Gazelle Trade-in FAQ and Discussion Thread

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Gazelle.com

As the weeks have gone by, I have noticed discussion of Gazelle.com trade-in's within the Amazon Trade-in thread. I have decided to take it upon myself to create a thread solely for the purpose of discussing Gazelle.com and posting information pertaining to it.

This post will be updated to look.. spiffier with a full-fledged FAQ within a day or two, when I find the time.

For now, I'll list some basic information about Gazelle.com.

Credit Increases:

+5% Amazon Gift Card TIV: When trading in at Gazelle.com, if you choose Amazon Gift Card as your payment method, you will receive 5% more for your trade-in's.

Promotional Codes (entered during Checkout) ALL CODES ARE ONE-USE PER ACCOUNT, DO NOT STACK:
gazellebonuscode.jpg

*Credit to no_exit for above picture.

Flipping to Gazelle


Flipping refers to buying items at one place and trading in or selling them elsewhere at a profit (however, sometimes it is done to transfer credit from one place into credit at another or pure cash.)

FAQ

Q) What is Gazelle.com?

A) Gazelle.com is a site where one can trade in items ranging from Electronics to Video Games to Cell phones.

Q) Are there TIV's any good?

A) Some of their TIV's are -very- good, some are average and, like any other trade-in site or establishment, some trade-in values are poor.

However, from my experience and from the experience of other CAG members, I'd say the TIV's are above-average. Especially when one takes into account promotional codes or the +5% Amazon Gift Card TIV. To note, they seem to match Amazon.com's trade-in values on video games. However, they lag behind by around a day or two. So if a value plummets on Amazon, you can still lock it in at Gazelle.

Q) Is Gazelle.com a reliable place to trade-in games?

A) Many members of CAG have used Gazelle for trading in un-needed items and have had good experiences.


TIMING

Q) How long do I have to send in my items?
A) You have 30 days to get your item postmarked according to Gazelle. Don’t always wait because they won’t want to continue to offer 30 days if everyone takes that long & your post office may not want to send your stuff out.

Q) What happens if I send the item after 30 days?
A) You get the TIV as of that day.

Q) How long does it take to ship to Gazelle?
A) From West Coast up to 3-8+ days, usually about 6. From East Coast about the same, though frequently a day or two faster.

Q) How long does it take them to verify the item’s condition?
A) A few days, but can take longer.

Q) How long does it take to receive Paypal/AMZ credit email after item is approved?
A) Usually 1-4 days, but can take up to 10.

Q) I submitted a game but it did not show up on gazelle or email me...
A) It can take up to 24 hours for it to show up, but it's usually less than a minute.

SHIPPING

Q) Who pays to ship to Gazelle?
A) Gazelle pays.

Q) Do they give you a box?
A) If you want one but only for orders that have ~3-6 games (forget exact amount), they will mail you a priority mail box (but they give you parcel post label…). The box will arrive in ~3 days-1.5 weeks.

Q) Why did I get an email saying I’ll get a box when I did not request one?
A) When you delete games from a large order it will then default to giving you a box. Just un-request it.

Q) Can I cancel a shipment after I get a box?
A) Yes, but don’t abuse this or face possible sanction.

Q) Does Gazelle insure your shipment?
A) They claim they do, but no one has run into this problem yet.

Q) Shipping label does not fit on box, what do I do?
A) Set your printer to print 5x8 postcard and this will work fine & fit bubble mailers.

Q) Should I open my games before sending in if they’re new?
A) Does not matter.

Q) Why was it delivered to Cockeysville instead of Hunt Valley, MD?
A) They get them shipped to both of these addresses, which are streets away from each other.

WHAT TO INCLUDE/CONDITION

Q) Do I need to send the instruction manual?
A) No, but again don’t send everything without manuals if you want this policy to stay the same.

Q) Can I print out my own cover art or use generic?
A) Yes, possibly YMMV, again don’t abuse, and try to send cover art that has UPC label that matches the UPC for the game. To check this punch the UPC into Amazon searchbox.

Q) Will they take games without UPC Label on artwork and still give you full value?
A) Yes, YMMV though, as 2 people had this work but both sent in sealed games.

Q) Can I use a generic case?
A) YMMV, again don’t abuse.

Q) How picky are they over game condition?
A) Less picky than Amazon.

MISCELLANEOUS

Q) If I reject the new TIV they give me who pays to ship it back?
A) You do.

Q) How does Amazon credit get sent?
A) You will get a redeemable code much like an Xbox Live or PSN network DLC code. You just redeem that as a gift card on Amazon.

Q) Can I cancel games that I submitted on their site?
A) Yes, you can cancel games individually without the values of the others affected.
*credit to J7.


TC Notes: Please post about your experiences with Gazelle or anything else you think should be added to this post, I'm always up for more information. I apologize for not keeping it as up to date as I should.

~Thanks, RedGamer.
 
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[quote name='ragingst0rm6']Gazelle's TIV for :ps3:Bayonetta just went from $9 to $15. Dammit, I knew I should've gotten extras from Blockbuster's B1G1...

Edit: Better hurry and lock those trades in, 'cuz I'm pretty sure this was due to Amazon's Trade-In DotD yesterday. It will probably tank down to $12 or less by tomorrow.[/QUOTE]

thanks for the heads up i had my 5 copies locked in at 14 each but i could always use an extra 5 bucks :)
 
[quote name='bredbu']thanks for the heads up i had my 5 copies locked in at 14 each but i could always use an extra 5 bucks :)[/QUOTE]

And its right back down to its regular price...

Like I said, I'm pretty sure whatever Gazelle is using to determine their prices is supposed to be a mirror of Amazon. It just seems like the games they just added haven't been adjusted up/down yet.
 
[quote name='rp71284']And its right back down to its regular price...

Like I said, I'm pretty sure whatever Gazelle is using to determine their prices is supposed to be a mirror of Amazon. It just seems like the games they just added haven't been adjusted up/down yet.[/QUOTE]

For me, the :ps3: version of Bayonetta is still trading in as $15 as of a few minutes ago; the :360: version is $10.
 
[quote name='ragingst0rm6']For me, the :ps3: version of Bayonetta is still trading in as $15 as of a few minutes ago; the :360: version is $10.[/QUOTE]

When I posted, I swear it was at $9. WTF is going on with Gazelle?

I'm literally checking my shipments day-by-day to see if values are fluctuating. So far out of a 20 game box, 10 of them have gone up or down after 5 days. Funny thing is, the net change is $1 total. :roll:
 
[quote name='Interfeci']A lot of games Amazon has higher than $25 aren't really matched by Gazelle. They just stick to $25 as their highest offer, I assume.[/QUOTE]

Kinda like how GS refuses to ever go over $25 as well.

But Amazon (or NorAm) are like the KGB of game trade-ins. Whatever they say goes. At least with Gazelle, if you send in a game that works, 99% of the time, they give you the full credit.

Oh by the way, Gazelle dropped Madden 11 across the board to $20 from $25. I guess 1 month old games are worthless to them.
 
[quote name='kalel603']Quick question. If you cancel a trade for an item, does it count towards your limit of 5 for that item? TIA![/QUOTE]

I'm thinking not, because I redid some games that went up and had no problem. I made sure to cancel the older ones first and then make new ones. They didn't auto-cancel any of my new submissions so I think that works. Before that I had mistakenly submitted more than 5 of something (I didn't even have that many I just forgot I did it earlier) - one of those got auto-canceled and I got an email explaining why.
 
FWIW, Gazelle checked in a package they just got today. That's pretty nice considering another one I sent to Amazon at the same time (and also arrived today) hasn't been acknowledged.

UPS took forever to get it there but Gazelle checked it in speedy quick.
 
About five of my packages finally got into hands of UPS after being MIA bouncing around USPS about a month.

Now get to wait on them traveling to the east coast.
 
You guys should probably lock this poor topic.

Gazelle died in July. They are now like GS, minus the promos. No game has a TIV of $25. It seems to be that that is their high price point now. Halo Reach & Metroid Other M both started at $25. Same with Madden, until it got dropped for no apparent reason the next day.

As much of a pain in the ass that NorAm is, it's almost worth the risk to go with them, at least with games that have come out recently. Heck, if Amazon's price is over $25, you might as well go with them as well because from looking at Gazelle the past 1+ month, they're not going to budge on that number.
 
[quote name='rp71284']You guys should probably lock this poor topic.

Gazelle died in July. They are now like GS, minus the promos. No game has a TIV of $25. It seems to be that that is their high price point now. Halo Reach & Metroid Other M both started at $25. Same with Madden, until it got dropped for no apparent reason the next day.

As much of a pain in the ass that NorAm is, it's almost worth the risk to go with them, at least with games that have come out recently. Heck, if Amazon's price is over $25, you might as well go with them as well because from looking at Gazelle the past 1+ month, they're not going to budge on that number.[/QUOTE]
the thread was as good as closed till you bumped it
 
[quote name='bredbu']the thread was as good as closed till you bumped it[/QUOTE]

Gazelle works for me b/c I can get a bunch of amazon credit via goozex trades and then when there is a sale ... say the recent Final Fantasy deal on amazon for $19.99 .... I turn that credit into cash.

For example, I bought a few games at the recent blockbuster sale for $16, traded them to goozex (total cost around $22, including shipping). That's 1200 pts for $22. I then got Madden 11 from goozex, trade in value from amazon was $39.25. I used that to buy the 2 copies of Final Fantasy that has a trade-in value of $20 cash. So, I spent around $23 for $40, plus free games to play.

So, this thread can still be useful for things like that, ie turning amazon credit into cash.
 
Uh, yeah, guys, I sent in a box 2 weeks ago, one last week, one today, and have 3 more ready to go out. Gazelle is still the best option for online trading IMO. I generally don't trade in anything that would be a new release anyway. I usually go the eBay route with those. Most of what I'm sending in now is stuff I got on the very last day of the BBV sale (and thus, otherwise, would have gone to waste since the in all likelihood they would have shipped the leftovers off to a third party like they did last time).

In fact, today I did a little test. I just dropped off 3 packages: 1 to Gazelle, 1 to Noram/Amazon, and 1 to Dealtree. We'll do a little comparison on processing/payment speed ;).
 
[quote name='ploppsdman']Gazelle works for me b/c I can get a bunch of amazon credit via goozex trades and then when there is a sale ... say the recent Final Fantasy deal on amazon for $19.99 .... I turn that credit into cash.

For example, I bought a few games at the recent blockbuster sale for $16, traded them to goozex (total cost around $22, including shipping). That's 1200 pts for $22. I then got Madden 11 from goozex, trade in value from amazon was $39.25. I used that to buy the 2 copies of Final Fantasy that has a trade-in value of $20 cash. So, I spent around $23 for $40, plus free games to play.

So, this thread can still be useful for things like that, ie turning amazon credit into cash.[/QUOTE]

That's far too much work LOL
 
[quote name='io']Uh, yeah, guys, I sent in a box 2 weeks ago, one last week, one today, and have 3 more ready to go out. Gazelle is still the best option for online trading IMO. I generally don't trade in anything that would be a new release anyway. I usually go the eBay route with those. Most of what I'm sending in now is stuff I got on the very last day of the BBV sale (and thus, otherwise, would have gone to waste since the in all likelihood they would have shipped the leftovers off to a third party like they did last time).

In fact, today I did a little test. I just dropped off 3 packages: 1 to Gazelle, 1 to Noram/Amazon, and 1 to Dealtree. We'll do a little comparison on processing/payment speed ;).[/QUOTE]

I did a similar experiment, sent 3 packages from Boston. Gazelle sent notification that the games were received and processed 3 business days later. Amazon paid the day after (4 bus days) and Gazelle paid through Paypal the day after (5 business days) Dealtree took the longest at 8 bus days to receive and inspect the games, and another 3 days after that to pay.
 
[quote name='kataztrophik']I did a similar experiment, sent 3 packages from Boston. Gazelle sent notification that the games were received and processed 3 business days later. Amazon paid the day after (4 bus days) and Gazelle paid through Paypal the day after (5 business days) Dealtree took the longest at 8 bus days to receive and inspect the games, and another 3 days after that to pay.[/QUOTE]

Dealtree blows hard. I've found that gazelle is the fastest and I still use them even though they don't have crazy TIVs anymore. In a way I'm glad because now they won't get exploited and TIVs can stay reasonable for *most* games.
 
Kind of annoyed with Gazelle right now, they received my package a few days ago and accepted it all, but still haven't paid me. Now I probably won't get it till sometime next week.
 
[quote name='rainking187']Kind of annoyed with Gazelle right now, they received my package a few days ago and accepted it all, but still haven't paid me. Now I probably won't get it till sometime next week.[/QUOTE]

they paid me saturday night once
 
[quote name='rainking187']Kind of annoyed with Gazelle right now, they received my package a few days ago and accepted it all, but still haven't paid me. Now I probably won't get it till sometime next week.[/QUOTE]

yeah, I've gotten paid sat morning and sunday morning as well.

But come on, a few days ago? That's not out of the ordinary for gazelle. And between delivery and actual payment, they're the fastest.
 
I got paid Sunday morning last weekend for a package they received the previous Friday. I think that's the fastest they ever paid me, actually.
 
i got my box on august 30th, dropped it off in the mail the september 7th, they got it september 13th and I am still waiting on them to finally "inspect" my items. I sent them a cell phone and a 360 game. How hard is it to look at a game that was never played?!?!?!

The slow turnaround is really becoming a turnoff for me. Sure 30 bucks for a cell phone I would probably end up throwing away is a good deal but the more time it takes the more i feel like I aint gonna get money for it :(
 
[quote name='merchie89']i got my box on august 30th, dropped it off in the mail the september 7th, they got it september 13th and I am still waiting on them to finally "inspect" my items. I sent them a cell phone and a 360 game. How hard is it to look at a game that was never played?!?!?!

The slow turnaround is really becoming a turnoff for me. Sure 30 bucks for a cell phone I would probably end up throwing away is a good deal but the more time it takes the more i feel like I aint gonna get money for it :([/QUOTE]


have you contacted them about it? usually after 2-3 days of being received it isn't inspected i use there instant chat, and it is usually taken care of within 24 hours.

not that it happens alot to me, only twice out of the dozen or more trade ins.
 
so far, Gazelle has been nothing but awesome for me. :D I had locked in NHL 10 for $24 Amazon GC waaaaaay back in May, and I thought it was too late to redeem... but slipped it in with a bunch of other trades on a whim not really expecting Gazelle to honor such an age old trade-in quote, BUT OMFG THEY DID! :applause:

Gazelle is awesome, awesome is Gazelle. :bow:
 
[quote name='io']
In fact, today I did a little test. I just dropped off 3 packages: 1 to Gazelle, 1 to Noram/Amazon, and 1 to Dealtree. We'll do a little comparison on processing/payment speed ;).[/QUOTE]

The results:

All mailed on 9/17 via UPS (dropped off at a UPS store):

- Amazon: Delivered 9/24, credit received 9/28
- Gazelle: Delivered 9/24, acknowledged 9/15, Amazon credit code received 9/27
- Dealtree: Delivered 9/24, verified 9/28, no payment yet (but it is pending Edit: Paid 10/4)

Interestingly enough, the same dude signed for both my Gazelle and Dealtree packages. I guess that is no surprise since they both go to the Hunt Valley, MD processing center. I just thought that was interesting as I consider Gazelle and Dealtree/Best Buy to be very different operations and I often forget they are processed at the same place.

So, yeah, from the West Coast, at least, they are all pretty much the same, with Gazelle slightly faster at processing than Amazon and Dealtree slightly slower.
 
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Gazelle has a revamped site; trade in values just OK or very bad. Actually, I take that back .. the values are horrible now. This site may be near dead as far as game trades go. Amazon is beating their tiv's by $10 or more on a lot of games ... for example, Madden 11 goes for $36.50 on amazon, gazelle is offering $20. Halo Reach is $39 on amazon, gazelle is offering $25.
 
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[quote name='ploppsdman']Gazelle has a revamped site; trade in values just OK or very bad. Actually, I take that back .. the values are horrible now. This site may be near dead as far as game trades go. Amazon is beating their tiv's by $10 or more on a lot of games ... for example, Madden 11 goes for $36.50 on amazon, gazelle is offering $20. Halo Reach is $39 on amazon, gazelle is offering $25.[/QUOTE]

what did they change to the site?
 
[quote name='BrownCracker']I think he was just referring to the updated trade-in values, but we have know about this for a while now.[/QUOTE]

They changed the sites design.
 
The site did change last week some time. And I was about to say the TiV drop is nothing new as it has been that way on the higher end titles for a month or more now and we've discussed it numerous times.

But, I just checked a few "mid-level" games and at least some of those are also considerably less than at Amazon. One $20 game at Amazon was $9 at Gazelle, and one $14.25 game was also $9. That is not a good sign.
 
Gazelle was real nice for a time, too bad I didn't get started on it much sooner. It was nice to get actual money instead of just credit.
 
I shipped a box of old games to Gazelle (GBA, PSP, DS, Gamecube) and a couple DVD's, the TIV's of which were higher than Amazon, Target, and Best Buy.

They received my box 1 week after shipping, took about another week to inspect everything, and sent me the Amazon gift card 3 days later.

So they're still good if you can find the right TIV's.
 
So I'll start off by saying that I've used gazelle probably 3 dozen times for video game trade ins this year and when I decided to finally buy a new laptop figured the easiest thing to do would be to just go ahead and mail it in to them so I wouldn't have to worry about trying to sell it on ebay or craigslist.

I formated the computer and reinstalled windows so that when they got it the computer would be just like new and when they received it they claimed the cd drive wasnt working. Keep in mind I just formated it and reinstalled windows right before I put it in the box to mail in.

I figured that it was just an error on their end and used the chat with us link to talk to someone. After 10 minutes of him saying that cd drive was broken I asked if there was someone above him that I could contact and he simply stated. We carefully inspected the items and its broken and disconnected me.

Does anyone know an email address for someone higher up in gazelle so I can shoot them an email and let them know that their customer service was a joke and that its unacceptable to just disconnect from people.

I posted this under the caglifestyle or something like that as well but figured it needed posted in here as well.
 
[quote name='sirplue']oh, snap - Gazelle updated their look! I like it. It's runs smoother. I hope there are some awesome trade-in values to come. :D[/QUOTE]

don't hold your breath.
 
[quote name='mrright4you4now']So I'll start off by saying that I've used gazelle probably 3 dozen times for video game trade ins this year and when I decided to finally buy a new laptop figured the easiest thing to do would be to just go ahead and mail it in to them so I wouldn't have to worry about trying to sell it on ebay or craigslist.

I formated the computer and reinstalled windows so that when they got it the computer would be just like new and when they received it they claimed the cd drive wasnt working. Keep in mind I just formated it and reinstalled windows right before I put it in the box to mail in.

I figured that it was just an error on their end and used the chat with us link to talk to someone. After 10 minutes of him saying that cd drive was broken I asked if there was someone above him that I could contact and he simply stated. We carefully inspected the items and its broken and disconnected me.

Does anyone know an email address for someone higher up in gazelle so I can shoot them an email and let them know that their customer service was a joke and that its unacceptable to just disconnect from people.

I posted this under the caglifestyle or something like that as well but figured it needed posted in here as well.[/QUOTE]

I would go to their Facebook page and post your problem there. I have seen the person running their Facebook page offer to help people resolve any problems.
 
i feel like i just brought this topic back from the dead, but i just had to post. i sent my package in on monday afternoon, and i got an email today that it was not only delivered, but already inspected. less then 48 hours is a new record for me.
 
[quote name='bredbu']what did you trade in?[/QUOTE]

just 2 360 games-
red faction: guerilla and assassin's creed 2

now i'm actually contemplating where i should trade in my copy of star wars the force unleashed 2. it comes down to
amazon- $33.50(amazon credit is most useful to me, but noram can be a hassle)
gazelle- $26.25 (in amazon credit, safest route since their pretty lenient)
gamestop- $27.50-33.75 (depending on which promo i use, but i've barely shopped at gamestop over the last year)
 
[quote name='y2jasper']just 2 360 games-
red faction: guerilla and assassin's creed 2

now i'm actually contemplating where i should trade in my copy of star wars the force unleashed 2. it comes down to
amazon- $33.50(amazon credit is most useful to me, but noram can be a hassle)
gazelle- $26.25 (in amazon credit, safest route since their pretty lenient)
gamestop- $27.50-33.75 (depending on which promo i use, but i've barely shopped at gamestop over the last year)[/QUOTE]



just do amazon and pray that they dont break your game
 
[quote name='bredbu']just do amazon and pray that they dont break your game[/QUOTE]

lol thats what im afraid of. like i'll send it in, and the next day the TIV will drop to like $20, and so my game will just happen to end up damaged. it sucks that gazelle capped their values at $25 now. i remember getting around $45 for dantes inferno back when it came out in feb-mar...after only paying around $33 for it.
 
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