BEFORE a trade is agreed upon. People apparently like to just assume this is the case and not communicate with the newer trader which is pretty weak in my opinion and only serves to potentially put a bitter taste in someones mouth about trading.

Always do your homework and check out the feedback. If they post, great, check out how they are in their posts. I've seen some people with high post/trade counts who have a tendency to talk down to people in their trade threads. Not someone I would want to trade with. On the flip side, I've traded with some people who just never post on the boards and have been top notch traders. Post count does not equal good trader.

Keep in mind that "veterans" have also scammed people on this, and other, trading boards. It should never be assumed that they are 100% reliable, regardless of what someone says.

My advice, stay away from people with too many rules to trading and try to boss you around. Bad news. If people are unable to communicate clearly, fairly, and like a decent human being, they are not worth your time. When I see some people with multiple screen names in their signature of people they either don't trade with because they got scammed and/or they just can't get along, it tells me that although they had a bad deal/transaction, something on their end doesn't seem to add up either.

On the note of signature blocks, people should also realize that not everyone looks at your posts and sees your signature block with your "trading rules". Some people just look for a card through the system and see who has it up for trade and then send offers without ever seeing your signature block and your rules.

In any event, in your case and if I'm reading it right, have them send your cards back and be done with it. If they never communicated that they would wait to get your cards before sending, they have no spine and fall right into the scammer category as far as I'm concerned.

"Veterans" of boards should be there to help out newer members and guide them, not dictate and boss around. If you need any input on a potential trader or want to see if what your gut is telling you is correct, get in touch with Floydtown or Ceocards. I don't know if I've ever dealt with Floydtown but I do know he has a vast amount of info on past traders from past years. Ceocards is great and has that access as well and, at least for me, ALWAYS gets back to me no matter the issue. Those should be your "go-to" guys.