Why do video game stores give such horrible trade-in value?

IT MAY seem like the easy way to make some money, but you can get seriously ripped off trading in your video games at major stores. Here’s how to beat them.

Don’t be suckered in by stores’ big signs to trade-in games.

IT MAY seem like the easy way to make money off video games you don’t play anymore, but you can get seriously ripped off trading in your video games.

Many major stores thrive off the money they make when you trade your used games in, sometimes selling the games for up to 10 times the amount of money they pay you.

Just this weekend, my brother went to trade in his Xbox 360, 2 controllers, Kinect and 20 games, including relatively new titles like Grand Theft Auto V and Battlefield 4 and received a grand total of $213. A quick search on eBay showed many people selling similar packages with bids already placed for $280+ before the auction had even ended.

That’s money you can spend anywhere, too.

When you trade-in at one major store we visited, you only receive store credit that you have to spend on the spot. This became a problem when they didn’t have what my brother was after in stock. Nor could they order it in.

My brother’s 20gb Xbox 360 Pro console contributed $33 to his in-store credit, which the store could then sell for $118 according to its website.

He sold some older games to them for $3 which were then listed at $20-30 on their website.

He received $26 for recent games, only to see them for sale for $45 plus.

Some stores have loyalty programs which can result in prices nearly equal to the online price, especially if that’s combined with the odd promotion they have for bonus trade in value.

While many news.com.au readers have told us that certain stores provide excellent customer service, if you’re more patient than my brother you can get a lot better value by selling your games online.