Hello eBay members,

Getting Started: Starting out, all buyers should make a list of the cards they are looking for.  If you need help in finding what cards are available and the values of these cards, I recommend going to your local card shop, comic shop, or book store and purchase the latest issue of the price guide for the cards you are interested in.  For Sports cards, Beckett or Tuff Stuff are the most common price guides and they give a good list of the cards that are of value and moving up or down in price.  Once you have your list of cards that you are looking for, the next step is getting your budget set.

Setting a budget: Having your list and price guide in hand, review the cards that are on your list and see what the going values are for the cards.  Everyone would love to have a Michael Jordan, Mickey Mantle or Joe Namath rookie card, but their wallet does not always have enough money to cover the $1,000's it will cost to get one of these cards.  So start placing what cards you can afford on the list and then what dollar range you can afford.  If you are wanting a Ken Griffey Jr., 1989 Upper Deck #1 card and your budget is for a price range of $25 to $50, then this is something to have on the list.  Please remember that your budget price should be the amount paid for the card and the total shipping costs.  The shipping costs can vary and I will discuss this below, but some shipping prices can drive the card higher then what you may be willing to pay for it.  Look at the shipping price before bidding.

Finding the Cards: Once your budget is set, you are ready to use your list to shop for cards on eBay.  You want to go to the eBay search box and type in the year of the card (1984), the manufacturer (Topps), and the player's name (Don Mattingly), then press enter.  All the 1984 Topps Don Mattingly cards should appear.  The you will want to sort by price starting with the more expensive, or highest priced cards at the top and then review the prices, until you get to cards that within your budget.  The advance search can narrow down the search a little better, but sometimes a good deal can be found, by reviewing all the cards that are available.  Now you have found all the cards for this player, year and manufacturer.

Finding a good seller of cards:  One way to see if a seller is good is to review the feedback and make sure most of their transactions are positive.  There may be a few negative feedbacks and that can be okay as sometimes all the customers cannot be satisfied.  Then the next way to see if the card is pictured in the auction as you want to make sure the condition of the card is good.  Please do not take the description to serious as the picture should show you the condition and edges of the card.  The description should describe the features that are not seen in the picture, such as, paper loss, scratches, pin holes, creases, color fading and printing dots.  Not to many sellers are professional graders, so having a seller state that the card is perfect and great for grading is a sales gimmick.  If it was so good to be graded, the seller would as they could make the profit then.  The last way to see if the seller is good is to check how much the card is being shipped for.  Most sellers ship their cards in regular envelopes with a top loader and that can cost $0.37.  Thus in my opinion, the buyer should not have to pay more then $1.00 to $1.50 for the shipping cost as this will cover the costs the seller has and still cover the listing costs and supplies.  If the seller ships the cards in a bubble envelope then the shipping cost can go up to $2.00 to $2.50 as the weight is higher and thicker packaging will protect the card.  The Post Office will charge $0.52 for the shipping and the rest will cover the costs the seller has.  Some seller charge $3.00 to $6.95 for a single, non-graded card to be mailed.  This is outrageous!  Priority Mail costs $4.05 and will be delivered in 2-3 business days and this is great for the higher priced cards, but is not needed for most purchases.  Many of these higher shipping price sellers are pocketing the difference and still shipping First Class mail, $0.37.  Please avoid these sellers.  Combined shipping is another thing to ask your seller as you can purchase many cards from the same seller and they will combine all the cards into one shipment and give a discount on the additional cards shipping price.   Please remember all shipping prices are US Postal service quotes and are only good within the United States.  Other countries will be more.

Purchasing for others: I have received several emails from collectors, parents and girl friends, asking me how to find good cards on eBay.  Now many of these requests have been about Sports cards, but this can carry over to Magic the Gathering, Yu Gi Oh, or other non-Sports cards.  The best piece of advise is to get a list from the person well in advance of any holiday or birthday so you can shop for the good deals.  If you find someone that you trust, send them a list of the cards and purchase them all from the same person as this will save you time and money on the shipping costs.

I hope this is helpful to you and if so, please pass the word on to others and score us as helpful as it will help our score.

all.business