Card trading - lost art?

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Posted By: Ben

As an eager 12 year old, I would visit the local card shop in Edmonton, Alberta several times a week, asking...no, begging the owner to trade cards with me. Once in a while, he'd humour me, but more often than not he'd be too lazy to get off of his sizable duff to pick out the cards from the display cases that I wanted to see. I can remember my first trade with him very clearly: a pair of 1990 Score Eric Lindros rookies, which I had just pulled from packs and were very hot at the time, for a stack of about 8 or 9 57/58 parkhurst hockey cards it terrible shape. It was a life altering experience, as it was the beginning to my insatiable addiction to old, beat up vintage cards. And heck- I dont think I made out too badly in the trade after all, although fatty card dealer probably thought he made out like a bandit

Anyways, as a collector I have always felt that trading is way more "fun" than buying or selling. Why? Let me count the ways. First and foremost, you get to know fellow collectors with similar interests to yours. Also, you get cards without thinning out your wallet! And finally, wheeling and dealing is...well...just alot of fun! Kinda like being a GM for a major league ball club, but instead of dealing players you deal cardboard.

I guess my question to the board is as follows: are you a card trader? Do you prefer trading over buying/selling? And, is trading a lost art, a childhood memory, or is it still a part of the hobby for you?