I have said many times how difficult trading can be sometimes. Its one of those things that can be categorized as an art form, and the top traders are easily going to be some of the people that can take advantage of different types of user preferences. I usually like to assign characteristics regarding gameplay vs collecting in the other apps, but with Star Wars its a bit different. With no gameplay available, the trade economy can be built on a few different types of users, and Ill do my best to write out what they are all about. Although many people can display traits of a few different types, its usually easy to figure out where they sit as a primary type.

Marathon Collectors

This group of collectors used to comprise the majority of the user base as the main trend in the way they acquire cards. Basically, if a card is part of one of the weekly marathons, they needed a copy. If a card wasnt part of a marathon, many times they wouldnt put as high a value on their efforts to acquire it. When the pack format switch changed, many people started to look into collecting more of the non-marathon sets, but this trait is still dominant among most of the people.

If you are going to trade with one of these individuals, be aware that they are very unlikely to trade away single copies of the marathon sets, even if their set is not up to date and complete. This also means that low count non-marathon cards may not be as valuable to them, unless you are asking for non-marathon cards in return.

I used to be one of these people 100%, save a few extra Darth Maul cards I thought were cool. Although I have diversified considerably, this is easily my dominant trait.

Character Collectors

These are the users that exist only to collect every card of a certain character. It can be a popular one like Vader or Boba Fett, or it can be an obscure one like a random droid. For the purposes of discussion, lets talk about the people who collect a popular character, as inserts are going to play a very big role in their collections.

I have seen people try to accumulate hundreds, if not thousands of base of a certain person. This is addition to massive collections of inserts and base parallels. You would be surprised how much time someone can dedicate to chasing down every last Han Solo card in the game, or every Yoda card. When you see how many low count inserts that entails, its daunting to say the least.

When trading with these people, they are unlikely to trade any card with their person on it. Yet, they may undervalue other cards in their collection if they are getting a good haul of their target. Be careful in being a jerk and asking for too much, but they may trade in your favor.

Hoarders

When Vintage and Widevision became the top cards to collect, and the big three took center stage, there were a group of users who set out to hoard as many of them as possible. This means unlimited copies of high value inserts, with a thirst to get the biggest collection there is. I think I saw one guy who has 19 copies of the Vintage Han in the Millenium falcon, along side 20 Obi Wan Kenobi widevisions. Wow.

Hoarders are becoming increasingly unpopular in the community, but some of that may stem from the size of their epic collections. I have seen users refuse to trade with hoarders, even when presented with a king’s ransom, if not only to prevent another copy from going out of circulation. Obviously, its up to you, but I have no problem with them getting their wares, as long as it is done fairly. Most of the hoarders look to be pretty dedicated traders, even if they refuse to part with any of their top cards.

I think it should be a no-brainer that trying to pry a top card away from a hoarder is likely going to be very difficult. That being said, if you have one of the main chases that you want to trade, they may be willing to give quite a bit if you play your cards right.

Set Collectors

Ill hand it to the Card Trader design team, they do a REALLY good job making awesome looking cards. As a result, there is a growing group of people who collect as many of the individual sets as they can. When I say individual sets, I mean ones like Luminaries and Firebrand, not Connections and Vintage.

Because many of the individual sets have a number of parallels, they have to dedicate quite a bit of time to acquire those low count cards that comprise the rarer legs of the set. This can be a task that might be close to impossible in some cases, so it requires a lot of trading.

I have traded with people in this category quite a bit, and weekly inserts are often used to pry tough set pieces away from users who like the marathons more. Considering that I am still a marathon collector more than a set collector, I place more value on the cards they are usually willing to part with.

This is a very volatile group to be a part of, as many of the individual set values can fluctuate rapidly as the awards are paid out. I would go as far as saying this is the most difficult group to be a part of because of that situation.

Overall, its just fun to trade with people. If you are not a trade person, I would suggest giving it a shot. Without trading, you cant achieve anywhere close to what you would if you were an active participant. Bottom line. Understanding each of these groups will give you a leg up, and make your experience a lot more enjoyable too.