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Even after verifying references, you may end up not getting cards you wanted. You may have fallen pray of a ripper, or other person may have simply forgotten about trade. Or they may have sent you fake cards believing they were real, or damaged cards they had rated as fair. If you can still contact your trader you may reach a second agreement to fix any deficiencies in trade, though this will imply more expenses and time, and may need of a lot of negotiation. You should always try to be as polite as possible even if you are discussing what you think is a misbehavior. Upsetting your speaker won't improve your chances of getting a good resolution to problem.
Most people use Internet forums to get in contact with other traders. They post their lists, exchange messages, match their collections, and arrange trades all in same format, as board messages. Everything is manual and users need to keep visiting forums to check for new users and visually identify cards they are looking for. To ease this process, a few specialized web sites have emerged that allow users to input their haves and wants in a standard way so that system itself can match their collections and tell them about possible traders and wanted cards that are available. This way search for trades gets automated and a lot of effort is saved. Nevertheless, users must still visit sites periodically to check for new matches. Trade Cards Online (http://www.tradecardsonline.com) is only site which offers their exclusive Automated Report on Possible Trades, alerting their users whenever any of cards they are looking for becomes available for trading. Users receive an e-mail message without having to visit site continuously for this purpose.
So finding best trades is getting much easier thanks to Internet and its global access. The web is also making trades by postal mail much more frequent. Unfortunately, it is not reducing associated risks. Forums are getting full of messages complaining about this or that user who has cheated someone. Special forums are created to post names of those people deemed to be bad traders. There is in fact a web site dedicated to fighting bad traders of collectible cards: G.A.B. (Good Against Bad traders: http://www.gabtraders.com) is a community of volunteers who investigate reports of misbehavior in card trades, and maintain a list of confirmed cheaters. The minimum precaution you must take before initiating a trade with someone is checking that they are not already listed in that website as bad traders.
But if you are really concerned about safety, then Trade Cards Online is site for you. Trade Cards Online (http://www.tradecardsonline.com) is a feature-rich site dedicated to facilitating your trading of collectible cards and which has made every effort to increase your security when trading. There are several features that make it safest place to trade on Internet:
Spam-free: your e-mail address is never shared with anyone else, as all messages are exchanged through an internal messaging system which directs them to your mailbox without disclosing your address to other user. You can also decide whether you want to receive messages only from registered users, or also from external traders.
Trustworthy: site features an easy-to-use reference system that lets users give references to each other and keeps track of them and time they were submitted. Checking number of references a trader has and contacting a few of them is all easily done from within website.
Protected: site offers exclusive Protected Trade service which guarantees you won't get cheated or ripped. The site acts as intermediary and checks that cards are in fact sent and are correct ones before resending them to their final owners. This way you get your own cards back if other party on trade does not meet its commitment. You will never lose your cards again to a dishonest trader.
Free of rippers: there is no bad trader list, and that is because bad traders are simply removed altogether from site, so it stays free of cheaters. Whenever a user thinks he has been ripped in a trade with another user, they create a Bad Trader Report which is investigated based on internal records of messages exchanged. If no resolution is reached, offending users are automatically expelled from site and banned for life. Users who get listed at G.A.B also get immediately removed from this site.
Trading online is full of advantages that make trading cards much easier and more convenient, but you need to be cautious and use all available services that reduce your risks of being ripped of your precious cards.
Clemente Zamora is the webmaster of Trade Cards Online (http://www.tradecardsonline.com/im/article1) The site where trading collectible cards is made easy! He is also in charge of Miniature Trading (http://www.miniaturetrading.com) and Hypernovels.com (http://www.hypernovels.com)