Flipping games for a living. Is it worth trying?

Nellatf22

Nellatf22

CAGiversary!
How many people think flipping games can make a living? Maybe not get rich, but earn a descent income. I see on youtube people doing it and a friend of mine actually does it and he just opened a store off flipping. He really didn't have to buy inventory for the store since he had accumulated a massive lot of everything video games and blockbuster went out of business so he got all the shelves, registers, kiosks, and tons other stuff . Not sure if he needed the store or was just tired of driving around. I see people going to good will, thrift stores, and even gamestop. I have never really seen anything at these stores worth buying and not a fan of going gamestop dumpster diving. What do you all think? I just think he and a few others are just unique maybe.

 
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It's a fucking hassle and I mean you have to have a consistent flow of games.

If you can find a place to rent cheap or something like that it can be good.

As long as you see the $$$$.

But again is your time worth it?

 
If it pays better than $12/hour, then I would totally be up for learning the ways of hoarding and trading for profit.  I would be willing to learn the ways of the devil customer, hiding games waiting for them to drop.  Arguing/haggling with employees to get the best price possible.

 
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No.

You aren't learning any sort of skill or trade or bettering yourself in any way by simply buying and reselling video games. If you were to get into this, it would encompass much more than just games, and you would probably end up as an auctioneer or flea market salesman. What if your friend's business doesn't work out? He doesn't have a steady income, and he has to sell video games to offset his cost of living and the cost of maintaining the store. It's not a good career choice.

 
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Yeah seriously, it's best to get an actual job. These days trying something like this just doesn't work. Plus most games you get probably wont net you a big enough profit anyways. 

 
Blade said:
No.

You aren't learning any sort of skill or trade or bettering yourself in any way by simply buying and reselling video games. If you were to get into this, it would encompass much more than just games, and you would probably end up as an auctioneer or flea market salesman. What if your friend's business doesn't work out? He doesn't have a steady income, and he has to sell video games to offset his cost of living and the cost of maintaining the store. It's not a good career choice.
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I think that part is key, but I do disagree with it to an extent.

You are learning a skill... call it basic commerce, economics or running your own side business, but you're doing something to support yourself financially. But unless you plan to be an entrepreneur or do it full time, Blade is right in that you can't really market yourself with it when applying for jobs. Because you're pretty much your own boss and work by yourself, companies have no way of gauging how well you'll work with others, handle pressure, solve complex tasks, etc.

I did some flipping for the longest time and when you get those big returns, it's tempting to do it full time but there's never any consistency. There's no guarantee how much you'll make on a given day.

Additionally, anyone can flip and in theory, it's easy thanks to smart phones. I feel like tons of people are doing it these days, especially the unemployed, who have no better use for their time. Don't get me wrong, if I'm at a store and I see something that I know I could sell for a profit, I'll pick it up. But, it feels like that never happens anymore.

 
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The problem is that game prices fluctuate too fast and un-predictably. The people who make money flipping games invariably take advantage of the lag time for trade-in values to adjust (and screw unsuspecting mega-corporations in the process). If they're selling on eBay, there are too many people selling on there who don't understand economics and either, a) put up too many games at one time, b) inform buyers that they have multiple copies of the same game (via auction wording or auction pics), or c) cut their prices too easily so that they can be the low-price auction/BIN without understanding that others will undercut their prices also and it's a race to the bottom.

 
I went out with him yesterday and he gave a lot of tips, may not be for me since he said you need at least $1000 to start off with.  I got deals he usually gets since he knows everyone at each pawnshop. He makes about $3,000 profit a week. Lives in nice part of town and drives 2 bmw's ( both 3 series though, there 08 and 14 )

I think only he can really do it lol. He get deals at all the pawn shops example ( for $2 bucks each got, xbox mlb 2k13, like 7 black ops 2, 2 ps3 rock bands 3, mario party 8 and 9 disc only and about 15 more ) At another pawnshop got lots of xbox one controllers for 15 each and the owner told him he cant eat the tax but will make up for it by charging all the games $5 bucks each. He also said games are good but you have to learn how to fix systems and he does computers also. It took him about 5 years to get where he's at and just quite his job last year. I spent about $120 bucks and got 2x gameboy sp $9.99 each ( he said they sell for $39.99 but we will see ) watch dogs ps3 for $15 and watch dogs xbox one $17, Wii dbz bt3 fo $10, Wii Zelda $10 ( no bonus disc ) and a few others. Also big thing is to use amazon over ebay. I will update my stats to see if this works. He's doing a computer run today and im going to tag a long

 
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No. too time consuming and at $4/gallon, you'll break even.  I suggest use your time more wisely and work toward getting a higher paying job/career.  If your're only trading in games you bought to play, that's another story.  However, do take advantage of the trade in when ROI is high and yields a large cash value when ever you can.  

I've been here for BBY 2011 crazy trade in values and BBV trade in program back in 08/09.  good times but too much time wasted for little monetary return.  There are many different avenues that will yield greater returns, just got to do you homework. 

 
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to expand on my comment, always go for the big returns. iPad Gamestop flips last Thanksgiving was some crazy fuck.  I traded quite a few and were pulling in an excess of more than $250 per unit. did ok. some cags' went apeshit and probably still living off of those amazon giftcards :applause: . 

 
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I used to think about whether or not this was a feasible idea too.  After thinking about it back in the day, I decided between fees, taxes and the randomness of it all, it just didn't make sense for me.  Nowadays, it would make even less sense in thinking of this as a future career plan.  I buy about 80% of my games digitally now.   That percentage is growing more and more as even the niche RPGs that I like are starting to find digital releases (and often times digital only releases).  With more and more people make the switch to mainly digital purchases, the resellers like your friend, are stuck with a continually shrinking market.  I would choose to operate in something where the market is growing and not shrinking.  

If you want to do this as a hobby, I'd say go ahead.  Otherwise, I'd say go and learn a skill that can land you in a growing field.   There are too many factors, not just the rise in digital purchases, that make this a bad idea in the long run.

 
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Daring said:
No. too time consuming and at $4/gallon, you'll break even. I suggest use your time more wisely and work toward getting a higher paying job/career. If your're only trading in games you bought to play, that's another story. However, do take advantage of the trade in when ROI is high and yields a large cash value when ever you can.

I've been here for BBY 2011 crazy trade in values and BBV trade in program back in 08/09. good times but too much time wasted for little monetary return. There are many different avenues that will yield greater returns, just got to do you homework.
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i dont think he trades stuff into best buy or game stop.

 
blehman said:
I used to think about whether or not this was a feasible idea too. After thinking about it back in the day, I decided between fees, taxes and the randomness of it all, it just didn't make sense for me. Nowadays, it would make even less sense in thinking of this as a future career plan. I buy about 80% of my games digitally now. That percentage is growing more and more as even the niche RPGs that I like are starting to find digital releases (and often times digital only releases). With more and more people make the switch to mainly digital purchases, the resellers like your friend, are stuck with a continually shrinking market. I would choose to operate in something where the market is growing and not shrinking.

If you want to do this as a hobby, I'd say go ahead. Otherwise, I'd say go and learn a skill that can land you in a growing field. There are too many factors, not just the rise in digital purchases, that make this a bad idea in the long run.
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somethink to think about. Thanks bro

 
[quote name="62t" post="11978820" timestamp="1407080473"]Well you are looking at a good weekend. How much can you make in a month? Can you do that regularly? [/quote]

And don't forget about the taxman.
 
yourlefthand said:
And don't forget about the taxman.
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Yeah, if you're planning on making a business of this, don't fall in the same hole a lot of people do. You'll almost certainly fly under the radar if it's a small side hobby, but if you do enough business to make a living off these sales, you can bet sooner or later they will be looking in your direction. They can only tax you on your profit. Keep receipts for every purchase and for every selling related expense such as shipping and selling fees. A family member got in some hot water for not properly declaring revenue, and it's something you do not want to have to deal with.

Amazon and Paypal both operate under the same rules in regards to sending information to the IRS. If you have over $20000 in sales AND over 200 transactions, they are required to send a 1099-K to the IRS. Keep in mind that the $20000 in sales is not profit, it's gross sales. If you have the same returns you had this weekend, every weekend for the rest of the year, you're revenue will be reported the IRS. I'm not sure of their reporting requirements in regard to state taxes, but that is also something you should look into.

 
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It is very possible if you buy games in bulk or constantly scan CL, flea markets or swap meets. You can always buy bundles and sell each part individually and make profit. It takes awhile learning the market but I suggest buying mailers from eBay in bulk.
 
I personally wouldn't do it as a business, in large part because so much of it can be done during a boring desk job anyway! It's a fun and profitable hobby but no way would I rely on that as my source of income to pay the rent or groceries every month.
 
I love all this "advice" and "knowledge" being dropped in here based on absolutely nothing at all.

Bottom line is if you want to do it then do it. If everyone took the advice of random strangers that told them what they are thinking isn't a good idea then we wouldn't have a lot of things and a lot of people wouldn't have succeeded in business. Everything is a risk, you either will make it or fail but at least you will have tried to do what you want to do.

So you can take a chance and do something you want to, or you can work a shitty job you hate because its what some people on the internet told you to do. In the end what you do is up to you.

 
No, absolutely don't do this.

Why? Because it is a waste of the talents and skills that you would need to learn and develop in order to make it work. Even if you were to become savvy enough to flip games efficiently, you would likely not make any more than $20 an hour.

Your average stock-broker does much the same as what you are describing, but they get paid $40 an hour average, and often much higher. By applying those same skills to any number of other industries, you would be able to make much, much more money than you would be able to flipping games.

The resale value of games is pitiful compared to any other tangible good. Canned soup holds its value better. You could make more money buying and selling non-perishable food items. When it comes to flipping games, you already have an enormous competitor to struggle against. Their name is GameStop. Take those same "buy cheap, sell dear" skills and apply them to something that will actually bring in the scratch.

 
no, its not.

I hoard and flip around my office job. I take the subway home and stop by a GS/Bestbuy on the way every day on my commute.

I surf the internet/CAG on my duel monitor setup at work. Instead of smoke breaks, I send out and pack packages through out the day on my job, I am actually more productive than most people at my work place because of smokers and their breaks. Oddly enough beacuse of these 2 things people think I do more work than I actually do :D/

(Why is he always paying attention to that monitor?)

If its a pricing/error, I do the smash and grab out during lunch. All my games/GS/Walmart/BB/Target/Amazon credit and anything else I buy from them are free because of my flipping

The thing about flipping is your always on the hussle and that is not a good way to get a steady income.  A living should always be based on how you can maintain a steady stream of income.  In a regular career, you find jobs based on your skill set and with every job, you build on that skill set to get higher paychecks.  You really can't do any of that flipping stuff unless you can find a commodity that you can flip. In a career, you are essentially flipping your skill set but no one can take away your skill set. 

 
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When it comes to flipping I always thought if you're gonna do it, why video games? With all the time and effort that goes into it why not pick a diffrent product, not something that will go down in value over time like fashion, watches, sunglasses, shoes, etc. Sure there are old games worth some good money but how often do you run across those day to day?

If you enjoy flipping games why not just do it as a hobby?

 
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nixmahn said:
no, its not.

I hoard and flip around my office job. I take the subway home and stop by a GS/Bestbuy on the way every day on my commute.

I surf the internet/CAG on my duel monitor setup at work. Instead of smoke breaks, I send out and pack packages through out the day on my job, I am actually more productive than most people at my work place because of smokers and their breaks. Oddly enough beacuse of these 2 things people think I do more work than I actually do :D/

(Why is he always paying attention to that monitor?)

If its a pricing/error, I do the smash and grab out during lunch. All my games/GS/Walmart/BB/Target/Amazon credit and anything else I buy from them are free because of my flipping

The thing about flipping is your always on the hussle and that is not a good way to get a steady income. A living should always be based on how you can maintain a steady stream of income. In a regular career, you find jobs based on your skill set and with every job, you build on that skill set to get higher paychecks. You really can't do any of that flipping stuff unless you can find a commodity that you can flip. In a career, you are essentially flipping your skill set but no one can take away your skill set.
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do you work for the state. :bow:

 
Nellatf22 said:
Update: From 2 days for fipping, spent about $300 in all and I am at about $960 on amazon after fees
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I think you bullshitting. but whatever man. money can be made from all sorts of activities. its all about information. selling video game bought from pawn shop does not yield 1k, just ask rick from pawnstars. lol...

 
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All I know is I should have gotten some pre-orders in on the big Destiny collector's edition. If I got 3-4 I would have paid off my next years budget worth of games.

 
David Hibiki said:
All I know is I should have gotten some pre-orders in on the big Destiny collector's edition. If I got 3-4 I would have paid off my next years budget worth of games.
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Why do people think like this? No one.. and I mean NO ONE... has made any money of that CE yet. So many things can happen like shipments arriving damaged, orders being cancelled, buyers being scam artists, shipments being lost by the carrier... it blows my mind that people see an edition, that hasn't been released, going for a hundred or two more then MSRP and think that A) that is going to hold and B) that is guaranteed profit.

 
GBAstar said:
Why do people think like this? No one.. and I mean NO ONE... has made any money of that CE yet. So many things can happen like shipments arriving damaged, orders being cancelled, buyers being scam artists, shipments being lost by the carrier... it blows my mind that people see an edition, that hasn't been released, going for a hundred or two more then MSRP and think that A) that is going to hold and B) that is guaranteed profit.
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Don't Activision overproduce collectors editions? Look at CoD stuff, plus 500 million lifetime budget for Destiny reportedly.

I'm hoping for GS converted to used someday of free swag goodies.

 
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In the realm of video game speculation, the Collector's Editions you want to target are the ones for games that DON'T get a lot of marketing or exposure. I was able to get the collector's edition of Hyperdimension Neptunia when it launched at Fry's Electronics for the same price as the regular game. (around $60) About a year after, that collector's edition was going for $120+ on the second hand market. It was an obscure game that got almost no publicity or advertisement, and that was targeting an extremely niche audience. If I sold the game now, I could double my initial investment. That would be some good flipping.

Scarcity is the flipper's best friend. But you don't get scarcity from major game releases with millions upon millions in marketing. Don't bother with trying to flip collector's editions of high-profile titles. Just ask Amazon how that worked out for them with the Aliens: Colonial Marines collector's edition. Bargain-bin fodder in less than a year. Obscure niche titles usually don't get multiple print runs. They are a much better idea for flipping.

 
nixmahn said:
Don't Activision overproduce collectors editions? Look at CoD stuff, plus 500 million lifetime budget for Destiny reportedly.

I'm hoping for GS converted to used someday of free swag goodies.
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The Xbox 360 collector's edition version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare didn't have as large of a production run as their other collector's editions.

 
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Rozz said:
The Xbox 360 collector's edition version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare didn't have as large of a production run as their other collector's editions.
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I'm not sure why that is but maybe because MW was trying something new with CoD at that time (breaking away from WW2) and they wanted to be cautious about it. But from what I can tell from Destiny, Bungie and Activision are pretty blunt about them spending real cash to make this the next Halo MMO style while the latest CoD seems to be dying in playability.

 
Mr_hat said:
I love all this "advice" and "knowledge" being dropped in here based on absolutely nothing at all.

Bottom line is if you want to do it then do it. If everyone took the advice of random strangers that told them what they are thinking isn't a good idea then we wouldn't have a lot of things and a lot of people wouldn't have succeeded in business. Everything is a risk, you either will make it or fail but at least you will have tried to do what you want to do.

So you can take a chance and do something you want to, or you can work a shitty job you hate because its what some people on the internet told you to do. In the end what you do is up to you.
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Well he came on here asking for advice, and that's what he got. And how do you know my opinion, or the opinion of everyone else that posted, is based on absolutely nothing at all?

But yeah, he should take your advise. Launch into everything in life on a whim, solely because it's what you want to do. To hell with trying to gather information and get advise in an effort to make an informed decision.

 
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blehman said:
Well he came on here asking for advice, and that's what he got. And how do you know my opinion, or the opinion of everyone else that posted, is based on absolutely nothing at all?

But yeah, he should take your advise. Launch into everything in life on a whim, solely because it's what you want to do. To hell with trying to gather information and get advise in an effort to make an informed decision.
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Ask for advice. Majority say it's probably a bad idea. One guy says don't listen to popular advice. Internets in a nutshell

But in all seriousness I'm not against the idea. I just think it should be taken on as a side project/hobby. Test the waters and see how well you do. I did a little flipping several years back and found it kinda fun. I visit Japan about once a year and I'd bring back cheap imports and sell them for a little extra cash. I didn't make much and it only served as a way to fund my video game hobby, but the thrill of the "hunt" was fun.

 
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Freakk5 said:
explain
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for $5 each got;

n64 games:

smash bros

zelda

earth worm jim 3

orge battle

mario kart

snes: 13 total

zelda ( hella dirty was priced $7.99 thought )

chrono trigger ( was priced $3.99 how this was priced cheaper than zelda )

mario all star

ps3:

Friend got most of those but I did get for 1.99 each

rockband 3

ncaa basketball 10

guitar hero warriors of rock

bleach

monopoly streets

civilization

xbox 360 for $7:

gta v xbox

mlb 2k13

titanfall

need for speed most wanted ( not the new one )

wii games for $7

dbz bt3

pikmin

3x mario karts ( 2 no cases )

5 for 1$ each wii sports

gamecube, ps2, xbox are $1 each:

sonic battle

dbz bt2

pokemon bonus disc

pokemon Colosseum ( no disc lol )

zelda collectors edition ( $1.99 )

dark cloud

battlefront 2 ( ps2 )

dot hack mutation

ff tactics

ff 7 ( 1.99)

ff 8

def jam fight for ny

Random for junk bin $20 for all

3x white wifi adaptors

1x final fantasy 250gb xbox hdd

4x white wii wheels ( free )

tron wii remote

consoles:

$60 bucks for 3 wii's ( wii's had games, punch out, zelda skyward swords, wii music )

He also let me get the broken slim ps3s at an pawnshop and one need to be switched to hdmi and on need to be restored with that hidden menu trick. they sold for $139.99 each fast. Only cost $20 each. If they didn't work I could sell the controller and console for parts. I put the wii's with mario kart and the wheels for 129.99 each.

Big hitters that sold:

chrono trigger $50

Mlb 2k13 $64

smash bros $50

Rockband 3 $53

zelda collection $60

pikmin wii $60

tron wii mote $70 ( lol )

I still have a few left, but some are scratched to hell and have to take to local cd for buffing. Amazon took out about $300 wtf? They also not letting me take it out. The basically stated I have to wait 2 weeks.

 
Nellatf22 said:
for $5 each got;
n64 games:
smash bros
zelda
earth worm jim 3
orge battle
mario kart

snes: 13 total
zelda ( hella dirty was priced $7.99 thought )
chrono trigger ( was priced $3.99 how this was priced cheaper than zelda )
mario all star

ps3:
Friend got most of those but I did get for 1.99 each
rockband 3
ncaa basketball 10
guitar hero warriors of rock
bleach
monopoly streets
civilization


xbox 360 for $7:
gta v xbox
mlb 2k13
titanfall
need for speed most wanted ( not the new one )

wii games for $7
dbz bt3
pikmin
3x mario karts ( 2 no cases )
5 for 1$ each wii sports

gamecube, ps2, xbox are $1 each:

sonic battle
dbz bt2
pokemon bonus disc
pokemon Colosseum ( no disc lol )
zelda collectors edition ( $1.99 )
dark cloud
battlefront 2 ( ps2 )
dot hack mutation
ff tactics
ff 7 ( 1.99)
ff 8
def jam fight for ny


Random for junk bin $20 for all
3x white wifi adaptors
1x final fantasy 250gb xbox hdd
4x white wii wheels ( free )
tron wii remote

consoles:
$60 bucks for 3 wii's ( wii's had games, punch out, zelda skyward swords, wii music )

He also let me get the broken slim ps3s at an pawnshop and one need to be switched to hdmi and on need to be restored with that hidden menu trick. they sold for $139.99 each fast. Only cost $20 each. If they didn't work I could sell the controller and console for parts. I put the wii's with mario kart and the wheels for 129.99 each.

Big hitters that sold:
chrono trigger $50
Mlb 2k13 $64
smash bros $50
Rockband 3 $53
zelda collection $60
pikmin wii $60
tron wii mote $70 ( lol )

I still have a few left, but some are scratched to hell and have to take to local cd for buffing. Amazon took out about $300 wtf? They also not letting me take it out. The basically stated I have to wait 2 weeks.
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Yep you don't get your money from AZ until the 2nd Saturday after you confirm shipping & their fees are higher than EBay; but you don't have to deal with PayPal, the money goes directly into your checking account, & there are WAY fewer scammers on Amazon.

If you go to your inventory, you'll see what the AZ fee is on each item, then you get the full shipping amount the buyer was charged ($4 or $7 generally for individual sellers) to hopefully cover your shipping costs.
 
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As a full-time? No. You need a flow of inventory. There was weeks and months where I couldn't find shit to flip/sell.  As a second job/ for extra income/hobby to pay gaming habits? Yeah why not. I did that for about 3 years or so as a college student. If I recalled, I only spent maybe 20 hours a week doing it and made about $2000+ in sales each month so about $800 in profits after seller's fees/shipping costs/gas. My main source of inventory came from GameCrazy, Blockbuster, Circuit City, TRU, and Frys; this was when these stores were the shit back then. You guys how many copies of Suikoden 2/Final Fantasy VII that I flipped? At least 100+ copies together. Some new. Some used. It was fun while it lasted. 

 
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postaboy said:
As a full-time? No. You need a flow of inventory. There was weeks and months where I couldn't find shit to flip/sell. As a second job/ for extra income/hobby to pay gaming habits? Yeah why not. I did that for about 3 years or so as a college student. If I recalled, I only spent maybe 20 hours a week doing it and made about $2000+ in sales each month so about $800 in profits after seller's fees/shipping costs/gas. My main source of inventory came from GameCrazy, Blockbuster, Circuit City, TRU, and Frys; this was when these stores were the shit back then. You guys how many copies of Suikoden 2/Final Fantasy VII that I flipped? At least 100+ copies together. Some new. Some used. It was fun while it lasted.
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That was probably at a time when black label Final Fantasy VIIs were selling for close to $100. Truly ridiculous times.

 
The problem is that your list there is a very impressive score for those prices. You simply can't sustain that because the supply of high demand games at cheap prices dries up very quickly. There just aren't that many $5 Ogre Battles or $4 Chrono Triggers or $2 Zelda Collections out there.

 
shipwreck said:
The problem is that your list there is a very impressive score for those prices. You simply can't sustain that because the supply of high demand games at cheap prices dries up very quickly. There just aren't that many $5 Ogre Battles or $4 Chrono Triggers or $2 Zelda Collections out there.
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I though of that also and not sure the next time i will score like. I wanted to keep some of it lol

 
postaboy said:
As a full-time? No. You need a flow of inventory. There was weeks and months where I couldn't find shit to flip/sell. As a second job/ for extra income/hobby to pay gaming habits? Yeah why not. I did that for about 3 years or so as a college student. If I recalled, I only spent maybe 20 hours a week doing it and made about $2000+ in sales each month so about $800 in profits after seller's fees/shipping costs/gas. My main source of inventory came from GameCrazy, Blockbuster, Circuit City, TRU, and Frys; this was when these stores were the shit back then. You guys how many copies of Suikoden 2/Final Fantasy VII that I flipped? At least 100+ copies together. Some new. Some used. It was fun while it lasted.
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My buddy sells computers, phones, and other electronics as well to maintain his income. I know I can't depend only on games and don't have the income for any extra stuff like that, but I have a job and my girl is almost done with grad school. She doesnt work so I need all the help I can get

 
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