No doubt you all already know where I am going with this, as I'm sure it is pretty much a global phenomenon rather than one limited to just the U.K.
My issue here is the dubious prices and practices that a lot of games stores seem to adhere to when it comes to trading in old games. No doubt a lot of people will simply say that I should use ebay to sell them on (for more money and outright cash) but frankly I'm far too lazy for such things and once I get stung for fees and whatnot it really does not seem worth it.
At the end of the day I want to take a game down to my local shop and be given a fair price for it - end of story. The first thing that pisses me off is that most stores will give you almost half as much for your stuff if you want cash than if you want credit - how the hell is that fair? Considering the ludicrous mark up when they sell pre-owned stuff then I doubt they are losing out by much. Though I appreciate the argument that certain stock may never sell etc etc.
Next up is the fact that you can't tell by a pre-owned games price just how much is will be worth to trade in. Case in point: I went into Gamestation to trade in my copy of Mini Ninjas, it had cost me £28 online and I had played it, reviewed it and finished it so wanted to get credit while the getting was good. I ended up getting £28 in store credit, meaning I had effectively lost nothing. Good deal. Then I spotted a copy of the first Broken Sword game for the Playstation sat in a cabinet - the case was dirty and cracked but the price was a whopping £29.99 pre-owned - WTF? I have a mint copy of that game sat at home (along with a bunch of other PS1 titles) so asked how much I would get for it on trade. The answer? A measly £3. So a game that would only net me £3 in credit is being sold on for £30 - how the hell is that mark up anywhere near justified? I also learnt that my pre-owned Mini Ninjas was going to be stuck on the shelf at £42.99 pre-owned too - a mere £2 cheaper than the price for a new version in-store and about £12 more expensive than you would pay anywhere online.
The mind boggles.
How can companies continue to offer such pitiful values when it is completely unrealistic to do so? It also kind of narks me that an ancient game like Broken Sword was worth £1 more than my mint copy of Rainbow Six Vegas which netted me a whopping £2. I now have literally hundreds of pounds worth of credit at Gamestation and no real inclination to spend it due to their insanely high prices (£45 for new games), rubbish offers (only 2 for £20 on really old pre-owned stuff) and generally naff sales.
It is strange as they used to offer two for £30 on decent pre-owned titles and two for £40 on the newer stuff. Not to mention the fact they never offer any kind of extra incentive deals or cards like you see in the US.
No doubt folks over the pond think they have it bad too, but judging from the various trade in deals, Edge cards and rebate coupons I've seen floating around it is certainly a lot better system - though still not perfect. Frankly if we had in one tenth of the amazing pre-owned offers I've seen on the US Good Deals thread then I would be a happy camper but I doubt it will ever happen.
At least with the festive season coming up I should start to see some good offers creeping back in - I can but hope.
1 comment:
I remember when I was in a party chat with an American once and he was saying how he got like 5 old games for $15 on sale at a local shop. These were games selling at £10 or more in UK shops that I've never seen fall as low as the £5 price. I was very jealous.
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