Diminishing Values

I know it's the "it" thing to bash GameStop, but I've always respected that they're a business that has to make money. Whenever I've sold my used games there I've never gone in expecting to get the same amount I'd find from selling on eBay (although with eBay's steep fees, I could be wrong). However, today really make my jaw drop.

I went in to sell some used games to put toward my Xbox One, taking advantage of their 30% bonus trade value. I've never really tried selling games that are time-sensitive in their value, which are primarily games purchased for their multiplayer. I always held on to my Call of Duties for years, and other multiplayer games I didn't enjoy would be resold while they were popular enough to fetch me a good price.

Today wasn't one of those days. All the games I sold were either outdated by at least a year (Call of Duty), had dropped in popularity (Borderlands 2), or were just bad enough that they had overstock (Assassin's Creed 3). I figured with the 30% bonus I'd see a nice chunk of change, but when the employee read off my total, I asked him to show me the math on it. I was getting half of what I'd assumed I'd get - I hadn't done any checking previously, but I was certain they were still worthwhile despite their "age" of at least a year.

I went home and checked to see whether GameStop had ripped me off by checking what they planned to sell my games for. Okay, what actually happened is that I came home, titled this "Done With Gamestop," and then got partway through a rant before deciding to check the prices. As it turns out, I got exactly what I figured - about 50% of Gamestop's selling fee.

Until now I'd never really thought of how little games are worth when they've been out awhile. I've been working under the mindset from years ago when good games never dropped in price. That's not to say that the more timeless games like Mario Kart don't still sell for $30+, but as I've grown more interested in multiplayer games, the window of my games' values is small indeed.

I almost feel silly for being shocked by it, because it's pretty obvious in retrospect. People will sell their outdated multiplayer games while no one else really buys them, burdening GameStop with a stockpile of games that won't sell for quite awhile. That not only reduced GameStop's value for them, but it's also pretty telling of how much the game is being played.

So I guess I'm not done with GameStop, but I am probably done selling to them. They are super convenient, and I've never minded taking a hit on my monetary gains because of the ease and enjoyment I find in going to a physical shop rather than dealing with eBay. But now I think it's time to get savvy and realistic about when I should sell my games.


See you tomorrow!

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