Today's Trade-Ins [DP Store]

[otoko]

Indeed. If anyone would do that, they should make it an actual contest rather than a golden ticket bullshit.

As we pointed out.. too many problems with that contest system.

[digitalpress]

First a bit of past business.

True, but I wonder how much the store is going to sell it for?

For the record, I just don't jack up the prices on a present-day retail item. I have, however, "bundled" things and I don't like doing that either. In fact, this usually only happens when I have to overpay for something - for example, I forced customers to buy new DS Lite systems with any 2 games of their choice of $19.99 or more. But that is because I was paying my distributor $135 dollars for what is a $129.99 product. To me, this seemed like a fair way of being able to stock something no one in my area could find without losing money on the deal.

To answer your question, used Wii's ALSO sell for $249.99 at my store as of today, the same as a new one (which I haven't had in months). This is high based on other used vs. new systems, obviously, but then again, I check a lot of things when selling a used item, and as evil as eBay is, it seems to be the one place you can guarantee getting one of these things on any given day and those sellers are making at LEAST this much. It's crazy, isn't it? And on paper I'm sure it looks wrong, but it feels fair to me. And though we've had an anomaly of three Wii's traded in over the last three weeks, all of these have sold within a day or two.

A little more on topic.

You know, I remember last year around this time I wondered why we were still so busy this deep into the doldrums of winter. I remember my short stints doing "fun" part time work at EB in the early 90's and I still hear it from friends who work at GameStop, this is a dead time. Though I never experience the highs they get on the holidays and the summer, I've been lucky enough to not have experienced the lows of January and February either. This week was just an amazing sales week. And now I have a theory.

Tax refunds.

It's gotta be. We did nearly 3000 in sales today and there were times when I had a line, which kinda sucks because I only have one register and even with two or three of us working it gets a little tricky trying to process people quickly. I must say that I *usually* have very understanding customers, too. They typically get that if they just walked in with three boxes of stuff to trade in, we might need to pause the process to handle someone who just wants to buy a game.

OK, back to the topic at hand.

PS3 60GB System (boxed) - not complete, I don't think. Well, there's no documentation anyway. This was taken in and sold all at the same time. I have a waiting list of people who want the "perfect" PS3, which plays all PS1 and PS2 without emulation.

Genesis ToeJam & Earl (complete) - if I knew back then what I know now. Do you know that I wrote the review for Digital Press back when this game actually came out? Loved it of course, but never imagined that it would become a sort of cult favorite - one of those games that no matter how many of 'em I have, I'd sell even at what might seem to an outsider "a high price for such an old, common game". Welcome back to the store, TJ&E. Bet you won't make it thru the day tomorrow.

[jeffg]

$249.99 for used wii is fair, there is a chain of stores around here buying used Wii's for $350 for the first one and $300 for each other one.

They are selling them for $425 and sell them briskly it seems as they only have 1 or 2 in stock at anytime

Almost makes me want to sell my wii, but I have some good VC games on there I couldn't give up

[TonyTheTiger]

Genesis ToeJam & Earl (complete) - if I knew back then what I know now. Do you know that I wrote the review for Digital Press back when this game actually came out? Loved it of course, but never imagined that it would become a sort of cult favorite - one of those games that no matter how many of 'em I have, I'd sell even at what might seem to an outsider "a high price for such an old, common game". Welcome back to the store, TJ&E. Bet you won't make it thru the day tomorrow.

I hate that game. I just hate it. But it tends to be one of the most polarizing games ever made. You just have to "get it" I suppose.

[digitalpress]

I hate that game. I just hate it. But it tends to be one of the most polarizing games ever made. You just have to "get it" I suppose.

Yep, not everyone I know, even avid Genesis fans, "get" this game. There's something about a game that's never the same twice that's always been very appealing to me. Especially at that time when memorizing everything seemed so important, it was quite refreshing to have a game like this blow that up and ask you to remember *nothing*.

I found my original review, too. My writing style has changed quite a bit in 15 years but this isn't too bad:
http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/toejamearl.htm

[kaedesdisciple]

I know you're holding a few things for me Joe and I appreciate it. I haven't forgotten, I'm just crazy busy. I'm going to try and make some time to get out there after I return from my business trip next week.

[RadiantSvgun]

Genesis ToeJam & Earl (complete) - if I knew back then what I know now. Do you know that I wrote the review for Digital Press back when this game actually came out? Loved it of course, but never imagined that it would become a sort of cult favorite - one of those games that no matter how many of 'em I have, I'd sell even at what might seem to an outsider "a high price for such an old, common game". Welcome back to the store, TJ&E. Bet you won't make it thru the day tomorrow.

I didn't know that game was like that! I'll have to go back and buy the one I saw yesterday.

[Trebuken]

Cow Racing needs more courses....

[digitalpress]

Late night so I'm posting this the morning after.

Yesterday was a Saturday which usually means lots of trade-ins. Plus it was a NAVA which means there are collectors about. Plus it was the largest turnout to date including many new faces. These things add up to some pretty nice trade-ins. The store spent nearly $1000 yesterday on trade-ins! Here's a few of the items.

XBox Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (complete) - and thankfully mint. Though the PS2 version is the one in the most demand in my store, the XBox version runs a close second. The fact that it's backwards compatible on 360 means it still has "legs", too.

N64 Millennium 2000 Controller (loose) - I didn't know much about this when I saw it, other than it says "Millennium 2000" below the usual etched Nintendo logo and it's got an unusual black and silver color scheme. The seller received this in a contest from Nintendo Power years ago. From the little information I can glean on the web, it seems very few of these (1000?) were made. Could be a rare gem.

Dreamcast Ikaruga (complete) - It's not uber-rare but the few we've had traded in came and went fast. As you may have noticed, that's a trend I often mention because I like it.

TurboGrafx-16 Neutopia II (complete) - in outer cardboard packaging as well. One of the less traded-in titles on the system, I think the first time I've seen it in a box (other than my personal copy) in the wild.

ColecoVision Antarctic Adventure (complete) - went right into my collection. I had the game but not the box with the little Antarctic map inside. Sweet.

PS2 Fatal Frame (complete) - on any other day I would have written more. Still holds its value at about $40.

[RadiantSvgun]

Late night so I'm posting this the morning after.

Yesterday was a Saturday which usually means lots of trade-ins. Plus it was a NAVA which means there are collectors about. Plus it was the largest turnout to date including many new faces. These things add up to some pretty nice trade-ins. The store spent nearly $1000 yesterday on trade-ins! Here's a few of the items.

XBox Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (complete) - and thankfully mint. Though the PS2 version is the one in the most demand in my store, the XBox version runs a close second. The fact that it's backwards compatible on 360 means it still has "legs", too.

N64 Millennium 2000 Controller (loose) - I didn't know much about this when I saw it, other than it says "Millennium 2000" below the usual etched Nintendo logo and it's got an unusual black and silver color scheme. The seller received this in a contest from Nintendo Power years ago. From the little information I can glean on the web, it seems very few of these (1000?) were made. Could be a rare gem.

Dreamcast Ikaruga (complete) - It's not uber-rare but the few we've had traded in came and went fast. As you may have noticed, that's a trend I often mention because I like it.

TurboGrafx-16 Neutopia II (complete) - in outer cardboard packaging as well. One of the less traded-in titles on the system, I think the first time I've seen it in a box (other than my personal copy) in the wild.

ColecoVision Antarctic Adventure (complete) - went right into my collection. I had the game but not the box with the little Antarctic map inside. Sweet.

PS2 Fatal Frame (complete) - on any other day I would have written more. Still holds its value at about $40.

Man, we need to talk about that Neutopia II!!!! But I'm sure by the time I get my paycheck on Saturday, it'll be gone.

[digitalpress]

Lots of NES, SNES and N64 trade-ins today. Without the usual fanfare, here's a smattering of what wast taken in.

- NES Bubble Bobble (loose)
- NES Final Fantasy (loose)
- SNES Secret of Evermore (loose)
- SNES Illusion of Gaia (loose)

And again, a Wii system was traded in. This is the fourth in less than four weeks. No complaints.

[TonyTheTiger]

It has to be the result of unhappy Christmas gift recipients. Junior got a Wii but either wanted something else or just got bored. Plus, I bet you give a better deal than Gamestop.

[Volcanon]

He must. I have zero customer loyalty to stores, but it's usually the darth vader huge company that pays more because the minimum-wage lackies don't care about condition. I dont have any expereince with games though, since I haven't traded anything in since I was 10.

[RadiantSvgun]

Lots of NES, SNES and N64 trade-ins today. Without the usual fanfare, here's a smattering of what wast taken in.

- NES Bubble Bobble (loose)
- NES Final Fantasy (loose)
- SNES Secret of Evermore (loose)
- SNES Illusion of Gaia (loose)

And again, a Wii system was traded in. This is the fourth in less than four weeks. No complaints.

I'm still gonna send you a PM about that Neutopia II. But since you are getting Wiis traded in, are you going to put one or two aside since smash bros is going to be released soon, and have like a "Wii Smash Bundle" with a couple of Gamecube controllers? Oh yeah, if that Neutopia II leaves the store between now and Saturday, would you let me know?

[Atari 5200]

And again, a Wii system was traded in. This is the fourth in less than four weeks. No complaints.

Very interesting so many Wiis traded in with a big release in the next few weeks.

[digitalpress]

Today was one of those days when nothing is spectacular, though there were two games traded in for the first time that look interesting enough for me to take them home and try out:

- Nintendo DS DQM (Dragon Quest Monsters) (complete)
- XBox 360 Conflict: Denied Ops (complete)

Sorry, not much more to add.

[Coldguy]

You will quickly notice something in Denied Ops, the lack of sound effects, it kills the game into a teriable FPS.

[digitalpress]

Here's one that's interesting more as a package than as an individual item.

A guy came in and traded in just five SNES games. Interestingly, just a few of these even made it through the day. Amazing how the popular titles just "go" before they spend any time on the shelves.

- SNES Earthbound (loose) - AGAIN
- SNES Super Mario RPG (loose)
- SNES Super Mario All-Stars (loose)
- SNES Donkey Kong Country (loose)
- SNES Illusion of Gaia (loose)

I wish there was a SNES factory. These games will all be gone in a day or two and on that day someone will come in and say "don't you have any GOOD SNES games?"

[Coldguy]

You should sound a "Good SNES game" alarm anytime that happens

[MASTERWEEDO]

People would stampeed.