Ethics of trading in games

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DuckM4n

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Do you think it is unethical to buy new games for low amounts of money and trading them in for a higher value in store credit?

How do you think the stores view this?

I work at Blockbuster and we can only accept 2 copies of any game on any console a month.
 
No, I don't think it's unethical. I could buy a $50 game and take it to GS/EB and get around $20 trade in credit for it. If they have no problem giving me less than half of what I pay for it, then I have no problem taking more than I spent on the rare occasion that it occurs.
 
If you have to ask, then you already know. Most places require an State ID for trades so they'll be quick to your game when they notice you traded in Freaky Flyers 5 times in 2 months.
 
its by no means unethical. The reason that they might require an ID is so they don't get screwed over too much. But if you are observant enough to notice a discrepancy between one stores new price and another's tradein price - you deserve the spoils. After all, its the 2nd stores responsibility to keep up to date trade in values.
 
I don't think it is unethical. BUT I don't think people should abuse it. Often time, I see people on this forum (and other forums) bragging about how they brought a gazillion copies a cheap game just so he/she can trade it. I think 1 (or two copies) is OK. But leave some for the rest of us who actually wants to play it.
 
Not unethical at all. Making a profit like that is the same as the store making a profit off your purchases by charging you more than they paid for the game. The stores have every right to refuse trades, too. I don't even see anything remotely questionable about the process, unless, like wbc says, you're taking cheap games from others who want to play them. And even then, it's a question of courtesy instead of ethics.
 
[quote name='Trakan']No, I don't think it's unethical. I could buy a $50 game and take it to GS/EB and get around $20 trade in credit for it. If they have no problem giving me less than half of what I pay for it, then I have no problem taking more than I spent on the rare occasion that it occurs.[/quote]

Agreed.
 
I believe if you are not violating rules (i.e. telling walmart you lost the recipt when you baught it at tru). And stores are supposed to get a valid state id because of state laws (which vary from state to state, and city to city)
 
i dont think I would do it to a mom and pop, but i really got no qualms with doin it with a copy or 2 of a game to a faceless big conglomerate
 
I don't think its wrong at all unless of course, as someone else said, you go and buy up 5-10 copies of a game just to turn it in. I see nothing wrong with buying 1-2 copies and trading them in for more, after all EB/GS rips us off all the time. The most recent example is when I bought the Edge card from EB to use ONLINE and now they don't let you use it anymore. I wouldnt have bought the damn thing if I knew they were going to can the online feature of it.
 
I've done this a bunch of times and there's nothing wrong with it at all. Buy low and sell high, nothing wrong with that. I'm not forcing anyone to buy stuff I'm offering, just like the stores aren't forcing me to buy what they're offering. I take an item to a store, they offer me something for it, we make that exchange, everyone agrees to it. I fail to see how anything about that is unethical since the game is legally bought and owned, and nobody is getting anything other than what they agreed to.
 
Like mentioned before as long as you dont buy tons of copies and trade them in theres nothing wrong. EB and Gamestop sell us new games that are opened and they dont think its wrong so why would this be?
 
I don't think it's unethical because the store you're trading the game to will probably make a profit by selling the game at a higher price than they gave you for the trade, regardless of how much you bought the game for in the first place.
 
I remember buying 8 copies of max payne 2 for $10 apeice at buy two get one free from blockbuster, then bringing them to GameCrazy for $28 in credit apeice.. those were the days.

Only time you really get away with that now is the retail site.
I have taken advantage of gamestop selling GBA-GC cables at 2.99 b2g1 and getting $4.00 apeice at gamecrazy.. not that big of a deal, but gamecrazy had a game GS didn't and i was headed over there anyway..
 
They tell you what they'll give you in credit and you take it or leave. What you paid for the game is irrelavent IMO. Onus is on the game store to make sure their trade in value is constantly updated to account for a game dropping in value.

Personally I've never done this, as game store credit doesn't hold much value for me.
 
If this is unethical, then I'm the most unethical person on this site. For close to 3 years now, just about all of my purchases have been cheap games that I trade in for at least 2-3 times what I paid for them to Blockbuster/GameRush.

I don't see this as unethical in the least. I purchase the games legally, I follow Blockbuster's trade agreement, and I buy the games from GR that I actually want to play with the credit from games I bought from a different retail outlet.
 
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