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Guide to Trading Online
By Dark Marik
 

March 16, 2009

Article #5: Building Your Own Trade Thread

            The way to advertise your collection binder on the message boards is by building your own Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Thread! In your thread you can advertise the cards you want, cards you have, and people will come to you and make offers, advertising their cards as well. Think of the trade forums as like a market place, as it is actually even called on many other message boards such as on Janime.info Forums. As long as you follow the rules, you will have no problem trading here at Pojo.com.

            The first thing to consider is that there are three different Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Forums on the message board. You are only allowed to have one active trading thread at a time within the TCG trading boards, along with one OCG trade thread at a time. The TCG threads include the European Trading Forum and the North America Trading Thread, since you can only have one thread within both of these threads, it is best to make your thread in the forum in which you intend to do the most trading, because typically people post their threads in the continent in which the live in to save postage costs. Just because you post your thread in one forum, does not mean you cannot browse the other forum for people to trade with. You can also have a Japanese Trade Thread, which is for trading OCG cards, which actually typically has people from Japan, Asia, and the Pacific Islands trading there, but it is a good place to pick up Japanese and Korean cards.

            The one trade thread at a time week means within seven consecutive days you can only post one trading thread. This does not mean you can make a thread on Sunday, and then make one Friday as well, because that is only five days difference, and if caught you will receive a trading ban for five consecutive days. In these five days you cannot post a trading thread, make new trades with other users, or make offers to make new trades. This does not excuse you from trades you are already involved in as described in article #4.

            Once you decide where to make your thread it is time to actually create it. The first thing people normally do is create a set of rules. To me rules set is sometimes over thought and traders spend too much time on this. This will be more complexly described in my next article, but one of the most important things to remember is there is an inverse relationship between length and what people read. Examples of rules that are good to have are you are not interested in trading with people form other countries, ff you are interested in buying and selling, and maybe if you won’t trade with people who have negative references.

            After your rules is where you begin to customize your thread. Typically many people post current trades, past trades, and other random items in the area between the cards and rules. In my opinion these are a distraction to other people who you want to check out your list. It is unneeded clutter. Often I go looking through people’s lists and get lost in a wall of past trades that in all true reality, no one actually cares about. I am not saying it is not good to keep these records for yourself for what ever reason, but it is best to simply put these put these items at the bottom of your list where it will not interfere with people visiting your trading thread.

            Next in my opinion should come the wants list. By placing your wants list next it will increase the possibility of people offering your wants. By scrolling down your thread they will get a look at your wants list, and may notice something they have, or even something they wish to get rid of ASAP, which will word to your benefit, because when they view your list they will have the cards you want in mind. It is kind of like when you take a multiple choice test, you are advised to read the first sentence of the question, and then the last sentence first, then read the whole problem so you know what you are looking for. Your wants list must contain at least ten different cards you desire.

            Many people create threads when they are quitting the game, and post a list of random electronics and money as their wants, thinking since there is ten different things it is a legal list. In reality, the moderators have ruled a list with a bunch of electronics a selling only list, and selling only threads are not allowed. If you only want to sell cards, go to eBay or a similar website and post your cards there.

            When creating your wants list, it also helps to organize it somewhat. Make “Top Wants,” “High Wants,” “Low Wants,” or any other combination of ways to organize your wants list so that viewers will understand what you want more. Alphabetical order also helps anyone view a list, as well as correct spelling. Correct spelling does not mean “MST,” it means writing out “Mystical Space Typhoon,” which can help you gain the cards you want, because not everyone knows the abbreviations. It took me years to learn what “Spon” stood for, and when I learned that it meant “Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys,” the card was actually not even played anymore, and there are many other cards out there I do not know the abbreviation for, so it is wise to spell out the cards actual names.

             When creating your wants list it also helps to not only list cards of high value, because it will open you up for more possible trades, and make it also easier to obtain cards you need. Honestly, if your only after extremely expensive cards, and do not have many to trade for them, it would be best to just stick to buying cards off eBay or another website.

            Once you create your wants list I personally place the list of cards you have next, for easy access to them. In your haves list, list the cards you have available for trade. Like with your wants list, it is a lot easier to read if you list cards with organization. I personally believe it is best to organize by rarity, and then put them in alphabetical order so when your thread is visited, your shoppers can easily find cards they want. Spelling out full names of cards is very helpful here as well.

            One thing that should be noted, is that it is something many people find very confusing is the distinguishably of Secret Rares. Many traders sometimes classify promotional cards that have secret rare foil as “Secret Rares,” which can cause some confusion since cards such as Rainbow Dragon have been printed twice in the same rarity. (Both the CT04 and TAEV versions have secret rare foil). If you choose to list promotional cards as the type of foil they have, it is best to also list the sets, because some people do not like promotional versions, and you can easily end up with a negative reference for this mistake.

            After your haves list is what I consider the “Anything Goes” area. In this area you can list video games, cards from other games, and links to your other trade threads on the site, those past records discussed earlier, and anything else you feel necessary to post in your thread. From it being down at the bottom, it is out of the way of your shoppers, and will not affect people’s understanding of your trade thread.

            Throughout this article I have talked about using correct grammar, spelling, and alphabetical order. This can be hard if you are simply typing it on the message board, even if your internet browser has a built in spell-checking system. It is my advice to use Microsoft Word to type out your list, it will grammar check, spell-check, and even sort your list very easily, and you just need to type everything out.

            The last thing you have to do before you post your trading thread is to name your thread. There are mainly different schemes for naming a trade thread. The first is to make a catchy phrase to catch fellow trader’s attention. This approach is often good at attracting people who understand the phrase you are mentioning, or find it funny. These can include classic jokes, cheering on or booing sports teams, political comments, phrases from movies, TV shows, manga, etc. A popular thread title for new traders is “My First Trade Thread,” which actually will attract people since they will know you will normally have to send your end first.

            Another approach is to list cards you have or cards you want in your title. Listing cards you have will help you attract people who obviously want those cards, and listing cards you want, may attract people that have those cards. However this can also be dead giveaways in some situations. If you list a bunch of cards in which are very undesirable to own or that are extremely rare, it could reveal you only want cards that are expensive or only have stuff that is not very good. Another thing which should be brought up, is that there is a trading rule stating you cannot claim to have cards in your title that you do not actually own. If you list a card in your title at the time of creation, and then later trade or sell it off, you are not going to be affected by this rule, however if you do break this rule you will receive a five-day no-trading penalty.

            Once you post your list you now must advertise it so people will be able to find it. By replying to all the posts on your threads, it will continue to push your thread up to the top of the list of threads. Another way, which makes everything a lot easier, is by posting a link to your trade thread in your signature. To have a signature you will have to become a registered user ranked user, you will need to have been a member of the message boards for 30 days, AND have posted at least 50 times. Now wherever you post will advertise your trade thread, and will help you link to your trade thread when you are having other traders check out your list from their thread.

            Making a Trade Thread is very easy, and can be very successful if you make your list with the thought of others. Remember to follow these guidelines:

ü  Be sure you post your thread where you want to get cards from.

ü  Make your List in this format: Rules, Wants, Haves, Other Stuff

ü  Organize Your Have and Wants Lists

Thanks for reading, and I hope this helps you design your own Trading Thread, and become an even better Online Trader. I invite you all to read the next article, which will go in depth on designing your own Wants List

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at mrh40@uakron.edu or contact Dark Marik 07 on the Pojo message boards.