***Essay ahead.. sorry guys!***
I see what you're all saying, and I agree with most, if not all, of it. However, I think the point I've been trying to make has been sort of glossed over - probably due to my lack of clear explanation.
I guess what I'm getting at is that I feel there might be a better way for grab bag receivers (specifically) to trade their higher end items. In this situation, each trader would have paid a similarly low amount for whichever items they'd like to trade - so no one would "lose out," so to speak. If this were a trade between a grab bag purchaser and someone who purchased the high-end item independently, it would be a different story - as obviously one would have spent much more to participate in the transaction than the other.
Even in a situation where one person has bought the other a toy and the other is being sent one from a grab bag, though, it may be the case that the person who bought the other person a toy was desperate to get their hands on a discontinued item they may not otherwise have been able to acquire. Trading, in that sense, would even make LH more money, and both parties would still be better off. But, to keep things simple, I'll stick to two grab-baggers trading for the rest of my post.
Most grab bags seem to contain one (or even two) "luxury" items along with a few lower-end items. If two grab-baggers are trading items, it seems unlikely that one would want to trade their luxury item for a lower-end item of (likely) much lesser quality and durability. That's effectively what giving these items away in the Adopt a Toy thread amounts to. Given that the Adopt a Toy thread attracts almost solely low to mid range items, it also seems unlikely that higher end grab bag items will appear there for trades in the first place.
As grab bags are random, I'm sure there are quite a few grab bag holders who aren't that into the higher-end item(s) they've received, and might feel happier with the item someone else has received. If both parties in this situation don't see a better option than to post their items on the Adopt a Toy thread and maybe get postage back in return, it's not totally unlikely that neither will bother to post at all, deciding instead to keep their "luxury" item despite it not being very compatible with their tastes. This is a waste, and there's no real reason why both parties can't have what they want - a higher-end grab bag item that fits them like a glove. No one - including LoveHoney - loses anything by letting these people trade their items. Both trade partners are better off, and neither have been forced to resort to either giving their items away and reducing the overall utility of their grab bags or, (potentially) worse, letting the item gather dust whilst someone else does the same to an item they would much prefer instead.
If there are two people with higher end items they're not interested in using, but neither sees anything on the Adopt a Toy thread they're willing to trade for (which, with the current system, seems quite likely), surely we're better off if they're given a dedicated place to trade? As you can see, what I'm proposing doesn't really fit with the model of the Adopt a Toy thread, and it would probably be more confusing to shove them both together than to separate them. I've read around, and it seems like trading has got a few supporters - anyone for a separate thread?