If your local shops are anything like the ones around me, you will never get a good price on a trade-in. Unless I find a used gun, in excellant shape, then I order from various vendors on the net. I have a local pawn shop that does transfers for $25....not a stellar price, but if I catch a gun I want at a very good price, then it is worth it. That how I got my XD-45....ordered it online, paid the transfer fee, and still got it for $35 less that the pawn shop could buy it from their distributor.....
I would like to support my local shops, but none of them even carry reloading components....and their prices on new guns start high, and go up from that.....