trade-in-values
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Walmart dips into trade-in market this month, selling used games in summer
The used game market just grew immensely, as Walmart announced plans today to begin taking video game trade-ins across the United States, putting itself in direct competition with GameStop. Starting March 26, those trading their games in at more than 3,100 Walmart stores will receive a gift card usable at any Walmart or Sam's Club location in exchange. All exchanged products are then "sent to be refurbished and made available for purchase in like-new condition starting this summer." The retailer will accept online trade-ins for all games, but will only allow in-store exchanges for hardware. Walmart provided an exchange rate calculator on its website to give customers an idea of trade-in values. As for functional hardware, when including all the accompanying cables and one controller, the Xbox One has a current trade-in value of $390, the PS4 is $375, the Wii U Deluxe is $120, a 3G-enabled Vita is $95 and 3DS XL is $105. Working copies of Grand Theft Auto 5 currently exchange at $27.72, Dead Rising 3 is $38, the PS4 version of NBA 2K14 is $35.42 and Super Mario 3D World is $38. [Image: Walmart]
iPhone 5s reappears on GameStop trade-in page, joined by the 5c
GameStop jumped the gun in late August by (perhaps mistakenly) putting the unannounced iPhone 5s on its device trade-in page, complete with offers for cash trade and in-store credit. The page was pulled after we first pointed it out, but now that the iPhone 5s is officially official (yeah, I said it) the company has brought it back. Oh, and the iPhone 5c has popped up as well. The prices for the iPhone 5s appear to be in line with what we got a sneak peek of back in August, though the Verizon version of the device -- which wasn't available in the early price leak -- is worth less. Normally the Sprint version of the smartphone warrants the lowest trade-in value, so either there's something special about the iPhone 5s or GameStop hasn't tweaked the Sprint values quite yet. All prices are USD. iPhone 5s ("Like New" condition): 16GB (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) -- $480 (store credit), $382 (cash) 32GB (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) -- $530, $422 64GB (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) -- $580, $462 16GB (Verizon) -- $460, $366 32GB (Verizon) -- $510, $406 64GB (Verizon) -- $560, $446 The iPhone 5c, on the other hand, shows the wild trade-in value variation we usually expect from carrier to carrier, with Sprint's version of the device taking a huge hit: iPhone 5c ("Like New" condition): 16GB (AT&T, T-Mobile) -- $252.50 (store credit), $200 (cash) 32GB (AT&T, T-Mobile) -- $258.75, $205 16GB (Sprint) -- $190, $150 32GB (Sprint) -- $196.25, $155 16GB (Verizon) -- $208.75, $165 32GB (Verizon) -- $215, $170
Amazon trade-in values lag behind GameStop
According to a quick and dirty sampling done by What They Play, it looks like Amazon now offers significantly less than GameStop does for many used games. The study was conducted by looking up several popular titles for each major platform and comparing the trade-in values offered by GameStop, Amazon and Game Crazy. For many Wii and PS3 games, Amazon seems to offer much less than GameStop, while it curiously offers more for Xbox 360 games. Amazon trade-ins do have a few advantages over GameStop trades; one being that trade-in credit can be used to purchase anything on Amazon and not just games. Another advantage is that Amazon accepts trade-ins for many more platforms, going so far as to even accept NES titles.Perhaps the biggest lesson of the study is that Game Crazy seems to offer more for used games than either GameStop or Amazon. Left 4 Dead is one of the more extreme examples, with Game Crazy offering $27.25, while Amazon and GameStop offer $20 and $17, respectively. Game Crazy isn't as big as GameStop and doesn't have as many stores, but it might be worth seeing if there's one near you.
'Amazon is of little threat to GameStop's core business' says EEDAR
Citing an Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) report released in the past week, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting today that, while the announcement of Amazon.com entering the used game trade triggered a 13% drop in GameStop stock, "Amazon is of little threat to GameStop's core business." According to EEDAR, this doesn't mean Amazon is doomed to fail, but that "Amazon and GameStop can co-exist peacefully," which sounds awfully nice to us on the consumer side of things.How did they arrive at these rather broad conclusions, you ask? "EEDAR conducted a survey and recorded the trade-in value, used price, and new price of 79 game SKUs (57 that applied to the survey) at Amazon and GameStop." After doing so, they arrived at this, possibly shocking, revelation: "On average, GameStop offers a better value on trade-ins by over 3%." Seriously?To round out the EEDAR report, we'll leave you with this one, astonishing truth: "Amazon's entry into the used gaming market will expand the used market into new territories and make available to new consumers rather than steal share away from GameStop's core business." So, what's the lesson here? Competition: good for consumers, (apparently) okay for retailers.
