General Forum

How do you mark "filler" cards when you are building a set? Do you mark it as poor, filler etc?

I just write "bad" and decribe the issue: "crease" or "pinhole" or whatever. It doesn't much matter, as long as you know you want to replace the card someday.

v3

there is an edit details function where you can put the condition of the card as well (poor, good, vg, ex, etc)

that is what I use for the vintage ones

mark 

I don't. I only keep track of if I have a copy of the card, not it's condition. 

I do what Billy does. Years ago when I was better organized I had some kind of system for letting myself know if a card needed replacing, but that was ages ago pre-internet. One time a few years later I came across some sort of collection keeping note but it was of some sort of system I had long abandoned. Something like putting an "x" on a paper checklist or printed "price guide" instead of a simple check mark. or using red ink for the check mark. I think I was also more strict about condition, particularly centering. Some of the cards I had noted for "replacing" were simply just slightly off center. Then again for the 1970 Fleer World Series set I have several of those cards that are way way off center front, back or both I really should consider trying to find better copies of, but I also have a ton of other sets just to build. So worrying about which cards to "replace" is something that I don't bother with much anymore unless a certain card and its condition keep gnawing at me.

If you're talking about marking fillers on this site, I don't.  If you're talking about keeping track of them for your personal collection in general,

1. If I absolutely know that I will be replacing the card in the short term because I can't stand to look at it in my collection, I just leave the checklist box blank on that card so that it'll be treated as a missing card. 

2. If the filler isn't a serious issue, but I just want to remember it as a replacement candidate when I have some extra time and money, I keep a separate list of those cards to replace in each of my set binders, which I continue to update as I look through my collection over time.

3. If replacng the complete set or a large lot from the set is cheap enough (post-1973 for me), I'll just ignore the card and get back to it during my occasional upgrades.  I'll later break up my extra set for sale individually or as a "pick" lot.

Depending on how you store your collection would dictate or suggest a way of identifying a filler card.

Binders you could use those post it tabs on the pages to identify a card you want to replace or you could also use for storage in a box. Just attach the postit tab to a penny sleeve.

Once I finish organizing my cards in binders or boxes i plan on marking the space with a wanted card or tabs.

This site helped me immensely for replacing cards.  If I know that I definitely want an upgrade, I still make the poor condition card as part of my set, but also add the same card to my want list.   Keeps me from finding a not somewhere saying that I wanted to upgrade!!!

I'll expand my answer. On this site, I don't mark them, but it would be a useful tool for doing so. I keep two other lists. One is an Excel spreadsheet of every card in my collection. Once I have a complete set, that entry is changed from all the separate cards to "set," and it's done. On the way to that point, however, I mark "bad, crease" or some such notation next to certain cards. If I'm insistent on replacing them, I wouldn't call the set complete. But, so far, I've always replaced them on the way to completing the set.

I also have a more limited written wantlist of the cards I seek, usually including all the cards I'm missing from the set or two I'm working on. On that, I'll distinquish the cards I want to replace by putting them in parentheses and writing "replace." Hence, "....412, 527, (562-replace), 603, 615...."

It's got to be pretty bad for me to need to replace it. Writing, major crease, paper loss. Bad centering and soft corners won't do it for me. A pinhole is probably acceptable, too. We shall see what happens with my 1969 set, as I have a Tom Seaver that is basically missing all four corners. I suspect I'll replace it, regardless of the higher cost, because it's just so damned ugly.

Good luck.

v3 

Thanks for the awesome responses! I am starting a 1974 baseball set and have the 2nd year Schmidt but it is SOO ragged. It brought a tear to my eye when I saw it. I suppose I can add it and simply add detail of "rep" or something. This site is a huge help in collating sets as I tend to check them off without putting them in sequence first.