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Game Trading: Why does it suck ass?
JLM-AWP
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I was at Gamestop last night and was, once again, absolutely blown away with how much we, as consumers are being gouged for used games. And it's not just the buying prices that are ridiculous, but the price they pay us for games is incredibly sub-par in most cases (save for deals and weekly trade-in specials that can actually be a decent deal). Now I know some of you work at these places, and I don't expect you to explain this, or offend you or you job....but it is somewhat out of hand.
If I buy a brand-new 50$ game, go home and beat it in 6 hours, then take it to Gamestop, I am going to get maybe 30-35$ for it. MAYBE. Then they are going to turn around and sell it for $44.95....we all know this. So...why hasn't anyone done anything about this? I came home and did a quick Googling of online trading sites, which brought up depressing results. There is nothing out there that is clean, easy, and reliable.
Options I found:
http://gametz.com/
This one looks ok at first, but getting a look at the user list reveals that it has maybe a few thousand users at best. That means less trades, and less possibility that you're gonna find what you're looking for, especially rare games.
http://www.goozex.com/
This site just looks sketchy from the get-go, and it doesn't seem like it does direct user->user trading, but rather a point system that they determine and moderate. Blech, online Gamestop.
Am I just not aware of a great place to go and trade games with people? Or buy them for cash? There's always eBay I guess, but trading would add so much more to the equation. It would be nice to have a place to go with a huge user-base that can help link people to each other using wish-lists and "what I'm willing to trade" libraries.
If I buy a brand-new 50$ game, go home and beat it in 6 hours, then take it to Gamestop, I am going to get maybe 30-35$ for it. MAYBE. Then they are going to turn around and sell it for $44.95....we all know this. So...why hasn't anyone done anything about this? I came home and did a quick Googling of online trading sites, which brought up depressing results. There is nothing out there that is clean, easy, and reliable.
Options I found:
http://gametz.com/
This one looks ok at first, but getting a look at the user list reveals that it has maybe a few thousand users at best. That means less trades, and less possibility that you're gonna find what you're looking for, especially rare games.
http://www.goozex.com/
This site just looks sketchy from the get-go, and it doesn't seem like it does direct user->user trading, but rather a point system that they determine and moderate. Blech, online Gamestop.
Am I just not aware of a great place to go and trade games with people? Or buy them for cash? There's always eBay I guess, but trading would add so much more to the equation. It would be nice to have a place to go with a huge user-base that can help link people to each other using wish-lists and "what I'm willing to trade" libraries.
JLM-AWP on
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Someone correct me if i'm wrong
I regret ever doing.
Selling my Genesis and Xbox are my biggest mistakes.
Really, eBay seems your best bet. Or maybe a non game place, like FYE or Coconuts.
That's why they low ball it
I've also had a good bit of luck selling stuff through both Amazon and Half.com. Depending on the game and how new it is, you can get pretty good value out of your games. For example, I got most of my money back when I sold my copy of Cooking Mama: Cook Off off of Half.com.
On the other hand, someone I know stole games right from GameStop and then drove to another to sell them back. He made enough doing this to buy several games, an Xbox, and Gamecube. Back when they were new and expensive.
So I bet they don't like that...
I definately don't like that they sell the used games for like 45 when the new one is 50. That just seems a bit absurd, particularly when they give you 15 bucks for it.
It is for kids who don't have the fiscal responsibility thing down yet, but also don't have the cash on hand to get games. It is a reasonable service, but the pricing is a total rip off. Like a few other posters said, ebay is the way to go for used games.
EBay every time. The lack of a middle man mark up means that if you buy a game from EBay and then sell it later on the only cost you have payed is postage no matter what price the game was.
Seriously? It's called making a profit. Wouldn't the world be all full of sunshine and rainbows and puppy dogs if they just gave you straight across trades? It's not a library or a swap meet. Seriously.
Also, why your games become worth so little so quickly? It's called "supply and demand". That super hot title that everyone bought and then beat and tried to sell/trade-in? Well, now Gamestop/EB/etc. are FLOODED with them and really don't need your copy on top of the 50 others they have sitting in the backroom. You're not being gouged, you're just not being smart about it.
I worked in used record/CD stores for 8 years and it's the exact same concept. It's more then a little irritating when every other asshat trying to sell their records thinks they should be getting top-dollar for what they bring in.
I mean, I know they dick you hard, but when you need the cash, they'll always pay up.
Really if used prices weren't inflated high as they are, everyone would stop buying new and that would murder the games industry. I'd sooner give my games away to a friend and make them happy than profit a few bucks off it. I usually make informed decisions and keep a massive collection so I don't get rid of anything anyway.
Cheapassgamer.com has a really good trading community, with mostly reliable people and accountability. I'm sort of surprised PA doesn't have something similar but I guess the community is less strapped for cash as its a good deal younger here so there's no need for such a system to arise.
OR IS THERE?!
This is commendable.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I got $80+ from selling my XBOX, games and two controllers, and thought it was pretty good, considering onme of the games was MechWarrior that came with my system.
or when you do it directly to another person
stop unnecessarily involving a 3rd party. (ebgames/gamestop/the devil)
Ahem... *points at sig*
SE++ Map Steam
eBay = sunshine and rainbows and puppy dogs and pretty much anything else you can think of.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
That's exactly what I do. And I can't remember the last time I was disappointed. And if a game is so so and I want to add it to my library or just want to give it a try I buy it for $9 or under at Gamestop and exchange it if it's really really bad. But again with a little bit of research and some good 'ol reading, I haven't had to use that second option either.
but ...
That is so true. Just yesterday a guy walked in to one of our local Gamestops with all three of the Lord of the Rings Special Edition boxes still wrapped with the Circuit City prices on them. Guy only wanted cash and looked, you know, the type.
Please keep in mind this Gamestop is right next door to Circuit City so you can only imagine where he got them from. And to top it off the guy behind the counter gave him cash out of his own pocket instead of buying them through the Gamestop System.
Can you say "shaddy" ...?
LIZ: Different.
VOICE-OVER: It's September 24th, I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life.
1) Stole the goods
2) Bring in roughly 75 games, the most recent of which would be 'Madden 2003' for XBox.
In the case of #2, it actually costs EBStop money to do the transaction, when you think of the manpower needed to gut, process, and distribute these shitty used games throughout the store. Paying a customer $10 for trading in enough games to cause 3 hours of work isn't justified, whatsoever.
Yet, what's the policy? 'Push that we give cash back on trades!'
While I wish that you were right (and being right, EB would then up their buyback prices), I doubt this system will ever be implemented. Just look at the massive profits and growth the company has, based completely off used sales. There's just no reason to change the strategy when doing so, while fiscally smart in one aspect, would then lose quite a large portion of its attraction/appeal/whatever to a lot of people. It's the kind of system I would like to see, I agree, but there's just no reason they'll change their ass-ramming ways.
I cannot fathom you guys that say things like "I won't buy a game that I'd ever want to sell". What the fuck sense does that make? How many times are you really going to play the same game over and over, given the constant flood of new titles?
A friend bought me a brand new PS2 game for my birthday one year. Unfortunately, I had already gone out myself and gotten it when it came out. This friend bought the duplicate game at EB, and even got a gift receipt, knowing that I might have picked it up myself.
I took the unopened, brand new game back to EB with the gift receipt, and the manager there told me that all they could do was give me the trade-in price, which was something like $25. I argued that it was still wrapped, and whoever SOLD the game to my friend had given her a gift receipt, presumably on the premise that it could be returned, but no dice.
Any store that won't give you full value for an unopened game, WITH a receipt, especially when it was only bought a couple of days prior doesn't deserve my business. Their ripoff policy on trade-ins is just icing on the inedible cake that is their business model.
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime
I'll never understand this reasoning. You won't shop there because one time you dealt with someone who didn't know what the fuck they were doing? Of course you could've returned it, it says so right on the fucking receipt. When you get a register monkey or even a manager telling you otherwise, you take it further up the ladder.
won't shop there cause they are bunch of assholes. they fucked me and a lot of people ever on Xbox360 preorders.
After speaking to the manager at this particular store, and being assured that this was their new "return policy," and there was nothing he could do, I called three more EBStops in my area and they all told me the same thing. One of the guys I spoke to was actually cool with me, and admitted that the policy didn't make any sense to him, but that's the way they do it now.
After that, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and sold the game off on Ebay for almost twice what EB would have given me.
I haven't shopped at an EBStop in years, because I think their used-game-scam is ridiculous, and I reserve the right to not shop in stores that do things I don't agree with. But I was still open to the possibility if I absolutely needed to. This particular incident was the proverbial straw.
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime
I realize they're raping me on the prices, but I usually find deals (3 games, add 20$) and that helps. I don't have the patience/time for Ebay.
I had a similar experience at a local EB. I got a used copy of Sword of Mana as a gift, along with the extended warranty bullshit and a receipt in case I didn't like it. I played it once and decided I'd rather just have the money to put toward a different game.
I took it in and said I'd like to return it, the guy at the register seemed very understanding. He was about to give me my money back when he asked what was wrong with it. I said nothing, I just didn't like it. All of a sudden his expression changed and he thrust the game back at me. He said "Sorry if there's nothing wrong with it all I can do is give you 12$ store credit."
So if I had stuck the game in the microwave or something I could have gotten my money back, but instead I give them a perfectly working copy they can resell and I get fucked. I could understand if it was brand new, but this was used and had probably been played by 3 people before me.
Their return policy, back in the mid-late 90's, was extremely flexible. You could return ANY game, opened or sealed, for full store credit within 14 days of the purchase date as long as you had a receipt. It was pretty much a 2-week rental for a lot of games you wanted to play, but thought you might breeze through in a few days.
They eventually tightened it up so that you could only exchange a game once, and whatever you bought with the store credit after that first exchange, you were stuck with. Which I understood, because the old policy was way too lax. But then all the stores merged, and they locked up like the iron curtain, and it seems like their used-game-credit:price ratio has gotten ever more ridiculous since.
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime
when i rarely have a game I don't want anymore, i generally just put it up on ebay with a buy it now, instant transaction, moneys in my paypal account instantly and i'm usually making well over double what any local store would have given me in trade in value
Imagine a site that did straight up trades but eventually it would be popular enough to make profits off the adverts like any other website.
I completely agree that unless you're selling a new game, or at least a relatively rare game, there's not much of an advantage to selling on Ebay. But I would do that over trading in games at EBStop just on principle. If I sell a game on Ebay, chances are I'm selling it to someone who wants to play and enjoy the game like I did, and not to some jerkstore who's going to turn around and sell it for 3x the price.
I have a really strong ethic that makes it really hard for me to patronize a business that I don't agree with, no matter how much more convenient they are.
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime