Cardbarrel Pros and Cons

It's the last weekend of the NFL season and I am hyped for some Packers playoff action (win or go home counts as a playoff game, right?) ... unfortunately I don't have any new football items for you. Or is that a good thing, since the card blogging community is one of the few places where the NFL isn't king?

I've got another non-baseball topic upcoming (what can i say? it's the middle of winter!) but before that I'll give the people what they want: Baseball cards. Nothing but baseball cards in this post, I promise.

On New Year's Day I placed an order at Cardbarrel for some set fillers and Boston binder fillers. I picked out some random goodies, too. Exceeded the budget just a bit, so this will be the last purchase I show off for a while.

First of all, the shipping time was lightning fast. Yes, I'm a state away from Cardbarrel HQ but Mehmet prepared this shipment on New Year's night, sent it out on January 2nd, and it was in my mailbox on the 4th. That cost me $3.95. COMC charges $4.99 for shipping and it takes a month or more to get your items. Dave and Adam's are also based in New York state. I get my orders from them in 2-3 days. Costs me $12.95. Minimum.

Another perk of purchasing on Cardbarrel - you can find lots and lots of quality cards under 20 cents each. Baseballcardstore might have them cheaper (depending on how their prices are structured at at any given moment) but it might be 6-8 weeks before your order arrives. Sportlots can have better bang for your buck - if you find a seller with low shipping prices and an inventory loaded with quality cards at 20 cents apiece.

Cardbarrel's prices are much more specific. 15 cent cards, 18 cent cards, 20 and 25... some cards that should be 15 cents are 50. That said, a majority of the cards in my latest order were two dimes or less each:

Every 1994 Ultra set filler I needed was under 20 cents except Paul O'Neill (20c), Omar Vizquel, and Deion Sanders (23 cents each).

I could have been one card closer to completion if I'd realized that the Eddie Guardado you see above was already stashed away in my All Time Teams binder. Instead of spending 18 cents on that, I could have purchased Paul Sorrento - who I didn't realize was missing because Jim Thome was squatting in slot #48.

Some stars and Hall of Famers for my 1996 Score set build. 40 cents for Mattingly, 16 cents for Clark. Didn't we establish that those guys are equal?

I upgraded an off-center Bernie Williams for two dimes (new card in center) but now I have to consider upgrading another - the Dante Bichette is dinged at the top.

These are the only two baseball sets I'm currently completing - and Cardbarrel only sells baseball cards. Which means I might not need to make another purchase from their site for quite a while. A double-bummer considering I'm just about two orders away from earning a $20 gift certificate.

The rest of my recent order featured almost enough Red Sox base cards to fill out every remaining space in my albums. I'm down to just six open pockets across six BoSox binders.

Some much-needed 1984 Donruss and 1992 Bowman Sox; I only had one Red Sox card in each set. I've heard that 1984 Donruss had a noticeably lower print run than most other '80s sets. Can anyone confirm that?

One more Sox card, a couple more '92 Bowman, and some Oakland A's. I've had a post idea in my head for a while where I discuss all of the 1956 Topps recreations in recent years, but it would require a lot of research. Maybe someday. [I will get to an Athletics post in the near future.]

Cardbarrel is not ideal for inserts and parallels; their stock is limited and their prices are often higher than COMC. There are some exceptions - such as this non-SN'd gold refractor of one-time All-Star and local legend Jeffrey Hammonds:

This cost just 80 cents - the most of any single card in this order - but its heavily curled. Not CB's fault.

What was the second most expensive card in this order? A 2005 Topps Heritage Manny Ramirez:

Indicated with a -minus here because it was not shipped. Was I informed of this? No. Was I reimbursed my 60 cents? Nope. And what would I do with 60 cents of store credit anyway - order three commons and pay $3.95 shipping? Nah.

Sigh... anyway, here's the rest of my order.

The cheapest 2011 Topps Chromes I could find, a Dick Mountain 2023 Update to replace the Chrome I sent to Dennis, and... Stephen Strasburg's sunset card?

Two Alan Trammell cards, including a 1982 Topps single for my All-Time Teams binder - replacing the "one and done" copy I sent to MoTown Cards so he could complete the set.

And finally, two Terry Francona cards including a 1986 Topps Traded single...

...which is poorly centered and a little rugged on the back. Almost looks like an O-Pee-Chee card. You're buying blind at Cardbarrel; there are no scans on the site. There's no perfect store I suppose. Each LCS and online shop has its pluses and its minuses.

Have you recently purchased anything from Cardbarrel? How was your experience? What's your favorite/least favorite online shop for sports cards?


Thanks for reading, and ....

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