[quote name='WILTRON']A quick note on the subject of Goozex's demise and Cheapy's assessment that "If Goozex couldn't do it, no one can".
I've used Goozex for 5 years or so (hundreds of trades) and I've seen it go from a viable trading platform beneficial for everyone involved (profitable for operators, money saving for users), to a complete disaster due to mismanagement and neglect in the last year and a half.
I can't say what was going on behind the scenes (though you can read all about the financial history here:
http://www.otcmarkets.com/edgar/GetFilingHtml?FilingID=8961452 ), but from a user perspective I've seen an almost fanatically dedicated user base (including myself) get disappointed and pushed away time and again by vague announcements of progress and what appear to be outright fabrications of improvements "in the works". Goozex missed every self-imposed deadline they set for their users for the past year. Customer service while never fast became almost non-existent in the last 6 months.
There are no games to be had outside of junk no one wants and the remaining active users appear to be insane / delusional (I’ve had no luck reasoning with them). The queues for current generation games are hundreds of users long while 1 game a quarter is traded (I'm near the front of many of these queues). New users have NO CHANCE of receiving anything of interest if they trade out a new game for some Goozex cash after they're duped by the Goozex front page promises. I was a huge advocate of Goozex in the past, but it's to a point where I'd feel guilty receiving anything from a new user who doesn't know what he's gotten himself into.
Goozex squandered the good will of their dedicated users. That's what killed Goozex. The newly minted competitors (99Gamers.com and VGFive.com) are off to a running start. Cheapy may be right that there's not a lot of money in it, but I think there's a good chance this model could stay profitable with the right management team as long as physical media is around... because there a lot of Cheap Ass Gamers who want to play a lot of games, but don't want to pay $60 for them all.[/QUOTE]
Goozex would have had a better chance if they just became a middleman for videogame transactions and not done this whole point system thing.
There's room (or so it seems) for a site where you buy/sell vidgames without the high fees of an Amazon or Ebay. AT least until Amazon or Ebay crushed you by lowering their fees.
A sort of craigslist except with strict accounts attached to credit cards and seller feedback.
And then an education of buyers to buy from reputable sellers.
And an education/requirement of sellers on how to list their product. It would be pinterest-style. A cover picture and then placeholder underneath for front/back disc and back of cover and picture of manual. That's it.
Everything sent first class.
Of course once that was going good then digital distribution would come and wipe you out.
But stop this token nonsense.
And I would dump all responsibility on the buyers and sellers as much as possible if possible.
I would also consider having a one-time membership fee of $60 or the cost of a game. Insurance against disputes. Cancel your account and get your money back in full with 30-60 days.