trading at conventions

[+RangerG]

I'm thinking ahead to PhillyClassic (my first convention). Now (November and December) is the time when I tend to sell extras on EBay to take advantage of the pre-Christmas prices. However, if I can trade stuff at PhillyClassic -- I will hold on to it. Do people tade at conventions? If they trade is it only rare stuff? For example -- I have maybe a dozen Atari 3s and 4s with nice labels, about 30 NES carts I would count as rare (Aladdin carts and Wisdom Tree titles, etc.) and the local used gaming store here has a nice selection of used NES, Genesis, SNES and Sega CD titles which I would love to pick through and buy the rarer ones in hopes of trading for Atari and Colecovision stuff. However -- is this neo-classic stuff trade-bait at all at a classic convention like Philly? Most of the pictures of the conventions seem like they are for buying stuff, listening to talks, and playing free-play (all of which sounds great); whereas, the New England swap meet sounded more like a real trading fest. Thanks for the help from all you convention veterans.

 

-- RG

[StanJr]

From my experiences there is A LOT of trading going on at conventions. Now MOST of it is done for high stakes (9's and 10's), usually by the big time collectors who just need those few big scores to make their collection complete. Mainly because they already have 6 Quadruns to trade with. So yeah, if you ask somebody if they are looking to trade, get ready have them whip out some stuff you have NEVER seen before in your life and ask you if you have any Mystique games they don't. This is why most of the trading is done the first night of the convention as the vendors are setting up.

 

On the flip side, there are also some lower level trades going on. I know I do those kind, because its pretty much ALL I have for trade. A guy at Cinci this year did the smart thing. He came up, asked me if I was trading stuff, I said yes, and he pulled a list and said, do you need anything on this list? Most of the stuff on his list was under a 6, so we were able to work a good deal.

 

There is plenty of trading to be done at conventions, just be up front about what you have and what you are looking for.

 

I'll be at Philly this year, stop by and we'll see what we can do!

 

Stan

[SS]

At the 2002 PhillyClassic, I came home with well over $100 worth of stuff but only spent about $20 out of pocket all because of some nice trades. I traded with both dealers and other attendees, BTW.

[Rick Weis]

there are many trades that go on at these meets i have only been to CGE an NWCGE meets (and once to a SC3 meet) but i'm sure all meets, are the same when it comes to trades!

 

some high end trades and some low end trades i've done both many times! it's really fun to have trades going at a meet! makes a meet that much more interesting..

 

Take Care,

 

Rick

[christianscott]

i made my first trip to philly last year and spent a mere $14 on games, but brought home a suitcase full of trades. heres how it went for me, i was sort of expecting there to a formal trading time and place but that wasnt really the case. it was easy to walk around the floor and get bummed out by all the games i wanted being sold at high prices. a lot of the sellers frankly seemed worse than the greedy guys at flea markets, although some were very cool and open to trades. its a bit weird and akward talking up some of these folks, even if you know them thru the forums but its the only way to go, oh yeah wear a nametag! i had all of my so-so tradebait in a rolling carry-on suitcase which i toted around the floor and unzipped whenever somebody was open to trading. for a couple of hours i used a table (generously loaned to me by the event oragnizer himself) but did better when i took my stuff to other peoples tables. next year i plan on renting a table along with the rest of New England group, it will be a trade only zone, look for us. i'd also suggest posting here and on digital press prior to the meet to get some trades set up ahead of time.

[MegaManFan]

I'll certainly bring my PAL Boing! if I haven't worked out an offer for it before then, although I may bring along some other stuff as well.