In Defense of Listia

This is not an ad, but you're welcome to sign up with my referral link!

I'll just get this out of the way. I don't think Listia is the greatest thing ever, but I do spend a fair amount of time with it every week. And why would I do that? For the cards I've received, of course! I've read some critical things about it since I first became aware of the site about a year and a half ago. Much of it is warranted. But I still feel like it's worth my time. I'm coming up on about 500 completed seller auctions in the near future, nearly all of which have been single card sales for low amounts of credits. Slow and steady has won the race for me, though, as I've managed to take in piles of "hits" and other fun things for my collection. This Yadier Molina serial numbered jersey card is just the latest. I've also snagged a pretty healthy amount of base cards from sets that are somewhat difficult for me to come by, like 2006-2007 Allen & Ginter and 2001 Topps Heritage.

I've also picked up cards from other sports that I usually don't touch, because my interests are very narrow. I don't care about the NFL all that much, though I'm finally becoming comfortable with the Eagles again. But plenty of people have cards of former Duck Dion Jordan on offer as he was recently a high draft pick. I wouldn't dare try to buy these overpriced things in a local store, but I am comfortable with trading my earned credits for them.

For the most part, I pretty much break even on the majority of the auctions I list once you factor in the rising cost of envelopes and stamps. There's never going to be a 100% success rate with PWE's, which means I've had to eat credits a couple of times due to people never apparently getting what I've sent them. And a couple of dozen times I've had people fail to send me their mailing address properly, which certainly seems annoying. But I get to keep those credits and relist the item, so it's hardly a problem. I realize the site doesn't fit everyone's needs, but if you stick to the "slow & steady" plan, I think it has a lot to offer fellow card collectors. And I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more cards on the site.

I don't think I mentioned that this card is weird. You can scan the code with your smartphone and get (supposedly updated) video highlights of that player's work. Fun.

I don't know. It's something to do. You can sign up here and I'll get some extra credits. And you apparently get a lot more credits for signing up these days than I did when I did it.