Top Ten Tips for Trading Triumphantly

Here are some basic ideas to keep in mind as you aspire to become a better barterer:

1. Go door-to-door in your own neighborhood.  This eliminates the cost in time, gas and air pollution of driving somewhere to trade with someone.  It also helps encourage a positive relationship with your neighbors.
2. Take a picture of large or fragile items.  A photograph is easy to carry and won't break when dropped.  Bring out the item itself after you've found someone interested in trading for it.
3. Don't be timid.  People are intrigued by the idea of trading, and many of them go searching their homes for something to trade because of the basic appeal of the idea of bartering.
4. Think about potential trading value of objects being offered to you.  If someone offers something you want for yourself, great!  If not, consider whether the item the person is offering would trade for something better than the one you've got.  You could take the item you get to someone else and trade again.
5. Target people whose interests you are aware of.  A bottle of cheap wine will probably be more valuable to (and bring more in trade with) students living in a social fraternity house than it will to someone who you already know doesn't drink.
6. Advertise.  This sounds silly, but social networking tools make it easy.  Text your friends about what you want to trade.  If you are involved with MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and/or another such network, post your proposition there.  The more people who know about it, the more likely it is to get a good offer.
7. Don't be afraid to say no.  If someone offers you something, it's okay to turn him or her down and keep looking for someone to trade with.  Be nice about it, though.  You never want to burn bridges.
8. Know ahead of time what you're willing to trade.  Don't keep throwing in too many objects or dollar bills - this is how people can scam you, and it ends up costing you more.  Trades are supposed to be beneficial at least to you, and ideally to both parties.
9. Inspect the goods.  Always take a good look at what is being offered to you before you agree to the swap.  After a trade is made, what's done is done, and there are no takesies-backsies.
10. Trading down can sometimes be beneficial.  Combine Tip 4 and Tip 5 into one, and you get Tip 10!  If you know that you can get something really great from your best friend for the piece of junk being offered to you, it might be worth trading down to the piece of junk.

Happy trading!

-The Egg