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Question/discussion for advanced player collectors: how do you search eBay?

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TNP777

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,528
1
the 209
This has been an ongoing "problem" for me for quite some time now, and i'm not sure whether it's just one more sign of being a middle-aged collector, or that I'm burned out and maybe need to think about retiring my Butler collection.

It wasn't that long ago, maybe two years ago or so, that I used to almost religiously check eBay for my various saved searches. I've got special ones set up for the Topps Vault and other seller, one for PSA-graded cards, and one general catch-all that has various keywords blocked. Heck, I was even checking several times a day. Now I find myself checking maybe every 3-4 days... if even that much. And when I check, it's so damn tedious wading through all the base cards, all the inserts, all the everything... hoping to find those few elusive cards or weird promos or weird variations that might be lurking.

So how do you guys do it? - in particular I'm asking the advanced 80s-90s guys. Do you have specific saved searches for the exact elusive card(s) that you're looking for? Do you have suggestions on how to eliminate even more keywords? I'm leery of doing that (for instance, adding -(1990 Topps) to the blocked list), 'cause then some weird 1990 Topps error might pop up and I'd never see it.

Hope that makes sense.
 

RStadlerASU22

Active member
Jan 2, 2013
8,881
11
My basic search is Will Clark and include descriptions. There are a few other too. But I have kinda gone the opposite route. With the feed a click a way on my phone, when I get a chance I check it multiple times a day. But because I check it, it's quick because not of new stuff has been listed to search through. It is a quick peak then move on.

Ryan
Will Clark / Mike Brown Collector
 

banjar

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
2,540
883
Lafayette, Colorado
I have two basic searches for my PC

+roberto alomar -pick
(this excludes all the sellers breaking base sets and selling commons, the "pick your player" ones)

+alomar -roberto -sandy -vans
(this brings up all listings that have the player's last name but not the first, it brings up other first name variations like Robbie, Robby, Robert, etc, it excludes other common results like Sandy Sr, Sandy Jr, and excludes another very common unwanted result which is the Vans line of "Alomar" shoes)

There can always be weird corner cases that these searches won't find, but they are rare. Also, both of these searches are set to exclude items from ridiculous sellers that I don't want to see!
 
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