It is the onset of the holiday season, when we are bombarded with a proliferation of great gaming goodness. Fallout, Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, The Force Unleashed,... How can we keep up?
Well, we can make choices. Which ones do we want right now? Which ones can we wait for a price drop on? Do I have to give up my Starbucks for Fable? What do we want to see under the tree at Xmas? Decisions, decisions. But what if we don't want to wait? What happens if the spoiled 8-year old in us comes out and wants it all right now? This is where we try to stretch that dollar a little further. It takes a little work, but it can be worth it. I'm talking about the art of the trade-in deal.
Now if we want to get rid of those games collecting dust on the shelf, that's one thing. It's low hanging fruit - easy to pick, not a lot of work. I'm talking about chasing the juicy fruit at the top of the tree. For that, we have to be more creative. I'm talking about the undervalued games with good trade-in values that are floating around out there, just waiting to be exploited.
One example of this occurred earlier this year when Alien vs. Predator came out. EB Games (Gamestop Canada) offered a 50% additional trade-in on games toward the pre-order of AvP. At this particular time they were offering $40 for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance II. On the pre-order, that value increased to $60. Since AvP sold for $60, it was virtually a direct swap. With a little hunting I managed to find a used copy of Marvel II for $36 all in, netting me a cool $30 in savings (including taxes). This was not the first time I saved a few bucks by exploiting trade-in values and it most certainly has not been my last. I have literally saved hundreds of dollars on games by exploiting higher than average trade-in values by purchasing underpriced games. If they're going to give it to us, then darn it, we should take it!!
For some it might not be worth the effort. Sometimes I wonder if I enjoy the challenge of doing it more than I need the financial savings. But it helps, regardless of why I do it. Do you have any stories of trade-in savings? Are you a bargain hunter? How do you make your gaming dollar go further? Let's hear from all you cheapskate gamers out there! Maybe we can all help each other.
Don't forget with this holiday season blitzkerg that you have choices between regular, collector's or limited editions of games. For some the choice is easy....for others not so much.
ReplyDeleteAnd I plan on blogging about my search for killer deals to replace the stuff I got stolen so I won't comment on bargins here. Sorry.
The choice for me is always easy: I almost never get any special edition. I don't need the little trinkets that they package up to try and get an extra $10-20 of my money. ESPECIALLY with the new trend of game publishers re-packaging the game a year down the road with all of the DLC for the same price. The DLC is more important to me than bobbleheads or picture books. I've traded in a few regular editions towards the purchase of the new "deluxe" editions and I've saved quite a few bucks on DLC. Also got a few funny looks from EB games employees.
ReplyDelete"Trading in The Force Unleashed?"
"Yep."
"What would you like to put it towards?"
"The Force Unleashed."
*silence and funny looks from employees*
A guy who used to work at a game store would tell me that he didn't believe that any game is worth $60. He felt that they were worth $30 max and he would wait for price drops before purchasing anything. THIS IS A GAME STORE EMPLOYEE!! Their jobs are to try and sell these things.
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