GameStop: Amazon trade-in program has zero percent chance of working

I bought Blast Works for the Wii yesterday at Gamestop... it was the first time I bought an opened "new game". I finally understand by an own experiencie what it feels to be fooled by Gamestop...

And that was not the worst part... a little boy traded a copy of Dead Space, mint condition, and he received just $14.

They need to be stoped... but again... that's the store that give us more pre-order freebies... that's the reason why I pre-order at that store most of the time.

I haven't been to a GameStop in about 3 years or so. I buy all my games exclusively (used) on Amazon. Rare cases I'm out and about and want to get a game, it's Best Buy.

This is exactly why I'll never step foot in GameStop.

What did you expect, a fair, or ever generous evaluation from the company who is king at this business? Please!

"With consumers, there is an immediacy for currency when they want to buy a new game"

suuuuuuuuuuuuuure

if that were the case they wouldnt make money SELLING games in the first place, and companies like GAMEFLY wouldnt even exist.

Try PlayNSwap (www.playnswap.com) to get the best of both worlds...!

What he's saying is that gamers have so little impulse control that they often have to have the newest, shiniest games so desperately that they'll surrender their used games at something like 20% of what the actual market price for used games is. Amazon's program requires forethought. Prove him wrong, boys!

I may actually trade a few in. I know I could probably get more doing each separate on ebay/craigslist, but whatever extra I'd get isn't worth the time.

Now that Gamestop has come out with that statement I am gonna' push even harder for Amazon's used game program work.
I hate Gamestop. The raped Funcoland and then slammed EB and those corporate dicks still aren't tired. Now it is time to kill their wood so to speak.

Amazon FTW!
Gamestop guys are just afraid

F*ck Gamestoppo (you heard the nickname here first!)

It's nice you get 10% off your next purchase after trading in to Amazon. However, Amazon already allows users to sell used items (better than e-bay IMO) so it seems pretty pointless to forego the extra scratch from selling it yourself just to trade it in. Now, if they offered high trade in values than Gamestoppo it would work beautifully. When I lived in a big city and had access to a Block Buster Game Rush I ALWAYS traded in there because they often times give you double what Gamestoppo does for your newer used titles. It's only for store credit but the dumbest thing you can do is trade in used games to Gamestoppo for cash.

Gamestop has to do this, regardless of what their true belief about what will happen with amazons new plan is. Digital distribution is going to take over. It will take time, years, but eventually everything will be done that way.

Who is in a better position to capitalize on that? Amazon doesn't have a bazillion storefronts it needs to finance, it already has a working digital distribution system. Gamestop has to attack them straight from the start in the hopes of throwing them off their balance before they ever get their feet on the ground.

..gamespot is one of the buisness ruining the industry with their low trade in values, and high markup on used games.

not to mention, I have yet to be in a gamestop that treats me like a customer, and not a fan boy.

AMAZON FTW!

If people are willing to mail their jewelry to Cash4Gold.com, why wouldn't they mail the old games to a trusted company?

God I hate Gamestop. Anyway, I'm going to go trade in some of my old games toward a pre-order at my local Gamestop.

Gamestop is just pissed that Amazon is giving more money for trading in games then they do. Go suck on all the money you steal from people who trade in games to you and then turn around and sell them at 500% more.

"With consumers, there is an immediacy for currency when they want to buy a new game,"

Yes, I immediately want an un-boxed overpriced game that looks like it has been chewed on my stray dogs.

Oh, actually, what I meant to say is "I want to repeatedly kick Dan DeMatteo in the face with my steel-cap boots on."

And I think this guy has a zero percent chance of being right. Amazon has just created the perfect trade-in process for someone like me who has to drive 30 miles to get to the nearest Gamestop. And I shop at Amazon weekly, so not only is it saving me gas. It's saving me even more money on their already low Gamestop-shattering prices.

Just in the last 12 months, I've bought Assassin's Creed, Halo 1, Halo 2, Gears of War 1, Eternal Sonata, PoP: Sands of Time, and Gears of War 2 from Half.com, all at half or less than the then-MSRP.

Compare that to the MSRP minus 5$ price at Gamestop.

As for problems? The Grand Total: The Gears of War 2 box was damaged and it wasn't listed in the description. If that was the biggest problem I got from 7 successive purchases at Gamestop and I'd be pissing rainbows.

Famous last words.

So, I could deal with sending in games, and the whole process, over a few days, or I could just do it at a store in 15 minutes ?


Uh huh.

I think it's funny that he's trying to compare the business model of a strip mall retailer to that of a mail order juggernaut as reasons on why the juggernaut's plan will fail. Perhaps EB back then didn't know what the hell it was doing?

I feel like this guy just enjoys the fact that core gamers friggin' him.

I feel like this guy just enjoys the fact that most core gamers friggin hate him.

I trade in at my local Blockbuster (got their own carpark, right by the door, no walking, lazy ass) and I totally agree. When I trade in games, which is OFTEN, there's a game that i want (Today it's Hawx) and I grab any games i haven't played for a while (Mercs 2 & Tiger Woods 09 today) and use them to subsidise the purchase.

So I would never sacrifice any game unless i could get something new right now. I'd certainly not send it to Amazon, wait for it to arrive, get my credit, order a game, wait for that to arrive.

Nah, at work Blockbuster is 5 mins away and at home it's a 20 min drive. So I wouldn't wait days for a trade in. So yeah, I'd say FAIL.

F Gamestop

I went through a bunch of my old ps2 and gamecube games last night looking for them on amazon in the trade-in section. Out of about 2 dozen games I've got 2, yes 2 were available for trade-in on amazon.

Until they increase the number of games that they are accepting for it won't be worth it.

I really want to know how Toys r Us is going to fit in with this. I am a TrU employee and hadn't heard of the program til I read it on here! I am going in after my day job today and will see if I can find out anything about it.

I more hate the snobby attitude of this guy than the idea that GameStop exists and people are willing to trade in games to them instead of just listing the games online and getting more, actual money for their games. They have decent prices on really old games sometimes.

Here's the reason Amazon's service could work: they give you better value for your trade-ins AND you can get good prices on stuff at amazon.com. People use Gamestop because they're generally the only game in town. But you don't get much trade-in value, and then you have to buy stuff at their store...stuff that's overpriced. That's why I'll be giving Amazon's service a shot the next time I want to trade in some old games.

@Zapp

I just don't see that being realistic. Amazon is not going to pay up front before they know what they are getting - if the game is a blank disk/damaged, they essentially just loaned you a bunch of money interest-free for the time that it took to mail the goods and for them to check what you sent them.
Few companies would agree to pay sellers in advance purely out of good will. That is just bad business - in aggregate, a policy like that could cause them to absolutely bleed money in lost interest and investment opportunity. No way they are going to pay up front.

If they did, to make up the difference, amazon would have to charge some sort of penalty for people scamming them or for games considered damaged, which brings up the whole problem of defining a game in "good condition." They are going to have enough trouble with people mailing them bad copies, pirated or burned games, etc. If amazon did then start penalizing people who sent bad copies of games, they then risk alienating people who don't want to spend time and money shipping a bunch of games out only to have them returned as "not in good condition."

I consider most of these problems to really be based on that annoying waiting period while the games are being shipped. The point of amazon is supposed to be that it is convenient. You can buy anything and just have it shipped to you easy as pie. Sure you wait a little while, but that's fine. And you can generally trust sellers on amazon to send you something in good condition.
But, with this system, the boon of internet technology is ruined by the fact that you end up having to make a trip to post office anyways. I buy a game from amazon - takes 5 minutes and I can do it from home, then I just wait for the mail - often a better option than driving out to gamestop or something (often better prices too)
But I send a game to amazon - I have to make a trip to post office anyways, have to pay for packaging and shipping costs (amazon isn't footing the bill for this right?), anjd then have to wait for 2 shipping periods - 1 for amazon to get the games (and verify that they are in good condition), then I get my money, then I buy what I want and wait for that to be shipped to me. That just seems like too much shipping, too much time, and too much trouble when, if I want to trade in games, I can just go to Gamestop. Sure, the trade-in values may not be great, but Amazon would have to offer substantially more value to make up for the costs inherent in their system.

And, if you are okay with having to package and ship the games and having short waiting periods for the selling and buying transactions, why not forget about gamestop and amazon and just sell the stuff on ebay?

man amazon tries to rip you off worse than gamestop. Just checked to see what the trade in value was for GHWT for XBOX and it was 9 dollars...