My first Card Barrel order

 

As someone who has never been the "shop-around" type, I stick to the online card outlets that work for me and go back to them again and again and again.

If it works, why do I need another option? Ebay and COMC and sportlots have inventory so vast and my interests are so wide that it's difficult to see a time when I won't be able to find what I want with that trio.

I've heard about Card Barrel before, once called "Just Commons," but never felt it necessary to check it out. Maybe it was the original name: Just commons?? Nothing else? Hey, I champion the cause of the common player a lot but that didn't sound attractive to me, let alone the Stars & Rookies collector crowd. Probably why the name was changed.

 

After seeing a few people getting some fairly interesting cards from Card Barrel, and knowing the prices were right, I decided to make a quick trip over there for a trial order.

 

I didn't look around hardly at all -- so I have no all-encompassing review for you -- I found something I wanted immediately and stuck with that.

 

I ordered 16 needs from 1970 Topps and they came to the price a blaster is going for these days. That's a solid way to spend my card money without feeling like I'm wasting it.

 

 More than half of the order was landing suitable upgrades from the set. I've mentioned before how 1970 Topps seems plagued by condition issues. Did collectors dislike those gray borders THAT much? I've seen so many of these cards that look like they're practically disintegrating and nothing else from around that time is even close.

So I was quite pleased to grab these and now those off-condition cards that were upside down in my '70 binder will be removed and replaced by right-side-up versions!

 

These cards all fill empty spots -- they were all needs. Hey, collectors in 1970, you're gonna see that same Ron Herbel shot in 1971.

 

All of the cards that I received were less than a dollar, except for this one, which was slightly above. That's because it's a super-high number, #707. I didn't expect to get anything like that from Card Barrel.

As you can tell, there are no superstars here, heck no stars period. But for set collectors, this site has got to be a regular stopping point I would imagine, which means, why the heck has it taken me so long?

Best of all, I discovered that Card Barrel headquarters is right in my home state! So I made my order on a Friday and it was at my address on a Monday! Try doing that, COMC. It seems like whenever I want cards through the mail it's coming from the other side of the country, even all the ebay sellers seem to be in California or Texas or Arizona. It's nice to see a card seller from "down the street."

So, I'll be adding another online card shop. I know collectors use this site to pick up quarter-box-type needs from modern sets and such. That seems like the next thing I'll try.

Horizons officially expanded.