Toys ‘R’ Us starts accepting game trade-ins
Toy retailer Toys “R” Us has introduced a program to accept video game trade-ins at its nearly 600 stores nationwide, in exchange for credit used toward other merchandise.
The program started this weekend and is similar to ones at box retailers GameStop and Best Buy where special gift cards are handed out to hold the store credit. Toys “R” Us says it will accept games for newer consoles, such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as older systems, including Atari 2600, Nintendo 64 and NES, and Sega Genesis.
Game sales have started to slide after nearly three unrelenting years of growth. Buyers have been balked at spending $60 on new titles, preferring instead to go with older titles often costing one-third less. The box retailers are suffering, too, from increasing digital distribution; last month, GameStop cut its year-end forecast after first- and second-quarter sales estimates were way off the mark.
But retailers have hoped to make up some of that loss by selling games over and over, netting perhaps a 100 percent to 150 percent return on popular titles, business analysts say.
Toys “R” Us has five locations in the St. Louis area.
Toys R Us need to get a clue about pricing used games.
I’m not paying $17.99 for a used game when I can the same game new for $19.99 on Toys R us’s shelf.
Haven’t yet checked out the used game prices at Toys ‘R’ Us but I’m not surpised to hear that the prices are high. It’s really no different than GameStop/EB Games selling a used game at $54.99 right next to a new copy for $59.99.
Best bet for anyone who is old enough to have a credit card is eBay or Amazon. Or if you’re up for meeting people in person - Craigslist.
I read another story about this and it was my understanding that Toys R Us was not going to actually resell the used games to the public but to a third party.
And frankly, TRU has been awesome for new releases lately. With new releases they’ve been offering a 20 dollar gift card and some times an extra. Usually on launch day. But Halo ODST is there next week and they are offering the customary 20 dollar gift card plus a McFarlane ODST action figure with the purchase….for the entire week. It’s hard to go anywhere else with these kind of deals on new games. It’s a lot nicer than walking into a Gamestop on launch day and being told “no we can’t sell you one” because you didn’t preorder even though they have a whole stack in the back.
@J_Stilvecchio
If that’s the case, why not just go for the new copy, right? Better yet, if you’re still on the fence about buying a new game, you can try and rent before purchasing one.