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

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!