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Etsy is acquiring the reseller Depop in a bid to reach Gen Z
Etsy is acquiring secondhand clothing marketplace Depop for $1.625 billion.
Argos now lets you trade-in old phones and tablets
What do you do with old gadgets that you no longer use? Give them away to relatives, or throw them in the bin? Argos is the latest UK company to jump into the trade-in business, offering cash for your unwanted phones and tablets. Plenty of smartphone trade-in companies operate on the web, such as Envirofone and Mazuma Mobile, but few have a high street presence like Argos. The company hopes that customers will prefer the convenience of walking into a store, getting a quote and then immediately receiving a gift card that can be used to buy something new. As the Guardian reports, Argos wants to expand the scheme to include cameras, laptops and other electrical devices in the future. Just like Game and CeX, however, its success will inevitably hinge on the prices being offered to consumers. If Argos is too stingy, the convenience will be irrelevant -- people will simply hold onto their devices or offload them through other avenues such as eBay.
Visualized: eBay's iPad 2 sales, thus far
Although eBay figures don't exactly correlate with Apple's sales numbers, it's interesting to note who's buying what, and where. Last year, for example, in the first two weeks after the Apple iPad hit shelves, 65 percent of all iPads sold on eBay went abroad. This year, in the same timeframe, the percentages have been flipped -- 65 percent of iPad 2s sold on eBay remained in America, or around 7,800 tablets. Perhaps we're just seeing higher demand or maybe people don't like waiting in line. Peep the source link to dive deeper into the comparison.
Hong Kong gadget flea market: a blast from the past
If you've seen our Hong Kong feature from awhile back, then you would've already heard about my favorite gadget hangout Sham Shui Po. By chance, my post-flight stroll in said district yesterday coincided with Apliu Street's Chinese New Year flea market, which featured many vintage items like jade figurines, paintings, jewelry, video tapes, vinyl records, etc. Naturally, what really caught my attention were the old gadgets that were literally piled up along the street, and from just HK$30 (US$3.85), you could easily pick up an old classic such as a Sony Clié, an HP iPaq, a WonderSwan Color, an original GameBoy, a MiniDisc player, or even a proper old school laptop or camera. Hell, some guy even had a couple of Nintendo Micro VS Systems (Donkey Kong Hockey and Boxing)! The catch? Well, there was obviously no warranty for these old timers, plus the broken screens or the lack of compatible batteries for some meant that most were more suitable as collectibles. Regardless, we took a $6 gamble with a Sony Clié PEG-NR70 Palm PDA with docking station and boom! It works! Well, except for the battery that only lasts for an hour, but I'll figure something out. %Gallery-115754%
Best Buy's Buy Back Program will let you trade in old tat for new hotness
Best Buy's crafty ploy for the new year has seemingly been uncovered by BGR's tipsters. According to those knowledgeable sources (and the paperwork they've passed along), Best Buy intends to roll out a new Buy Back Program, which will guarantee a given trade-in value for your gadgets, depending on how old they are. Thus, any laptop, tablet, or smartphone you buy from the retailer will be tradeable for 50 percent of its original price within six months of purchase, 40 percent before the first year passes, 30 in the 12- to 18-month period, or 20 in the dying embers of a two-year ownership period. That's pretty hefty depreciation and you'll have to pay an up-front fee to get enrolled in the Program, but hey, if you upgrade like mad, maybe there's some way to make this a financially appealing proposition for the consumer. Maybe... though probably not.
Used game retailers respond to 'Project Ten Dollar'
It's unsurprising that most game retailers who dabble in the pre-owned market feel jilted by an initiative EA CEO John Riccitiello calls "Project Ten Dollar" -- after all, it was designed to reclaim some of the revenues earned by secondhand sellers. A number of representatives from used game retailers recently spoke to GamesIndustry (login required) about the perils EA faces by bundling DLC redemption codes with new copies of the publisher's games. Chipsworld exec Don McCabe said consumers won't prosper under this new system, as copies of the game will lose their resale value, but retailers will "just readjust [the price] bearing in mind you have to buy the voucher." Marc Day, CEO of SwapGame, says diminished resale value will do more harm than good to the publisher's bottom line, as "customers who trade in for cash or credit do so to acquire new games they could otherwise not afford." Check out GamesIndustry's full article for more retailer opinions on EA's new DLC strategy. It's an interesting read on what might turn out to be a pretty vicious cycle.
Analysis: Used game prices lowest in November
The internet had brought a wealth of historical pricing data to the fingertips of anyone looking to buy stocks, homes, plane tickets and all sorts of other products big and small. Yet used game buyers have had to rely on intuition and sites like CheapAssGamer to know when to strike for that great deal.No longer. JJ Hendricks, proprietor of online game retailer JJGames, tracked the average sale price of 50 randomly selected games on sites like eBay, Amazon and Half.com. The results (graphed above) show prices generally falling from January through May, leveling off during the summer months, then dipping to their absolute lowest point on Nov. 4. After that, holiday demand sends prices upward again.Hendricks' new Used Video Game Pricing blog promises to look into all sorts of facets of the volatile second-hand gaming market, including the roller-coaster pricing of used Pokémon games and how to make money collecting games. We have a feeling the secret for that last one is going to be having lots of sealed Game and Watch units lying around.
