Sewnoma

I'm going to the local dealer to test drive the new Janome/Horizon 8900 tomorrow, and if I like it I will be asking them if I can trade in my Janome 6600 towards buying the 8900. The 6600 is in pristine shape with everything it came with and I have about $100 worth (retail) of extra feet for it that won't work on the 8900 that I would be including. I bought the 6600 and the extra feet from that dealer just under a year ago so they shouldn't have any concerns about its history. I still have the original packaging!

I've never traded anything in at a dealer before so I'm not sure what a fair deal would be. There's no Kelly Blue Book for sewing machines! (Is there??)

What sort of percentage of original price do you think I should expect to get? I want a baseline idea of what is normally expected before I go in. I realize it probably varies a good deal depending on the machines, local supply/demand, current economy, etc etc but any advice on what to expect is appreciated.

ncsewer

My dealer actually had a book like a used car guide. She looked it up and made an offer based on that.

Dolphyngyrl

If they are a good dealer they will offer you something close to the purchase price to get you to take the more expensive machine. I got purchase price for my babylock and it was almost 3 years old. There is a blue book for sewing machines

Jingle

If they don't make you a good offer, think about keeping it for a back up. I got taken advantage by a dealer on a trade in. There wasn't much wrong with it. After a couple of sly deals I won't go back.

QuiltE

To me it's the same as buying a car ... it's not how much trade they will give me.
Rather what the net $$ is that I will be paying!

A good trade value can soon be diminished with a high retail price on the machine you are purchasing.

Also, what else is included .... extra feet? accessories? extension table? set in table? lessons? service?

So often people talk about the $ ... but we have no clue as to what the inclusions are, so whether it;s a good deal, is really not known.

quiltingcandy

My Viking dealer gives you a 100% trade in if you up grade within the year of the date of purchase. My Janome dealer does that within 6 months if you have the original packaging. So they should give you a good size trade in.

PaperPrincess

I agree with Jingle. If they don't offer you an amount you feel comfortable with, seriously consider keeping it as a backup/travel machine.

luana

I traded my 6600 for a 7700. Then I traded my 7700 for the 8900. But all my machines were well-used. I'm not going to be much help on exactly how much money you should get for your 6600. To me it is a matter of how much am I willing to pay for the upgrade and the new features. I sew almost every day and the features on the 8900 have been well worth every penny I paid. My dealer tends to throw "extras" into the deal, rather than come down on the price. Last year at the Des Moines Expo Janome was offering to throw in a 3160 with the purchace of an 8900. Good Luck on the trade.

KalamaQuilts

The best net price seems to be when new machines are introduced to the market.I did what luana did, trading my 7700 up for the 8900, he gave me 2K trade in value. It was worth the difference to me because my original and replacement 7700's were both lemons.
Incidently, the 8900 is the perfect machine the 7700's should have been...

If you do pretty much nothing but patchwork you only need a straight stitch machine, rather than one with all the bells and whistles. have you used all the bells and whistles on your 6600?

all you can do is ask, our opinions are pretty much worthless

I keep my 6600 in our 5th wheel.

Sewnoma

Thanks for the input everybody! I have other (smaller) backup machines that handle basic piecing just fine so I don't think I'd get as much value out of keeping the 6600 as a backup as I would if I traded it in or sold it. I don't quilt for a living so if I am unable to easily quilt a sandwich for a few weeks my world won't end. I figure if the dealer doesn't offer a good price I could just sell it on my own but I'd much rather trade it in.

My dealer has a really good reputation around here so I'm optimistic that they'll offer a good trade-in; I just wasn't sure what to expect.

KalamaQuilts - I can't say I've used ALL of the bells & whistles on the 6600 but I've used a LOT of them. I make a lot of quilts (18 in the last 11 months!) but I also make plushies, bags, various other projects (dog beds, curtains, hot drink cuffs, etc.) and general clothing mending/hemming, and am starting to get more into more advanced clothing alteration and will probably be diving into clothing construction soon. So I have even used quite a few of the "fancy" stitches - more than I thought I would, actually. I think the thing I use the least is the lettering stitches. Oh and the knee lift - can't get used to that.

The 3 main things I see on the 8900 that are making me want to upgrade are the free arm (I really miss that, more than I thought I would), the quick-change needle plate, and the extra 2" of throat space. I recently FMQ'd a king size quilt on the 6600 and would like a little more room to do more large quilts like that since we have a king size bed. It looks like on the 8900 I'll lose the ability to wind a bobbin while sewing though, and I'm not sure how I feel about that, that's one of the features I really like about the 6600 and I think I'd miss that. Also not sure how it holds cones - I like how they sit on the 6600 and would rather not deal with a separate cone holder if I can avoid it. The dealer opens in about an hour so I'll find all this stuff out soon, though.