I love Half Priced Books

The Lord of Awesome

The Lord of Awesome

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Usually their CD and vinyl selection at the store near me is awesome, but recently I walked in and looked at the game section. Found a Slim PS2 for $10 and a Dreamcast with no controller for $5. Got a controller from amazon and the Dreamcast works perfectly. I'll probably take a picture of the receipt if I remember where I put it.

Oh also, when I opened the Dreamcast I found Crazy Taxi and Championship Surfing inside of it. Both ran so it's basically the coolest find I ever got.
 
I used to like HPB for games until recently. They have jacked their prices up on games and i have no idea who the are matching. Halo 3 for $19.99 used!

My best find there was Xenosaga 3 for $9.99 but that was 2 years ago.
They are not trying to move their games even with the 50% off coupons
 
I don't know, it varies heavily by location. I have 5 within proximity of me and they all price their games differently. Most of the time I assume they use Amazon, but it depends on who does it.

There's a manager who is supposed to do it himself for every store, and if you ask them about pricing; sometimes they will reduce the price if you argue enough, or if they're nice enough, etc.

Most of the games I've found are priced pretty reasonably, sometimes mistakenly priced games happen. I bought New Super Mario Bros. Wii(the most recent game I can think of) for $12.50 after coupon the last time I went out for the sales. .hack Quarantine for $30 was a pretty good pick up on the same trip.
 
All the stores by me are such assholes and overpriced that I have stopped going for games. Their newer used games are always at or near new msrp and their old games are usually based on amazon pricing if they are worth anything regardless of quality or completeness, and at least $10 if they're some common 16 bit or ps1/ps2 gen game that is barely worth $5.

Last time I tried selling them some extras from a Craigslist lot for snes they tried telling me that there was no demand for those games and they would pay me 25 cents each. meanwhile they have a locked display case full of common and licensed snes and genesis games for $10-$20 each.

The stuff I was selling wasn't even junk, it was Mario all stars and donkey kong country 1. I didn't expect eBay values but offering a quarter is an insult. Just wanted like $5 each to help break even on the Craigslist lot quickly. You know those games would be back on the shelf at $30 each if I had sold them.

My wife likes going there to look at books sometimes but I won't stop to look for games anymore.
 
Yeah, I would never recommend selling to HPB. They are glorified flippers from what I've seen as well; reminds me of the Pawn Stars guys - "Ehhhhh, a copy of Suikoden II eh? I'll give you $7, it's the best I can do." (Not an actual quote)

It'd be in the case for $170 the next day, and gone within a week because people are idiots when it comes to impulse buying(from what I've seen at my HPBs)
 
[quote name='jer7583']

Last time I tried selling them some extras from a Craigslist lot for snes they tried telling me that there was no demand for those games and they would pay me 25 cents each. meanwhile they have a locked display case full of common and licensed snes and genesis games for $10-$20 each.

The stuff I was selling wasn't even junk, it was Mario all stars and donkey kong country 1. I didn't expect eBay values but offering a quarter is an insult. Just wanted like $5 each to help break even on the Craigslist lot quickly. You know those games would be back on the shelf at $30 each if I had sold them.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's pretty bad; they at least should've offered you $3 cash or $5 credit on each. Heck, I'd give you $3 for an All-Stars, and I'm pure evil.
 
Yeah, they have terrible trade in values. I brought in a huge amount of graphic novels from the last few years and they offered me $15 for the lot. I added up the prices of them and taking in to account they sell books for half the retail it came out to they were going to sell these books for a total of $600. That's a ridiculously low tradein percentage.
 
[quote name='gothamcentral79']Yeah, they have terrible trade in values. I brought in a huge amount of graphic novels from the last few years and they offered me $15 for the lot. I added up the prices of them and taking in to account they sell books for half the retail it came out to they were going to sell these books for a total of $600. That's a ridiculously low tradein percentage.[/QUOTE]

On the other side of the coin, they will take just about anything you bring in. I buy stuff in large quantities and resell, and there's always some worthless crap in these bundles. That stuff accumulates over the months, so when I do my semi-annual clear-out, I'll hit three different places to sell the stuff off.

First I hit CD Warehouse, since they're very picky, but pay out well on what they take. Then I hit the exchange, where they will take a wider variety of stuff, for a little less on average. And then I go to HPB, where I may only walk out with only $30-40 for half a shopping cart of CDs/DVDs, but I will usually leave without having to deal with any "junk."
 
[quote name='jer7583']Last time I tried selling them some extras from a Craigslist lot for snes they tried telling me that there was no demand for those games and they would pay me 25 cents each. meanwhile they have a locked display case full of common and licensed snes and genesis games for $10-$20 each.

The stuff I was selling wasn't even junk, it was Mario all stars and donkey kong country 1. I didn't expect eBay values but offering a quarter is an insult. Just wanted like $5 each to help break even on the Craigslist lot quickly. You know those games would be back on the shelf at $30 each if I had sold them.[/quote]

That's because the employee was trying to get you to take as little on those games so they can flip them for maximum profit. Trust me from what I have seen they are willing to sit on stuff for months on end in hopes someone who doesn't know better will waltz on in and buy it at their prices.

My wife likes going there to look at books sometimes but I won't stop to look for games anymore.
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I don't even bother to look at their gaming stuff. Their vinyl records are real hit and miss - sometimes I can find a good deal on a good condition record (ie: the self titled Gypsy two vinyl set for $5)... but other times its like "eh are you even trying" by having beaten down Beatles records sitting their for months on end for $50+ yet trying to act like they are rare or something. Come on who is one of the biggest selling bands of all time again? Yeah The Beatles. Not like as if any of that is rare.
 
[quote name='jer7583']All the stores by me are such assholes and overpriced that I have stopped going for games. Their newer used games are always at or near new msrp and their old games are usually based on amazon pricing if they are worth anything regardless of quality or completeness, and at least $10 if they're some common 16 bit or ps1/ps2 gen game that is barely worth $5.

Last time I tried selling them some extras from a Craigslist lot for snes they tried telling me that there was no demand for those games and they would pay me 25 cents each. meanwhile they have a locked display case full of common and licensed snes and genesis games for $10-$20 each.

The stuff I was selling wasn't even junk, it was Mario all stars and donkey kong country 1. I didn't expect eBay values but offering a quarter is an insult. Just wanted like $5 each to help break even on the Craigslist lot quickly. You know those games would be back on the shelf at $30 each if I had sold them.

My wife likes going there to look at books sometimes but I won't stop to look for games anymore.[/QUOTE]

I have to agree offering 25 cents for a trade in is an insult on really any product at all even on a common DVD in good condition, minimum trade in should be a dollar or they don't take it. 25 cents just says I don't want it at all and it will cost my store more to process the trade and for the item to sit on my shelf than I will make on it. You know those games are gonna go right on ebay and sell for a lot more or get put out for $20-40 and someone will buy them.
 
[quote name='Demolition Man']That's because the employee was trying to get you to take as little on those games so they can flip them for maximum profit. Trust me from what I have seen they are willing to sit on stuff for months on end in hopes someone who doesn't know better will waltz on in and buy it at their prices.[/quote]

What! This is ridiculous and unheard of!!!! Someone will build a massive empire off of this very idea using games! They'll probably stick stores in malls for maximum foot traffic and people will stop in to browse the game selection. They'll probably call it Gamestop or something! ;)
 
[quote name='Scorch']What! This is ridiculous and unheard of!!!! Someone will build a massive empire off of this very idea using games! They'll probably stick stores in malls for maximum foot traffic and people will stop in to browse the game selection. They'll probably call it Gamestop or something! ;)[/QUOTE]

I think the name Game Crazy is better personally. ;)

Also since Scorch didn't mention it... the store's name is Half Price Books not "Half Priced Books."
 
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Also, some half price books sell on Amazon directly. They undercut really harshly sometimes as well, especially with strategy guides. If you're looking at amazon and see a seller named "HPB-18" or something similar... yup.
 
I have found a good deal of flippable stuff at my stores in the past though. stuff they had no idea had value int he clearance rack but that has decreased over the years a lot.

They are worse than the local chain of music/dvd/game resale stores as far as pricing goes. That takes work.
 
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