General Forum

I use a Card-Well and truthfully mine looks much easier to use than yours.  Looks like BCW bought the design from Card-Well.

Since I player/insert collect I ulitmately sort by team.  When I get a new lot of cards I cull the duds, sort by 100s to get them entered in to TCDB, then pile them by division and then sort again by team.  Main collection is stored in card boxes so I take the keepers and add them in to their team which is sorted by position.  I take the chaff, bag it up and drop them in little free libraires around town.

I sort into groups by 100's first (1-100, 101-200, etc.), then take each group of 100's and pull and sort 1-20, 21-40, etc until done.

bought a BCW sorting tray a couple months ago and it works great, the only problem is it has 24 slots and i sort alphebetically so i have to group uv together and xyz together and then have 1 for misc., but it keeps things in a smaller space and can stand still instead of having 26 piles in a row

https://imgur.com/a/8cGyrnC

https://imgur.com/a/6Zi2F5S

https://imgur.com/a/PnJNwN4

I sort by brands then sets then the cards in number order. I use old shoe boxes, index cards, and construction paper. It might not be pretty but it's good for my needs. 

No trays that would slow me down and could scratch the cards. A plush towel on a table or desk. With a towel, you can bunch it up any way you want or leave it flat. I did eventually go to a fabric store and got a few yards of a material similar to felt but more fluffy. It Increasing my workspace making it easier.  Make piles 1-99, 100-199, and so on a flat towel. Then bunch it up so the cards are now leaning upright in rows. Take a hand full That would be around 50 cards for me and start putting them in order like playing cards. Once you start to get a bunch in order, you can now lay them in a row on an angle propped up with the towel making a bump to have them like a book and start dropping them in the right order like flipping through a book. Then do the same for the next 100.

 The towel lets you move faster. I don't have to hit an exact spot the right way every time to make a pile. Dropping them in a pile is way faster than place a card in a tray the right way every time. I am also very fast at it. Years of assembly-line work and having an artist's mind. I think outside the box on how to make things easier and quicker.

After that, I make a list. I already have a page written in rows going down like this.

1 -

2 -

3 - & so on. After the count, I have a list like this

1 -3

2 -1

3 - 

4  -4

The first number is the card number. 2ed one is how many I have. Never put a 0 if you don't have it leave it blank. It's easier to see what card is missing.

After that, you look it over, see how many sets you can make compared to how many extras you have and how many are missing. From there I make my final listing. Extras are listed the same way. 14 -3 so card number 14 I have 3 of. If I only have one there is no point in doing "14 -1" just leave it blank "14" and drop the dash. again easier to see.  You don't need the count when there is only one card, the card number alone shows you that is one card. if you don't have it you don't list it. after all this an extras list only. You don't need every card number listed for it. Just list what you have. On the same page list your wants. in another column.  Under "Need"  From there go back and pull cards out to make the set or sets you want to complete. Again on a towel they are now all leaning to the right in a row and as I go through them they lean to the left. Pull out the cards for the sets you want like your dealing cards a hand full at a time.  This last part only takes a few minutes and now you have a stack of extras in order and a set your going for, or sets. I never timed myself. But it's around 3 to 4 hours to get this far for a box of 900.

I also do random checks with the set if I find one mistake I recount them all. Keep and keep up with your personal lists. File them as you see fit.

 After that, is the slow part in listing them here. Always double-check your listing after your done. The system does have bugs.

Repeat the next day till your done. Take days off or you will burn out and make mistakes. But remember when you think you're done, your not. Dealing with card numbers & card counting you're going to make mistakes. Even if you go really slow the system here will make mistakes for you. Always check a trade after it has completed.  Then do like I learned from Sandy. Every few years it's recounting time and you will find errors. They are just part of the trading game. Don't sweat it. It's just a foul ball. You just swinging. 

I collect sets so my sorting tends to always be numerical.  And I sort as a open the packs.  I just use a table.

I break them up in 50s.  1-49 in a pile, 50-99 in another , etc...   A 400 card set, would have 8 piles.  As I open the packs, I put them into thier piles.  Next step is break each stack of 50 into 10s.  Then each stack of ten gets put in order, as well as duplicates pulled and put in order.  Then repeat.

I start with the highest end stack, so I stack them face-up on top of each other as I go.  In the end, I have two piles in numberical order, my set and the doubles.

After I am done, I go through my set pile to see if any are missing and I double check my doubles piles just to ensure it wasn't put in with the doubles.  

where can I buy a sorting tray like that?

search Bcw card sorting tray, plenty of places have them, i think mine came from ebay