I've written on this before, but it continues to be relevant.
I was shopping at a pawn shop awhile back and I overheard a conversation between one of the owners and a customer. What I heard went something like this:
"<Pawn shop>, How can I help you?...Yes, we buy laptops...How old is it?...Ok, well I can't really give you a quote over the phone, I'd have to see it first...because that's how these things work...Without seeing it, I can't give you any number...If it's four years old, it's probably running Windows Vista and I wouldn't be able to give you much for it...I realize you can tell me the specs but I still need to examine the item itself before I give you a number....ok then...have a good day sir."
I can't really communicate it that well through text, but the employees voice was become slightly more agitated as the call wore on. I imagine he gets these calls ALL the time.
Customers like this were the bane of my existence at <game store>. I've never liked the way that company handles their trade-in business. You see, in their case, there is no negotiation. They put a preset trade credit amount into the computer so that if you trade in Resident Evil: Even more Zombies! at ANY store in the country, you get the same amount for it. There are fees we can charge for product that has significant cosmetic damage, but whether the damage is "significant" is up to the discretion of the employee.
Since the trade values are preset, many people call ahead to find out what they can get for their items before they bring them in. Standard policy is don't give values over the phone and tell them they have to come in. Not all stores follow this so customers get an expectation they can call in and get trade values whenever they need them.
This can cause problems, especially when a busy employee looks at the wrong line on the screen and quotes a customer a trade value $100 HIGHER than what we're actually offering (this was for a PS3)
.
That one turned into a mess that involved corporate, but eventually we had to cough up the extra $100 when the employee in question verified that yes, he had given the customer the wrong number.
I've had people call in before and want me to give them trade values on 10 games over the phone! Grrr...
I also think it's funny how when I tell people the trades must be in good working order to get full value, EVERYONE, without fail, tells me their stuff is in good condition.
And don't even get me started on people who think we're ripping them off. I'll be the first one to tell you that game store's trade values are usually low, but they are more than what you'd get at a pawn shop.
I wish people would educate themselves on how the secondary market works. With rare exceptions, most items lose value QUICKLY. Video games are a great example of this. It's not uncommon for a game to lose over 60% of its value within a year of release (that would be a price drop of $59.99 to $24.99 roughly). Only the top tier titles hold their value for longer.
Laptops and Smartphones are another great example. Anything more than two years old is practically a waste of time and even that's being somewhat generous.
My general principle on reselling when trying to decide "is it worth it" is as follows: The moment you take an item out of the packaging, it drops at least 30% of its value (sometimes more, sometimes less). Then if you plan on selling it to a pawn shop or other second hand business, you're going to get even less because that business has to resell the item to make a profit.
So if a $60 video game is selling for about $40 on the second hand market and you have a copy to sell to a game store or a pawn shop, you should realistically expect to get no more than $10-25 for it.
This is not complicated, it's little more than common sense and simple math. Unfortunately most SCs lack these two abilities, causing me to be endlessly subjected to cries of "you're ripping me off!!" or "that's it?! That's all I can get?"
I was shopping at a pawn shop awhile back and I overheard a conversation between one of the owners and a customer. What I heard went something like this:
"<Pawn shop>, How can I help you?...Yes, we buy laptops...How old is it?...Ok, well I can't really give you a quote over the phone, I'd have to see it first...because that's how these things work...Without seeing it, I can't give you any number...If it's four years old, it's probably running Windows Vista and I wouldn't be able to give you much for it...I realize you can tell me the specs but I still need to examine the item itself before I give you a number....ok then...have a good day sir."
I can't really communicate it that well through text, but the employees voice was become slightly more agitated as the call wore on. I imagine he gets these calls ALL the time.
Customers like this were the bane of my existence at <game store>. I've never liked the way that company handles their trade-in business. You see, in their case, there is no negotiation. They put a preset trade credit amount into the computer so that if you trade in Resident Evil: Even more Zombies! at ANY store in the country, you get the same amount for it. There are fees we can charge for product that has significant cosmetic damage, but whether the damage is "significant" is up to the discretion of the employee.
Since the trade values are preset, many people call ahead to find out what they can get for their items before they bring them in. Standard policy is don't give values over the phone and tell them they have to come in. Not all stores follow this so customers get an expectation they can call in and get trade values whenever they need them.
This can cause problems, especially when a busy employee looks at the wrong line on the screen and quotes a customer a trade value $100 HIGHER than what we're actually offering (this was for a PS3)

That one turned into a mess that involved corporate, but eventually we had to cough up the extra $100 when the employee in question verified that yes, he had given the customer the wrong number.
I've had people call in before and want me to give them trade values on 10 games over the phone! Grrr...
I also think it's funny how when I tell people the trades must be in good working order to get full value, EVERYONE, without fail, tells me their stuff is in good condition.

And don't even get me started on people who think we're ripping them off. I'll be the first one to tell you that game store's trade values are usually low, but they are more than what you'd get at a pawn shop.
I wish people would educate themselves on how the secondary market works. With rare exceptions, most items lose value QUICKLY. Video games are a great example of this. It's not uncommon for a game to lose over 60% of its value within a year of release (that would be a price drop of $59.99 to $24.99 roughly). Only the top tier titles hold their value for longer.
Laptops and Smartphones are another great example. Anything more than two years old is practically a waste of time and even that's being somewhat generous.
My general principle on reselling when trying to decide "is it worth it" is as follows: The moment you take an item out of the packaging, it drops at least 30% of its value (sometimes more, sometimes less). Then if you plan on selling it to a pawn shop or other second hand business, you're going to get even less because that business has to resell the item to make a profit.
So if a $60 video game is selling for about $40 on the second hand market and you have a copy to sell to a game store or a pawn shop, you should realistically expect to get no more than $10-25 for it.
This is not complicated, it's little more than common sense and simple math. Unfortunately most SCs lack these two abilities, causing me to be endlessly subjected to cries of "you're ripping me off!!" or "that's it?! That's all I can get?"
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