The somewhat essential Trade Value guide

[nfcr]

The Trade Encyclopedia/Bible

Since Topps wants to prevent me from doing collecting, I figured I would create a trade value/rarity guide to help newbies as well as try and attract viewers to the forum, since most of the TIPS articles we get are lame anyways.

Disclaimer: If you can pull off a deal that "breaks" the trend of value (i.e you get a very good card for something of much lower value), then full power to you. don't come claiming that kind of trade should be commonly pulled off because no, just no

Part 1: Value

Base Cards (Does not include rising stars, GC, etc. Only plain cards with nothing but the Topps and club logos. Does include NFS like Ki Sung-Yueng, Sessegnon, etc. because they are like base cards)

What they are: Standard Cards which you get in every pack, sorted by 4 levels of rarity. 

Value: Used for PTS scoring as well as to fill team awards

What you should use them to trade for: Other base cards you need, possibly a Legend that is RARE (Gunn, Gray etc.), maybe team cards if you throw in three good ones, any boosts below SCARCE (not 1-1, depending on rarity of boost), maybe a manager or stadium if more than 1-1 (rarity of said manager or stadium depends as well), Golden Moments which have over 1K of (again depending on user preference and players that you include).

What they SHOULDN'T be used to trade for: Any insert that is SCARCE or above, any LIMITED card, any NFS or COMING SOON card (maybe 1, 2 exceptions, Phillips, LEGENDs etc.) This is basically common sense, but dummies continue to pull this kind of stupid stunt on a daily basis. Idiots.

How to gauge value of a base card trade: RARITY IS NOT THE ONLY FACTOR! Sure, you can use rarity as the only factor, but don't come asking why no one wants Connolly for Suarez. Use common sense! Trades involving base cards should be based on rarity as well as real-life performance/popularity/total PTS. Of course be flexible with your trades, don't be rigid to the extent that the total PTS on both sides must be equal, that's just dumb.

 

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Limited (includes everything in the LIMITED section of the card list as well as cards marked COMING SOON)

What they are: Cards earned during PTS chases, or for collecting a certain series of boosts, legends, you get the idea

Which ones are not worth much (to most people, to the right people they might be worth a king's ransom): Yes, even in the limited section there are cards which most people are happy to throw even if they have only one, basically red gamechangers go for less than their counterparts of other colours, also the Gold Suárez and Silver Clark won't fetch as good a return as you'd hoped. And finally the two GM's, Cantona and Vieira. Despite having relatively low numbers, they pretty much have low worth because they are just a display piece, there is no award or PTS value in having them, but take note: LOW WORTH DOES NOT MEAN GIVE 3 RANDOM CARDS! IT MEANS IN THIS CONTEXT THAT THE LOW NUMBER CONTRIBUTES MORE TO THE WORTH OF THE CARD THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

What they can be traded for: Other limiteds (That doesn't mean any limited; at least look at the number. And no, a black GC will not get you a GC of a higher number), a few good scarce/Super rare/NFS inserts (use your own discretion on what those might be, I cannot give specifics because that would take forever. The conclusion that I will give you is follow your mind. If you're satisfied with what you're getting, take it. If not, leave it or counter it).

What they should not be traded for: Limiteds should not, I repeat, SHOULD NOT be involved in any 1-1 trade with cards outside the LIMITED section UNLESS you are willing to give the card up for what you're offering for. To put it simply, the only way a limited should leave your collection in a 1-1 trade for a non-limited card is if YOU initiated the trade

How to gauge value of a trade involving limiteds: Numbers-wise, most of the time you're not getting a card of similar number rarity, really I cannot stress this enough, IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU'RE GETTING, THEN PULL THE TRIGGER, OTHERWISE YOU'RE BETTER OFF KEEPING YOUR LIMITED.

When offering for limiteds: Keep in mind these cards aren't your standard NFS insert, these cards take a substantial amount of effort to earn, so don't think 3 random inserts will do the trick, most of the time only high-end inserts will do the trick (you know what those are, use your own judgement)

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NFS inserts (not including Sow, Roofe, Elliot, Evans, Everton Fellaini)

There are two main categories: Signatures and Golden Moments; one has value, one doesn't. Guess which one has value? Sigs, duh. Everybody wants sigs, it doesn't matter whether they're NFS or not. On the other hand, nobody wants GM cards: no in-game usage, even though each competion of a GM set comes with a 3K coin reward. But other than that, don't give up your good cards for GMs, even if it is Klinsmann with only 200.

How to gauge a trade involving ONLY NFS Sigs: Trade NFS sigs with each other like how you trade base cards, look at numbers as well as player performance/PTS/popularity

How to trade for an NFS sig using non-NFS cards: NO BASE CARDS!! No, not even Özil, Lukaku, Willian etc. Use maybe a couple of high-end inserts to get ONE (again, depending on who you want, a couple of scarce inserts might get you a low-end sig (IT WILL NOT GET YOU AGUERO, ROONEY ETC.). Check to see what card series chases are currently running, the cards from those sets (SCARCE AND SR ONLY, NO RARE LEGENDS OR SIGS) are usually the high-end inserts, these vary from week to week

If you are trading a NFS sig: Only expect to get good hauls from sigs with a card count of around 450-500 and below, any sig above 500 available normally will only get you an average return.

Please do NOT post on this thread!

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Active inserts (Boosts, Legends, Managers, Team Cards, Active Sigs/Masters)

Note: Stadiums are not included because even though there's no NFS tag, they can't be pulled (or so they couldn't the last time I pulled packs 10 years ago, lol, maybe its changed and if so lump it together with stadiums)

Non-active Boosts (means award has expired for that series): Simplest way to avoid cocking up a boost trade, just do boosts of one rarity for other boosts of the same rarity, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN 1-1! Check the physical number of that card available (nobody's giving Ozil for Baines, don't give me none of that SR-for-SR crap) and trade based on that.

Legends: Legends that are "expired" (award has a small coin bonus) aren't worth much, trade them for other "expired" legends or a medium-level insert or 2. Active legends are a different case, SR active legends have a HIGH, yes HIGH value, they can pretty much be traded for everything plus the kitchen sink depending on whether you can find the right person. Scarce active legends command a medium-level return (if on a trade haul scale of 1-10, a scarce active legend probably gets you about a 5-6, SR can get you anywhere from 8-10, RARE legends get you maybe 2-3 or even less as their numbers inflate)

Active Sigs/Masters/Boosts (award is pending/active/not given yet): See the cases for SR active legends above, if they are SR and SCARCE and you don't want to keep them, then make sure you get your card's worth in return if not more. Small note however, DON'T BE AN IDIOT AND ASK FOR SOMETHING WAY ABOVE YOUR CARD, LIKE 3 GOLD GC OR SOMETHING! Yes your card is highly sought-after, but every card's value has a ceiling, once your demands go above that ceiling, you're viewed as insane instead of trying to get something good in return

Team Cards (I think they have a use, but I forget what it is): VALUE OF THESE IS DECREASING AS YOU'RE READING THIS!! a) they can be readily found in packs, b) they serve no real purpose other than 1-2 awards I think. Despite being Super Rare, these cards are being pulled consistently, don't expect anything much from them, maybe a 2-3 on the trade haul scale, safest way to trade these is for other team cards you need or want

Managers (if stadiums are in packs again then they go here too): JUST A GLORIFIED BASE CARD, NOTHING MORE! If you've played this game for sometime you're probably sick of these, the fact that you can pull them again is even more vomit-inducing. On the return scale, 1-2, anything more is either luck or desperation

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The Trade Return Scale (on a scale of 1-10, how good of a return should you expect)

Note: THIS IS NOT TRADE VALUE!! DON'T BASE YOUR TRADES ON THIS, DON'T GIVE ME THE CRAP OF I'M GIVING YOU 2 5'S, GIVE ME A 10, PISS OFF IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT! THIS IS MERELY AN INDICATOR OF THE LEVEL OF RETURN YOU SHOULD EXPECT FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL CARD YOU'RE TRADING

8-10

Cards in an ongoing chase (sigs/masters/boosts/whatever) that are SUPER RARE ONLY!! (occasionally a SCARCE or 2 may make it here depending on how hard it is to get)
Limited cards which have a number of below 30 (includes Evans)
Some NFS sigs which have low numbers (Around 200 or so)
Coming Soon cards (most of them can go here, but expect closer to 8 than 10)

6-8

Cards in an ongoing chase (sigs/boosts/masters/whatever) that are SCARCE or maybe sometimes RARE (use your discretion, I can't tell you who is and who is
SR and Scarce Boosts that have their award expired BUT only while their numbers are low <700 (may include Level 3 boosts)
Some NFS sigs (again, check the number and decide for yourself, you're the one playing, I'm not expected to tell you everything)
Some "Coming Soon" cards that have high numbers present
Other LIMITED cards not in 8-10 range (RS and whatever)


4-6

Some SCARCE and RARE inserts that have been out for some time
Some UNCOMMON inserts for 1-2 days
SR stadiums and some SR managers
Maybe some base cards like Ozil/Lukaku/Willian (will be downgraded definitely soon)
Team cards depending on numbers
Medium level NFS sigs

1-4 (pretty much anything with a count of 4 digits or more should belong here)

Most base cards belong here (1-2, maybe 3, nothing higher)
RARE and UNCOMMON and COMMON inserts out for a long time
Golden Moments (most of them, exceptions being the low-numbered ones)
Managers below SR (even some SR as well)
NFS cards that are high numbered, maybe 2k and above (you decide)

drocklee27 let me know if I missed any cards out, and coming up next will be Part 2: Do's and Don't's of trading, should I continue here or in a new thread?

[drocklee27]

A new thread would be best.