When opportunity knocks, you head for the ATM

By Stephen Munn | August 20, 2008

It’s a popular activity to trade in your games at Gamestop, and why shouldn’t it be? You can take an armful of hardware and software down to your local retail establishment, hand them over, wait while they test everything, and then head to the new release rack or, better yet, the used inventory to spend your credit on something that might not be new… but it’s new to you. Unfortunately, this doesn’t tend to be the best deal you can get for your used stuff, by definition. Obviously, they need to give you less money than they sell the game for, or they can’t turn a profit on it, and make no mistake, Gamestop makes a lot more money on used games than new ones. It can be hard to wrap your mind around Gamestop buying your $60 game for $20 and then reselling it at $55, but I just try to think about all the unwanted $7 copies of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the shelf.

Further, it’s not everyone’s bag to sell stuff on eBay. It’s a lot of work on an overcrowded marketplace for a variable amount of profit, and this is a very black-and-white way to unload unwanted items quickly and turn them into store credit.

That said, I’m not a freaking idiot, and if I get the opportunity to outbid Gamestop’s offer for something I want, I’m going to do it, even if that means making the deal right there in the store. The tricky part is doing it without pissing off the poor working stiff behind the counter who’s just trying to do his job.

Today at my local Gamestop, I noticed while waiting in line that there was a guy trading in a Wii console and a bunch of games for store credit. Among those games, I noticed Mario Kart Wii and at least two Wii Wheels. After trading in the console for much less than he could have made on eBay, he left the counter, apparently apprehensive about trading in the games. I approached him and pointed out that rather than trading in Mario Kart Wii for $25 in store credit, he could sell it to me with the two Wii Wheels for $35 cash. He was pleased with the idea, so I hit an ATM and headed back to the store, fully expecting him to be gone. By the time the deal went down at my car, I came out with Mario Kart Wii, two Wii Wheels, Link’s Crossbow Training and a Wii Zapper, all in like new condition (retail value new would be a total of over $90 with tax) for a mere $40.

What makes this deal so satisfying is both of these were games that I wanted, but didn’t want to pay anywhere near full retail for. It also felt good to give the guy a better deal than he would have gotten in the shop, particularly after the disappointing credit they’re giving for used Wii consoles.

As to why the man was cutting his entire collection of Wii merchandise loose, I can only guess. Maybe he watched the E3 press conferences and was looking for money to buy a 360. Maybe he has a PS3 or 360 and doesn’t have time for the console. Maybe an airborne Wii Remote shattered his plasma set.