I just looked at e-bay's rules and it does explicitly exclude trading.
I guess e-bay can't get their cut on a trade.
It is a shame that the patches aren't "haunted" by an old man with a cane or carved into a piece of toast. Then he could sell them all and make enough money to pay for college!!!
I am joking of course, that is not a good lesson to teach your son.
If he collects newer patches I may be able to get him some patches from several of the air guard units in the area.