As I mentioned in my return to this humble, little blog, I have become an active trader at the Trading Card Database. I've been a member of the site since (checking my profile...) November 14, 2011. This was back when what you could call Hobby "outsiders" with enough tech savvy started making their own websites dedicated to card collecting, cataloging, and eventually, creating a virtual environment where collectors from across the country (and around the world) could trade sport cards with each other.
The TCDB doesn't claim to be solely a trading site. The word "Database" should be the first clue about it's mission statement. The main focus of the site is maintaining checklists of trading card sets, from the main 4 sports (baseball, basketball, football, hockey) and beyond (soccer, racing, non-sports). It's managed by collectors, lists populated by collectors, images provided by...you get the idea. Since about 2020, I've finally gotten more involved. I've added images, created checklists after years of emailing somebody about sets that I had that wasn't on there (like this one), and eventually dove head-first into the "trading" portion of the site.
I've built a lot of insert sets from the last few years from trades with over 300 members of the site. I've even manage to build the last two editions of the Gypsy Queen sets (with inserts) thanks to trading my extras and insert cards on the site as well (supplemented by buying cards at shows, on the Bay, Sportlots). Before, I'd just buy full sets, but that is starting to become such an expensive endeavor. Now, I'll start a set by buying a Hobby box (or two...if I can afford it), and then after building the base set (which is even more of a challenge now), begin to scour the TCDB for trading partners for cards I'm missing. This site really helps match collectors together. The "Trade Matching" feature provides lists of collectors who have cards that I have on my wantlist and have cards they need that I have in my trade/sell list. It's a great system. Not perfect, but I've found many members who've agreed to trade opportunities.
Now that I'm back, I'm going to start posting trades that were accepted, whether I reached out and made an offer or vice versa (the former happens more often than not). Today, I'll talk about the first trade the that was accepted in 2026.
At the last Chicagoland Sports Spectacular held this past November in Rosemont, IL, I purchased a 2025 Topps Holiday Advent Calendar. For those not familiar with the concept, Advent calendars are these boxes that contain 24 numbered doors that hold a surprise behind them. Most Advent calendars are given to children to help count the number of days before Christmas by opening a door to reveal a piece of holiday-shaped chocolate or candy of some kind. For years, my wife and I bought one for each of the kids. As the years went on and the children got older, we would still buy them just for fun. Seeing one with baseball cards made me go up to the seller and say, "take my money." While Topps has done Holiday sets for years now, this is the first time I decided to buy a product with them.
On to the point.
 |
| The 2025 Topps Holiday Advent Calendar |
The Topps Holiday Advent Calendar had 24 doors that revealed twenty five-card packs of 2025 Topps Holiday baseball cards, one three-card pack of Topps Evergreen, two one-card packs that featured "buybacks" (mine were Bowman cards for some reason), and one unopened pack of Topps cards from years past (mine was a 1991 Topps Traded pack...Yay!!!) Each five-card pack included 3 base cards, one parallel card (all of mine were Green Holiday Plaid, an Advent Calendar Exclusive) and one insert card from a set called "The Nice List." It's a 25-card insert set featuring players that did something so amazing during the 2024 MLB season that they managed to get onto Santa's nice list. See below for an example.
 |
| 2025 Topps Holiday The Nice List Paul Skenes #MNL-11 |
Fortunately for me none of the 20 cards I got from opening the packs are duplicates. I am missing 5 cards. At this time, while I don't plan on going out of my way to buy or trade for cards to complete the 200-card base set, I thought I could find someone who had the five cards I need to complete this set.
And I did.
On January 3, 2026, I sent a trade request to a member who had all five cards I needed, offering her five cards that I had on her wantlist. She responded today with a counter-offer which is a great feature...allowing someone to make changes to the trade request if they find a better card that they like and take out cards that they may no longer need. When people counter a trade offer I propose, I almost always accept. In this case, she found a card that she wanted and removed a card she says she just received in another trade. So I accepted and let her know I'll be mailing the cards out within the next couple of days.
Here is the transaction. I am not asking for judgment, or if it's a fair trade. That doesn't matter. My main goal is to get the cards I want in exchange for the cards she needs. Values be darned (this is a family blog...have to keep it PG). For privacy's sake (and because I didn't ask her if I could post this trade on the blog), I am blocking her member name below:
The cards will be going out tomorrow.
I'm hoping to make this a regular feature on the blog in 2026. If you want to know what I am looking for, please click here. You don't have to be a member of the site to access the list. If you have something I need, please email me at bdj610@hotmail.com.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
No comments:
Post a Comment