There are stories upon stories of people gaming this sale and others like it for personal profit. I love it.
Oh look, I got 3 used games for 40, turn that into a 100 dollars worth of credit somewhere else, eventually get a PS3 for half price or less, resell that for cash...
I love it.
Xenogears of Bore on
3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
0
ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Stranglehold, and No More Heroes. I didn't make out with the "maximum value" for a free game, exactly, but I'm happy with what I got.
Also got The World Ends With You for the wife, so she's happy as well. :P
There are stories upon stories of people gaming this sale and others like it for personal profit. I love it.
Oh look, I got 3 used games for 40, turn that into a 100 dollars worth of credit somewhere else, eventually get a PS3 for half price or less, resell that for cash...
I love it.
I managed to find a complete and excellent-condition copy of Etrian Odyssey that will likely fund most of my other two purchases (Apollo Justice and Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters).
I never understand the stories of people buying games to trade up for more value elsewhere. It seems like too much time and effort, not to mention the money you're likely to spend on gas driving yourself around. I'd rather just spend the money I make in a few hours of work at my real job than go to all that trouble in my free time.
I imagine some people enjoy the act. Kind of like people who enjoy playing the market in MMOs.
I almost took advantage of this deal because I saw a sued copy of Okami. It was in my hands, and I desired it. Then I realized buying a used copy wouldn't benefit the developers or publisher and said fuck it, I'll buy a new copy. Because why support giant corporations like Gamestop when I can support giant corporations like Capcom who actually do stuff?
Accualt on
0
Forever Zefirocloaked in the midnight glory of an event horizonRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
They're sticking it to the man and it's cool
Forever Zefiro on
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
I never understand the stories of people buying games to trade up for more value elsewhere. It seems like too much time and effort, not to mention the money you're likely to spend on gas driving yourself around. I'd rather just spend the money I make in a few hours of work at my real job than go to all that trouble in my free time.
Can anybody explain the allure to me?
CAG is filled with legendary tales, a lot of them very YMMV and dependent on clearance stock and regional stores such as GameCrazy that offer far better trade-in values than EBStop. I think a lot of the die-hard CAGs are the SlickDeals/FatWallet types that love bargain-hunting regardless of time involved, but even I've taken part in smaller deals. It's not worth it if you don't have a lot of things in your area, but if you're in, say, midtown Manhattan, where I have about four EBStops, a Toys R Us, a Best Buy and two Circuit Cities all within walking distance, it's a nice way to spend a lunch break or two. The mall by my house actually has four EBStops in it, so I typically walk around to see what each one has.
At one point Harvest Moon DS was on clearance at Best Buy for $10, and it had a regular EBStop trade-in value of $10. Apples to apples, but then if you paired it with a Best Buy coupon for $5 off any DS game and an EBStop promotion where you got an extra $10 for trading in two DS games, it essentially meant that you could buy the game for $5 and trade it in for $15. Do that a few times and it pays for a free game or two.
Hmm, that makes sense. I guess it really depends on how close all the retailers are to each other. If you can turn a lunch break spent browsing game stores into free money, then I can see why you'd do it. :P
I never understand the stories of people buying games to trade up for more value elsewhere. It seems like too much time and effort, not to mention the money you're likely to spend on gas driving yourself around. I'd rather just spend the money I make in a few hours of work at my real job than go to all that trouble in my free time.
Can anybody explain the allure to me?
It's the "I feel like I'm stealing/getting something for nothing' mentality. Why does my wife buy ugly ass shoes for me? Because they were on sale, or buy one get on half off. Not that I needed shoes, or not that they were even a nice pair of shoes, but shit they were on sale.
Almost the same thing with the hybrid car people, thinking they are somehow saving money. Guy in my office bought a Escape hybrid....
Now the base Ford Escape gets 20/26 mpg, with a base price of $19,140. Escape Hybrid gets 34/30 mpg, base price of $26,640. Doing a little math, @ 10,000 miles a year, with the average of the city/hwy, the base Escape cost about $1521 in gas/year (@ 3.50 a gallon). The hybrid costs about $1093 in gas/year. In order to get the 'savings' it would take a little over 17 years to recoup the intial premium. (That's if this guy bought cash, forgetting the interesting he is paying for the car as it is.)
But the price of gas is going up! Even at $5 a gallon, then it takes 12 years to recoup.
I never understand the stories of people buying games to trade up for more value elsewhere. It seems like too much time and effort, not to mention the money you're likely to spend on gas driving yourself around. I'd rather just spend the money I make in a few hours of work at my real job than go to all that trouble in my free time.
Can anybody explain the allure to me?
I've found the whole CAG scene fascinating since I first learned about it a few years back. Basically it is mainly comprised of thirty something stay at home dads and a few renegade stick it to the man twenty somethings with a flair for saving.
Now normally gaming the used games trade is kinda a crap shoot. Gamestop sets the trade in value's too low most of the time, so you're only making a few bucks here and there buying clearance merchandise from the big box chains. So either you get lucky and find something that can be sold on Amazon for a lot like a rare Atlus game in good shape or you wait for certain trade in deals to make just a few bucks more.
That is of course if there isn't a Gamecrazy/New Look Blockbuster in your area.
Gamecrazy doesn't update their trade in list as often and usually offers at least 40% more on games.
You get all this credit and suddenly you have all the games you ever wanted by gaming the system. Even better is that sometimes they clearance out used games at below the Gamestop trade in value because of the slow updates, so you can completely play the system with very little actual work involved.
I never understand the stories of people buying games to trade up for more value elsewhere. It seems like too much time and effort, not to mention the money you're likely to spend on gas driving yourself around. I'd rather just spend the money I make in a few hours of work at my real job than go to all that trouble in my free time.
Can anybody explain the allure to me?
A lot of people forget to factor in the cost of gas, or the value of their time.
Every once in a while I'll see a couple of promotions that give a larger net, and take advantage of it, but I don't go out of my way for it. I'd earn more money by just spending that time working, you know.
Almost the same thing with the hybrid car people, thinking they are somehow saving money. Guy in my office bought a Escape hybrid....
Now the base Ford Escape gets 20/26 mpg, with a base price of $19,140. Escape Hybrid gets 34/30 mpg, base price of $26,640. Doing a little math, @ 10,000 miles a year, with the average of the city/hwy, the base Escape cost about $1521 in gas/year (@ 3.50 a gallon). The hybrid costs about $1093 in gas/year. In order to get the 'savings' it would take a little over 17 years to recoup the intial premium. (That's if this guy bought cash, forgetting the interesting he is paying for the car as it is.)
But the price of gas is going up! Even at $5 a gallon, then it takes 12 years to recoup.
But I'm getting off the subject....
Pretty good, but you forgot a few factors.
1) People with Hybrids are often inclined to drive more, ceterus paribus, because they feel they can afford a little more gas.
2) The value that using less gas has for the environment/the future
3) The sense of satisfaction that the owner gains from thinking about 2)
Overall, though, you're still right about it being more expensive. In an economic sense, though, you could say that 3) actually makes up the difference in value. In fact, that is HOW you would work out the value of it; by subtracting out the difference.
Posts
Oh look, I got 3 used games for 40, turn that into a 100 dollars worth of credit somewhere else, eventually get a PS3 for half price or less, resell that for cash...
I love it.
Also got The World Ends With You for the wife, so she's happy as well. :P
I know I'd value both YU and MMZ4 individually at twice what you paid for the lot, so... good deal!
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
I managed to find a complete and excellent-condition copy of Etrian Odyssey that will likely fund most of my other two purchases (Apollo Justice and Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters).
Can anybody explain the allure to me?
I almost took advantage of this deal because I saw a sued copy of Okami. It was in my hands, and I desired it. Then I realized buying a used copy wouldn't benefit the developers or publisher and said fuck it, I'll buy a new copy. Because why support giant corporations like Gamestop when I can support giant corporations like Capcom who actually do stuff?
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
CAG is filled with legendary tales, a lot of them very YMMV and dependent on clearance stock and regional stores such as GameCrazy that offer far better trade-in values than EBStop. I think a lot of the die-hard CAGs are the SlickDeals/FatWallet types that love bargain-hunting regardless of time involved, but even I've taken part in smaller deals. It's not worth it if you don't have a lot of things in your area, but if you're in, say, midtown Manhattan, where I have about four EBStops, a Toys R Us, a Best Buy and two Circuit Cities all within walking distance, it's a nice way to spend a lunch break or two.
At one point Harvest Moon DS was on clearance at Best Buy for $10, and it had a regular EBStop trade-in value of $10. Apples to apples, but then if you paired it with a Best Buy coupon for $5 off any DS game and an EBStop promotion where you got an extra $10 for trading in two DS games, it essentially meant that you could buy the game for $5 and trade it in for $15. Do that a few times and it pays for a free game or two.
It's the "I feel like I'm stealing/getting something for nothing' mentality. Why does my wife buy ugly ass shoes for me? Because they were on sale, or buy one get on half off. Not that I needed shoes, or not that they were even a nice pair of shoes, but shit they were on sale.
Almost the same thing with the hybrid car people, thinking they are somehow saving money. Guy in my office bought a Escape hybrid....
Now the base Ford Escape gets 20/26 mpg, with a base price of $19,140. Escape Hybrid gets 34/30 mpg, base price of $26,640. Doing a little math, @ 10,000 miles a year, with the average of the city/hwy, the base Escape cost about $1521 in gas/year (@ 3.50 a gallon). The hybrid costs about $1093 in gas/year. In order to get the 'savings' it would take a little over 17 years to recoup the intial premium. (That's if this guy bought cash, forgetting the interesting he is paying for the car as it is.)
But the price of gas is going up! Even at $5 a gallon, then it takes 12 years to recoup.
But I'm getting off the subject....
I've found the whole CAG scene fascinating since I first learned about it a few years back. Basically it is mainly comprised of thirty something stay at home dads and a few renegade stick it to the man twenty somethings with a flair for saving.
Now normally gaming the used games trade is kinda a crap shoot. Gamestop sets the trade in value's too low most of the time, so you're only making a few bucks here and there buying clearance merchandise from the big box chains. So either you get lucky and find something that can be sold on Amazon for a lot like a rare Atlus game in good shape or you wait for certain trade in deals to make just a few bucks more.
That is of course if there isn't a Gamecrazy/New Look Blockbuster in your area.
Gamecrazy doesn't update their trade in list as often and usually offers at least 40% more on games.
You get all this credit and suddenly you have all the games you ever wanted by gaming the system. Even better is that sometimes they clearance out used games at below the Gamestop trade in value because of the slow updates, so you can completely play the system with very little actual work involved.
A lot of people forget to factor in the cost of gas, or the value of their time.
Every once in a while I'll see a couple of promotions that give a larger net, and take advantage of it, but I don't go out of my way for it. I'd earn more money by just spending that time working, you know.
Pretty good, but you forgot a few factors.
1) People with Hybrids are often inclined to drive more, ceterus paribus, because they feel they can afford a little more gas.
2) The value that using less gas has for the environment/the future
3) The sense of satisfaction that the owner gains from thinking about 2)
Overall, though, you're still right about it being more expensive. In an economic sense, though, you could say that 3) actually makes up the difference in value. In fact, that is HOW you would work out the value of it; by subtracting out the difference.