John,

Let me make a suggestion that might help you. It certainly works for me. Make a list of your traders similar to what I have at:

http://www.chipguide.com/tradsale.txt

Then, learn from your ISP how to upload that to a spot accessible on the WWW. That way when you see something that you need you can tell the person that you found x, y and z chip on their list that you would like and that hopefully they can find something on your list at www.johnwantstotrade.com to trade for.

It gets tougher to trade as your collection matures. For example, I do a lot of trading with several people in the AC area. When something new comes out in AC, I have 10 or more people wanting to send me one. I actually have to go in rounds and take this item from one, then take the next item from someone else, etc.

I remember when ALL my traders would fit in one of those little 20 chip square tubes. <g> I needed nearly everything back then and most people needed Kansas City are chips. It was RARE when I couldn't trade with someone. Now I have approximately 8,000 chips for trade and really have to work at it sometimes. <g>

But I LOVE it!
Greg