Unfair Trade-in's

One huge problem I have with stores such as Gamestation and Game, among many others are the poor prices they give for peoples games. These companies make huge profits from preowned games. From a business point of view, I don't see why they should stop doing it. However I am amazed that so many people don't find a problem with it, and still trade in their games for half, if not less than the original price they paid for them.

Of course, these companies offer a higher price if you take store credit over cash, however there isn't a massive difference.

Example..my friend Gavin once bought a DS game on the same day, decided he didn't like it that much and took it back the next day for trade. He was offered less than half the original price, and the store would have most likely put it back out as new because it was in perfect condition.

Here are some questions i'd like you to answer for me:

1. What are your thoughts on trade-in's?
   What's the worst offer you were ever given for something, and did you take it?
   If you are fine with trade-in's can you give me a good reason why?

Please air your thoughts, it's something i've never been able to do for myself.

There's nothing wrong with that. I think you only get full price if 1) You have a warranty that says so and/or 2) the game was defective. Otherwise, if you bought the game and suddenly didn't like it, that is your own fault. You do not get any free passes or refunds because "I didn't like it". Just about every gaming store will tell you this.

You've missed my point entirely, my friend Gavin never kept his receipt, he just wanted to trade in. For a £30 game, i'd be expecting maybe £25 back, considering how new it was. He was offered about £14 for a game that was released the day before..

So where's the unfair part? The simple fact that it was new? That's irrelevant. He bought the game. The store has no obligation to pay you any sort of price simply because you 'expect half back'. He bought the game. He is responsible for knowing whether he would enjoy it or not. This is probably economical but you have to realize how much of their profits would drop every time someone turns in a game 'because they didn't like it'.

The money you get back does not depend on how new the game is. All of these games are treated the same if they just simply work. They aren't here to cater to your demands on your enjoyment of the said game. They are here to merely sell it to you.

Darren wrote:You've missed my point entirely, my friend Gavin never kept his receipt, he just wanted to trade in. For a £30 game, i'd be expecting maybe £25 back, considering how new it was. He was offered about £14 for a game that was released the day before..

Stores have to give you a quarter of the price for new games at least, so that's decent.

But I agree partly, sometimes you get ripped off for games. £10 for Layton brand new? nty. Although it can be good for store credit and the fact that these kinds of shops are the best way of getting rid of stuff like Shadow the Hedgehog.

SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG IS A GOOD GAME DAMNIT. >_<

Anyway, I recently traded in about 5 wii games and got £40.

so, about £8 for each.

Well...i never played them...so I'm happy to get £40.

I bought Tatsunoko vs capcom, Rogue galaxy and still had £5 left over.

^_^

Azure-rain wrote:SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG IS A GOOD GAME DAMNIT. >_<

...explain.

..anyway, i got a piece of paper from my local Argos a good few weeks ago. It was to tell me that they were now accepting trade-ins, and underneath a large list of how much certain games were worth. I fund they did some really good deals! Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. were £17 each. I used that oppurtunity to buy Pokemon HG from them. Leaving me with a lovelly £8 to spare.

I suppose the point of this is to say that if you search hard enough, you'll find a decent deal! I'm trying not to use GAME as much as I did before after that.

I always shop around if I can

I once remember trading in 20 (yes, 20) or so old PC games my uncle let me sell. I left Gamestation that day with £1.80....

Darren wrote:You've missed my point entirely, my friend Gavin never kept his receipt, he just wanted to trade in. For a £30 game, i'd be expecting maybe £25 back, considering how new it was. He was offered about £14 for a game that was released the day before..

You're kidding right? No-where would give you that.

It's a basic law that everyone knows, second had means atleast half it's value has gone, no matter how new it is, because in most cases that can't clarify this.

I've never had a complaint with the trade in prices at Game or Game station, Cash wise they seem very fair and if you get instore credit then you get more, seems alright to me.

Paying £30 for a game, you're not going to get £25 back, simply because a game maybe be £30 at Games station but not everywhere else? Whats stopping someone buying the game new for £20 else where then trading it in at Gamestation for £25? I know it's an unlikely example, but i've seen this happen, it's why the prices are set lower.

At the end of the day, it's a business, don't like it? Don't trade in, simple. They don't HAVE to do trade-ins, as far as it goes, it's a relative new thing, that sadly drove 2 second hand game shops in Congleton out of business, so it can't be that bad.