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[godsavant]

I recently bought a used copy of Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones at GameStop and I must say I loathe it. It's been less than a week of the purchase, but I tore off the stickers and threw away the receipts, so I'm pretty much screwed, plus I've heard GameStop gives crap deals for trade-ins. There's a Play N Trade near by, so any of you have suggestions as to the best places to trade in games (both in my case and on a broader scale) - or even the ethics of trading games in general?

UPDATES:
1.) Do not trade you games to GameStop or any other chain store; not only are you failing to support developers, but they will screw you over.
2.) For the tech-savvy, a good way to get maximum value for your games is to trade them with other gamers online through peer-to-peer sites such as Goozex for other games you want.

[Shade Jackrabbit]

I recently bought a used copy of Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones at GameStop and I must say I loathe it. It's been less than a week of the purchase, but I tore off the stickers and threw away the receipts, so I'm pretty much screwed, plus I've heard GameStop gives crap deals for trade-ins. There's a Play N Trade near by, so any of you have suggestions as to the best places to trade in games (both in my case and on a broader scale) - or even the ethics of trading games in general?

The best place to trade games is somewhere which doesn't buy any games except second-hand games. Like local hobby stores. We have one in town where you get 2.50 for a previous-gen game (PS2 and before) and 5.00 for a current-gen game, and buying a game costs twice that. (5.00 for p-gen and 10.00 for c-gen.)

All major stores suck for trading in. You'll get maybe 8 dollars for your game, which they will then sell for like 45 dollars if the game sells at 50 brand new.

And yes, it's unethical. If you trade with stores like GameStop. For they are the spawn of Satan.

[handCraftedRadio]

why not just sell it online and get the amount of money that a player will pay for it, instead of selling it to a stupid middle-man at a small price.

[godsavant]

why not just sell it online and get the amount of money that a player will pay for it, instead of selling it to a stupid middle-man at a small price.

That's not a bad idea; I've heard there is a website that do such online trades between players, but the name escapes me atm...

[Inanimate]

Yeah, I have some things I need to trade in too. I would love to know that site.

[Tanner]

www.goozex.com

[NathanielEdwards]

A friend of mine moved away and left me a collection of about twenty-five PS2 games. He had awful taste (The Family Guy Game, Pimp My Ride, A POKER GAME for chrissakes) and even worse, left all his discs out and let them get scratched up, though they mostly all still worked. Anyway, I tried searching for places to trade in the games. Took them all in to a GameStop, and they offered me I think $25, which is obviously ridiculous for twenty-five games. I tried a local store, and they only offered store credit, and they had basically no current-gen games (I don't exactly live in a big town).

I calculated from looking at eBay completed listings that I could earn about $60 there from selling games, if I managed to sell them all, counting shipping costs. That wasn't worth the trouble to me in the end, so I gave up and just kept the games. It was a somewhat frustrating experience, and even the awful games are worth more than a dollar or two each to me, so I just kept everything. Just sharing my story, I don't expect that that helps you much.

[Zest]

I wholeheartedly second Goozex- it's perfect for me, because I love rare/weird/crappy games. Case in point: I just got my copy of Rez in the mail today. It's worth a shot, in any case- just see if anybody's requesting the games you're selling (you never know), and then you can take the points you earn from the trade to buy games you really want.

[godsavant]

www.goozex.com

Gaaaah, that site slows down my browser to a crawl! I'll trust Destructoid to help me out on this one.
Besides, I was hoping to trade for Advance Wars: Black Hole Rising, which is a full 100 points above the trade-in value for my Fire Emblem.

[Zest]

I think you still get a 100 bonus points for joining Goozex, if that helps at all.

[Shade Jackrabbit]

There's also http://gametz.com/. I've used it before. It's alright, but pretty basic.

[Movius]

the ethics of trading games in general?

One party (You) and a second party (gamestop) come to an agreement that the first will exchange some of their property (1 copy of Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones) for some of the second party's (a sum of cash dollars.)  All is voluntary, nobody is hurt (assuming no stolen property is traded.) Transaction and Ethical discussion are complete.

Things become complex if either party has binding contracts saying they will not engage in such transactions. but the ethical issue there is entirely seperate.

The debate about whether you are getting value for money is also another matter entirely.

[Shade Jackrabbit]

Things become complex if either party has binding contracts saying they will not engage in such transactions. but the ethical issue there is entirely seperate.

I'd have to look thoroughly, but I'm pretty sure most license agreements and copyright information for games says that they are not available for resale. Especially PC games.

Not that I give a damn though.  :D

[Cheater‽]

A friend of mine moved away and left me a collection of about twenty-five PS2 games. He had awful taste (The Family Guy Game, Pimp My Ride, A POKER GAME for chrissakes)

Hey, he did get rid of them.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

the ethics of trading games in general?

One party (You) and a second party (gamestop) come to an agreement that the first will exchange some of their property (1 copy of Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones) for some of the second party's (a sum of cash dollars.)  All is voluntary, nobody is hurt (assuming no stolen property is traded.) Transaction and Ethical discussion are complete.

Things become complex if either party has binding contracts saying they will not engage in such transactions. but the ethical issue there is entirely seperate.

The debate about whether you are getting value for money is also another matter entirely.

that's not ethics, that's economics. that's like saying selling guns, alcohol, cigarettes, etc., is completely ethical because you're paying for it and someone's selling it. not that i'm saying doing those things is not ethical, just that there are often other considerations besides voluntary free trade.

[JoeHonkie]

that's not ethics, that's economics. that's like saying selling guns, alcohol, cigarettes, etc., is completely ethical because you're paying for it and someone's selling it. not that i'm saying doing those things is not ethical, just that there are often other considerations besides voluntary free trade.

All of those things sound ethical to me...

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

yes, but they are unethical to others. my point was that just being a free transaction doesn't mean something is ethical: i.e. ethical isn't a synonym for voluntary

[JoeHonkie]

yes, but they are unethical to others. my point was that just being a free transaction doesn't mean something is ethical: i.e. ethical isn't a synonym for voluntary

I think my point in all those cases is that as long as people are being protected from harm, I don't see a problem.  Nobody is being harmed by the used game trade.  Publishers may pretend they are, but the ability to resell things is an essential part of trade, and ever other industry has to put up with it.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

ethical doesn't only have to include things which do no harm, though. harmless is also not a synonym for ethical.

[JoeHonkie]

ethical doesn't only have to include things which do no harm, though. harmless is also not a synonym for ethical.

I'm sot sure I said it did.  I merely said I think it's ethical to allow people to buy and sell things that don't hurt anyone else.  And not make their decisions for them.