Don’t Get Ripped Selling Used Games

By Bill Tangeman | November 5, 2008

GameStop does not give you a good deal when you sell them your used video games.  That may seem like a statement of the obvious, but it’s clear from the amount of used game business the store does that many game-sellers either don’t realize how bad a deal they’re getting from GameStop, or just don’t care.

So how much less money do you get when you sell your used game at GameStop than when you sell it somewhere else?  That’s what my investigation sought to discover.  I took four used games, at least one from each console, and started making calls and surfing the web.  Find out what I found out after the break.

The four used games I priced for the investigation were Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the Wii, Dead Space for the PS3, and Little Big Planet for the PS3.  I called my local GameStop, and consulted Gamestop.com for current prices.  For price comparison, I consulted Amazon.com and Ebay.com within minutes of getting the GameStop price quote.  Here are the results:  

Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360 – GameStop pays $8.40 for this game.  Amazon pays at least $20.66 for this game.  Ebay pays more than $20.00 for this game.  

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Wii – GameStop pays $18.00 for this game.  Amazon pays at least $37.74 for this game.  Ebay pays between $35.00 and $40.00 for this game. 

Little Big Planet PS3 – GameStop pays $20.00 for this game.  Amazon pays at least $52.00 for this game.  Ebay pays at least $50.00 for this game (excluding the “rare” recalled version scam). 

Dead Space PS3 – GameStop pays $20.20 for this game.  Amazon pays at least $44.99 for this game.  Ebay pays more than $40.00 for this game. 

So there it is. It would seem you never get a fair deal selling your used games at GameStop.  Keep in mind that the GameStop prices mentioned are for selling your used games, not trading your used games.  When you trade there for store credit, you get 20% more than the mentioned price for your used games.  Even with that 20% though, you’re still not getting as much as you would for selling elsewhere.  20% extra on the Dead Space example would amount to just $25.25 in trade in credit, still far below Amazon and Ebay prices.  And remember, trade in credit isn’t as good as cash because you’re limited in where and how you can spend it.

To be fair, it should also be mentioned that selling used games at GameStop is faster, and less of a hassle than selling them on Amazon or Ebay.  Sometimes the instant gratification might be worth getting a lot less money.  Just don’t go in thinking you’re going to get market value.