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Which is better for used video games?
Results so far:
| Gamestop | 65% | 216 votes | Total: 332 votes | |
| Amazon | 35% | 116 votes |
Gamestop
by Lauren Hasty
Created on: April 09, 2011
To be perfectly honest, I have never purchased a used game from Amazon - and there's a perfectly legitimate reason for that. Having worked for Gamestop for nearly three years, I can tell you with the utmost surety exactly how a lot of games come in to the store. By default, there are generally two types of people who bring used games in for resale.
The first type are your typical adult gamers. They have bought a new game, played it perhaps a handful of times, and then want to resell the game for store credit, to buy even more games. Most of the time, the game they bring in is in remarkably good condition with minor (if any!) scratches, and plays just fine. You can usually tell they're not brand new, but they're new enough that they haven't been damaged in any real, meaningful way.
The second type are children. The direct opposite of adult gamers, these games (unless they are Nintendo DS or Game Boy Advance games) look like they've been dropped into a wood chipper and have only barely made it out the other side with their metaphorical lives. I have seen games come through my store, brought in by kids that I swear, look as if someone had taken sandpaper and vigorously applied it to the back of the game. It never ceased to amaze me just how badly someone was capable of damaging a game. Most of the time, when we got games like this, we wouldn't accept them, and if we did, we accepted them as defects, and would send them back to the home company, where they would try (and probably in vain, I imagine) to refinish the backs, to make them playable again.
Technically, there's a third type - people who are after cash - and these can come in either way - people who want to resale brand new games they've just bought to get the money for them, or people who've gathered up their entire collections in hoping of getting money for them. Let it be said(in case you didn't know and your local store hasn't told you: we give you less in cash than we do in store credit. Keep that in mind.)
Now, I told you all of that so that I could tell you this: at least in my store, we were pretty serious about taking in games. A couple of scratches aren't a big deal, but one bad scratch, or a lot of them, and we generally took games as default - which you would, in turn, only get a few cents for, if that.
If I went into a Gamestop to buy a game, I could ask the people there to let me see that game. I could look at the back of it, see if it was in decent shape. I can't do that with Amazon. I can't pop in and see if it's going to come with a real case, and maybe the game book. I can do that at a Gamestop.
Learn more about this author, Lauren Hasty.
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Amazon
by Eric Meyer
Created on: September 06, 2009 Last Updated: September 10, 2009
The differences between Gamestop and Amazon.com are numerous and seemingly obvious. Gamestop is a large corporation committed solely to video games and video game accessories, while Amazon is a marketplace website that sells used goods of all assortments, specializing in none. Gamestop has employees with video game experience, while Amazon merely sells games and ships them to their new owners. At Gamestop money is placed directly into a cash register in return for a game. On Amazon consumers must deal with the fear of fraud and receiving potentially broken or unusable games in the mail, meaning they've wasted their money. These differences all have one thing in common; they are misconceptions.
While Amazon is a website and thus buyers will experience the usual credit card paranoia when making their purchase, items bought on Amazon are usually in good condition, and credit card purchases are as safe as on any other certified website. If the unthinkable happens, Amazon has quality assurance employees that can be contacted, and the problem will be addressed with either a full refund or gift card of equal value. Gamestop stores can be found almost anywhere; it is a behemoth of a corporation, and many buyers will feel safer entering a video game store than ordering games with a credit card online. With games priced at between twenty and fifty dollars used, the security that comes with that car ride and a direct purchase may no longer be financially justifiable. Amazon will give buyers the better price, because at Amazon you don't pay for a company name. The game F.E.A.R. for Playstation 3 can be found for $19.99 before tax at Gamestop used, while the same game in equal condition costs $13.74 on Amazon.com. You can even get it new for $15.50. The only question that buyers should have in mind when choosing between these two methods of obtaining used games should be "How much do I want to pay?" If the answer is more, by all means visit the Gamestop nearest you.
Gamestop employees are no more knowledgeable of the video game world or its products than any other gamer, they are merely there to watch the store and sell games. They are more guards and clerks than experts in the field. Going to Gamestop for superior video game knowledge is equivalent to shopping at Abercrombie for superior clothing knowledge, when there is a discount clothing store next door. Getting a job at Gamestop is as easy as applying and being selected to work there based on availability. Anyone reading this article is qualified to work at Gamestop, as is anyone posting a used game for sale on Amazon.com.
The real difference between Gamestop and Amazon is quite clear; Gamestop is direct and more expensive, while Amazon.com takes slightly longer and is much cheaper. Buyers are lulled into a false sense of security because they believe Gamestop employees have superior knowledge of the gaming industry, but they in all likelihood have qualifications equal to those who post games on Amazon. So once again the choice lies with the buyer, the same product for less, or the same product for more? Anyone who chooses the former should visit Amazon.com for their used games.
Learn more about this author, Eric Meyer.
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