Used games and gaming stores

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Mon May 03, 2004 12:35 pm

Something I've always wanted to discuss and see other people's views on is the buying and selling of used vodeo games in gaming stores.

Personally, I think it's a ripoff. For current systems, stores buy games from people for a low price, and then resells them in the used sections for only ~$5 cheaper than a new game. I understand that stores are out to make a profit, but I think it's a tad ridiculous how it is now. I feel that they should give sellers a bit more money for their games, and offer used games for ~$10 less than new games. I don't see why people would even buy used games if for only ~$5 more, they can have the game and packaging and all contents brand-new factory sealed. Just a couple weeks ago it was one of my co-worker's birthday whose been a really good friend since we met and has done quite a bit to help me out with things this semester, so I wanted to get him a GBA game for his birthday. I knew what game I wanted to get him (Mario Kart), and the used copy was only $4 less than the new. I was planning to get a used copy to save money, but I bought the new one since I would say $4 for the box, instructions, other package stuffers, and untouched cart is more than worth it. Used games for current consoles aren't worth it anymore.

What I also hate is system trading. Now, I can understand that there are a lot of people who want to get a new system and are willing to part with their old system and games to get the new one for a cheaper price. But I feel that the stores ask for too much to give too little of the price off a new system. Like trade in your PS1 with 6 games to save $50 off the price of a PS2. That's anywhere between $400 - $500 someone spent for all that for only a $50 (10% at most) yeild. I know I'd want more back. I really hate the deals with the GBA SPs for trading. Most recentally in an ad I have in my room (on campus now killing time), you can trade your original GBA with 3 games to save almost $50 on the purchase of an SP. For other system trades, it's understandable for asking for multiple games, but for this trade it's a total ripoff since you can still play GBA games on the SP. Not to mention the GBA has been in the market for less than 3 years, so the money spent on the GBA was a lot more recent than for older systems with these deals. If they were to offer that much money off by trading a GBA alone, maybe with one game, then I'd say it would be worth it, but it really seems like you're getting screwed.

There's a couple other things I'd like to mention but this post came out much longer than I had thought ^^;;; and I've got to head off to my next class soon. Overall, while I know that stores are trying to make money, I think that they screw over the customers too much. I'd like to see what everyone else thinks.

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Mon May 03, 2004 2:25 pm

I feel you, Dan. At the mall, a game I wanted (Resident Evil: Outbreak) cost $40.00. It was $34.95 used. Screw that, I bought the new one.

But that's not the worse part, IMO. Gamestores buy your used games for a low low price. I bought a game, don't remember which one, for $50.00. I sold it a month or two later for less than half the price. That sucked. I mean the game was old, but not that old. And I'm the stupid one for actually selling it for that price.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Mon May 03, 2004 3:38 pm

Yeah, that's one of the things I'm talking about, the low low price stores give you for stuff. I don't sell video games, and only have on two occiasions, once was selling Hydlide (NES) in a garage sale because at my age at the time, I couldn't play the game for my life, and I sold Luigi's Mansion (GC) to EB when they had that giant sale for the opening day of the 1,000th store. I made a plan of how to use the sale coupons the few days leading up to it, where I arranged everything perfectally to get a GeForce 2 MX400 spending only $10, where one of the coupons was to add a certain amount of money for selling them current console games. I had a few anime DVDs I was using a similar coupon for (the DVDs were extras due to boxes being released/announced and I had a couple volumes of) and a few DVDs from my brother donated for my cause, and since I never really played or liked LM too much, I decided it would be better to use the coupon to get more money back for it towards the video card (where I also used a $30 off all video cards coupon, by the time the day was done, I bought the $90 card for $10 ^_^). Oh, there is a third game I sold, PSO for GC. I sold that because I got the X-Box version of the game, which I felt was better. I sold it to one of my housemates since he liked the game but knew he probably wouldn't play it online.

Another selling experience I had was when the PS2 was about to come out. Since I knew PS2 could play PS1 games, and that I was saving up for the PS2, I decided to try my luck selling my PS1 to stores to help fun the PS2 that summer. Now, my PS1 was a newer one that came with the Dual Shock, and at the time wasn't even two years old. I still had the box and original packaging, so given that and it's very young age, I had expected no less than $50 for it. I brought it to Microplay first, and while they were impressed by it, they only offered me $30 for it. The kicker? At the same time, there was a older PS1 in the counter shrinkwrapped with a old controller selling for $70. I told them that their price was too low, especially with what they were selling an older PS1 with no packaging for. They said they needed to make a profit, and I replied there's a difference between making a profit and giving it to a customer up the ass and that I would take my chances of selling it elsewhere. If I let them buy my PS1 and they sold it for $70, they would make a 133% profit, but I'm sure they would've sold it for more thus a higher profit percentage. Went right over to EB in my mall across the street, and they offered only $30 as well. I told them I just turned Microplay down at that excat price and would try my luck selling it on my own. Which I did about a month after the PS2 came out. It was near Thanksgiving break and I was still pressed for cash with Christmas season quickly approaching. I was talking to one of my friends, and we made a deal. I sold him the system with all the stuff in the package for $30, but I also recieved in the deal his Sega Genesis with two controllers and 6 games. Now that was more like it. While I was hoping for more money, I say that I was very happy to be getting some money and adding to my collection at the same time, very good deal there.

So now, if I want to deal with used games for current systems (can't complain about buying games for older systems since I'm happy when I can find good games and the prices for buying them are ones I'd be willing to pay for), I try my best to deal with people I know. The way I see it, both parties win when dealing with each other rather than a gaming store. Case in point, a week from tomorrow, I will be purchasing a friend's copy of Super Mario Sunshine for the cube. I will only be paying $20 for the game, therefore me, the buyer, wins for getting a game at a lower price than in stores. My friend, the seller, wins because he gets more money from me than a gaming store would offer him. I often act as a go between for people who are looking to buy or sell games. Lots of people I know know my love for gaming and will ask me to keep an eye out for something that they want to buy cheap or for possible buyers. I keep track of who wants to do what and can arrange things between people and have done a few nice ones. Sometimes, I'll even purchase a system (that I already have) for a low price with a few games from someone, knowing that I can find someone who would like the system and games. I really like dealing this way and encourage others to do so as well. I even was able to hook up my roommate with a PS2 just over a year it came out for only ~$150 if I remember the price correctly. Just typing this out, I'm almost thinking of starting up a little side-business of doing something like this for others, but I don't want to really think that out just yet. ^^;;

Neo Dead Moon · Post by **Neo Dead Moon** » Mon May 03, 2004 3:56 pm

I hate the way video game stores shaft those who trade in their video games as well. Once time, for example, I traded 2 Genesis games and one Game Boy (Kirby's Dream Land 2) for, in total, less than eight dollars. And the worst part is the next day, I saw MY copy of Kirby's Dream Land 2 there for 20 dollars. THEY GAVE ME THREE DOLLARS FOR THAT GAME!! I haven't sold a single game to these cheapsake Electronics Botique bastards again, especially when you can't even used the money they give you outside of the damn store.

Then again, I hate buying things from EB in general, at least inside of an actual store.

ChillerXZ · Post by **ChillerXZ** » Mon May 03, 2004 8:46 pm

Ive only traded in one game and that was my Grand Theft Auto III and i bought that used for like $45.00 and I went back to trade it in after I beat it, I went back to the same place to trade it in, and they wanted $13.00 for it!?!? Trading games in IS a rip-off, however, buying some used games isn't that bad. You have to think, places like Babbages, Game Stop, or Electronic Botique only buy games that are of good quality, at least thats what I think. But buying some games that are used isnt so bad, I've bought games for like $30.00 used and they were $50.00-$60.00 New and the disc was just fine. So overall sometimes its good to buy used games but its never good to trade them in...... At least thats what I think.

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Mon May 03, 2004 10:08 pm

*cracks knuckles* I don't think my rant will be as lengthy as Dan's, but I've got some stories in regard to this topic.

- I sought to sell my copy of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the GCN (it came with my pre-order of Wind Waker). I tried EBX first, and delighted when I saw they were selling it for about $40. Wow, I thought, I'll turn a $40 profit on this thing ^^; I went to the counter and asked how much they payed for them. "$10". I pulled a o_O, then calmly walked away.

- A few months ago, I traded in my GBA toward the purchase of an SP. Despite their selling them for $50, EBX only wanted to give me $20 for it. "But you're selling used ones for the same price as used ones!" "Sorry, this isn't something we can bargain about." Being that I really wanted the SP, I buckled under and shelled out the dough.

These whiny tales aside, I feel all y'all's pains. Yes, you guys need to turn a profit, and to do that you have to sell higher than you buy. But 150% profit for a Gameboy? Give me a break. There's profit, and then there's price gauging.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Mon May 10, 2004 11:41 am

Starscream wrote:- I sought to sell my copy of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the GCN (it came with my pre-order of Wind Waker). I tried EBX first, and delighted when I saw they were selling it for about $40. Wow, I thought, I'll turn a $40 profit on this thing ^^; I went to the counter and asked how much they payed for them. "$10". I pulled a o_O, then calmly walked away.

I was at EB yesterday getting one of my housemates a birthday gift, and they had a used copy of the Legeng of Zelda: Collector's Edition disc, which I thought would be perfect. Only thing was is that disc was going for $55, which I wouldn't mind spending that much for a gift for him, but I don't have that much spare money plus it's the principle of the thing. I don't see how you can take something that was essentially free, and then get a hold of a copy and sell it more money used than a factory sealed game is. Moreover, the case clearly says not for resale. Shouldn't that mean that no one is technically allowed to sell the disc at all? I can understand people selling to each other in some way, that's understandable and arguably ok, but for a retail store to sell something that says to NOT resell seems wrong, especially at the price they ask for. (I ended up getting my housemate Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for GBA)

Onto other, better things, I'm getting myself back into being a go-between between sellers and buyers again. I know my boss since Christmas season has wanted to get a PS2 for his son but has had trouble trying to be able to afford one, so I breifly looked around some places a few nights ago and found some really good deals. I talked to him on Saturday asking him if he was still looking for a PS2 and then explained what I could do for him and how little money he would actually have to spend, and he liked it. I figured it'd be a good way to get back into the trade with the semester near over, and making the boss happy is always a good thing.

Aya Reiko · Post by **Aya Reiko** » Mon May 10, 2004 1:57 pm

There's always Pawn Shops you could try...

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:23 pm

I know, those places can sometimes be a form of heaven depending on what they have in stock. Them and flea markets, best places ever to find cool stuff for low prices. Flea markets are the only reason I'd even go to the NYS Fair, everything else in the fiar costs so much money and isn't really that fun to me, but the flea market there is so awesome in terms of what you can find and how cheap something can be. I really should start looking to see if there's any around my area.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Mon May 10, 2004 5:39 pm

BEWARE OF BASTARD STORES!! Zellers is now on my hit list. A couple of years ago I wanted to buy Castlevania for N64. My Zellers was selling a new one for $20. So I buy it, take it home. First thing I notice is that the instruction booklet is crumpled, like someone jammed it into the box. Then I turn it on and all four files are full 0___o if this is new then why are there used files? My mom and I took it back and they gave us some cock and bull excuse. "It was in the new game section, so it's new, you must be mistaken." Yes lady, I just imagined that there were used files. I'm a lonely person who likes to pretend that her video game booklets are wrecked because it means I have a friend -_-; I kept the game, but I've never shopped there since.

Slrjoecool · Post by **Slrjoecool** » Tue May 11, 2004 5:44 am

I remember back in the day, when the NES was still somewhat new, we took some of our old Nintendo games to a video rental store called the Video Factory. They had a game trade section in the back of the store, so we went to trade in some of our NES games.

They were selling used NES games for $10. We asked how much they would buy our games from us. $1. $1?!?!?!? We just turned and walked out. That's a 900% profit off of those games, and we bought them for $50 when they came out. Needless to say, I still have those games.