Mail goes out, mail comes in. You can't explain that.

First up today is an outgoing mail call.  With all but one of the envelopes shipped out (that one may have to wait another few days), I want to mention the common theme of many of them.

Michigan fans are well aware of the phrase "attack each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind", a phrase Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh (and his brother John, above) attributes to his dad Jack.  I decided to put that kind of effort into one of my favorite card collecting pasttimes:  going through the wantlists of bloggers I trade with.  

For a long time I was a big-time set-collector, especially in the days where I busted a lot of boxes, and throughout my time with this here blog I pretty much whittled my own sets down to practically nothing.  Since then I've become more of a player collection guy, and that's lots of fun too.

But the completionist in me still likes to see sets and projects get finished, so I found a great way to scratch that itch and benefit others.  Kind of like I did last year, I put some time into scanning base and team set wants (and "most wanted" lists like the "elusive eight" and "nefarious nine" types many of you are familiar with) of the many blogs I follow.  I was looking for lists that were down to just a few cards--maybe up to four or five and as few as just one--to see if I could blow them away.

Mostly through Sportlots, with a bit of assistance from COMC, I picked up stuff for 13 different bloggers.  By my count I completed more than 20 base and insert sets and found many more to finish team sets and put a big dent in most-wanted lists.

As always I hope this project inspires those folks and others to keep attacking their wantlists while remembering they're not in the hunt alone.  And for those of you that haven't, get those lists up on your blogs--you never know who might be able to help!

To wrap up this portion of the post here's a look at who I sent PWEs to week or two ago:

• 2x3 Heroes
• All Trade Bait All the Time
• ARPSmith's Sports Card Obsession
• Baseball Card Breakdown
• Nachos Grande
• Night Owl (who posted about it here)

The following will be receiving bubble mailers starting next week (not all of which are part of this project; some are just getting random trade packages!):

• $30 a Week Habit
• Angels in Order
• Bob Walk the Plank
• Brad's Blog
• Cards on Cards
• Chronicles of Fuji
• The Collector
• I Feel Like a Collector Again
• Sports Card Collectors
• Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Keep an eye on your mailboxes starting early next week, guys!

And now here's an update on my Sportlots Box experience:

As a reminder, here's a look at the shipping options for the seven sellers with whom I used the Box option:

Seller	Cards	Budget	Premium	Box
barriere	25	$3.50	$12.00	$1.75
bkcardsx	148	N/A	$7.50	$0.00
cogrinch	61	$3.50	$3.50	$1.05
cttcdork	47	$5.00	$5.00	$3.00
davbondx	39	$3.79	$4.35	$2.84
DelBacon	49	$3.75	$3.75	$1.25
kommking	105	$4.00	$7.20	$1.30
Total		$31.04		$11.19

So had I had the cards shipped directly from each seller I would have paid $31.04 for whatever the best shipping option at the lowest price was, and $11.19 is the total cost for each seller shipping their cards to Sportlots.

I can now tell you how much Sportlots charged me to ship my box cards and give you the total amount I saved using that method.  I can also present the shipping times in case you want an idea of how long it might take for your cards to arrive.

First, my shipping cost for these seven packages (boxes, envelopes, or other), left unopened and shipped together), was $9.05.  So in all I spent $20.24 on shipping, as opposed to the $31.04 direct cost.  A $10.80 difference might not seem like much, but when many of the cards you're buying are in the $0.18 to $0.20 range that could be another big stack of cards you can buy instead of paying to get them sent to you.

As for how long I waited here's a quick timeline:

• All orders placed:  6/12
• Packages arrived to Sportlots Box on 6/19 (x3), 6/21, 6/22, 6/26, and 6/27
• Box package shipment requested and shipped on 6/27
• Box package arrived 6/30

(The final package that made it on the 27th was from Canadian shipper barriere)

In conclusion, my final verdict from this experience would be to utilize the Box option again whenever there's a noticeable different in cost.  It was nice getting everything in one package and Sportlots quickly got that package to me once everything arrived.  Plus I was able to spend an "extra" $11 on cards.

I hope some of you find this useful and I'd be happy to answer any other questions about my experience or Sportlots in general that you may have.  And as always I highly recommend Sportlots as a source for lower-end cards, especially base for your PCs and to fill your sets.  Be prepared to put in a lot of time optimizing your cart to get the best price per card with shipping, but know that it's worth it.  I'm betting a number of the folks I mentioned in the first second will sure appreciate it!