Used video game stores screwing the little guy?

Lago, that applies to some games but not all. Some games are all about replay value. Puzzle games, theoretically, are good for all time. Selling it is selling your privelige to play that particular game anymore. It's not quite the same as books or movies, where once the story is in your mind you own it in your memory forever. Games are more about the experience of playing.

I have been working at GameStop for the past 4 years of my life. First off, I want to say PenitentPenguin, that's not GameStop's fault, your manager is just a dick. AT my store, employee's have dibbs on everything first. That's why we work for the craphole company.

As far as trade-ins are concerned, at this moment in time, you are getting ripped off. The demise of GameStop began when they became a publicly traded company. Once this happened, trade-in prices began to go lower and lower, while mark ups going higher and higher. Especially, after the EB/GameStop merger. Right now, when someone trades in a game, most of the time, I feel like I have taken candy from a baby, and then proceeded to punch the baby and its mother in the face. While it's true that nobody wants your copy of Madden 2003 (I have about 40 copies that owe me back rent for the past 3 years), people do want non-sports titles. We are even beginning to rip people off on these gems.

As far as GameStop employees being dicks, it's 100% true. However, it's not our fault. No one realizes how much of an asshole GameStop is to its employees. They force us to sell Reservations/Subscriptions and if we fail to, THE WHOLE ENTIRE STORE! Is in jeopardy of losing their jobs. They make us sell things to you that we wouldn't even buy ourselves, like Game Play Guarantees and Product Replacement Plans. The company creates a hostile work environment, which in turn, creates your hostile shopping experiences. My manager was dicked out of a raise because my store is, and I quote, TOO NICE TO ITS CUSTOMERS!!! This is what GameStop employees have to deal with friends. Most of us just hang in there to get our crappy 15% discount (which used to be 25% at one point) and get first choice at games/consoles we want. Hate us for that if you must, by hey, why would you work for GameStop??

I love whenever a topic like this comes up all of sudden everyone has an MBA. "Blah blah blah capitalism!" No, capitalism is when Bestbuy starts selling used games and forces EB out of business because they have higher volume so they can pay more and charge less. It's not "EB can charge whatever the hell they want, deal with it."

Why blame the store? People are idiots for trading in a game they spent $50, and get $5 back

People are dumbasses, simple as that

And for the person saying EBGames has high prices.. uh, all games are the same price, lol

Adam, all stores are not the same price for used games.

That's why I never trade in games at an EB or GS and I only buy used games from them when they have one of those buy 2 get one free sales because, that's the only way they won't rip you off.

For trading in I go to one of the little shops in Chinatown or Flushing (it's just like Chinatown but also houses one especially obnoxious Gamestop). Now that's the real little guy and he gives a better deal.

I once saw a used Nintendogs (soon after it's launch) for more than a new copy at the aforementioned GS. The game wasn't even scarce in that neigborhood, they just knew some moron would pay it.

The same thing can be said about stupid college bookstores and college textbooks! Screw them all! Communist Bastards!

I do wish the used games that were just the box and game but not manual would sell for less then the complete package. I am paying for a manual, game box and game but when you remove one or two you should pay far less for it. I don't want to pay 30 bucks for a used game copy that is just the game I want what else that game came with.

Also I hate when the damn gamestore slips me the used copy instead of the brand new one like they were supposed to give. Next time I go to a game store I am demanding the guy slip the game into my DS and check for game data saves. If it is a used game I should pay the used price.

I see a lot of people reccomending Ebay and other sites, but I wonder how many actually go out of their way to do so?

I sell many things on Ebay, let me break it down for you.

First off, it's a pain in the rear. List the auction, take the pictures, double-check to make sure everything is correct, specify shipping fees, a return policy if you wanna put one up, etc etc.

Then there are the fees you get charged:

- A fee for listing the auction.
- Fees for things like having a gallery preview in the search listings.
- A final value fee based off a percentage of the final selling price.
- Paypal fees (99% of people these days pay through it, get ready to get ignored big-time if you don't accept it).

Don't even begin to think these aren't going to add up, because they do. I sold stuff on Ebay last week and received $176...before $14 in Ebay fees and $9 in Paypal fees. That means about 13% of what I made was sucked up in fees, right? But no! It's actually more than that, because part of that money was shipping costs that don't even factor into my profit.

- Then you have to go pack and ship your item. Expect plenty of complaining from sellers if it's not out immediately and well-packed.

On top of all this, Ebay is not the magical land of pixie dust and happiness, where everyone rushes to buy your games. If they want it, they'll bid on it, but if you think a dollar for Madden 2004 is bad, go put it up on Ebay and see what you get.

To sum up, Ebay is great for selling newer games and rare games. But don't even begin to think that it is the answer for everything. After fees and the time you spend (listing the auction, packing the item, shipping it out, answering questions from buyers), there are plenty of times when it's just not worth the hassle. EB actually has good trade-in values on occasion when you look at what a game sells for on Ebay minus fees, though that is rare. Generally (barring new stuff that already starts to trade in low and rare games) you don't make much compared to what you'd get from them, and you pay for the difference in your time spent.

The used EB game prices burn me because a new copy of a game will be $59.99 and they'll want $49 for the used copy and it's like WTF. It doesn't matter what portion of that $49 the seller got, I'm just figuring why bother - I'm ten dollars away from a new copy. It doesn't have to be this deep argument about capitalism, business sense and evil corporations - just common sense.

As for these trading sites people are just better off learning the likes of ebay which basically has everything in a hand basket. You can sell & buy at reasonable rates, it's well organized and set up and there's just an overall sense of security and comfort in making purchases thru there once you're off and know what you're doing.

Trading sites besides being inconvenient to all but the most patient and accepting can be overly complicated and offer little in the way of security. If you want a good education in the way things can go wrong really nice scan these sites for lists and write-ups from all the people who've gotten burned one way or another. While you keep that thought fresh in mind don't forget about the retarded lowball offers you will get also. 'Hey dude, trade me Advanced Warfighter for the 360 and I'll give you True Crime: Streets of LA and Top Spin 2'. Right.

If none of that dissuades you, then there's cost and first hand experience will show you trading usually ends up being more expensive in the long run. So you work out what each of you is getting and on paper it seems like a fair trade. Now add in all the little things. Packaging costs, shipping postage fees, you have to send first because the other guy has more feedback than you. So you do all that, you're out the games plus a chuck of shipping cash and now you play the waiting game. You hope he doesn't F you over, you hope it doesn't get lost/damaged in the mail - you goddamn hope you insisted (and payed) for tracking and/or insurance.

I've been on a trading site for years now and in all that time I've only had two transactions because there are other less complicated and worrisome routes for me to buy and sell games. You have to be either a optimistic fruitcake with no business sense of what your items are relatively worth or a hardcore gamer who flops thru games and consoles like no tomorrow to appreciate trading sites.

Used game prices are very fair in Japan. Trade-ins are also reasonable, which explains why there are so many used games for sale (the quantity of things for sale is a sight to see).

I also love the fact that older games rarely fetch crazy prices as in the U.S., as eBay treasures Suikoden II and Valkyrie Profile can both be bought simply by walking into the store and paying no more than $20 each.

Unlike GameStop/EB Games these days, used games stores in Japan still carry Famicom, Super Famicom, Mega Drive, PC Engine, Gameboy, Sega Saturn... Let's just say that they still have love for the older games.

The things that piss me off are:

My local EB (Blackstone Valley Shops, MA) is selling Guitar Hero... without the guitar. They're selling the guitar for 40... and the game for 40 also, I believe.

Speaking of GH, why does Best Buy sell it at 70 and sell out, while EB sells it at 80 and never moves units?

And there's copies of Gitaroo-Man and MVC2 for 40 and 50 bucks USED. I'm sure they fleeced the traders, i.e. "This game is OLD! We'll give you 10 bucks for it!"

Gawd. About half a year after I bought Ratchet:Deadlocked, I traded it in (glitchers online ruined the fun). I got 15 for it, which wasn't bad.

Grant, then you are going back to the point that Zak made about market value. That game might still be worth a lot to you but it's not worth the same to everyone else. You are indeed selling your right to play that game but no one is making you. Again, you are making a conscious decision to let go of that game meaning you have decided that you would rather have some money than play the game.

If the money you are offered for the game is not enough, maybe you should just keep the game. That is also a viable option.

As you said, it really depends on the game. You'll get more money for good or rare games but for the ones that there are still millions of, it's not really worth it for game stores to buy it for more than a couple bucks. There will always be other people willing to sell their games to them for less.

Bottom line: KEEP ALL YOUR GAMES FOREVAR (I've never sold a game I bought)

refinedsugar, some people see the 49used/59new as "only 10 bucks more and I can get it new!" and other people see it as "it's 10 bucks cheaper used!" I try to buy used as much as possible because it's cheaper and it supports the used game store I go to. The owners are friends of mine so pardon my animated defense of them.

Everyone should remember that mom&pop stores ARE the little guy. Stop buying from corporations! Support your local indie stores!

Its True that GameStop cheats people out of their money, but sometimes you can do the same using them for example I searched different GameStop stores and found 3 used copys of Phoenix Wright at 19.99 and sold them at an average of 50 at ebay so thanks GameStop your not all bad!

Lago, of course no one is making me sell the game, all I'm saying is that you can get better offers for your games at places other than EB and, in my opinion, it's often worth it to take advantage of that despite the added difficulty of mailing stuff off, etc. If the money I'm offered for the game isn't enough, I'll shop around for a better offer, and if one doesn't come up, I'll keep the game, of course. Our whole disagreement is something that can't be argued: how much we're willing to accept in exchange for our property (though it seems you're really stingier than I am, as you've never found an offer good enough to make you sell, which seems to run counter to your argument earlier that games shouldn't be worth anything once you've played through them.)

I'm a consumer, not a charity. I'll buy from whomever can provide me with the same product at the lowest cost or the greatest utility. There seems to be some confusion here at the idea that the only cost is the cost of the game.

I sell games at my local EB/Gamestop. Why? Because I have two kids, a full-time job that requires a long commute and little time to be bothered with trading sites. EB gives me terrible payback? Compared to what? My time is VALUABLE. At EB, I can trade my games in and get store credit in five minutes. Games, I might add, that I'VE ALREADY GOTTEN MY MONEY'S WORTH OUT OF. If it's a game I'm not playing again, EVER, then it gets sold. That's found money in my mind. I already derived my entertainment value from it, and now it's a little extra towards my next purchase.

That doesn't mean I don't go after the best price. It means that, when I hit a certain critical mass, I got to EB and clean off the game shelf, turning it around into credit for some games I might not have otherwise bought. I buy games where it's the cheapest or most convienent.

Saying that they are ripping customers off by charging too much for used games is demonstrably FALSE. You bought a game to play it. You didn't buy it to sell, and the original producer of the game is getting nothing from it's resale. It's an after-market sale that gains them NOTHING. Sour Grapes that EB buys low and sells at what the market will bear doesn't change the fact that they're providing a legitimate service. Want Metal Gear Solid 2? It's $5 at EB, used....and sits on the shelf, unloved. Because most everyone who was going to play it HAS played it. EB is gambling that the handful of people who haven't and want to will stop by and purchase it. In the meantime, they devote valuable shelf space to selling it.

This is a legitimate service that has proven itself across a variety of markets; used-cars, consignment shops, refurbished electronics, garage sales, army-navy stores and more. That EB/Gamestop treats its employees like dicks has no bearing either way. I'm having a hard time understanding why this is such an evil concept. EB is making a reasonable profit; the market will or won't bear that out. Have you ever taken a good look at the Comic Book or Trading Card hobbies? Good luck getting book value on that Death of Superman or Rookie card you have. Guess how much they'll sell it for, though?

Lago, your remarks are a bit narrow-minded. Are you saying that when I trade-in my car the dealer shouldn't give me any money because I drove the car and driving the car is the reason for me buying it? Products have value, new or used. In your opinion only retailers should be able to sell products and us consumers should hold on to them forever or expect squat for them.

Grant, actually, I never sell any games because I see no reason to. I like all the games I own and I'd like to play them whenever I want. I'm pretty picky about the games I buy so the ones I do, I keep. The ones I end up not liking, I lend to my friends to try. If I never see them again, no big loss.

Mike, I'm not saying you shouldn't get any money back. I am saying that people expect a lot more money than what they will actually get. If you buy a car for $20K and try to sell it the next year with no interior except for the drivers seat, would you expect to get $15K for it? It's still a car. It will still drive you wherever you want to go. There is a lot of storage space where there were once seats. But you're not getting anywhere close to $20K for it. Probably not even half but I don't really know anything about cars.

I think Grant hit the nail on the head in that we all value things differently. To you, your used car is worth a lot because you paid a lot for it. It is the only car you have to sell so you want to get as much as you can for it. The dealer has lots of cars so your car isn't worth that much to him. It makes more sense to him to buy your car for cheap and sell it with a markup. You can also put up some ads for your car and probably get a better deal on it but that will take time and haggling. Meanwhile, the dealership is down the street.

You are right that all products have value. What I am saying is that people shouldn't expect everyone to value things in the same way. Think about it this way. Two people are trying to sell you the same product in identical condition. One sells it cheaper than the other. Which do you buy?

Just wanna let you guys know that ive been using tradegamesnow.com for over 4 years, and its great, and it is 100% free, aside from the shipping charges you have to pay yourself to send your package out to someone at the post office. I highly suggest you all check it out. and look me up there as Bobman32x

I'm an administrator on TGN (tradegamesnow.com). I can't believe we got mentioned on Joystiq, pretty awesome. I'd invite all people who are sick of EB Games and Gamestop to come give us a try. We're free, and we're very good about keeping people with the wrong intentions off the site so you can be sure it's safe!

Yep, they are. I brought in a game new, unopened, that had come with a replacement system I got when the previous broke, and I already had the game. They offered 2 bucks. They were selling it used for 50 bucks. I'm thinking that might be a rip off.

TradeGamesNow.com is awesome!! It has saved me thousands of dollars over my gaming life time. Sign up there and trade your used games for real value.

I've stopped going to GameStop/EB because the customer service has dropped since the merger. It seems that the EB Games managers got the lion's share of management positions, and they all seem to be complete jerks with lousy customer service skills and little in the line of gaming knowledge.

After having them gripe at me for using their return policy 10% of the time on my purchases of used games, the EB Games manager who took over my local GameStop (at which I was a loyal customer and got every console and most of the games for them for the past several years) decided to "cut me off" from being able to use the company's return policy. I'd buy 5 items, and exchange one, and still walked out spending money... But he took that as "abusing" the policy, and told me he wouldn't let me do returns/exchanges anymore.

So I called corporate. They said he broke the rules and that they'd get the district manager on his tail... But I found out from the local GameStop employees that the DM is an EB Games guy, and he's buddies with this manager, so of course he didn't do anything about it.

So that's it. I'm done with GameStop, because EB Games policies and pisspoor customer service have ruined the experience. I'd rather pay full price or order online than put up with snotty, clueless EB Games people, store plan-o-grams, and policies. GameStop was cool. EB Games sucks. Now GameStop sucks.

Now that EB and Gamestop have stopped taking PS1 and N64 games this month, most of my friends stopped going there. I'm just hoping to get some good, hopefully cheap, PS1 games some time soon, but I always found the best prices, and quality since none of the EB's or Gamestops around here let you test the pre-owned games (one of Funco Lands high points), to be at Flea Markets and Yard Sales. Nothing like a box of 20 DC games, along with the console, 4 controllers, 4 memory cards (3 VMUs), 2 vibration packs, and the Keyboard all for $15, and every bit working.

there is a story on itradevideogames here in joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/search/?q=itradevideogames

You all should really check out:

http://SwapYourGames.com.

They've got by far the best trade-in values I've seen on most games - way better than EBGames or Gamestop, and also better than the other online trading sites I've tried: eStarland, Spun. They also send you the games you want first, so you get them really fast.

Let me add my 2 cents about GameTZ - www.gametz.com. This site is awesome. It has great forums, excellent match-making services, and a really great trade tracking and feedback system. By far this is the best place on the internet to trade games, and I've tried them all. Give it a shot, it's a lot better than getting Jack and Schitt from EB or GameStop (aka BORG of Gaming).

retail places are getting screwed by the publishers who lower their margins to higher game costs...and still the games are consitently getting worse...so I can't really blame the retailers for being trying to stick it to the little guy...but that's just how it is...there are other alternatives...For fair trades that takes out the hassles of negotiating with a stranger and is only $1 per trade people should check out www.goozex.com