Added on March 9, 2009  Alan Smithee  Idiocy , idiots , Retail , Retro , Selling

Hey I Buy Used Games Too!

I know this is completely out of left-field, but there are times that I think that I should start my own used game service. It seems to be the cool thing for companies to do these days. Just take a look at Amazon for instance. Just this last week they decided that they’re going to start buying used games or should I say that they’ll eventually determine if your game is worth trading in and the subsequent amount is paid after you send the game in first.

There are a few flaws with this over the tried and true methods like GameStop and Game Crazy already have established. Let me say this though…I don’t EVER trade in games, but I do rely on other people trading in games to populate my collection.

First, you have the fact that Amazon won’t do take in games that are older than 2 years. This is a horrible business model IMO, at least at the other two stores you can get SOMETHING for older games. Before I continue, let me say this, if you DO have a game that is older than 2 years and you go to one of the brick-and-mortar stores to trade it in, they’ll probably give you a whole whopping dollar for the game. If you ever find yourself in this situation, keep the damned game!

Finally, everything you do on Amazon will have to involve sending the game to them through the mail. Once the game is received (depends how far away from their processing center you live) they’ll then decide whether or not they’ll take the game, then if they agree to take it off your hands only then will they post the credit to your account. However, if they won’t take your game then you have to wait even longer for it to be sent back to you. If you want the instant gratifcation then by all means, go to your local game store to trade/sell it.

I will for the life of me never understand why people are so willing to buy a game for $60, decide within a week or two that they don’t want it anymore, go to a game store and trade it in for $20, and continue the vicious cycle of getting ripped off. You do realize that for those few weeks, you paid over $40 to essentially ‘rent’ that game?

I’ve always been of the opinion that once you buy a game, you really should keep it. Who cares that you might not play it again, that shouldn’t matter. What should matter is that there might be someone out there at one point that you could lend it to, a kid that you can pass it down to, or you might even find yourself wanting to play that game again one day. You just never know.

So if any readers out there just HAVE to get rid of games, let me know before you trade them in…I’ll give them a good home and probably pay you more than they ever will. Then again, there’s always Goozex.