I make a lot of game trades and my friend Mike "The Fonz" Garrett likes to point out that the only one coming out ahead is the post office. Obviously I feel ok ditching a game if I won't play it and will get something I will (even if I have to pay shipping). Occasionally a trade works out properly and I can come out ahead (though again, the point of my trading is to come out ahead in the "games I want" category not value). This time I did come out ahead. It started with finding a copy of We the People for around $25. I traded that for a NIS copy of Evo. I've been holding Evo for a bit now, but I received an offer for it the other day. The offer was for Liberté, an out of print Martin Wallace game (maybe someday we'll see the reprint from Valley, but I quit holding my breath waiting for anything from them). So, I'll be out about a total of $50 (including all the shipping) and have an unplayed copy of Liberté. Seems like a good deal to me.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The Post Office is not the Only Winner...
I make a lot of game trades and my friend Mike "The Fonz" Garrett likes to point out that the only one coming out ahead is the post office. Obviously I feel ok ditching a game if I won't play it and will get something I will (even if I have to pay shipping). Occasionally a trade works out properly and I can come out ahead (though again, the point of my trading is to come out ahead in the "games I want" category not value). This time I did come out ahead. It started with finding a copy of We the People for around $25. I traded that for a NIS copy of Evo. I've been holding Evo for a bit now, but I received an offer for it the other day. The offer was for Liberté, an out of print Martin Wallace game (maybe someday we'll see the reprint from Valley, but I quit holding my breath waiting for anything from them). So, I'll be out about a total of $50 (including all the shipping) and have an unplayed copy of Liberté. Seems like a good deal to me.
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9 comments:
I think trading is silly for those traders that don't play what they receive. If you play all of the games that come into your house, then you are the winner. If you trade a game before you play it, then why did you buy/trade for it in the first place?
Outstanding trade! I find speculative trading interesting--I would imagine that you got Evo with the aim to flip it around in trade.
'Speculative Trading' sums up the concept I was trying to denounce.
hey mike...wanna trade some games just for the heck of it? and then we could flip them and trade them to chuck norris and jay.
As board games can be a hobby, there is a market for them. Markets always vary from person to person--what you value might not be what I value.
Sorry to bring in a sports analogy here, but it is the best example I could think of--this past winter, the Oakland Athletics traded a package of players to the Colorado Rockies to get Matt Holliday--one of the premier younger hitters in baseball. Billy Beane, the general manager of the A's, knew that one of two things would happen: either Holliday would make the A's imminently better, or he would be able to trade Holliday around the upcoming trade deadline, when teams are desperate.
Now, this is all apples to oranges, but I am trying to get at a concept: games, like baseball players, are commodities--if you want something badly enough, you will sacrifice to get it. For some people, trading something less valuable for something more valuable, in order to trade that something more valuable for something even more valuable is enjoyable. To others, it is stupid, senseless, and silly.
Maybe it is all a question of value. And I am sure that none of this is new, and it is all a matter of opinion. But trading is one of the things I love about the hobby. It might be another cliche, but I guess it is the thrill of the hunt.
Just don't drop a "whatever" on me....
Shipping games seems to be about an $8-$12 venture these days. Paying 20+% of the game's value seems silly in regards to 'speculative trading'.
And most of the time, you are lucky if you get away with $12.
(this is justin, by the way. not sure why my wife's name is on here)
i haven't done a TON of trading...but for the most part, i more than made up for the shipping in the game i received in each trade...but i'm a pretty stingy trader...which is probably why i haven't made too many trades.
so i've been playing a lot of Magic The Gathering lately...and have found that a) i can make a lot of money off of flipping cards around and b) i almost like the game design aspect more than the game itself. for some folks it's the same thing with trading games...they get a thrill off of flipping their games and upgrading.
let's consider the $8-12 shipping. what's it cost to rent a movie from blockbuster these days? $3...$4? even more than that to go see one in theaters. how much was that latte i'm sipping? the PDA phone from the mobile company? did you just eat $4 from McDonald's? every game i've traded for usually gets 3-4 plays before i consider trading it away...a much better deal it would seem than these other things...but that's just me.
one person burns their money on beer, music, clothes, (charles spends all of his on shoes). some folks just spend their extra $ on swapping out games rather than paying a bunch more in a game shoppe or online store.
I think mike is referring to trading games before you have a chance to play them. I have done it every so often, but only if I have the chance to make a dynamite trade, and get something I really want.
I thought Charles collected hummels....
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