Maximizing Profits on Old Games

[prose]

I always feel discouraged when I take old games that I'm done playing with, and trade them in for store credit at the local video game stores. I always feel ripped off. I often think to myself, 'How can this game be worth $20 when I just bought it for $40 a couple of weeks ago?'

How do you maximize your profits on video games you're done playing with? Do you sell them on ebay, craigslist, garage sales, local game stores, or somewhere else? How do you know you're getting the best profit margin for the game you're selling?

 

[Vegito12]

In New Zealand there is a site you can use called Trademe where you check the prices what other people are selling the game at and you can put it up if you want, then the price the game you brought it for from the store, and it is nice to make some money selling games. There is a small success fee to pay which is $50c minimum and for $40 dollars it would be $3.16 you pay from the Trademe account you open and put $10.00 in there, so it is a good site to sell things and make extra cash. Video game stores give store credit and if you were to make money it would be less which is strange and there may be a lot of factors which go into it, so the money you get can be lower than the amount you paid in the first place.

 

[Stay Puft]

I'm notoriously bad at selling my games. I'm a hoarder I think and I usually find myself just hold on to them.

The only way to maximize how much you recoup (because you'll never make profits from it, unless 20 years later you happen to have kept a rare version of a game) is to trade your game as soon as possible after it is released. That's when the stores like EB Games will give you the most value, but even then it won't be close to the $60-$70 you bought your game with. My friend does this all the time, but he kind of rushes through his games and won't bother with achievements, side-missions, etc. I like to get as close to 100% completion with my games, and that takes time so when I'm finally ready to sell them or trade them in, it's usually not worth it.

 

[Ridge]

I tend to hold onto my games when I'm done with them, or just buy digital in the first place. I don't like contributing to the used game market.

 

[aboleth_lich]

Personally, I prefer to hold onto my video games, music, books, etc as much as possible--as a collector and as someone who will tends to revisit a specific older game or what have you entirely on a whim.

However, if my finances are such that I must sell off some of the above to help pay the bills: I would probably go with selling them directly to other people rather than selling them to a used goods store. You'll probably earn more on such direct sales than with those middle men, especially if you opt for cash over store credit. (If you do simply sell to used good store, look around for those that are more generous.) If you have a lot of items to sell, then I would consider setting up a garage sale or flea market booth. Regardless of how many items you wish to sell, selling them online through eBay or CraigsList is also very much worth considering.