When you trade stuff, how do you look at the value? I.e, you buy a complete copy of Secret Scout for $5 and you know its worth around $100. A guy offers you to trade your Secret Scout for a copy of Contra Force. You say that S.S is worth much more, then he says "but you only payed $5 for it".

How do you look at it? Do you trade $100 for it or $5? I was in this situation not long ago and the guy used that argument. I definitly go for the sale value, not what i payed.

I use the value from recently ended items on eBay.  Sometimes it's better to rely on a long-run average (when it's a game that fluctuates in value quite a bit), but usually recent auctions on eBay are a good source for price info.  

For me it depends on the person I am trading with also.  If I am good friends with them, I will cut them a little bit of a break, especially on commons to mid range rares.  High end stuff usually hits ebay regardless.  But I used ebay to gauge the price for most stuff also.  If I get something for free, that doesn't mean I will sale it for 3 bucks.  I got by actually value, with a slight condsideration for friends or people who have helped me in the past.
~~NGD

Definitely by value. If you find a NTSC SE in the wild for $2 doesn't mean you can only trade or sell it for that much. If I'm going to trade it, it's going to be for something ungodly rare. Of course, I'm the same as NGD here in that those that help me I will help them and give 'em a break.

jajaja wrote on 30. Sep 2006 at 10:21:

When you trade stuff, how do you look at the value? I.e, you buy a complete copy of Secret Scout for $5 and you know its worth around $100. A guy offers you to trade your Secret Scout for a copy of Contra Force. You say that S.S is worth much more, then he says "but you only payed $5 for it". How do you look at it? Do you trade $100 for it or $5? I was in this situation not long ago and the guy used that argument. I definitly go for the sale value, not what i payed.

What does how much you payed have to do with anything? It's what it's worth outside of eBay and such. I mean, you're always going to get good deals like that...I mean, if it were Contra Force COMPLETE, he may have a case, but trading something rare away for nothing just because you bought it for $5 is really dumb...

FamicomJL wrote on 30. Sep 2006 at 14:14:

jajaja wrote on 30. Sep 2006 at 10:21: When you trade stuff, how do you look at the value? I.e, you buy a complete copy of Secret Scout for $5 and you know its worth around $100. A guy offers you to trade your Secret Scout for a copy of Contra Force. You say that S.S is worth much more, then he says "but you only payed $5 for it". How do you look at it? Do you trade $100 for it or $5? I was in this situation not long ago and the guy used that argument. I definitly go for the sale value, not what i payed. What does how much you payed have to do with anything? It's what it's worth outside of eBay and such. I mean, you're always going to get good deals like that...I mean, if it were Contra Force COMPLETE, he may have a case, but trading something rare away for nothing just because you bought it for $5 is really dumb...

Okay, I have to disagree with you a little bit, there, FJL.  How much you pay does have something to do with further trading.  What if you payed the full price versus getting a fraction of the deal?  You're definately going to milk that sucker for all that it's worth rather than if you got a kickin' deal.  For example, I got a MegaMan 5 for roughly $10 at an EBGames that should've cost about $25.  I can now sell that for a little cheaper if I wanted to, or use it as trade bait for something I want that isn't necessarily $25 but maybe 20 or somewhere along the lines of that.  So both prices come into play here.

3 letters: NWC - the price on that piece of trash escalates everytime a new owner gets ahold of one, because you know they're not going to sell it cheaper than what they bought it for.  People paid full price & are selling it full price + interest.

If you buy a lottery ticket for $2 and win millions, you're not going to trade that ticket away for a few measley dollars before you cash in.  If you find a game in the wild for $2 and it's worth hundreds, you're obviously going to trade or sell it for hundreds, not give it away for $2 worth of trades.

Of course, you dont trade F2 for a Rygar cart if you found F2 for $2 :) I think i wrote the question alittle wrong. I ment, if you find i.e a complete F2 for $5 and trade it for a Myriad cart (about equal value i'd say), would you think "hey, i only payed $5 for a Myriad cart!" or would you think "i payed $400 for the cart" ? Technicaly your expences for getting the Myriad cart is only $5, but how do you think, did you pay $5 or $400 for the cart?

I am going to put a spin on this question, but first answer it. I go by value. What you paid is irrelevent, you trade based on worth.

The spin is, when you are trading, do you trade for things that you will resell, as opposed to getting things that you need for your collection? Or maybe you need most of it, but you will ask for something that you know you are going to resell?

Personally, when I am trading, I am only asking for things that I need for my collection. Yes, I may ask for something that I have, but if that is the case, it is to upgrade condition, not to resell that particular item. And I expect that the person I am trading with is doing the same.

I have run into this recently, where something that I traded to someone in a batch, was resold on eBay. And yes, I suppose it is none of my business what they do with it when they get it, but my feeling is that I am trading things to someone that wants them for their collection, either because they don't have it or they want to upgrade what they have to something in better condition. Not to be resold.

So I am curious to hear what some of the rest of you do and think about it?

I almost always trade for stuff for my own collection.  I trade things to try and reduce the amount of money I spend.  But so long as I get things I want/need for my collection, I could care less what happens to the items I traded.  That goes for low end to common stuff though.  When I sale a test stations or something very high end, I want it to go to a good home and be taken care of.  All the test stations I have sold or traded went to people I know or have spoke with pretty often.  Good question though.
~~NGD

unless its a brand new collectors you can safely say everyone on the message boards know the value of stuff..but as far as trades I think its whatever two people work out. If you need a snow brothers and someone wants a bb2 and you offer a even trade thats fine if both parties are for it..if you think your item is worth more ask if they are going to thrown something else in. What was paid shouldnt matter if you find a rare game for 50 cents thats good..and if its really woth 100.00 dollars i wouldnt trade or sell it for less. but like someone said if you find something cheap and want to help a buddy out thats cool..maybe they will help you out in the future...

Gary wrote on 02. Oct 2006 at 04:35:

I have run into this recently, where something that I traded to someone in a batch, was resold on eBay. And yes, I suppose it is none of my business what they do with it when they get it, but my feeling is that I am trading things to someone that wants them for their collection, either because they don't have it or they want to upgrade what they have to something in better condition. Not to be resold.

I think it's a good question you brought up, but like NGD said, I could care less what people do with the stuff I trade (most of the time at least).  As for what you said in the paragraph above -- for all you know, the person whom you traded with could have bought/traded some of the same stuff in better condition from someone/somewhere else, and then resold yours as it was replaced by something better ;)  

Gary wrote on 02. Oct 2006 at 04:35:

The spin is, when you are trading, do you trade for things that you will resell, as opposed to getting things that you need for your collection? Or maybe you need most of it, but you will ask for something that you know you are going to resell?

When I trade stuff off, it's no longer in my possession so therefore whatever the new owner wants to do with it, let them do. Just as long as I get my end of the deal and get my stuff. When it comes to trading, I only trade if I need the item. When it comes to buying off a collector and they had a BB2 for $40 and I don't need it (which I do but this is just an example), I'm going to pay the $40 and then try to resell the extra cart for profit turn. To me this makes sense.

well personally i beloeve what you payed for it does matter. honestly i just found a Buble bobble 2 at a game shoaw for $6.00. now i already have it complete. but if someone offered me something i really wanted that valued out around 70 bucks or so i might trade it for that instead of trying to get $110.00 worth of stuff. mainly because i only paid 6 bucks. plus if i like the trader and if its for something i really want i would be more incline to trade and give someone a good deal. deals come and go and its always good to try to pass one along to someone especially if they have ever passed one on to you. i once had a big collector literally GIVE me a BB2 for FREE. Mainly because i really needed i at the time and he had a couple of them. so i got that BB2 and then obtained another CIB one, and then i went and literally gave away the BB2 that was given to me to someone else. And now i just found another one for 6 bucks so i dunno know what i wanna do with it lol. but anyways i believe price has a lot to do with the way you look at it. another exampls was my friend found 2 copies of megaman X2 for $7.00. well i found an extra copy of mega man 6 for $10.00 so i went ahead and traded my extra MM6 for his X2 and it was an even trade really. he paid 7 bucks for my MM6 and i basically paid 10 for his MMx2. so this way it helped out both of our collections and we didnt need to spend a lot for them.

Also depends on the situation. At one time I had a buttload of Shrinked Sega Genny games I got for $5 each at a local WM, I didnt neccesarily sell or trade them for their value but I got things unique for me and my area for them,  Trading is just that.  You have something of similar value someone else wants and vice versa.  Someone who tries to get maximum value after buying a $500 game  for $3 and bragging about it is slghtly in the wrong, (Well not really, we are all capitalist, but he does have to be a little bit nicer to the people who also will ofer him far more than what he paid, but not the full value of the game.)

Wheeling and dealing, its not always about being ahead, but just don't be screwed in the behind.  :D

Whenever I trade or sell something, I always trade or sell it for the current market value, regardless what I paid for it.  Unless it's a friend or something, that's just how I do it.

well when I am trading I look at a lot of things but I guess for the most part I try and guess current values and trade accordingly.  I also tend to be generous on the values of what I'm getting because I don't have to reach into my pocket.

The best example of this is boxes and manuals.  I recently traded with Thefinaldaycomes (great guy and great trader).  One of the items he traded me was a box for linus spacehead.  In the trade we valued the box at $12.00.  Now I wouldn't pay $12.00 for the box and if it was sold on ebay by itself it probably would bring $6-$8.  But, Because its highly unlikely I will run across this box by itself (and not have to pay for the cart too) and because I'm trading doubles and not $$$ I was happy to value it at $12 just to aquire it.

I'm pretty easy going when it comes to trades as long as the values are pretty close and I'm getting stuff I need and trading doubles away.

And to answer your question gary.  I have traded for things I already have several times, but not for resale......for retrade.  Since I'm mostly hunting for boxes and manuals, I aquire boxes and manuals for carts if and when I can.  Mostly because the people that have items that I need are also only hunting for boxes and manuals.  The few times I have done that I didn't improve my $$$ because the values of the carts I traded and the boxes I got were probably a wash.  But what I gained was desirability with certain people.  Dunno if that makes any sense.  I don't JUST trade for stuff I already have but if I'm already working a trade and they got a few extra items that I know other people need I will try and aquire them too.

Bryan

When i trade i look at booth and look if the deal is proper.

I always look at what it is worth (usually little less than eBay), but keep in mind what I paid.  For example, I traded an SNES with 5 games and hookups for Flintstones 2.  I paid $5 for the SNES and $2 per game, but I knew that that was all worth maybe $60 or $70.   I don't consider myself as having paid $70 for Flintstones 2, or trading an SNES.  In my mind, it goes down as $10.  That's how I keep it straight.  

It works for me!  

Dutch nes gamer wrote on 16. Oct 2006 at 10:21:

When i trade i look at booth and look if the deal is proper.

"... and look if the deal is proper?"

Why didn't you go along with my offer recently :o