Used games

[trainstand]

I know of a few used games stores close to me. I've heard used games can be sold for quite a lot online. I'm interested in general information about this topic... If there's any particular trends, guides, tricks one should know to make the most of selling used games online. I mean I guess I could just buy a ton of them and then sell them online. Does the grwoth of things like DD, steam and HD remakes reduce the value of used games over time, or is it likely to stay relatively stable?

 

[gorcorps]

Do you mean old games? Because as you could guess, new games aren't resellable so the used market is not there. For old games a lot of them would be collectible, so need to be in decent condition unless they're quite rare and have yet to be available on other sites like you mention.

From what I've seen, most used games won't get enough money to be worth selling.

 

[trainstand]

Yeah, (several year) old games. Not much to be gained by selling two year old games and such.

 

[marmasatt]

You're about 6-7 years too late my man. Basically, everything is activated on line. With digital downloads, the "physical" hard copy game market will be less and less (to perhaps non-existent) in the future. There used to be retailers (EB games, Gamestop, etc) who used to sell used games, but even they are out of the market. And trust me, the way they gouge these 13 year old kids who buy like Modern Warfare 3 for $49 and then they turn around and offer you $9 as a trade in.... Put it this way, if there were any market whatsoever, don't you think Gamestop would still be in the business?

And if you are talking about old games - where are you gonna find them? Sure you can just be a general reseller (like some of us do with books, electronics, etc) but don't expect it to be lucrative for used games. It's just not the same as it was.

 

[pontifex]

some of the older console games can be worth some money

 

[vshah]

if you're going to buy from a store, they're the ones making the profit. you'll probably lose money if you try to sell them online.

now if you can set up shop and get people to sell you their old games, there may be some margin in that.

 

[greenhawk]

some of the older console games can be worth some money

yes, but if the game was part of a bundle or was sold in significant numbers, even game trading places will not touch them (as they generally have 10 preteen copies out the back already, why buy a extra scratched copy).

 

[JamesV]

Digital distribution has killed off most used PC game sales. When you can get Railroad Tycoon 2 Platinum on Steam for $2.50 during a sale, it doesn't make much sense to sell your physical copy for less (including shipping).

Some of the really old games are worth it though; I've been offered $50 for my original X-Wing (still in original box with receipt and all items). Don't want to sell it though, as it was one of the first PC games I loved to death.

Xbox games do very well though - even though the original Dead Space is dirt cheap, someone paid me $17 for my copy on Ebay. I also do the yearly '1 Year of Live get a free game' thing - sold Halo whatever for $40.

Picked up a few games at resale shops for half what they were going for on Ebay and made some cash there too, but few and far between. Garage sales are also good for this sometimes (and other things - got a full box of DVD's for $5, and sold them for $2.99 (including shipping) each).

 

[wbynum]

Publishers spitting in the face of fair use killed the used game market. They want to make the most money they can, damn the consumer, so they prevent activation of used games. Should be illegal, but it is not. The only real reason they have not done it so far with consoles is because of the rental market, where they make money, and the expectation by kids and their parents that Johnny should be able to take game X to his buddies house and play it on the buddies console.

 

[Powermoloch]

I've been selling used PC games for quite sometime. First of all, you'll have to research which games are most likely to sell w/o a sweat based on condition, rarity, and availability. Moreover, you'll have to be familiar the sales or deals that are going on in your local area such as thrift stores, garage/yard sales and flea markets.

So far I had some success from turning a 5 dollar purchase to a 35-40 dollar profit more often than usual. It's a matter of knowing what pc games are in demand by the public.

More info can be search here:


www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecing ( i browse there often)