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As we have experienced the influx of sets where the whole set has 2 or more VAR of each card, pulling cards for trades involving these sets has become a pain in the ***. In a trade that has only one or two of these, not a big deal. But when we are looking at a trade of 50 or try 500+ cards, this is where the pain really starts.

The problem is that in the Transaction Manager, the cards being asked for are listed with only the Note 1 field "VAR". There is no way to determine which VAR it is unless you open the card's page in a separate tab. Every card in a trade that is listed with VAR (or ERR / COR) has to be opened in this way to verify which VAR the other individual wants.  This morning I had to open 63 card pages of the 1992-93 UD Basketball set to see which was being asked for.

Solution? I have ideas but not sure if they are possible the way the Note fields are presently designed. One idea is a sub-field for the Note 1 field only for the sets where the whole set (or almost whole set) has the same VAR. I am looking for other members opinions and ideas on how to solve this issue.  If there was a way that the VAR was displayed in the Transaction Manager, it might eliminate some of the wrong cards being sent in trades. I know many have not bothered with these types of VAR (I fully understand why, be it the holograms or the dots) but I have sorted mine and listed them correctly for trade to those who want those master sets of over 2,000 cards. 

This post is to solicit ideas, not for criticism that this is a database and not primarily meant as a trading site.

By the way, that Basketball set I mentioned above has issues on the way it is listed - some of the cards are all marked as VAR for the 2 different holograms and then all of a sudden, the 1992 VAR is no longer marked as a VAR for a stretch of numbers, then restarts, then stops again. So when you sort to only that VAR to be displayed, a couple of stretches of #s do not show up. A basketball collector may wish to correct the problem.

I agree with you 100%, in fact these sets are such a mess that I no longer track them on the site. 

If they were listed properly as the parallels they are this would not be an issue. 

Not only would it make trading easier, it would also make it possible to figure out exactly what percentage of each parallel you have. That is currently not possible.

I think if we were to have the Note2 info listed in the TM, just as we now do in the regular checklists, this would go a long way toward helping in identifying all ERR/COR/VAR cards being requested in trades.

That would work, just not sure if it is doable. This may carry forward to a lot of other areas on the site.  Admin would obviously know what the repercussions are.

Suggestion is in the tracker:

https://www.tcdb.com/FeatureTracker.cfm?MODE=VIEW&ID=653

Agreed Bruno, as I slowly pour through the Sacramento I too am listing everything to the hologram or dots! LOL so in the future this would become an issue for me as well. Best to fix it sooner rather than later. Thanks for adding Dan.

Keep up the good work

I've also noticed some inconsistencies with the VARs, more so on the Upper Deck holograms than the Donruss *s and periods. I did just have a trade where over 100 cards had variations and I had to open each card page and check carefully as the receiver needed particular variations. Having that on the transaction would've saved some time.

In general, I hate these variations. It's such a pain looking for different stripes, spots, and tiny punctuation. The Upper Deck ones are worse because I have to tilt the cards everywhich way to try and figure out what's on the darn hologram!

I posted about this back in May 2020 on another thread and definitely welcome some help with transactions. I had suggest using the Note1 and Note 2 systems and it was explained that Note 1 has too limited an amount of space to be of much more use. I suggested using a system of *, but it was explained (and I agree) that an * is more inclined to be interpreted as a wildcard. So, from I see there's hope with Note 2. I hope it works.

Presently on those large trades of VARs I open them all up in separate tabs and start seeing which VAR is primary in the request, then going through them again to close those that match the primary VAR requested, then leaving the pages open to the remaining VARs and marking them  on the transaction. Having a note showing which VAR it is would definitely shorten the process for me.

The period or star versions of Donruss cards drive me nuts.  I have boxes of doubles I haven't even listed yet because I dread having to look at each one with a magifying glass to see which one it is and I worry that I'll find the one person looking for the specific versions if I make a mistake and mail the wrong one.  Currently I make sure I only have 1 version of any give card listed so if I get a trade offer for one of them I don't have to worry about mixing it up.