Card trading: risks and precautions.Abstract: Ways of trading cards and their associated risks. Factors to take into account when arranging trades, both in person and online, and how to avoid
risk of being ripped of your collectible cards.
You can trade your cards in two different ways: face to face, or by postal mail. The first type of trading is performed at tournaments, at schools, or at local comic shop, and you arrange trades by checking other person's cards directly, holding them in your hands. Otherwise, cards are traded by mail when parties can not meet because they live far apart from each other. Both ways of trading have their own risks and you can be ripped in both situations if you don't take necessary precautions. Trading face to face is normally less dangerous, because you are seeing material you are getting, and you receive it at same time you give yours. Nevertheless, you can still be cheated in two ways. You may get counterfeit cards, or you may get cards whose value is far lower than value of those you give.
Counterfeit cards are normally easy to tell apart for a person with experience with real ones, but many young traders do not know enough about cards they are trading, so they can be fooled into believing they're some special kind of legitimate cards. And there are also very good counterfeits out there that are really difficult to distinguish from real ones even for an experienced player.
Cards from each collectible card game have different details you should check to validate their authenticity. For Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, for example, which is one of games that is suffering most from these deceiving practices, one of main tell-tales is a small hologram at bottom right corner, which should show Anubis eye, or word YuGiOh depending on how light shines on it. But also coloring scheme of both sides of card and even general layout may be different in fake cards. You should always compare cards you are getting with ones you have and make sure consistency of cardboard and quality of printing are similar, as counterfeit cards are normally made with cheaper materials, including paper, ink, glue, etc.
Nevertheless, most trades involve only authentic cards. But there is another thing you have to be aware of when trading your cards. In every trade, value of exchanged cards should be equivalent. But determining this is not an exact science. The worth of a card depends on parameters like its rarity, and its condition. Rarity is determined by frequency of printing, and condition of conservation is important mainly for collectors. But value is also relative and sometimes subjective. The same card may have different value for different people. For example, a collector may value a card much more than a player when it is difficult to find but it is not all that useful in game. Also, value of a card changes with time, as new game strategies are explored or new cards are published.
However, you can always determine a general value for a card based on how desirable it is for average trader. That's why most people will generally agree on a trade being balanced or not. So, if you are unsure about value of your cards or ones you are going to receive, you should ask someone else to evaluate trade.
Summing up, if you have a minimum of experience and can value cards and distinguish fake ones, you should have no real problem when trading cards in person with any other trader.
But nowadays it's getting much more frequent to arrange trades on Internet and performing exchange by postal mail. People are meeting on net, checking their haves and wants and arranging trades, all remotely and without meeting. Then they swap addresses and send their cards by postal mail.
In these cases you don't know anything for sure about other person, just whatever they want to tell you about them. You don't know if they really have cards they are offering, or if cards are authentic and in agreed condition. Here you can not see nor touch cards before agreeing to trade, and you can only verify if cards are authentic, and in right condition, once you receive them in your mailbox. If you have already sent yours, it could be too late by then.
In trades by mail you run a greater risk, therefore, if you send your cards before receiving those from other trader. That's why there is a lot of discussion, when arranging a trade through web, about who will send his cards first. The most usual way to determine this is by resorting to references. References are votes of confidence given by someone who has traded before with this person and was satisfied by his performance. It is assumed that greater number of references a trader has, more reliable he is. Consequently, rule is that person with fewer references should be willing to send his cards first if required to do so. Nevertheless sheer number of references is not guarantee of a perfect trader. You should always check one or more of references to verify they are authentic and recent. A reference includes a way of contacting referrer so he can explain when and how trade took place. You should ask politely and thank any replies you get.
