From: Brian Brokaw <brokaw@pojo.com>
To: <JBrewer25@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Collecting for Adults?
Date: Thursday, October 28, 1999 9:40 PM

> I seem to be the only adult in the known universe collecting Pokemon cards 
> for myself (I have no kids quite yet!).  Do you know of any Pokemon card 
> trading events for adult collectors?  If not, should I just jump right in 
> with the kids and start trading away?  

I've completed 90% of all trades that I made for my english and japanese sets
through the mail using Message Boards to meet people and work out deals.

This kind of trading can be pretty intimidating and scary at first, but I never once
had a transaction fall through. Make decisions about the maturity and responsibility
of the other person through a few email conversations, and then just take a leap
of faith.  

Try to make small deals (1 for 1 cards, etc) with someone new at first.

Keep track of EVERYONE you trade with and EVERYONE you decided
not to trade with.  Organize this list for easy reference.  Eventually you will
have built up a collection of emails of responsible people you have already
traded with and repeat trading will become easier and easier.

The internet is a wonderful thing for an optimistic soul :-)

Brian Brokaw