by Alex Wilkinson

Created on: April 18, 2009

The short answer? Gamestop. If you're looking to buy used video games, head on over to www.gamestop.com and shop away. The selection is great, the prices are right, and the shipping is fast.

The long answer:

Amazon.com is sort of a two in one site; the main feature of their site is ordering new, packaged items directly from Amazon, and buying used items from people not directly a part of Amazon. Either way, Amazon is rather notorious for their slow shipping. This problem is just exacerbated when you order a used item. Often times, unless you pay for hideously expensive expedited shipping, you'll have to wait 2+ weeks to get your object. Who wants to wait that long? Gamestop standard shipping usually has it to you in under 5 days. On a side note, if you preorder from Gamestop, they'll usually have the package to you on the date that the game is sold in stores. Amazon, however, ships the package on that date so you'll have to wait.

Gamestop is also king when it comes to variety. Because they are a company that specializes in games, with stores buying up previously-owned games all across the nation, it's rare that they will not have something in stock. They even carry used chords, game controllers, etc. Where on Amazon you're forced to order from some one who you have no connection with, with Gamestop you're ordering from an established company. You can trust Gamestop to know what it's doing (usually), and to sell you high-quality used games, which leads to the next point:

Gamestop only sells quality used games. They inspect games for scratches and test them for playability before they're sold to the public. Amazon does not do anything of the sort; the only information you have about the item is the seller's brief categorization along the lines of "New, opened, very good, good, damaged, other". If you're going to spend $30 on a used game from Amazon and trust that it's going to work when you can buy from Gamestop and know it will work?

For the reasons above, I much prefer Gamestop for my video game purchasing needs, both used and new. The only time I would consider ordering off Amazon would be for games that Gamestop does not have in stock, and even then I would much prefer to go to ebay.com instead. I've actually, and surprisingly, had fewer problems using ebay than using Amazon.com, and with Ebay, pictures show you exactly what it is you're paying for.

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