The proper format is the number you want, followed by the card name and then the set abbreviation in parenthesis.
## <Cardname> (SET)

If you set a card up properly, it would look like this:
3 Consecrate Land (TSB)

If you want or have cards from multiple sets with the same name, you will need to post it separate times.
Stream of Life (A)
Stream of Life (B)
[FOIL] Stream of Life [/FOIL] (7th)
[FOIL] Stream of Life [/FOIL] (8th)
[FOIL] Stream of Life [/FOIL] (9th)

If you have the set listed on your trade list, the trade matcher will still find alternate versions, it will just post the set of the card next to the cards name. For example, if you want to search for alpha mountains and put "4 Mountain (A)" and someone does not have Alpha mountains but have some other set listed [example is beta] the trade matcher will say Mountain (B) if they have beta or Mountain (ALA), which is the latest set printed with that card in it, if they do not put a set next to it.

A lot of people have their trade lists set up wrong, but it fixes a problem if the people who know what they are doing fix their lists. It doesn't fix the problem entirely but at least you know what it has before you gotta start searching lists card by card.

I have a mostly accurate list of set abbreviations here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcjqsj2c_0c9wx4qff

Please let me know if any of them need to be changed and I will update it.

My list is here if you want to see what it looks like set up:
http://classic.magictraders.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/231163.html

I would also suggest you identify your haves and wants somehow if you have a list longer than one page. It would be beneficial for people while they search through your cards. I use bold around my "wants."

quote:

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Originally posted by AlmostGrown:
Is there any way for me to just mark a whole list of cards as one set (in my case, revised)?

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If you take Myysterio's advice and put everything into Excel, you can make three columns, with column A being the quantity, column B being the name, and column C being the set.

For column C, you can type in "(Revised)" once and then pull down on the bottom right corner of the cell to copy and paste the same value for the whole set of cards that are Revised.

code:

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[exclude]99 Scrubland (RV)[/exclude]

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Putting the tags in a different column than the card name, makes auto-suggest easier (for every column), makes sorting alphabetically easier by making the spreadsheet do it, and makes it easier to correct for coding errors (missing tags), plus your list looks better when done.

Here's how I use the columns:

Col 1: QTY
Col 2: Condition
Col 3: Start tags - foil or exclude
Col 4: Card Title
Col 5: End tags - foil or exclude
Col 6: Print Run/Set
Col 7: Language

I use brackets instead of parentheses, but I'm not sure if there is much of a difference. I've noticed that certain cards aren't differentiated (FNM vs pack foils for example) in the search results when the price guide doesn't have it available for search.

quote:

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Originally posted by yakusoku:
If you take Myysterio's advice and put everything into Excel, you can make three columns, with column A being the quantity, column B being the name, and column C being the set.

For column C, you can type in "(Revised)" once and then pull down on the bottom right corner of the cell to copy and paste the same value for the whole set of cards that are Revised.

Then, you can just copy and paste all three columns from Excel.

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