How should used game stores price their games?

[Technosis]

What do think would be the fairest way for game stores to set their prices? Apart from the price guide at DP here, can you think of any other sources apart from say Ebay that they could use? What seems to be the standard cash/credit/sell ratio for people trading/selling games at a store? Thanks....

[tonyvortex]

at the store i work at we go against gamedude for a lot of prices.overall they seem fair for what they pay for older games.

[Maxx]

at the store i work at we go against gamedude for a lot of prices.overall they seem fair for what they pay for older games.

Thanks for the info!

[swlovinist]

A game store that I go to uses ebay minus about 20 percent. It actually comes out to be very fair.

[digitalpress]

A game store that I go to uses ebay minus about 20 percent. It actually comes out to be very fair.

Ouch. Looking at a few auctions right now, my customers would run me right out of town. I want to live where you live :)

[boatofcar]

I don't think there can ever be a de facto guide for pricing anything used anymore now that ebay's around. You just have to try and do it by feel and experience.

EDIT: I've always thought anywhere in the neighborhood of 1/3-1/4 of resale value is fair for trade-ins.

[JerseyDevil65]

I don't think there can ever be a de facto guide for pricing anything used anymore now that ebay's around. You just have to try and do it by feel and experience.

Exactly.

Its such a fine line when pricing used games, especially older stuff. You don't want to price it too high that it sits on your shelf forever but you don't want to give it away either.

I'm glad its not my decision. :)

[Cornelius]

I don't have a good answer, but I can tell you the Play N Trade here in Minneapolis is doing it the wrong way. Stopped by today as I was on that side of town and don't make it over there often. They had a Halo 3 tourney that I had to wade through, but when I got to their old stuff... $30 for SMB3. Could hardly believe it. Then there was Ninja Gaiden Trilogy loose for $130. I just looked, and it seems this game has jumped on eBay from 20-30 about a year ago to 50 now, but still, $130? I just laughed to myself when I saw that and walked out.

[otaku]

market prices. I'd do the research on local stores I competed with and online and then make my decision from their. Usually I try to either have the best condition stuff or the best prices (or both) undercutting works nicely

[Cryomancer]

Enough to make a profit, but not so much you rip people off.

[chrisbid]

the store i work for uses a system called TAMS, it bases prices off of amazon. its does a fairly good job of keeping the prices of common stuff really low, and prices uncommon stuff at a fair market value.

[mailman187666]

If I had my own store I would go to Ebay, and then mark it down from what the average completed listings for that particular item would be.

[Sailorneorune]

Using local examples...

Book Broker (Evansville, IN - where most of my personal collection and tradebait items come from) uses fixed prices for most of its older games (meaning through Dreamcast), and the prices of newer games depend on age, demand, and it actually being good.

Book & Music Exchange seems to be completely random, except the bad games are usually always cheap. I have a feeling they get some of their prices from ebay. They seem to follow trends -- currently anything from Square is vastly overpriced (Brave Fencer Musashi: $30 disc only, for example), though the Lunars (when available) are actually somewhat reasonable. Getting a complete one is difficult though, since some of the people who take the trades in fail to recognize when a multi-disc game might be missing that last disc.

I personally prefer Book Broker's model -- though it's sometimes hard to decide whether a NES game is worth $5.

[cyberfluxor]

In my opinion a game should be priced according to:
1) Popularity
2) Condition
3) Completeness
4) Rarity
5) Gameplay

Obviously if something is very popular the right price will sell quickly but older stuff will bring picky buyers so you must be particular to the demand prices. Condition is also a huge factor since very few people will pay over $10 for a loose MB3 game with no cover and a faded cartridge. Then for a complete game, some are willing to pay the extra few bucks or so for a nice presentation and for an easily accessible guide/manual to get started. Rarity is a hard one because popularity can create an "fake" shortage and very few people truely care about that super rare game just to own it, however it does place a little more price on it because that few will drop a little extra for it. And finally there's the gameplay. I believe there are a lot of games that sell lower than their true quality of the game experience. If a game generally gets wonderful reviews and holds its own even in modern times then you can push it out the door with a bit more ease, or maybe someone remembers it from their childhood and know it's a wise purchase.

But even with all of those factors you must still keep systems in mind. A modernization of an older game will generally be worth more IMO because it's more likely your customers will own the newer system. Also if it's a popular console then you can setup various specials around it to attract more business, like B2G1F on SNES and GEN games.

One thing not to do though is mark all games at one price, like $5/game for SNES titles as the effects will be:
1) Fixed buying/selling revenues, which will make inventory simple.
2) Higher market priced games won't bring in that extra potential revenue.
3) Lower market priced games won't sell as fast and waste inventory space.
4) Makes passing customers believe you don't research the SNES market and some will take advantage of you.

And so forth. It's a very risky market though so most game store owners also sell movies (DVD, VHS, LD, BM), music (CD, Tape, LP), role playing guides, playing cards, game manuals and lots of other hobby's so not all of their eggs are in one basket in the event of a local market crash.

[Griking]

What do think would be the fairest way for game stores to set their prices? Apart from the price guide at DP here, can you think of any other sources apart from say Ebay that they could use? What seems to be the standard cash/credit/sell ratio for people trading/selling games at a store? Thanks....

Well, most of the used book stores in my area sell used books for 1/2 the current retail price of a new copy and give 1/4 in credit for trade ins

[Ed Oscuro]

According to eBay.

[Griking]

According to eBay.

Not if they want to keep customers. If I walk into a game store or pawn shop and ask how much something is and the owner looks up a price on eBay before quoting me I walk out and never return. If I wanted to pay eBay prices why would I need to visit a store? Besides, most of them tend to quote the ASKING price of an item on eBay, not the most recent SELLING price. Big difference.

[rpepper9]

I don't have a good answer, but I can tell you the Play N Trade here in Minneapolis is doing it the wrong way. Stopped by today as I was on that side of town and don't make it over there often. They had a Halo 3 tourney that I had to wade through, but when I got to their old stuff... $30 for SMB3. Could hardly believe it. Then there was Ninja Gaiden Trilogy loose for $130. I just looked, and it seems this game has jumped on eBay from 20-30 about a year ago to 50 now, but still, $130? I just laughed to myself when I saw that and walked out.

Where is Play N Trade located? I live in the MPLS area and cannot find anywhere that has anything older than PS1. It's as if videogaming started at PlayStation.

[GameDeals.ca]

My philosophy is this... price it cheaper than the competition. but not so cheap that the other dealers buy it. Sometimes eBay is a good guide, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes a game will come in that my instincts tell me should be worth $30, then I check eBay and many have completed at $10-$15, so I price it lower accordingly. I try to price things at what would be considered a fair market value for our area, and what I would feel is a fair price if I were in the market for that item.