I recently started the process to enact a trade of board games. It's been an unexpectedly exciting and also far easier process than I imagined.
Inspired by@cbrady748 I consulted the website BoardGameCo and compared my "For Trade" and "Wishlist" from BGG to the wants list and stock at BoardGameCo. (Nevermind the fact that I didn't have a "For Trade" or "Wishlist" at BGG... I had to make one and that website is awful)
After their website ran their numbers I was surprised to see that they had#Black Angel and#SpaceCorp available for trade. I quickly dig through my collection and came up with enough points to make a deal!
Here are the particulars of the deal:
I give:
Pandemic Legacy Season 1
Clank!
Tiny Towns
Baseball Highlights: 2045
Arkham Horror LCG Core Set
I get:
SpaceCorp
Black Angel
All told, I couldn't have been happier to move 5 games that just weren't getting or wouldn't ever get played for 2 games that I have been very keen to play. I even got my notoriously stingy wife to agree that trading away games seemed like an ok idea.
After I proposed the trade the BoardGameCo staff have been surprisingly efficient. They asked a question to make sure Pandemic was unplayed and then accepted the offer. Now I'm just waiting to drop off my package to ship it tomorrow morning!
Has anyone else done trades before? I'm new to this game and it seems to be working out great so far.
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cbrady748 Premium User22 days ago
It's worked out for me so far with BoardGameCo! The box I was trying to ship would have cost me $35 shipping via USPS, but with their discount it was around $13. For some shelf space and a couple of new games I'm cool with that for sure
WadeB1977 Premium User22 days ago
I do think there is a slight discount if you create a fedex or UPS account and creat your own label. I would like into that and certainly check out the "flat rate" boxes. Flat rate tends to be slightly more..however, I'd I am shipping a heavy game or beer bottles then this can be a good value assuming you can get items and packing materials needed into the box.
Crazybirdman Premium User21 days ago
Trades are great if you can get them. I wish there was some sort of trading hub/store on the West Coast
TK2187 21 days ago
I haven't traded with them but I sold them a bunch of games that I got from a charity thing that were not great games and never going to be opened. The experience was pretty great!
TK2187 20 days ago
Yeah, a lot less complicated than figuring out a trade. Probably don't get as good of a value monetarily? But the best part was that they took care of shipping so all I had to do was fit all the games in a box.
cbrady748 Premium User22 days ago
Glad to see I'm enabling more of the community here lol! I actually JUST set up another trade with BoardGameCo because honestly the shelf space I gained from the last trade was quickly taken up. This time around I'm trading:
#War Chest (sorry @theDL lol), #Mystic Market, #Point Salad, #Roland Wright: The Dice Game, and #Paladins of the West Kingdom.
Point Salad and Mystic Market I've been okay with getting rid of for awhile - just had to convince Sarah to part with them which turned out to be easier than expected. Paladins was pretty disappointing for me as I've discussed on here before. I think it has to do with me just being pretty bad at the game and it taking forever to set up. If I were any better at it, I'd have a little more desire to play it over the loads of other games I own. War Chest I like enough, but Sarah really doesn't. I honestly could have gifted it to either my brother or a friend or two just to keep it nearby, but again too many other games to play over it. Finally Roland Wright was one of the several roll and write (go figure lol) games I got from a Secret Santa. I had zero interest in playing it after checking out reviews.
In return I'm getting a NIS copy of #Trajan which I'm really excited about.
Outside of my BoardGameCo trades, I've made a lot of trades in math trades both through BGG and Abecorn which the Board Game Barrage podcast uses for theirs. I find shipping to be a real deterrent sometimes but when you think about the idea of giving up a game you don't really play anymore for one you're excited to play for a few bucks, it sometimes is more palatable. Interestingly I find myself trading away games that I traded for more often than games I've purchased myself. Although I guess recently that hasn't been the case with the need for more room on the shelves.
Looking forward to hearing more about your experience with BoardGameCo when you get your games!
theDL 21 days ago
Lol, bummer about War Chest, but yeah if it doesn't work for you then it only makes sense to get rid of it!
cbrady748 Premium User21 days ago
Definitely! I figure if it's mostly just her and I, unless it's a game we love to play with family too, it's fair game to get rid of if we don't play a lot
Courageous Bob 22 days ago
Glad it worked out well for you, I've not heard of Space Corp before but I have read some positive reviews of Black Angel.
I've never actually traded games with anyone before. I get the majority of my games at significant discounts (through extreme patience and luck) so when I am done with them I will often either gift them to friends/family if I think they will enjoy them or take them to charity shops (often where I got them from)
philryuh Owner22 days ago
No trade experience yet, and I'm not sure if I'll ever try it out unless it's with someone on here haha. Until I get to a point where I need to deal with more than say, 5 games, I'll resort to selling locally and hopefully getting a better value. Probably no trading locally since the board game scene is small around where I am
Courageous Bob 22 days ago
Is there a game that you want enough that you'd trade cross-country for it?
Marshwiggle92 Supporter22 days ago
I have done just a few private trades. That being said, I have looked into Boardgame.co several times, and they look like an interesting company. I have also bought from them, and the experience has been pleasant and the games have been in great condition.
I have a lot of games sitting at home that I have yet to get played. If several of them would turn out to be duds I would very much think about sending them into Boardgame.co rather than selling or private trading. The games I often get are a little bit harder to trade to others, and the games I want are generally not quite as common. That is where something like Boardgame.co comes in handy.
Agree totally. Not many people would have a copy of#SpaceCorp sitting around waiting for me.
R0land1199 Premium User22 days ago
I've done lots of local trading for sure. I've looked in to these guys before but not lately. Do they work with non-US gamers?
R0land1199 Premium User21 days ago
Turns out they do have a Canadian site! It doesn’t look like the facilitate trades though. More like buying and selling used games to & from them. Although maybe I missed something.
I will check them out more later today.
It's not something I plan to do all the time, for sure. But after Christmas I was facing something of a storage problem.
Not that I ran out of storage but that my main shelf was full and my wife would kill me if I started expanding into another shelf.
So in this case I was glad to have sent more than I got, especially for those games. And the games I got back I've considered just buying many times.
theDL 22 days ago
I've only done local trades, which helps preserve value because shipping isn't a factor. Those have all been pleasant experiences, though. I'm not sure I'll ever use BoardGameCo unless I just have a ton of games I want to offload all at once. They're a business so they need to make sure they get more value than they give, at least in the aggregate, which means that I could probably get a better trade myself with another local gamer. Of course that takes time and energy, both of which have value as well, so the trade-off can be worth it, depending on the situation.
Well considering local trades here in SE MN are nonexistent this was my only option. And in this case my primary intent was to clear some shelf space. While also getting something back in return. So I think I did a good job with this one.
I would agree in general that a local trade would be better. And also that your value for the trade would be better.
theDL 22 days ago
Yeah I guess it is definitely reliant on having a good number of potential trading partners.
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WadeB1977 Premium User22 days ago
I have completed a couple trades with the same company. I have a couple of 'for trade' games on BGG and I find that trade partners are tough to come by even when the trade stars align otherwise.
I do enjoy trading games in general when a good deal can be worked out. I feel the value even with the shipping turns out to be pretty good. Even $60 in shipping (not always but I figure that for a couple heavier games) is not too back when most games I'd buy would be around that anyway and clearing space on my shelf for games I'd like to play is worth it.