Pokemon TCG, like many trading card games, requires trading in order to speed up the completion processes. In this article I will teach you all the best ways to prepare card trade binder like a pro!
Trading cards is a fun and exciting activity that can help you connect with the community and find the cards you are looking for with ease.
Below we are going to go over all the ways to make card trades.
How To Trade,Compare and Price your Cards
When you found a card you want to trade for or even sell, you have some options to choose from:
- You can always do an even trade: If you want a full art trainer card and the other person wants a card of the same category you can do an even trade. This is called 1 for 1 trade. And it’s a great and fast idea when you are trying to make many trades in a short time.
- Trade by card market value: Many people know that not all cards are equal. For example there are many popular pokemon cards that are worth more due to their popularity or playability. The best way is to check a card market current value and see if the cards you want to trade are worth the same.
- Uneven card trades: Sometimes you come across a really old or rare card that you looked for several months or even years. When you have the option to trade for it you may want to think about uneven trade. Basically you are offering more value or cards to get the trade done today.
- Free card trades: If you are lucky and in the right place and the right time, some events or stores will have sections of really common and cheap cards that they might give for free. Event participation freebies or even a huge bulk of cards can be given for free if you get lucky and ask nicely.
Now that we cleared all the card trade options. It is time to learn How to Prepare a Card Trade Binder like a pro.
Ways to Organise a Card Trade Binder
If you collect any kind of trading card game this section will be helpful to you in the future.
Collecting and opening card products can and will create many duplications and extras you would like to trade for or even sell to cover some coasts.
The fastest way is to go to card events or card stores and find other card collectors that might find your extras and trades quite attractive.
In order to make the most of the card trades I will teach you some ways you can prepare a trade binder to get more results and sometimes faster interactions.
Most Common Ways to Organise Your Cards In Binders
- Sort the binder by types (Sorting By Colors): Putting all the greed type cards together will be very cool to see, and make people search faster. As a plus this way looks super cool and colourful which will attract the eyes of card collectors.
- Rare and expensive in the front: If you want to wow the other trading person start your binder with the rarest cards you own. This will make them appreciate and in most cases, high-end collectors are looking only for the rarest cards either for their collections or sometimes for card grading.
- Themed Pages: You can take any pokemon and make a full page about him or her. For example you can start by doing a full page of charizard and charizard card variations to create a theme for your trade binder.
- Multiples next to each other: Pretty simple to do, if you got more than 1 copy of any card, just put them together in the same page next to each other. Sometimes card players are looking to create a deck and using multiple copies can help them make the trade choice with you.
- By sets and expansion: There are plenty of card collectors who are looking for their missing set cards. To make their life easier you can prepare and gather cards from the same set or expansion together to make life easier for them.
Pro Tips When Doing Card Trades
If you are going to trade with your card trade binder. Remember to remove any card you want for yourself! (Anything you are unwilling to trade or sell at all costs).
I had many times when I took the time to go over a person’s binder. I checked the cards I wanted for prices just to find in the end he doesn’t trade for most of them. Do not be that person!
If you are showing someone a trade binder let them know everything inside is up for trading or selling. Make that clear at the beginning to create a more positive environment and clarity.
Mark Cards With Bad Or Special Conditions
Make Sure to notify people on cards that have damages or special conditions. If you got some vintage cards that are damaged or heavily played let the other person who is trading with you know. The card condition can drastically affect the pricing of the card and can be a make-or-break situation for some card collectors.
In some rare cases you might have a misprinted card or something very unique. This can be interesting to some specific card collectors. And even fetch you better card trades.
Price Your Cards Ahead With Stickers on Sleeves
If you have several cards in the binder that you know the price point you are looking for them. Put a small sticker on the card sleeve with the price (Only On a Propare Card Sleeve!).
The card prices go up and down all the time so putting a price point on a card you own can be a double edge sword. But in many cases it just helps close faster card trades and especially for card sales.
Refresh Your Card Binder According to the Meta Playability
From time to time it is great to check your pokemon bulk and extras for highly playable cards. These cards can fetch several dollars and most of the time players are looking for several copies of the same card. So check the most played cards from time to time especially before going for a card trade.
Conclusion
Card Trades can be a very fun and bonding activity. You might hold certain cards that other people need and the other way around. By having a nice looking trade binder you can get more attention to your cards and even speed up the whole trading process.
That said, there is not one right way to prepare a card trade bInder. Sort and prepare your binder in any way that you think is right for you. And remember to have fun while doing so.
