Poll: How much do you usually get for your used game trade-ins?
- Thread starter Dirty Hipsters
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Trade-ins... you mean give it to retailers? Ya I'm not fond of burning money.
If I sell then I do so myself and if the game is relatively new(still selling at full price) then people will take it for 70-80% easily, money which goes in my gaming budget and it's still cheaper then any retailer second hand game.
If I sell then I do so myself and if the game is relatively new(still selling at full price) then people will take it for 70-80% easily, money which goes in my gaming budget and it's still cheaper then any retailer second hand game.
PC gamer here, I've never traded or been able to trade in used games. That said I use to own consoles back during the ps1 and SNES games and I refused to trade in games even then. You got so little for what you paid of for it. Plus the second you traded it in you invariably wanted to play it again. So no I never traded in games even then.
Extremely little, games retailers love to rip you off in this regard, they might take a game off your hands and give you $5 bucks for it and then put it on their shelf for $50. You are much better off selling your game privately through eBay or similar means.
I have never done so.
I buy games new and I keep everything.
I've always felt that if I have to sell my possessions just to get wants/luxuries, then I'm obviously buying things I should be buying.
I understand if it has to be done to meet food and shelter payments, but other than that no.
I buy games new and I keep everything.
I've always felt that if I have to sell my possessions just to get wants/luxuries, then I'm obviously buying things I should be buying.
I understand if it has to be done to meet food and shelter payments, but other than that no.
The used game market is largely targeted at those with little income and trying to squeeze the most juice out of their entertainment dollar. Personally, I think it's better to just rent a game via gamefly to try out and then buy it if it is worth it than to buy a game, play it, and then turn it in for a percentage back. Unfortunately, the retail rental industry disappeared last decade and the used game market has taken its place.Sonic Doctor said:
I miss the days where someone could rent the equivalent of todays movie action games, play through them in a week, and return the game, all for the cost of maybe $10-15 usd. Now we are stuck in a system where we have to pay $50-60 dollars for the right to play a game that we likely will finish in one week, then turn it back in for only 1/3 of the value. That is assuming we actually like the game enough to play through the entire thing, which reviews do little to help with.
I usually get back $15-25 on the trade in on average. Granted, if it is under 10 bucks, I usually give it away to a buddy or just hang on to it though. Most of my experience with it has been games a year old or older. For instance I got Uncharted when it first came out, beat it, traded it in for $25 to try out some other PS3 titles back when the PS3 was new. Then later waited for it to only be $25 and bought it again. (Which happened to be right around the time 2 came out so bought bought both) I think Infamous and GTA4 I was offered like 8 bucks a piece or something so I just gave them to my brother. But they had been out like 4-5 years or something. Oblion GOTY edition I got 25 bucks for despite sitting on a copy of it for about 2-3 years. I got $30 bucks for Skyrim about a year after its launch when I got tired of the PS3 going retarded to play it and went to PC.
Really you just need to understand that as games get older, retailer dont want to take the risk of losing money on the trade. I always check with them first on how much the trade in is worth before I ever bring it in. You can tell by how much it is on the shelf though too kinda. $40+ and you'll get decent trade in. $30- and your looking at a a low value. People have to remember that they are taking a risk of having to drop price again if inventory doesn't move. You may trade a game in for 20 bucks and they sell it for $40 but if that $40 copy don't sell they have to drop the price. They need some buffer to make profit.
Really you just need to understand that as games get older, retailer dont want to take the risk of losing money on the trade. I always check with them first on how much the trade in is worth before I ever bring it in. You can tell by how much it is on the shelf though too kinda. $40+ and you'll get decent trade in. $30- and your looking at a a low value. People have to remember that they are taking a risk of having to drop price again if inventory doesn't move. You may trade a game in for 20 bucks and they sell it for $40 but if that $40 copy don't sell they have to drop the price. They need some buffer to make profit.
Same here, there's rarely a game that doesn't stay in my hands for at least a year.Andy Shandy said:
I haven't traded in for years though, now I auction them online. It stopped when one day I wanted to trade in my Tenkaichi 2, the store clerk checked his computer, raised an eye brow and said...
Clerk: "Errr, we can only give 50 cents for that"
Me: "What the fu... you know what, fine!"
Clerk: "You sure?"
Me: "Yeah, go ahead...." *mumble* "not gonna trade in ever again"
These days selling online, I usually get 50% of my investment back, sometimes even make a small profit (happened with Zone of Enders 1)
DaaaaaaaayumRasputin1 said:
Trade in? What is this witchcraft you speak of? XD
On a serious note, I don't think I've ever actually traded in a game that wasn't a return for full price, and even that is rare. I don't buy a game unless it's either very cheap or I'm certain I'm going to be keeping it indefinitely. Full-priced games that only last me a week simply aren't practical or worth it the vast majority of the time, with the only exception I can think of being Portal 2.
On a serious note, I don't think I've ever actually traded in a game that wasn't a return for full price, and even that is rare. I don't buy a game unless it's either very cheap or I'm certain I'm going to be keeping it indefinitely. Full-priced games that only last me a week simply aren't practical or worth it the vast majority of the time, with the only exception I can think of being Portal 2.
The good news for us that have had experience with the used game industry (and just the retail games industry) is that we tend to have a pretty good idea what games are going to drop in value fairly quickly just from eyeballing it. Just about all the movie action and single player games have prices that drop like a rock after their initial marketing push is over. Bioshock Infinite and Crisis 3 both were sixty dollar games only a short while ago and now can be had for as little as $40 or $30. The same situation is likewise happening with Tomb Raider, which is already on the way to the discount bin. The games that do retain their value these days for genuine reasons are Nintendo titles. E-sports tend to keep their prices up only because of their built in monopolistic nature.Savagezion said:
I usually put any unwanted games on eBay, so it's up to the bidders. Tho I would defiantly make more money back than if I traded it in a shop.
I don't think this is a fair poll. A game may have cost $49.99 back in 2001 but it may end up being Madden 2002 and it will get you at most US20c these days because it sells for US49c. Or a game could cost you US60$ right now, and my store gives up to US37$ on trade if it's not a franchised title.
What people need to understand is game trade-ins are based on 1) How old a game is 2) How many games are in the franchise 3) The games current price. And possibly most importantly 4) How many copies the store currently has on hand.
A game may cost US45$ used and if the store has 4+ copies, the trade-in value lowers with each additional copies.
I'll give you the perfect example (and I know you all saw it, too): MASS EFFECT 3. When that game first came out it was selling used US49$. My store gave US27$ for the first copies we got in. But more, and more kept coming in. The computer got so confused at 18 copies on the PS3 that it stopped auto-adjusting by the time it was giving US$12 and went back to the original value. We had to start guessing how much it was supposed to give. We apologized, but we kept buying them until we sold some.
To this day we haven't sold all those Day 1 trade-in copies.
So please be a little more open-minded. At the very least go easy on the Small Businesses trade-in-wise. They're cutting you the better deal anyway.
OFF-Topic: I think this thread was created just to sub-consciously undermine peoples confidence and desire to trade-in games so the XBone can get away with its consumer-rights-butchering Orwellian plans.
What people need to understand is game trade-ins are based on 1) How old a game is 2) How many games are in the franchise 3) The games current price. And possibly most importantly 4) How many copies the store currently has on hand.
A game may cost US45$ used and if the store has 4+ copies, the trade-in value lowers with each additional copies.
I'll give you the perfect example (and I know you all saw it, too): MASS EFFECT 3. When that game first came out it was selling used US49$. My store gave US27$ for the first copies we got in. But more, and more kept coming in. The computer got so confused at 18 copies on the PS3 that it stopped auto-adjusting by the time it was giving US$12 and went back to the original value. We had to start guessing how much it was supposed to give. We apologized, but we kept buying them until we sold some.
To this day we haven't sold all those Day 1 trade-in copies.
So please be a little more open-minded. At the very least go easy on the Small Businesses trade-in-wise. They're cutting you the better deal anyway.
OFF-Topic: I think this thread was created just to sub-consciously undermine peoples confidence and desire to trade-in games so the XBone can get away with its consumer-rights-butchering Orwellian plans.
I don't think it is, as I too was curious about the average. I was expecting 30%, but it's a bit disappointing to see the norm seems to be in the sub-20% range instead. And then the posts from people saying the most they seem to get at most 50% from even a newly released game, when we know the store would sell it back used at $5-10 off from $60. Basically gaining like $20-30 back.stabnex said:
Publishers and game devs don't really have a problem with used games - provided it's between people i.e. you sell to your friends. We do have a problem with stores that push it over new and seem to focus their whole industry around it to benefit at the exclusion of the devs who made the game. And of course, it skews the numbers reported back to the publishers on how well a game is doing.
I mean, I have a friend/colleague who got thrown out of a store because when he was trying to buy a game new. The rep asked if he wouldn't prefer the used to save $5, being really pushy about it, and then asked why when he declined. So, being in the industry, my friend told him about the act and why he dislikes it. And the rep told my friend to leave and refused the sale, saying my friend was being "hostile".
Don't get me wrong, I don't like that aspect of the XB1 either, I'd prefer to be able to borrow a game off a friend to see if I like it, not be forced to pay first, or have to sign onto his account. And while we realize the margins on games is pretty slim, it isn't really helping the situation.
That said, I'd much prefer games if they were a lower price anyway - as we saw with Valve and their L4D sales, even a 50% drop results in an overall increase. More people buying at the $30 price point, so while the gain is lower per unit, the net increase negates that as you have many more people buying since, *GASP* they can afford it!
Oh, so Stabnex, you work in retail? Pardon me if I get nosy, but I have some questions, being a massive number cruncher. You can totally ignore them, naturally.
Hmm, so what is the biggest % difference in your trade-in and resale prices you remember seeing, if you have, let's say 1 or 0 copies in stock? I'm talking whatever's "current gen" at the time. Since you often need to play safer with last gen, possibly even rarities like Shadow of the Colossusstabnex said:
If a game is new, let's say <12 months, and you're out of new copies but have at least a handful of used ones, does the quantity of new copies you buy in from distributors depend entirely on the number of new copies at hand, or do you take all types of copies into account?stabnex said:
So the trade-in value is decreased by the amount of used and new games in stock equally, or one type decreases it faster than another?stabnex said:
18 on PS3 alone??? Wow. Also, has there ever been a situation where you simply declined to take in a game due to having so many copies? I've bumped into that while trying to trade in my used movies. Their values (DVD) is naturally less so it's more common there, obviously. Can't really sell them online either, since I can't be arsed to redo my auctions every 2 weeks for maximum 3? profitstabnex said:
From a £40 purchase I usually get back around £10-£15 because I usually play the game as much as possible before I trade it in.
The most I got back for a game was £38! I brought Dead Island in a supermarket on release for £32 (Opening day sale), then hated it almost straight away. Went into GAME 3-4 days later, and they offered me £38 for it! Was well chuffed.
The most I got back for a game was £38! I brought Dead Island in a supermarket on release for £32 (Opening day sale), then hated it almost straight away. Went into GAME 3-4 days later, and they offered me £38 for it! Was well chuffed.