Flip Successes and Flip Flops

Shrapnellistic

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Flipping: The act of investing in a product and reselling it (for profit/credit).

User converse has provided a public Google spreadsheet list; feel free to update it yourself or post here and someone else can get to it.

View Only List
Editable List*
*Requires log-in ID and can be rolled-back if it becomes corrupted.
*Platform, Product Name, Retailer and Their Price are the most important. Other figures can be calculated by converse.
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated: 6 Sep. '09
[hiddenlist]
By: converse

Can I post question on this thread?
Only if you can't find the answer from below. Please let me know if it needs to be added to FAQ.

What if the deal is regional or store specific?
Do not post any deals that are YMMV, typical to Best Buy manager specials or Wal-Mart clearances which can vary from store to store... Target, K-Mart, and Sears clearances are included as they are done corporate wide and only varying based on the schedule from store to store. Deals of the Day (Amazon) will not be included on the spreadsheet but can be discussed in this thread.

What counts as a flip?
Anything that at least breaks even (pay $5 and get $5) will be included for purposes of credit transfers and other uses.

Do the flips include sales tax or shipping costs?
No, you will need to determine that cost for your specific situation.

Am I allowed to add a flip to the spreadsheet?
Yes, you have permission, but it is tracked by log-in ID (required) and version control can roll back to previous versions if the data is corrupted.

Are both cash and credit flips included?
Yes, if there is an option for either credit and/or cash at the service buying/trading the games then both amounts will be given.

Are promotional discounts figured in?
Constant promotional discounts: ECA for Amazon purchases, Edge for GameStop, MVP for GameCrazy, are factored into the buy and sell prices appropriately. If you do not already have these discounts, then you will need to adjust the pricing in your own records.

What are the abbreviations?
BBV = Blockbuster Video
GS = GameStop
GC = GameCrazy

[/hiddenlist]

If this post needs editing, PM me. I very rarely look here.
 
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My best was FYE in general before they got smart and lowered values, 2004 - 2005.

EB had Room Zoom for $4.99 new, they gave $26, various games from the infamous CC $4.99 sale traded in for $15 - $24 (even old sports games, like NFL Blitz Pro). My favorite was buying a copy of Motor Trend Lotus Challenge for XBox new from EB for $2.99 and walking right over to FYE 2 minutes later in the same mall and getting $27 trade in credit, same with Malice a little later, $4.99 new and ran it right over to FYE for another $27 in credit. Also Sneakers for XBox when it was $2 at Toys R Us, they gave $27 for that one as well. I had over $400 in credit at one point and bought a ton of stuff, DS and games, XBox system, a lot of DVD's.

It was so funny to see those games being sold for $44.99 used when EB couldn't get rid of them for under $5 new!
 
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My best was dungeon siege for PSP. Bestbuy was selling em for $5 after coupon and gamestop was giving $22 per copy + additional 20% for deal for a total of $26.40 per game. Snagged around 15-20 of them over a month. Kept me in games for next 6 months.
 
I'm not sure how much I can post here because I'm pretty sure that the store changed the policy because of abuse, but let's just say the $5 CC game sale a few summers ago was very, very nice..
 
buying freekstyle soccer (blockbuster exclusive xbox game) for 5 dollars and getting 26 dollars in CASH at fye. did this about 3 times.
 
[quote name='RandyTsai']picked up 88 wii sports for gamestop.com last year and flipped them for $50 each on the bay.[/quote]

For some reason I highly doubt that...
1.I highly doubt the entire company has 88 used copys.
2. The game comes with the system, where you on Ebay Asia(is there even a Ebay Asia?)
 
[quote name='assasin4hire']For some reason I highly doubt that...
1.I highly doubt the entire company has 88 used copys.
2. The game comes with the system, where you on Ebay Asia(is there even a Ebay Asia?)[/quote]


Moreso because GameStop prevents you from ordering that many, and will add your address to a list of blocked buyers due to they consider it being a dealer. You can only buy a few copies of a game from them. Many people on CAG I've seen complain about it.
 
you can doubt it if you want. its the truth. they actually had them again this morning and i made 3 orders, but only the first order of 10 has shipped.

4081217115540858
WII SPORTS - USED 12/17/08 Open $163.46
4081217132941787
WII SPORTS - USED 12/17/08 Open $81.73
4081217115640866
WII SPORTS - USED 12/17/08 Closed $81.73
 
[quote name='georox']Moreso because GameStop prevents you from ordering that many, and will add your address to a list of blocked buyers due to they consider it being a dealer. You can only buy a few copies of a game from them. Many people on CAG I've seen complain about it.[/QUOTE]

i don't know. i haven't been blocked yet and i use my edge card all the time instore and online.
 
Best would be when I bought several copies of GTA3 used for 10 bucks and got 35 for each of them. That was way back though. Worst would be when I bought the Rock Band 2 bundle from Toys R Us on Sunday and now the market is too flooded to sell it.
 
It wasn't in an attempt to make easy money, it was more because I was pissed that I couldn't let the game sit in store until it hit clearance due to the flippers (yeah, I know), but I bought three copies of P3 figuring on selling them to make up for the fact that I had to pay full price for my copy. My lazy ass waited too long to sell them and FES came out. :rofl:
 
Oh yes -- I made it a point to keep my P3 sealed and buy a used copy to play...and then Fes was announced. No problem, it still has the art book and sound track! And then they bundled Fes with that stuff, too...

Shoot.
 
For the past year I've been flipping almost every game I bought... most of the time I would buy a cheap current-gen game from one of the BBVs around here, put it up for bids, and play it until it sells, it was basically like renting for profit. It took me about 5 copies until I finally beat GTA IV. Probably one of the most desperate/greatest scores I made with flipping was when TRU had GTA: San Andreas(pre-hot coffee edition) for $5.00 each. I bought all 10 copies and flipped them for about $20-$25 each. I won't do that anymore though... I kinda felt like a total curmudgeon, hoarding all those copies, then there's the awkward situation it imposes at the register.
 
One of my best flips was when Target had Kirby Canvas Curse for the DS on clearance for $4.98. There was literally about 25 copies of the game. I bought five of them and sold them for $45 each on ebay at that time. I kept going back and buying a few copies of this game leaving some for the public. Amazingly, only about 4 of the copies were ever bought the two weeks they had them at this price, so I kept getting the rest for myself. So I sold around 21 copies for about $34 profit each. Lets just say my PS3 system and a couple games were free because of this. :)
 
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My best flip wasn't on a video game, I was out at garage sales one summer and saw pretty much a brand new textbook for an EMT course for 5 dollars. I picked it up thinking it wouldn't be a bad look through anyway, looked it up on Amazon and it sold for over 100 new, got an easy 50 bucks for it on Amazon.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1']My best was FYE in general before they got smart and lowered values, 2004 - 2005.

EB had Room Zoom for $4.99 new, they gave $26, various games from the infamous CC $4.99 sale traded in for $15 - $24 (even old sports games, like NFL Blitz Pro). My favorite was buying a copy of Motor Trend Lotus Challenge for XBox new from EB for $2.99 and walking right over to FYE 2 minutes later in the same mall and getting $27 trade in credit, same with Malice a little later, $4.99 new and ran it right over to FYE for another $27 in credit. Also Sneakers for XBox when it was $2 at Toys R Us, they gave $27 for that one as well. I had over $400 in credit at one point and bought a ton of stuff, DS and games, XBox system, a lot of DVD's.

It was so funny to see those games being sold for $44.99 used when EB couldn't get rid of them for under $5 new![/quote]

Ah yes, I remember that. It was the reason I first went to CAG - a friend told me about it and I just had to see it for myself. I remember, at one point, having six hundred dollars of credit at FYE. I hit multiple malls and multiple FYEs in my spare time (usually between college classes) and made a killing. Too bad there aren't any trade in values like that anymore.

And yeah, I was one of those guys who bought a PS3 on launch, only to flip it on ebay an hour later for $1500. Paid for my xmas presents.
 
Sort of a newer story, but this Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery sale has netted me about $600 credit at GS (probably weaksauce compared to some of you ;) and I spent around $160.
 
Wow, all these stories from years past make me wish I knew about this site sooner. I would have had so much time to chase down clearance stuff, since I was in college those years. Back then, the best I did were a few copies of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2. I got them during a B2G1 at Gamestop and they were totally complete and mint, since they were gutted copies. One even had the game case (inside the outer box) sealed. Those ended up being $15 each and they sold for around $50 on ebay.

Recently, the best for me was the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer from TRU. I got 6 of them, so it was 6 x $4->$33 when trading to Blockbuster. Then there was the perfect storm between BBV and GS in July. That netted me $1000+ credit within a couple of weeks. I bought 2 DS Lites, 40 PS2 games, 25 Gamecube games, 30 DS games, and about 35 DVDs. Lately, I've been running pretty low on credit, though, but it's been enough to pay for pretty much every game I've ever wanted from the last generation.
 
[quote name='Rave Child']Wow, all these stories from years past make me wish I knew about this site sooner. I would have had so much time to chase down clearance stuff, since I was in college those years. Back then, the best I did were a few copies of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2. I got them during a B2G1 at Gamestop and they were totally complete and mint, since they were gutted copies. One even had the game case (inside the outer box) sealed. Those ended up being $15 each and they sold for around $50 on ebay.

Recently, the best for me was the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer from TRU. I got 6 of them, so it was 6 x $4->$33 when trading to Blockbuster. Then there was the perfect storm between BBV and GS in July. That netted me $1000+ credit within a couple of weeks. I bought 2 DS Lites, 40 PS2 games, 25 Gamecube games, 30 DS games, and about 35 DVDs. Lately, I've been running pretty low on credit, though, but it's been enough to pay for pretty much every game I've ever wanted from the last generation.[/quote]

Maybe someone will post links to the old threads about the best buy $2-$10 game clearance from over a year ago, or better yet how about the blockbuster 5 360 games for $25. That one will really make you cry you didn't know of this site.
 
[quote name='mguiddy']It wasn't in an attempt to make easy money, it was more because I was pissed that I couldn't let the game sit in store until it hit clearance due to the flippers (yeah, I know), but I bought three copies of P3 figuring on selling them to make up for the fact that I had to pay full price for my copy. My lazy ass waited too long to sell them and FES came out. :rofl:[/QUOTE]

Theses never went on sale or clearance so you would have to pay $50 to get them. They were only selling for $60ish on the bay at the time, but everyone was expecting them to go oop and have the prices shoot up to a bill. It just never happened because of the reprint. I still have 2 copies on the bay that I can't sell.
 
[quote name='RandyTsai']Theses never went on sale or clearance so you would have to pay $50 to get them. They were only selling for $60ish on the bay at the time, but everyone was expecting them to go oop and have the prices shoot up to a bill. It just never happened because of the reprint. I still have 2 copies on the bay that I can't sell.[/quote]
I was patient...
I wouldn't have cared if I could have waited until now or later to get a copy but when I saw copies from my town's KMart disappearing (which was the time when P3 mania peaked and they were occasionally going for >$70 on eBay) I knew they wouldn't last any longer. I didn't want to make a lot of money from them, just enough to bring the cost of my copy to ~$20 or so.
Incidentally, all the copies of P3 showed back up at my town's KMart right after FES.:lol:

Oh... and I guess my best "flip" was buying GHIII for the Wii at Goodwill for
 
Lets see the HWV clearance has been pretty good to me spent $70 and got $240 in GS credit and the 2nd time I spent $20 and got $80 in credit or I would say the 3 FFVII I found at Garage sales and a pawn shop for $2, $3, and $1, I sold them all on the ebay for $70+.
 
Mine would have to be when Red Ninja Xbox was on sale at Circuit City for around 9 bucks and it traded ifor $45 at Blockbuster when the 360 had first came out and each store had at least 2 copies I ended up with 6 which covered most of the cost of my 360.

My flop would have to be buying random games to trade in with other high value games that trade in for a few bucks when I paid around 10 bucks for them.
 
Mine would have to be when Red Ninja Xbox was on sale at Circuit City for around 9 bucks and it traded ifor $45 at Blockbuster when the 360 had first came out and each store had at least 2 copies I ended up with 6 which covered most of the cost of my 360.

My flop would have to be buying random games to trade in with other high value games that trade in for a few bucks when I paid around 10 bucks for them.
 
[quote name='RandyTsai']picked up 88 wii sports for gamestop.com last year and flipped them for $50 each on the bay.[/quote]


OMG ... I think we're brothers ....

Me and a friend who both use this site have some amazing flip stories .... there's one we're holding off on though. One clue ... given the going rates cuz of rarity and the total we had spent on them, it should blow away most of the flip stories under this thread :D Just building up some suspense.
 
I had a good time buying those 1-5$ gamecube and PS2 games from kmart a couple years ago and running them to various EB and Gamestop stores and making lot of credit, probably at least doubled my money on that.
 
Recently Amazon.ca had Gears of War 2 LE on sale. I ended up getting 24 copies for $50.84 each and flipped them on e-bay. Sold the gold lancer code's for $35 each, Flashback Map Pack code for $15 each and the game for $45. In the end I made about $1000 profit and it paid for all my christmas presents and a week long family trip after christmas :)
 
My failure would be buying Buffalo Bills tickets to flip then waiting too long to get rid of them and losing $75 on the sale.
 
[quote name='strikeratt']OMG ... I think we're brothers ....

Me and a friend who both use this site have some amazing flip stories .... there's one we're holding off on though. One clue ... given the going rates cuz of rarity and the total we had spent on them, it should blow away most of the flip stories under this thread :D Just building up some suspense.[/quote]
Wii's? Wii Fit's? Wii Play's?
 
Long time ago, during the Sega Saturn days. I bought 3 Netlinks for $4.98 each at TRU. Then traded them in to a local store for $200 cash and $100 in store credit.

But doing the trade in 2/3 for extra $10/15 credit at EB was very worthing. I managad to snag my first 360 and my daughter's DS Lite on the cheap.
 
--Found like 14 new copies of RE:Code Veronica for the Gamecube at ShopKo for $9 each clearanced a few summers ago.

--Flipped a ton of copies of Lumines when the hack was found. they were all clearanced at TRU and other places.

--Ordered about 20 copies of MGS Twin Snakes from Konami earlier this year for $20 each, they were all not player's choice versions.

--Got about 30 MGS2 from CompUSA a few years ago for $5 a piece, all non-gh.

sold all that on ebay/amazon.

Flip Flops:
--Can't remember, but they almost all involve buying guides that look like they would be valuable and that I impulse buy, but turned out to not be worth anything.

--I found a sealed, original copy of Gitaroo Man at HPB earlier this year-- complete with sony seal, original cellophane, everything. Put it on ebay and it sold for like $9 :lol: I sent it to the guy instead of eating the negative, he probably flipped it and made more.
 
Worst Flip:
Persona 3 - bought 2 copies for 49.99 each, got like 20-25 each for em after the bottom dropped out.

Best Flip:
The Perfect Storm between Blockbuster and Gamestop back in June or July...netted me my 360 and a bunch of games for it.
 
Best: Won a copy of Disney's Treasure Planet for PS2 from some cereal using a code I found online, then traded it for Twisted Metal Black, Maximo, Legend of Dragoon, AND Silent Hill original black label straight up.

Worst: When Best Buy listed PS3's for preorder online, I was there and tried to order them in 3 separate orders and my credit card got frozen for so many high dollar orders and I had to spend 20 mins on the phone the next day to clear up the "suspected stolen" card.

That or I bought the MGS4 limited edition PS3 from Konami but was able to get the 80gb Wal-Mart deal too. The limited edition sat on my kitchen table most of the summer before I eventually had to sell it on Ebay for no profit, maybe even a small loss.
 
Some examples:

- 4 new Gameboy Players for Gamecube at Kmart for $5 each. Sold on Amazon for $150 apiece. $500+ profit.
- Pokemon Colosseum for $5 at Kmart. Sold for $100 on Amazon.
- Metal Gear Solid 2 for $10 at Kmart. Sold for $75 on Amazon. (Probably got about 15 copies)
- Silent Hill 1 $2 at blockbuster. Sold for $80 on Amazon.
- Made about $5000(not to mention Rewardzone gc's) buying a certain tv boxset from BestBuy's in-store kiosk, and reselling on amazon. (100 copies over the course of a few months until they ran out of stock)
 
^^ Eet and Ern, I remember that contest. I remember I posted about the first Eet and Ern on IGN years ago and it was crazy how everyone was getting free games. I ended up with 6 games, 5 Parappa The Rapper 2's and 1 Frequency. Then for Treasure Planet, they limited it to 1 per person so I won the PS2 version, played it and traded it into FYE.
 
My best flip ever (non video game related) was a bunch of strawberry shortcake stickers from the 1980's that I purchased at a drug store that was going out of business for around 25 cents a pack and maybe even less. Last year I sold them on ebay for a total of 170$. I bought a PSP with the money and I was very happy.

This year I bought a whole bunch of N64 games at yard sales for around 1$ each, they are super common around here, I put up a lot of about 10-11 of them on ebay and netted about $102 for games that I only paid a buck for.
 
My only flip I have ever done was when my local TRU had a Phoenix Wright Ds game on clearance for $5. I bought 10 of them and sold them for $20 a piece.
 
[quote name='strikeratt']OMG ... I think we're brothers ....

Me and a friend who both use this site have some amazing flip stories .... there's one we're holding off on though. One clue ... given the going rates cuz of rarity and the total we had spent on them, it should blow away most of the flip stories under this thread :D Just building up some suspense.[/QUOTE]


finally somebody that knows what i'm talking about.

WII SPORTS - USED - Wii 10 10 $75.50 Shipped

WII SPORTS - USED - Wii 20 20 $151.00 Shipped

WII SPORTS - USED - Wii 10 10 $75.50 Shipped



my last 3 orders from yesterday all shipped today. Although they are only going for about $40 shipped its still not bad. I've been driving around the last week or so and only gather about 15, which were all sold. Now I can just ship back and relax till they get here. Easy $1300 before fees.
 
When best buy got into the used game selling/trading business (select stores) in 2005. Flipped several crappy titles that I bought for between 5 and 10 dollars a pop and ended up getting over 200 dollars in gift cards from BB. Put it towards a payment of a new dryer for my parents. Robocop xbox traded in for 30 bucks when I got for less than 10 a TRU!!!

Then their trade system stabilized and prices went down :bomb:

Last year, Microcenter got into the trading business with their promo, trade 9 get an extra $25. Scored 400 dollars with a store credit by trading in 100 some PS1/Dreamcast sports games and made out with a Wii, MP3, another controller, charger pack, svideo cable. :whee: How much did I pay for those cheap PS1/dreamcast games? 30 some bucks considering that one EB had them for 75% off!! Made out like a bandit!

Now I barely play my Wii.
 
[quote name='Shrapnellistic']Wii's? Wii Fit's? Wii Play's?[/quote]

I did flip a few of those in my day ... but this one will be my best yet ... something no one would expect :D
 
[quote name='RandyTsai']finally somebody that knows what i'm talking about.

WII SPORTS - USED - Wii 10 10 $75.50 Shipped

WII SPORTS - USED - Wii 20 20 $151.00 Shipped

WII SPORTS - USED - Wii 10 10 $75.50 Shipped



my last 3 orders from yesterday all shipped today. Although they are only going for about $40 shipped its still not bad. I've been driving around the last week or so and only gather about 15, which were all sold. Now I can just ship back and relax till they get here. Easy $1300 before fees.[/quote]

You are the coolest guy ever in the world...
 
best flips

  • metal gear solid 1 (bought for $2.50 used). then i had it signed by kojima last summer. listed it at $499. i just sold it for $425
  • before MGS4 launch, i sold a bunch of sealed MGS games on ebay as a bundle.. cost: 100+, sold for $500+
  • ps3 at launch. 36 hours at the launch line at the sony style store in nyc.. worse experience ever. but i sold the ps3 for $1500
  • tales of the abyss guide for a penny from gamestop. sold for $79 on ebay.
  • DDR mario last year, bought for $22, sold for $280.
  • Advance Wars: Dual Strike for $5 at target, sold for $55.
  • nocturne for the ps2, bought for $30, sold for $120 used before the reprint.
  • Halo 3 LE, bought for $5 at kmart, sold for $55 recently.
  • rockband drums ps3, CC in-store pick up for $32, sold for $100
quick flips (most recent ones i could remember):

  • recently i bought cabookii for the wii. i was upset that i paid $29 new for it, and only $5 new at kmart. so i flipped it on ebay, sold within hours for $22. bought more and sold more. quick money.
  • full auto 2 bought for $4, sold for $14, 20 minutes after listing.
  • singstar 80s. bought at target for $20, flipped for $54 on ebay. sold alot of it.
worst flips (ones i'd like to forget):

  • a wii last year before christmas. lined up for it for 2 hours and i pretty much earned a little less than $50.
  • wii fit. bought last summer, recently sold it for $149 free s/h (i paid $16 shipping). waste of time.
worth mentioning flips

i have a ton more stories.. ebay is like my second job.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']Some examples:

- 4 new Gameboy Players for Gamecube at Kmart for $5 each. Sold on Amazon for $150 apiece. $500+ profit.

- Made about $5000(not to mention Rewardzone gc's) buying a certain tv boxset from BestBuy's in-store kiosk, and reselling on amazon. (100 copies over the course of a few months until they ran out of stock)[/QUOTE]

The hell? What TV box set was this and when did this happen? I never heard of this one before :lol:. As for the Gameboy players, I remember getting a few of those from TRU a couple of years back but they were still $60 or so (and sold for over $100).

I actually hesitated on the Wii Sports thing a couple weeks ago when they were being sold online. I just didn't think it was worth the effort, and I have gobs of GS credit to burn and really should do something like that when given the chance. Oh well... I guess I sort of felt like I needed to keep that money around for game purchases and not just convert it all to cash, though that is tempting.

There was a game that was available from ebgames.com for a LONG time that I just kept buying and buying a few years back. I kept a steady stream of them coming in over several months and I seemed to be the only person aware of this the whole time. It was Futurama for the Xbox. It was $19.99 at ebgames.com and sold for $30-$40 on eBay. It wasn't a huge profit, but I kept ordering small amounts thinking others would do the same and eBay would get saturated. I'd sell a few, then wait a bit and see there were none being sold and then buy more, etc... It was rather odd, actually.

As for best flips, well, there have been so many steady flips but not a lot stands out. Of course, there was my discovery of the F4 flip from TRU to BBV. I didn't make a ton off of that, but for once I was actually the one to uncover a hidden gem like that - it felt good being responsible for a lot of CAG's making a lot of credit on that one.

But more recently I just got 2 copies of Marvel vs Capcom 2 for the PS2 from Hollywood Video for $4 each and sold them both for about $80 each on eBay. They were both disc-only and scratched up pretty badly (which I fully disclosed in the auction - both worked fine on my PS2). I'm not out of the woods on those yet of course. The first buyer got theirs but hasn't said a thing and the other I just mailed this week.

Oh yeah - just remembered my biggest flop. I bought several copies of Shadow Hearts from buy.com back around when the second game was out (but not the third one). I sold a couple near break-even (only around $25 at the time) and decided it wasn't worth trying to sell the rest so I returned about 7 copies at a loss of $12 or so in two-way shipping fees. Well, that wasn't so bad, except that about a year later sealed copies were going for $50-$100 so I missed out on a huge potential profit there. But at the time it was going down rapidly and I didn't want to get stuck with them. Seriously, I must have timed that at the all time low for that game :rofl:. I still have 1 sealed copy I intend to play some day though.
 
[quote name='Collectorguy00']What's this Wii Sports flip everyone is mentioning?[/QUOTE]

It sells for $9.99 used at Gamestop and can get as much as $40 on eBay. I don't know why, but it does... I mean, I sort of know why - if someone buys a used system without it or loses/damages theirs they only way to get another copy is from the used market. What I don't get is why people don't just check out Gamestop themselves as it is clearly listed for cheap on the web site (though OOS most often). It is, however, in and out of stock at many stores all the time.
 
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