They are a negative for me because of how easy it's become for me to quickly find cards and spend money, especially on cards I don't need.
I should limit my searches, although some are more to monitor a market than to actually buy. For example, I set up a saved search for that Michael Phelps autograph A&G card that I got int hat crazy $25 online marketplace lot. I have no intentions of selling it, but the search helps me keep tabs on frequently they are listed and what they go for. (P.s. They still routinely for for $200.)
One area where saved searches are a huge benefit are for my player collections. With these saved searches comes a massive amount of patience. Given where I am with these collections, there is A LOT of sifting through cards I already have, or rolling my eyes at listings like this:
More often than not, this is the kind of card I buy from my saved searches. Nothing major, but parallels or smaller cards that somehow get missed or overlooked.
What about you? Do you have a lot of saved searches that you rely on?
My saved searches are very similar to yours. And like yourself, I only pull the trigger on the ones that somehow get overlooked.
ReplyDeleteI've had saved searches for specific cards for years and they never pop up. That said I don't really do broad saved searches like "Luis Torrens" because I hate how cluttered it makes my homepage (nor did I appreciate the onslaught of emails).
ReplyDeleteI’ve got five searches that I keep all the time and I will occasionally add a couple more in and keep them until I find the specific cards. I end up saving cards in my watch list for years because I need them but they are overpriced. Gift and a curse, like you said.
ReplyDeletei have quite a few right now, although i was just able to delete a couple that i had set up for one of my most wanted cards, which is nice. they do come in handy, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteI usually have all of my eBay saved searches slots filled. About half of them are very general like "Barry Bonds auto". But I have a few specific cards I'm tracking.
ReplyDeleteIs there an error on that 90S Tino? I'd love to ask the guy why he thinks he'll get $6.27 for that card when you can buy them for 18¢ + shipping all day long on Sportlots.
I am maxed out at 100. Have got some really nice rare cards that I had mostly forgot about until they poppped up in there. Also have some books and records in my saved searches that I am looking for.
ReplyDeleteI've only got two or three saved searches, but this blog post is a reminder that I should probably set up a few more. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThe guy probably thinks "It's a rookie card. It has to be worth money" and has no idea things like Sportlots exists.
ReplyDeleteI've got a couple good ones that have served me well. Usually "20## Red Sox Set" and "Red Sox lot -box -pick" are my two favorites. The first gets me team sets from the current year, and the second gets me people dumping cards as cheap lots, but without those "pick from the list" and box break search results.
ReplyDeleteI found eBay saved searches to be unreliable (I don't always get a notification emails). Now I just bookmark searches for cards I'm looking out for, and check the bookmarks usually daily. I think I've currently got about 40. It's not the most efficient method, but works for me.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know you could set up emails. I just go to the "saved search" area in the app.
ReplyDelete