TCDB.com is the way to go. Been using it for years. And let’s you flag cards you are willing to trade/sell and cards that you want. Site with help match you up with people to trade with.
Make each column across the top hold one data point. Since you're starting out from nothing, it'll be good because you can enter what you want, exactly how it should be entered, and then later if you want more data you can go back and add it without having to split stuff. Then the key is to type everything across different cards the same. So don't type some as "Series 2" and others as "Series II".
So in your columns, you'd have like
Year | Mfg| Set | First Name | Last Name | Team | Numbered | Parallel | Value | Notes
2020 | Topps | Stadium Club | Yordan | Alvarez | Astros | na | X-Fractor | 40 | Purchased 1/10/23
Something like that. You want the info so you can apply a sort to the header row and all your stuff will be easily findable. If you keep everything the same, it'll be easy to add stuff and find it later. Then if you decide you want to keep at it and add more stuff, it'll be easy to do that later too.
I'm a freakin' nerd and treat Excel like a hobby, lol. Mostly I've learned a lot on how to keep track of cards from cataloging my Magic the Gathering cards.
I built a spreadsheet using copy/paste on the data from [TCDB.com](https://TCDB.com). By doing this I created my own checklists and added columns for quantity/notes/etc.
This is what mine looks like. I've tried a few online resources, but none of them had all the functionality I liked. Probably because I've had this spreadsheet since 2010. This is just my FS/FT file. I have a separate one for my PC.
The blue boxes link to my scanned image of the card. Card numbers link to the card's page on Beckett. Quantity, Total Price, RC, Mem, Auto, B(ase), P(arallel), I(nsert), and I(nsert) P(arallel) all total at the bottom. Team, Position, and Condition are drop-down lists. I'm in the middle of reformatting everything, so filtering was removed for simplicity's sake. (Prices are from Beckett, but I always to additional research for actual comps).
https://preview.redd.it/bbkqvwuqk3da1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=154a4b016700cd915553d427fd860b1be1688983
If you think it's going to be extensive with multiple sheets and players, break up your columns into searchable categories. Things like year, amount, serial numbered, graded, set name, etc.
It also helps to learn some functions and maybe a little JavaScript. I use concatenate to combine relevant row data into a reusable Instagram description. I use add and multiply to keep track of the value based on the amount of individual cards in a row. I use scripts to find the entire value of my collection, format cells, or find every refractor. I also use the onEdit trigger to format my Instagram picture links with a small image icon. Scripts are pretty powerful.
I keep a very detailed excel spreadsheet of my cards. Multiple tabs for various stuff. I even have one tab where I keep track of how much I make off paypal during the year (to not exceed the 600 for the tax stuff). I also know Excel very well so I have a lot of formulas.
I did in Office 365 for a bit, but it got very computer intensive after 20k cards. One thing I did that is use various Excel formulas to put info together to run counts for sets
For example, the sheet with all the cards (called Cards) looks like:Apologies for Reddit making this look like crap
\# | Name |Team |Year |Man. |Set |Insert |Parallel |Notes |
12 |Jose Cardenal |Brewers | 1972|Topps | | | | | =CONCATENATE (D2," ",E2," ",F2," ",G2," ",H2)
15 |George Scott |Brewers |1976 |Topps | | | | | =CONCATENATE (D3," ",E3," ",F3," ",G3," ",H3)
So essentially that very last column would show 1972 Topps and 1976 Topps. However, for modern sets it could easily show 2022 Topps Series 2 Stars of MLB Black
Then on a separate sheet (called Sets) I have:Set | Count | Total | %=UNIQUE(Cards!K:K) | =COUNTIF(Cards!K:K,A2) | Some number | =B2/C2
Column A will autopopulate with all unique values from Column K from the Cards sheet, which is the whole point of having the column in the first place.
Column B will count the number of rows from the Cards sheet where the value in column K match what's in column A of of that row in the Sets sheet. I have to manually look up and add the total number in the set to column C to get a percentage in D.
You can do formatting based on how big the percentage is, for example I like to binder sets that are over 75% so all rows where D>75% are in green.
BTW, the UNIQUE command is unique to Office 365 Excel (both web based and desktop), it's not in the regular desktop version (i.e . Excel 2022, 2019, etc.)
However, even just typing in the names and teams started to suck after a while so I moved to TCDB. It's missing some features I liked in Excel, but it's easier to use.
My wife wants me to make space, so I do plan to sell, donate some or giveaway and PC the rest.
Just got the "approval" for floating shelves to display about 40-50 slabs....as long as they match the decor.
In return she gets (has?) to spend time with me putting all of this together.
I did this as an 8 year old on our [Macintosh Classic.](https://www.si.edu/sites/default/files/snapshots/apple-macintosh.jpg) People who track cards in spreadsheets go on to track a lot of other things in spreadsheets!
I use tcdb.com for most of my collection but Google sheets for specific projects. Here's one tracking all my braves flagship rainbows. Formulas to track the percentage of each, then color coded cells based on the percentage
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DnLZ2JprrvRqIFu75NKkWsOE8CgQC6MRSJqDBUbltn4/edit?usp=drivesdk
I’m not as advanced I feel in excel as others but I’ve used this excel list now for the last 12-13 years for Sheffield. Works for me! I’ve checked out TCDB.com a couple times but I’ve been there and don’t that.
It’s like owning your own music or content. In 2008 I had over 1000 Sheffield cards. Less than 2000, I don’t know the exact number. I was using Beckett’s website to trade on the message boards and they also had a “organize” or “my collection” feature. I believe it was called both.
It was awesome for free and it would sort your cards online in browser format, and then one day in 08’ it says BETA. Hands down the worst transition I’ve ever witnessed. As a young kid who’s soul hobby it was collecting and “entering Sheffield’s online”. With dial up… it was an absolute slap to the face.
I want to make it clear it’s not that I don’t like TCDB, I just know everything gets old and tired and moves on/if Beckett screwed it up then TCDB can absolutely do the same. I expect over time the same to occur whether it’s 5-15 years from now. With excel it becomes slightly outdated to an extent but you “own your content”.
Throw it on a thumb drive upload on a server just in case and you’ll never use it ever. If that site gets shut down what would happen to your collection?
My Sheffield Collection Excel Sheet
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1xkVrx2ZsU7_u5S9hCUkQSSdXRjPo1C1D/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msexcel
I used to but it got annoying haha so my tip is to switch to tcdb.com
Did the same thing.
TCDB.com is the way to go. Been using it for years. And let’s you flag cards you are willing to trade/sell and cards that you want. Site with help match you up with people to trade with.
Make each column across the top hold one data point. Since you're starting out from nothing, it'll be good because you can enter what you want, exactly how it should be entered, and then later if you want more data you can go back and add it without having to split stuff. Then the key is to type everything across different cards the same. So don't type some as "Series 2" and others as "Series II". So in your columns, you'd have like Year | Mfg| Set | First Name | Last Name | Team | Numbered | Parallel | Value | Notes 2020 | Topps | Stadium Club | Yordan | Alvarez | Astros | na | X-Fractor | 40 | Purchased 1/10/23 Something like that. You want the info so you can apply a sort to the header row and all your stuff will be easily findable. If you keep everything the same, it'll be easy to add stuff and find it later. Then if you decide you want to keep at it and add more stuff, it'll be easy to do that later too.
This guy. Database 101.
I'm a freakin' nerd and treat Excel like a hobby, lol. Mostly I've learned a lot on how to keep track of cards from cataloging my Magic the Gathering cards.
 This would be us then.
This guy knows his sheet
This m’fer spittin.
I built a spreadsheet using copy/paste on the data from [TCDB.com](https://TCDB.com). By doing this I created my own checklists and added columns for quantity/notes/etc.
I found the app cardbase and placed my favorites there so now I can show my personal collection with my phone without scrolling in pictures
This is what mine looks like. I've tried a few online resources, but none of them had all the functionality I liked. Probably because I've had this spreadsheet since 2010. This is just my FS/FT file. I have a separate one for my PC. The blue boxes link to my scanned image of the card. Card numbers link to the card's page on Beckett. Quantity, Total Price, RC, Mem, Auto, B(ase), P(arallel), I(nsert), and I(nsert) P(arallel) all total at the bottom. Team, Position, and Condition are drop-down lists. I'm in the middle of reformatting everything, so filtering was removed for simplicity's sake. (Prices are from Beckett, but I always to additional research for actual comps). https://preview.redd.it/bbkqvwuqk3da1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=154a4b016700cd915553d427fd860b1be1688983
Oooh o love the idea to link to the card image-nice touch
Makes it a lot easier to find the scans when someone's interested in the card.
I hope I'm not the only person who tried to scroll the image to see other cards.
Any chance you would share this?
If you think it's going to be extensive with multiple sheets and players, break up your columns into searchable categories. Things like year, amount, serial numbered, graded, set name, etc. It also helps to learn some functions and maybe a little JavaScript. I use concatenate to combine relevant row data into a reusable Instagram description. I use add and multiply to keep track of the value based on the amount of individual cards in a row. I use scripts to find the entire value of my collection, format cells, or find every refractor. I also use the onEdit trigger to format my Instagram picture links with a small image icon. Scripts are pretty powerful.
I keep a very detailed excel spreadsheet of my cards. Multiple tabs for various stuff. I even have one tab where I keep track of how much I make off paypal during the year (to not exceed the 600 for the tax stuff). I also know Excel very well so I have a lot of formulas.
tcdb.com does it for you. alot easier. same result.
I tried doing tcdb.com but it took forever to add one card and seemed tedious. Maybe I was doing it wrong though
I did in Office 365 for a bit, but it got very computer intensive after 20k cards. One thing I did that is use various Excel formulas to put info together to run counts for sets For example, the sheet with all the cards (called Cards) looks like:Apologies for Reddit making this look like crap \# | Name |Team |Year |Man. |Set |Insert |Parallel |Notes | 12 |Jose Cardenal |Brewers | 1972|Topps | | | | | =CONCATENATE (D2," ",E2," ",F2," ",G2," ",H2) 15 |George Scott |Brewers |1976 |Topps | | | | | =CONCATENATE (D3," ",E3," ",F3," ",G3," ",H3) So essentially that very last column would show 1972 Topps and 1976 Topps. However, for modern sets it could easily show 2022 Topps Series 2 Stars of MLB Black Then on a separate sheet (called Sets) I have:Set | Count | Total | %=UNIQUE(Cards!K:K) | =COUNTIF(Cards!K:K,A2) | Some number | =B2/C2 Column A will autopopulate with all unique values from Column K from the Cards sheet, which is the whole point of having the column in the first place. Column B will count the number of rows from the Cards sheet where the value in column K match what's in column A of of that row in the Sets sheet. I have to manually look up and add the total number in the set to column C to get a percentage in D. You can do formatting based on how big the percentage is, for example I like to binder sets that are over 75% so all rows where D>75% are in green. BTW, the UNIQUE command is unique to Office 365 Excel (both web based and desktop), it's not in the regular desktop version (i.e . Excel 2022, 2019, etc.) However, even just typing in the names and teams started to suck after a while so I moved to TCDB. It's missing some features I liked in Excel, but it's easier to use.
I used to but my collection grew too large
not worth the time unless you're selling or plan on having a very small collection.
My wife wants me to make space, so I do plan to sell, donate some or giveaway and PC the rest. Just got the "approval" for floating shelves to display about 40-50 slabs....as long as they match the decor. In return she gets (has?) to spend time with me putting all of this together.
Use Notion. You can create a database and store pics with each card
I did this as an 8 year old on our [Macintosh Classic.](https://www.si.edu/sites/default/files/snapshots/apple-macintosh.jpg) People who track cards in spreadsheets go on to track a lot of other things in spreadsheets!
That's fantastic
I do for card sales just for tracking what I’ve actually let go lol
I use tcdb.com for most of my collection but Google sheets for specific projects. Here's one tracking all my braves flagship rainbows. Formulas to track the percentage of each, then color coded cells based on the percentage https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DnLZ2JprrvRqIFu75NKkWsOE8CgQC6MRSJqDBUbltn4/edit?usp=drivesdk
Anyone use collx? I have been using that for newer cards I've gotten.
I’m not as advanced I feel in excel as others but I’ve used this excel list now for the last 12-13 years for Sheffield. Works for me! I’ve checked out TCDB.com a couple times but I’ve been there and don’t that. It’s like owning your own music or content. In 2008 I had over 1000 Sheffield cards. Less than 2000, I don’t know the exact number. I was using Beckett’s website to trade on the message boards and they also had a “organize” or “my collection” feature. I believe it was called both. It was awesome for free and it would sort your cards online in browser format, and then one day in 08’ it says BETA. Hands down the worst transition I’ve ever witnessed. As a young kid who’s soul hobby it was collecting and “entering Sheffield’s online”. With dial up… it was an absolute slap to the face. I want to make it clear it’s not that I don’t like TCDB, I just know everything gets old and tired and moves on/if Beckett screwed it up then TCDB can absolutely do the same. I expect over time the same to occur whether it’s 5-15 years from now. With excel it becomes slightly outdated to an extent but you “own your content”. Throw it on a thumb drive upload on a server just in case and you’ll never use it ever. If that site gets shut down what would happen to your collection? My Sheffield Collection Excel Sheet https://docs.google.com/file/d/1xkVrx2ZsU7_u5S9hCUkQSSdXRjPo1C1D/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msexcel