My biggest suggestion, just sell yours and buy what you want. You make life way more difficult by locking into trade only because then not only do you need to find that person that wants what you have, but also who has what you want. It might be worth putting it out there to see if you get any offers, but it's hit or miss. When I was trying to sell my WoF, I tried for a trade hoping to get an offer better than I could do with selling then buying, but nothing came close. Just selling it outright gave me the freedom to choose whatever I wanted, not just what the potential buyer happened to have available (if anything). In this market, you don't want to limit yourself anymore than you need to (on either end).

Did you get my PM?

What were you trading?

I traded a '78 280z for a IJ.. that was a pretty good trade (especially in CA where one of the two items needs bi-annual smog).

Only traded once and it really just fell in my lap. I was trying to sell a machine to make more room in my house but ended up taking a trade offer....and I am still trying to free up some space two years later

I would try to sell the Diner outright on Craigslist or Ebay. It's a really hot game with the non-pinhead crowd. While it's a reallygood game and is popular for collector's, I think it is even more-so the perfect pin for someone that's not into pinball to put into their gameroom as an only pin next to their pool table and jukebox. People love the theme and I'm sure you could sell it for a good deal of cash for it.

I just traded a Buck Rogers and Eight Ball Champ for a Fire with another Pinsider (Methos- awesome guy BTW).... trades can happen when you really aren't looking for anything in particular. In my case I REALLY needed the space back. If you are deadset on certain titles, the only thing that usually talks is cash. You will also probably have more luck trading 1 for 1 with cash going in one direction or the other.

Trading is great if you just want to try out other pins and don't really care which titles you get in return (as long as the value is close to equal, or balance it with cash). It's a great way to try out pins in a home environment as long as you don't mind having some turnover.

Post a pin for trade, see what people come offering. Many times for me it was titles I hadn't previously considered but ended up being among my personal favorites (Pinbot, BBH).

I think most of the disappointment stems from those saying "I want to trade my X pin for a specific Y pin". The chances of one of the owners of Y being both close to you and willing to trade for your X pin are astronomically low.

I have tried to trade but usually I found most traders want a deal the gives them an increase in value. Tough to find a trade that is even on both sides.

I have actually had success using 'x pin for x pin' posts in the past. Sometimes a local collector would have the pin I was looking for and be looking to mix things up. I have also known collectors who will ONLY trade and hardly ever sell, because they don't enjoy looking for games. You just never know.

Good point. I wouldn't hesitate to throw in a game to get some $$$ value added and finish the rest off in cash, but that mostly would mean the other person is trading "down." Obviously different if they like the game but that's a crap shoot.

I've only made one trade, and that was with Ralph up above a few posts. It was my first and only trade, and went very well and I got to meet a great local pinsider.

I got two "lesser" pins, but these were exactly what my collection was looking for and the whole transaction just kind of happened. I was actually going to sell the game this summer.

Definitely a good trade on your part. When you're tired of IJ, PM me which would probably be never.

sometimes if you see someone selling a pin on craigslist you want it does not hurt to ask if they would consider a trade.

I've only been in the hobby for 4 months and I've done 2 permanent trades and 2 temp trades and all of them have worked out great for me and from what I know the other people as well.

I've been doing a lot of trades and it really makes it easy because you don't have to go through the hassle of buying and then selling. You've just got to be aware just like in buying of the condition of the machine you are getting. You don't want to drive 2-3 hours and not be happy with what you are trading for, and you should definitely state beforehand if you aren't happy, you won't make the trade.

The biggest issue I've seen with trading, is that they want your other pins instead!

I've had some luck trading pins but pretty much it's through sending lots of offers. I agree with you guys in that if I try to trade for a specific title it never works out. Better off keeping the options open.

I don't think that I'll ever actually trade machines with someone, which means I'll probably be doing it regularly in a year or two...

But seriously, for my purposes I don't get sick of machines. Once a machine enters my collection, unless I haven't played it enough to really determine if I like it or not, it isn't leaving. The games that I have ended up with that I haven't played much I'll sometimes swap out, but my "want" list is extremely small now, and I don't buy machines that aren't on the "want" list unless they are some sort of super deal. The people that I get super deals from aren't generally collectors who would have any interest in trading, they usually just want to get rid of the machine.

Who knows - maybe in the future I'll finally get sick of a game, but until then, I'd rather buy when I find awesome deals, or hunt for the things that I specifically want.

I lucked out on a trade with pinfest coming up, I was looking for the shadow and I had a fish tales, this guy sent me a pm and was 10 hours away, the only pm I got, and TS was in really good shape, so we met up at pinfest and made a straight trade. It worked out well and would trade another pinsider for sure

For sure. More than once have I had someone try to raid my collection in a trade deal.

These comments are not surprising at all, and they serve to illustrate why trades are so hard to successfully pull off. Everyone wants to maximize what they get for their pin, and minimize how much they have to shell out for the other person's pin. This is simply human nature. When trying to arrange a trade, you are dealing with two diametrically opposed forces.

I've done one trade, and am happy about it, and I believe the other party is also. He was very happy to get the game he wanted, and I got the one I wanted.

When I first read the title of this thread and saw "I know you have one or two..." I thought "Yep...we sure do have some opinions."

I traded my WCS94 for BSD. Worked out great. My Shadow is currently up for trade, if anyone around me is interested in it, send me a PM.