A trip to Gamestop confirmed that gamers should be wary of the many gimmicks thrown at them by mall based retailers. The store manager at Gamestop turned down our offer to trade an Xbox 360 Gears of War Game stating, "Sorry we're overstocked on that game, we're only offering $12.00 on store credit". This seemed strange considering that the game was selling for $39.99 new right next to us, and there was not a used copy of the game displayed anywhere. Similar statements were heard at EB and Game Station, other popular video game retailers in the area that buy, sell, and trade used video games.
Our hunt for fairness continued online where we visited some of the best known websites offering to buy used games from consumers. Several online companies were offering $18.00 to $21.50 for our Gears of War game, while the new website service recently launched at www.gamersfactory.com offered $23.00 with no mention of store credit required.
Shane Crowley, an avid PS3 gamer leaving the Gamestop store said, "Every time I come in here they try to pluck my games from me for practically nothing. Most of the time I'm offered such a small amount of store credit that it isn't even worth trading my games. If I knew about an online web service offering check or pay pal payments for my games at higher prices, I would have used them in a heart beat".
Jake Snyder
Editor In Chief