Sold our last one outright.  It was our baby and we wanted it to go to a good home that would take care of her.

We traded ours which worked out best for us. I think the deciding factor is - how much do you want to be available to show the camper? and do you have the time to do it. For us, work keeps us busy enough that we just didn't want to deal with it.

I think some facts need to be known when people answer......How old of a camper are you talking about?  How much value does it have?

My current popup is a 1992 Coleman Seneca.  If I brought it to a dealer to trade it in they would say they are "giving" me $500 for it and would probably junk it because it was so old.  I would sell my popup on Craigslist.  I would rather see someone use it and I would get more money for it.  I would probably ask $1,600 for it. 

Now if your camper was worth say.....$4,000 then you have to worry about payment and that is a hassle.  Cash talks, BS walks..... but people don't usually want to hand over more than $2,000 in cash.  They want to give you a check.

The problem with the trade route is that the dealer is never going to reveal his hand. He'll show some of his lesser cards to make you think you're getting a deal, but like the new car industry they'll never give what the sell price of the unit or what they're actually giving you for your trade. They are able to play the shell game, makw the numbers sound go to you and get you to sign on the dotted line. That being said, DW and I are now the proud owners of two campers. When she pressed the sales people at our dealer and held them to a firm sale price and the back figured what they were "giving" for the trade it was about half of what KBB lists it for. We are not by any means listing it for that much on CG, but we decided that we'd feel better if we didn't just give up and let it (our paid for PUP) go for less than half of what we paid for it. Now if the right person comes along and make a reasonable offer like said by "LL" money talks.