GameFly testing pre-played trade-in program

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jan 9th 2008 at 12:00PM }

GameFly, the by-mail game rental service, is beginning to offer select members the option to trade in their used games for credit toward membership fees. We contacted GameFly and a company representative said, "We've been testing a trade-in program for a few months now. When we are convinced that there is sufficient consumer demand and the customer experience is highly robust, we expect to make it available to all our members. For now, it is still in beta form and we continue to monitor the results."

If the program is implemented we'll have to make it a mission to get a comparison chart between GameFly and GameStop trade-in values. If GameFly's exceptional store prices are any indication (and naturally assuming they don't resell games at a loss), we fear that trade-in values won't be that much better. But poking around the GameFly store it's quite clear why the company is testing this trade-in program, especially after its end-of-year sale -- the current console store selection is practically cleared out!

[Thanks Shoeshineboy]

Tags: gamefly, rental, renting, trade-in

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Fernando Rocker @ Jan 9th 2008 12:03PM

I hate used games. And I will never (hopefulyl) sell any of my games.

WiNG @ Jan 9th 2008 12:17PM

Rapidly depreciating assets FTW!

Jerk Face @ Jan 9th 2008 12:11PM

I trade in a lot of my games. I keep the Greats, but I usually trade in the rest. It's probably because I'm so broke all of the time. APPARENTLY it is more important to buy diapers and pay rent than buy video games.

So if GameFly offers competitive prices on trade-ins? I might be interested in that. To Hell with GameStop.

Fernando Rocker @ Jan 9th 2008 12:18PM

I keep all my games, even the bad ones... every game is in perfect shape, with the purchase ticket inside the box... I have all the boxes, the accesories boxes, even the Wii Points and Live Arcade and Xboxlive packs...

I have a closet full of all the stuff... it will be nice to share all my stuff when I have a kid in the future.

And yes, I pay rent to, and its the most annoying thing, and I'm usually broke too. But I buy the things I like... I don't buy a lot of clothe for me (just any Target jean and any Hanes or Fruit black shirt) and my converse or boots... I don't like tuning my car with expensive parts... a lot or people spend his money in cars, clothes, jewelry... I spend my money on games...

But selling the games, for a tiny fraction of the value it's not for me... try to keep your games... even the bad games. They will bring you memorues. Really.

Andy S. @ Jan 9th 2008 12:29PM

Fernando, as much effort as content providers (with the aid of various governments) are making to close the "analog hole", you're going to have a hard time finding a way to play those old games with your kid.

Don't get me wrong, I understand where you're coming from, as I still have most of my old consoles. But I'll likely get rid of them soon... it becomes increasingly difficult to use them as TVs and receivers rapidly drop legacy analog connectors.

In a world where all video inputs are HDMI (or some other, future standard), A console with analog video output is pretty worthless, unless it's on display in a museum or something.

So... anyone want to buy a Gamecube, Dreamcast, TurboGrafx-16, or Intellivision II?

Fernando Rocker @ Jan 9th 2008 12:33PM

Well... its good to hear that... As soon as I have some extra money, I will go to WalMart ad buy a tube TV (a nice one, with flat panel) with analog inputs and I will keep it on the closet (I'm going to do that... really)

WiNG @ Jan 9th 2008 12:18PM

Unless you plan to play a game often there is no reason NOT to sell it.

HINT: Use eBay, not GS/GF, you will get twice as much, if not more.

If you decide later you want to play the game again, you can rent it, or buy it used for $5.

Jerk Face @ Jan 9th 2008 12:22PM

Here here!

It broke my heart to do it, but I recently hawked my Mini SNES and all my SNES games on Ebay. We're talking Chrono Trigger (Best Game Ever), Earthbound, a bunch of Final Fantasies, and all of the obligatory Mario games and such.. A really good list!

I realized that as much as I loved those games before, I never, EVER played them. They were collecting dust.

Know how much I got on Ebay for selling each of those individually? Five Hundred Freaking Dollars.

Yeah.

Totally worth it.

paragraph @ Jan 9th 2008 12:20PM

*gulp*

I fear my job at GameStop might not exist much longer ;)

As for trading in, you're right, you'll get more if you sell it yourself. Think about it, we need to make a profit somehow :-P

Seriously though, i don't know how well this would be recived, i would like to get the money right away, not a week later, or whatever. :\

Arno @ Jan 9th 2008 1:51PM

Tell me, where is that avatar from? A friend that used to be once said he drew that, now I know he's probably full of shit.

Neebs @ Jan 9th 2008 5:14PM

It's TROOOOGDOOORRR.

Neon Jebus @ Jan 9th 2008 12:22PM

Since it would be credit toward membership fees perhaps the trade in value will be a bit higher.

shouryuuken @ Jan 9th 2008 12:27PM

im not for trading my games, as a collector... you already know that most of your stuff is going to collect dust, not only is it the fact that i CAN go back to it that keeps me happy, its just knowing i have it.. its like collecting anything.. some ppl collect baseball cards, stamps, or figurines of some sort, but at least with games you can PLAY them. if i know theres any chance i'll sell whatever game it is im thinking of purchasing, i'll rent it.

anyways... if these guys start buying back older games and then letting you rent them, thatd be really cool, i guess the issue there would be people stealing them, but they could put in some kind of deadline to return the games, and then they charge you the worth of the game if you miss it by a couple of weeks.

deaftly @ Jan 9th 2008 12:48PM

I always buy all my used games from gamefly, can't beat those prices and the games always come practicly new when they arrive.

Game Artist @ Jan 9th 2008 12:52PM

Just what we need. Another corporate used games business sucking the money out of the developers pockets.

Odog4ever @ Jan 9th 2008 3:38PM

If I finished a game and it's been sitting on my shelf for 3-6 months it gets sold on the Ebay. Depending on how new the game is you can get AT LEAST 70% of what you paid in the store.
If I ever have a need to play the game again (Which never happens) I could just get it off of Ebay for a cheaper price than any used game store in my area.

I've also bought quite a few used games of of Ebay with no problems. It's almost like having an extended rental service.

JDigital @ Jan 9th 2008 1:47PM

Someone bought it originally for it to be used. Idjit.

Game Artist @ Jan 9th 2008 2:27PM

Yah, but they screw consumers by giving them much less than they would get by selling themselves, they direct people looking for new copies to used copies so devs sell less, and they make the used market much larger than it would be otherwise (hurting devs again).

Speddy @ Jan 9th 2008 2:09PM

Suckerz.

Secre @ Jan 9th 2008 4:12PM

Heh, if Brightspot was still active, it would be cool to use that AND the trade in credit to reduce my monthly membership fee to dust. Either way, I have a few games I want to sell. We'll see how it works with Gamefly first and if it's worth it not to use Ebay.

Saneless @ Jan 9th 2008 5:06PM

As long as they're better and more discriminating than Gamestop. WHY the hell, in this day and age when there's slim DVD cases and manuals to put in them, to pieces of crap stores like GS -STILL- take games without cases and manuals? Is it THAT friggin hard to do?

They want to take them because they can sell them for a profit, but the ones without cases are the LAST to sell, and eventually they'll be on the shelf when the game has lost about 75% of its value, probably being less than they paid the stupid kid who didn't bring in all the material.

As of right now, I love how GF ships you the untouched case and manual.. so nice.