Wal Mart is going to start buy back of used games

[JoPh]

saw this over at CAG.. ill repost it here


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Walmart has/is going to start buying back used games through vending machines.

Pictures at site, posted text here.
http://neocrisis.com/content/view/3918/39/

"Does it sounds so strange? Not really when you think about it, this is Wal-Mart after all. Most people are unaware at the moment, but Wal-Mart is now accepting used games to trade for credit.

Just a few hours ago, I went to the one near my house and was quite surprised at what I saw. Apparently they had a installed a new vending machine less than a day ago which allows you to trade in your used PS2, PS3, X-Box, 360 and Wii games.

The machine looks extremely similiar to the Redbox DVD rental machines. When I went to use the machine, however, it still had more than a few bugs that need fixing. The first issue occurs right after you login. When logging in, you are asked to scan your games. However once you do so, there is a glitch that logs you out immidiately entering your information. After you log back in, the issue seems to repeats itself.

An additional issue is that it seems that the machine is unable to scan games. I took a few of my games to test it out. Final Fantasy 12, Godfather 2, Mirror's Edge, Ractchet and Clank, Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando and Burnout 3: Takedown. However one game, Mirror's Edge, did indeed get scanned but i got a pop-up message which stated that game was not in its database.

In the end, all the bugs and glitches prevented me from trading in any of my games and customer service was closed at the time so I was out on my own. But still, if there is one business out there to give Gamespot some competition, it's the giant Wal-Mart. We'll be writing further on the issue about why we think Wal-Mart has the power to steal Gamestop's limelight in the used game market."

 

[Injury]

Gross. I can't believe that so many people out there trade it games for bottom-dollar prices. I always offer my friends $1 more than Gamestop will give them for games, but they are always in such a rush to get whatever crap they want to buy that they never take me up on it. They'd even have the privilege of borrowing the game just about any time they wanted for free.

Personally, I horde games. I haven't traded in a game in the past 9 or 10 years after thinking back on how much money I've lost selling back games. I just don't see the value in buying a game for $50-$60, selling it for $10-$15 and letting someone else sell it to the next person for only a few dollars less than originally paid for it.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Injury
Gross. I can't believe that so many people out there trade it games for bottom-dollar prices. I always offer my friends $1 more than Gamestop will give them for games, but they are always in such a rush to get whatever crap they want to buy that they never take me up on it. They'd even have the privilege of borrowing the game just about any time they wanted for free.

Personally, I horde games. I haven't traded in a game in the past 9 or 10 years after thinking back on how much money I've lost selling back games. I just don't see the value in buying a game for $50-$60, selling it for $10-$15 and letting someone else sell it to the next person for only a few dollars less than originally paid for it.

thats why you use ebay or something similar.

i used to keep all my games but i've been selling them off. I never play them again and I never get the urge to play them, so why not make a few bucks and buy something else?

although a vending machine? I can see this getting ripped off horribly unless they have an employee at it at all times.

 

[catnap1972]

Originally posted by: pontifex
although a vending machine? I can see this getting ripped off horribly unless they have an employee at it at all times.

What's to stop you from slipping blank DVD-Rs into all the cases?

 

[Auryg]

Well, I doubt many people would try because you have to have an 'account', whatever that entails.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Injury
Gross. I can't believe that so many people out there trade it games for bottom-dollar prices. I always offer my friends $1 more than Gamestop will give them for games, but they are always in such a rush to get whatever crap they want to buy that they never take me up on it. They'd even have the privilege of borrowing the game just about any time they wanted for free.

Personally, I horde games. I haven't traded in a game in the past 9 or 10 years after thinking back on how much money I've lost selling back games. I just don't see the value in buying a game for $50-$60, selling it for $10-$15 and letting someone else sell it to the next person for only a few dollars less than originally paid for it.

thats why you use ebay or something similar.

i used to keep all my games but i've been selling them off. I never play them again and I never get the urge to play them, so why not make a few bucks and buy something else?

although a vending machine? I can see this getting ripped off horribly unless they have an employee at it at all times.

How would there be any more problems with it than say the Redbox DVD stands?

 

[WraithETC]

I used to think I would play my old games again but I rarely do. The games I do play over again are very rare... maybe 2-3 a console cycle. Sometimes there are games I just want to play but don't have the funds for at the moment which is when I usually end up trading old games in.

The only thing I ever regret is getting less than I could on craigslist or ebay. Then again selling a bunch of games on either site is a chore.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Originally posted by: Injury
Gross. I can't believe that so many people out there trade it games for bottom-dollar prices. I always offer my friends $1 more than Gamestop will give them for games, but they are always in such a rush to get whatever crap they want to buy that they never take me up on it. They'd even have the privilege of borrowing the game just about any time they wanted for free.

Personally, I horde games. I haven't traded in a game in the past 9 or 10 years after thinking back on how much money I've lost selling back games. I just don't see the value in buying a game for $50-$60, selling it for $10-$15 and letting someone else sell it to the next person for only a few dollars less than originally paid for it.

Agreed, its foolish to trade a game in for a couple of dollars. This is why I am a steam fan.

 

[AmberClad]

Amazon just started a trade-in program too, and not surprisingly, the trade-in prices are appalling low.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Injury
Gross. I can't believe that so many people out there trade it games for bottom-dollar prices. I always offer my friends $1 more than Gamestop will give them for games, but they are always in such a rush to get whatever crap they want to buy that they never take me up on it. They'd even have the privilege of borrowing the game just about any time they wanted for free.

Personally, I horde games. I haven't traded in a game in the past 9 or 10 years after thinking back on how much money I've lost selling back games. I just don't see the value in buying a game for $50-$60, selling it for $10-$15 and letting someone else sell it to the next person for only a few dollars less than originally paid for it.

thats why you use ebay or something similar.

i used to keep all my games but i've been selling them off. I never play them again and I never get the urge to play them, so why not make a few bucks and buy something else?

although a vending machine? I can see this getting ripped off horribly unless they have an employee at it at all times.

How would there be any more problems with it than say the Redbox DVD stands?

because they aren't buying your old movies, are they?

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Injury
Gross. I can't believe that so many people out there trade it games for bottom-dollar prices. I always offer my friends $1 more than Gamestop will give them for games, but they are always in such a rush to get whatever crap they want to buy that they never take me up on it. They'd even have the privilege of borrowing the game just about any time they wanted for free.

Personally, I horde games. I haven't traded in a game in the past 9 or 10 years after thinking back on how much money I've lost selling back games. I just don't see the value in buying a game for $50-$60, selling it for $10-$15 and letting someone else sell it to the next person for only a few dollars less than originally paid for it.

thats why you use ebay or something similar.

i used to keep all my games but i've been selling them off. I never play them again and I never get the urge to play them, so why not make a few bucks and buy something else?

although a vending machine? I can see this getting ripped off horribly unless they have an employee at it at all times.

How would there be any more problems with it than say the Redbox DVD stands?

Because redbox has a barcode on the center of the disc that it reads to verify the disc is correct. So with redbox if you wanted to go through the effort of making a copy of the barcode and putting a fake in there you could, but if you're that desperate for movies then you might as well just copy it and not run the risk of getting your credit card charged an exorbitant amount for a beat up copy of the movie.

With the Walmart Kiosk I'm going to bet that you have to make an account with them and wait for the funds to be loaded onto your account once they've been checked at an outside facility... so you probably have more chance of some employee jacking the games and blaming it on you than you do people putting empty cases and blank discs in.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: pontifex
thats why you use ebay or something similar.

i used to keep all my games but i've been selling them off. I never play them again and I never get the urge to play them, so why not make a few bucks and buy something else?

There's a lot of mine I'll probably never play again, and although it's pack-rat like, I enjoy having them. I'm not one of those crazy collectors seeking out rare editions and such, but I think it'd be cool to have a gigantic collection of games.

Someday when I have kids, I'm going to make them start from the 80's and work their way up so they have a real respect for gaming. 😛

 

[shingletingle]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: pontifex
thats why you use ebay or something similar.

i used to keep all my games but i've been selling them off. I never play them again and I never get the urge to play them, so why not make a few bucks and buy something else?

There's a lot of mine I'll probably never play again, and although it's pack-rat like, I enjoy having them. I'm not one of those crazy collectors seeking out rare editions and such, but I think it'd be cool to have a gigantic collection of games.

Someday when I have kids, I'm going to make them start from the 80's and work their way up so they have a real respect for gaming. 😛

Ummm...is that really necessary? How about making them go to school and do their homework? Who cares which gaming era they start with?

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Originally posted by: shingletingle

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: pontifex
thats why you use ebay or something similar.

i used to keep all my games but i've been selling them off. I never play them again and I never get the urge to play them, so why not make a few bucks and buy something else?

There's a lot of mine I'll probably never play again, and although it's pack-rat like, I enjoy having them. I'm not one of those crazy collectors seeking out rare editions and such, but I think it'd be cool to have a gigantic collection of games.

Someday when I have kids, I'm going to make them start from the 80's and work their way up so they have a real respect for gaming. 😛

Ummm...is that really necessary? How about making them go to school and do their homework? Who cares which gaming era they start with?

ummm...it was probably a joke...

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: shingletingle

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: pontifex
thats why you use ebay or something similar.

i used to keep all my games but i've been selling them off. I never play them again and I never get the urge to play them, so why not make a few bucks and buy something else?

There's a lot of mine I'll probably never play again, and although it's pack-rat like, I enjoy having them. I'm not one of those crazy collectors seeking out rare editions and such, but I think it'd be cool to have a gigantic collection of games.

Someday when I have kids, I'm going to make them start from the 80's and work their way up so they have a real respect for gaming. 😛

Ummm...is that really necessary? How about making them go to school and do their homework? Who cares which gaming era they start with?

I do not recall me saying that I was going to prevent them from going to school so they could play video games.

 

[SAWYER]

I hope Gamestop goes out of business

 

[Queasy]

Ars gets in contact with the kiosk company.

While GameStop, Amazon, and smaller independent stores are duking it out for your game trade-ins, we reported Monday on a kiosk spotted at a Walmart location that automated the act of trading in games. The gamer who tried to use the kiosk had quite the unhappy experience, and the gaming blogs ran with the story that Walmart may be getting into the used game business. We caught up with the company behind the kiosk, e-Play, to get all the questions answered.

The first clarification: Walmart is only providing the floor space for the pilot program; the retail giant isn't getting into buying or selling games directly. "Walmart is providing vestibule space to e-Play at 77 of its Northeast region stores. Some stores have Video Game Buy Back only kiosks and some kiosks are full-functioning, but e-Play manages all aspects of kiosk operations for both types," Alan Rudy, the CEO of e-Play, told Ars. "While we have over 200 other retail locations, this is currently a pilot program with Walmart, but we are optimistic of its success and future expansion."

The system also offers a good amount of security. You scan the game's barcode, and the machine tells you its trade-in value. If you decide to sell the game, you have to put the disc into the hardware directly."Once a disk is inserted into the kiosk, the disk is spun up, identified and evaluated for damage," Rudy explained. "The kiosk is also able to tell if the disc is burned, is a CD or is an old AOL advertising disc and would reject it. If the disk is unidentifiable or does not match what the user stated, there will be a screen that advises the user that the disk did not match and the disk will be returned.

"If a disk is too badly damaged, we will withhold credit and contact the customer to inform him/her. In most cases, even heavily scratched discs can be recovered with our refurbishing process at our distribution center. The disks are inserted into the kiosk, and the empty jewel cases are inserted into the trade bin beside the kiosk."

The machine then asks for your credit card and driver's license for record-keeping, and the trade-in is credited to your card in a day or two. That's right, you get what amounts to cash, although the possibility of retailer gift cards will also be explored.

These kiosks won't just give you credit for games, you'll also be able to purchase or rent games. One of the advantages of the kiosk system that Rudy points is the lessening of shrink: there is no product directly on the floor for customers to steal, and no employee needs to be trained to operate the machine.

How is e-Play hoping to combat Amazon? "The e-Play trade method does not involve printing shipping labels or waiting on snail mail to deliver your games or to return your Amazon gift card," Rudy said. "Soon, e-Play will also post their buy-back pricing online so customers can preview this information before going to a kiosk." Rudy won't review the "proprietary algorithm" the company uses to determine trade-in value, but by placing the values online and allowing customers to scan the games and see the value before making the decision, they are offering one more data point showing how much used games are worth on the open market. Also, unlike GameStop, the value does not decrease if you decide you want cash instead of store credit for your games.

So what happened with the gamer in the original report? Rudy tells us that if a retailer like GameStop puts their own bar codes on the game cases, the machine won't recognize them. By sliding the sleeve up or down you're able to reveal the original barcode, allowing the machine to recognize the game. Right now PS2, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Wii games are accepted for trade.

It seems like a viable business strategy... as long as the price offered for used games is fair. You don't have to mail anything, you don't have to accept a lower amount if you don't want store credit, and if the machines are conveniently located, selling your games could be done as you go about your normal shopping. You can see if there is a kiosk close to you by checking out the company's website. Rudy promises the kiosks have been tested, and there will be a new screen explaining the issues with third-party barcodes to avoid more confusion.

The battle for your used games continues.