Just went in a Play n Trade for the first time

Drclaw411

Drclaw411

CAGiversary!
Feedback
4 (100%)
Holy balls. $39.99 each for NES cart only copies of SMB3 or SMB/Duck Hunt. $34 for used PS3 Punch Time Explosion. $109.99 for greatest hits FF7 on ps1. $19.99 each for Cart only genesis Sonic the Hedgehog and NES cart only Punch Out. $9.99 each for cart only Shaq-Fu and Jordan vs Bird 1-on-1.

Are all PNT prices this bad or does each store set their own prices? This place prices things like they bought their stock from eBay resellers and then doubled the price.
 
I've only been in PNT a couple times while my brother-in-law was getting some discs refurbished, but yea, if I remember right, they did like to charge a good bit for some of the older stuff. Granted makes me wonder what the trade value would be for some of those. I still have a box or 2 full of old gen stuff :D

I kept meaning to bring them in and see what they offered, but the one 10 minutes away closed/consolidated into the one 40 minutes away :whistle2:(
 
That's crazy...

...but no, all Play n' Trades are not like that. They're all independent franchises and it's kind of up to the owners of the franchises on how much they charge. The one by me usually gets most of their stock from local moms who want to clean out their basements. I think they also have the option to buy from the company at reduced prices.

Now the franchise does have suggested prices, but I can't imagine them being that insane.
 
This sounds EXACTLY like my PnT! Mine is REALLY bad, they want $90 for common saturn games, games you can get on ebay for like under $10. But all gaming retail in my area is like this, I don't even bother anymore, if the locals want my business they are going to have to do better than ebay. I am better off on ebay, the prices are way cheaper and the games come with buyer protection.

I don't even know how a store like this can stay in business, my guess is they will be gone soon. Our store also has free wifi, which means you can use it to look up the prices the games should be on ebay or amazon.
 
No they are all different. One by me was great and I talked to the owner all the time, he always made you deals that were almost yard sale prices. I got an atari 7800 for $30, sega master system for $30, NES uncommons for 3-4 dollars. He said he is more interested in repeat customers than getting ebay prices. But of course he hasnt had anything good in stock for years because its in the middle of nowhere and everyone here that sells their used games expects to get triple ebay price
 
Hmm not really :/ Though my play and trade is definitely not the place I go for retro games (hate paying store prices when there's a chance I could get it dirt cheap at a yard sale), their prices actually aren't that terrible. I would say they charge about eBay prices, so if you really wanted a specific title to play its not that bad. I was thinking about spending the $45 they were asking for Super Metroid and I've bought a few cheap NES games there before like Puzznic for $3.
 
I am guessing what is happening is they have suggested prices and that some stores choose to abide by them and some stores set their own prices, which would be the good stores. The owners that set their own prices probably are closer to market value per game. It also probably varies by how much work the owner is willing to put into it as well. I know its really difficult to keep up with prices but some of these prices are so off the real market value of the games they are selling its not even funny. We are talking $60-80 per game off the market value in some cases. I am guessing that their computer has a database of prices and they just use that, with no knowledge of real market value at all.

I am guessing both my local store and the Op's local store are using the same database, even though he is in Chicago and I am in NY.

It doesn't help that our PnT set up a huge gaming facility with expensive computers, monitors and flat screen TV's so I guess they have to pay for that with something.

I am not interested in this store, as IMO its a very overpriced store and I have no intention of ever going back to it, so I don't really care, but I am just curious how game prices get set this high.
 
Owners are free to set their own prices - and they pretty much all set ridiculous prices. From what I've read, it costs over $300,000 to franchise and open a Play N Trade store. They pretty much have to charge stupid prices to make that money back. The vast majority of PnT stores either go under or subsist solely on console repairs. If the next generation of consoles is more reliable, I'm pretty sure 95% of PnT stores will go out of business.

Just for reference, there was a point when there was 6 PnT stores in my area - three went out of business within a year of opening. Of the remaining three, two charge stupidly insane prices ($54.99 for Wind Waker, for example) and only get by on repairs. The final one was one of the first PnT stores ever opened - the guy who runs it is awesome and actually knows what he is doing. He typically won't mark things up from PnT's suggested prices, which are great. A friend of mine got Snatcher for $4.99 from his store - hell, just a few months ago I picked up Suikoden II for $50 (and it's mint!). Plus, the guy calls me whenever crazy rare stuff comes in and sells it directly to me - he sold me a StarFox Super Weekend Cartridge for $100 (it's easily worth $300 in the condition mine was in).

But yeah, in general Play N Trade stores these days aren't very good and I can't imagine why anyone would consider opening one after seeing how many have gone under. There is instances of really great PnT stores, though - so you shouldn't write the franchise off completely.
 
I would even say that 90% of locally owned video game stores in my area go under, I have seen so many go under its not even funny. Its just not a profitable business, people want to trade their old games for new games, and most of the time the indie game stores can't get new game stock directly from the publisher. Even so if that is all they are selling then they are stuck with a huge inventory of older games that no one will want to purchase. Most people in my area want the latest and greatest, and we all know last gen prices are in the gutter for the most part except for a few select games. Most of the people around here don't have the last gen games that are desired by game store owners, they have old sports games that they expect to get some money back on, if someone has the desired games, they are selling them on ebay for full price because they know what their games are worth.

Besides if you want the latest GS is all over the place here, some locations are within 2 blocks of one another, there are even some malls that have 2 GS stores, one for the top floor and one for the ground floor, and some have them in the mall, and the plaza outside the mall too. Right now I can't think of a town here that doesn't have a GS store! They have even moved into the most unpopulated towns here. GS offers pretty much everything a gamer will need and they keep their prices at retail or below, say what you want about them, but they aren't going to sell a copy of WindWaker for 54.99...
 
I've had mostly good luck with PNT. Unfortunately the only one near me closed recently. Their prices were fine, with the occasional deal. My biggest score was nabbing Dante's Inferno for $10 a week or two after release. I asked the owner if it was a mistake and she said no, she just wanted to throw in a couple nicer games to the bargain bin. Come to think of it, that's probably why they went under...
 
My local PnT closed a few months ago. I will miss it because they had some great deals on older games once in a while, my best purchase there was Jurassic Park Operation Genesis for XBox complete for $9.99
 
My closest PNT seems to go by eBay prices for retro games, but they will mark up anything worth less than $5. There are some inconsistencies though, like they will want $10 for Lotus 2 and I once got a Fightstick TE for $40.

There's another PNT I occasionally go to that has much better prices, with several retro games under $5. I was able to get a complete Raiden Project for $13 at that store.
 
I used to go to a local Play-N-Trade until they decided to jack up the prices on everything. They then went out of business shortly after.
 
I think the store here might be out of business, there has been no activity on their facebook page for a few months and they were always quite active.
 
When I lived in Tampa when PNT started the store there were excellent (outside of one on MLK, that owner was a jerk, he used to troll CAG too). I became friends with one of the owners and he used to buy old warehouse stock (new SMS games unsealed, new 2600 games sealed). It seems like PNT corporate used to help the stores more but many in Tampa and Orlando have closed up. I've seen fair prices and asinine prices at the PNTs still open. It all depends on the owner and some owner's price games foolishly.
 
i used to go to one in bloomingdale. the guy there prices shit the right way. he told me he sold a Snow Bros for NES for $30. He said he knew what it was worth, but wanted it to be affordable. Haven't been there in like a year, so i don't know if it is still that way.
 
Pretty much all mom & pop stores now follow Amazon Marketplace and eBay prices.

What makes a difference is if they continually update/modify their prices. One place near me never does... meaning whatever price they had it at during trade is the price they'll keep it at.

So sometimes, if the item's price climbs, you can find it for less (got a complete copy Digimon World 3 and Rule of Rose for $20 each while eBay prices were twice that). But it can also be bad because that same store has NBA JAM TE (PS1) for $50 (due to it being traded in during the spike before NBA Jam Wii release).

Overall though, I don't get the point for mom and pop stores doing this. If they're going to use online prices, I might as well buy them online where I might actually be able to snag a cheap copy.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Pretty much all mom & pop stores now follow Amazon Marketplace and eBay prices.

What makes a difference is if they continually update/modify their prices. One place near me never does... meaning whatever price they had it at during trade is the price they'll keep it at.

So sometimes, if the item's price climbs, you can find it for less (got a complete copy Digimon World 3 and Rule of Rose for $20 each while eBay prices were twice that). But it can also be bad because that same store has NBA JAM TE (PS1) for $50 (due to it being traded in during the spike before NBA Jam Wii release).

Overall though, I don't get the point for mom and pop stores doing this. If they're going to use online prices, I might as well buy them online where I might actually be able to snag a cheap copy.[/QUOTE]

Exactly my point, I may as well just order it online and have the game come to me, and there is always the possibility that ebay prices will go down or that you will be able to snag a cheap copy because prices on ebay can come down or you can find an auction that isn't going as high as the others. Rather than seeking out these stores, some of which you don't even know where they are. As I have said before why would I even bother when I can just head to my computer or smartphone for those of you that have them and just order from there for often a much cheaper price. Sure there are people that want it now, and want to buy from a store but judging by here the smartphone using population is much higher than those people and if its kids who want to buy the games the parents tell them to give them the money and they will order it for a cheaper price.

I am not knocking the locals, but I am just saying there is a better way, and since its clear to me that the locals cannot be competitive on price then I will not bother. Living in NY, I also don't pay sales tax when I order from ebay so there is money savings there. Perhaps if the local stores were within reason of online prices then I might start using one, but every single local store I have seen has been so way off the mark that I have no desire to visit them anymore.
 
since we are talking about mom and pop stores, there is a REALLY awful one here I just found. They are, almost to the dollar, double ebay prices on everything. I'm talking $250 for loose Earthbound, $40 for Super Mario World, $15 for common NES games like Festers Quest and Friday the 13th, its effing cray-cray! I am guessing they just think "well we only make money on used current gen games anyway so lets just jack up the price on retro stuff, that way if we only sell a few of them we at least made double the money" I even found their facebook page and google/online reviews and 99% of them are people complaining about their insane prices. I don't understand how places like this even can afford to pay the rent on their buildings.
 
[quote name='crows in black']I even found their facebook page and google/online reviews and 99% of them are people complaining about their insane prices. I don't understand how places like this even can afford to pay the rent on their buildings.[/QUOTE]


Haven't you ever watched shows like bar rescue or salon take over?
They are probably in crazy debt =P
 
The PnT here wasn't that bad, there were 2, but they were owned by the same person, recently they dropped the franchise and went independent with a different name, their prices are much better and to be honest the stores are a lot nicer than the Gamestops here, I do 90% of my gaming purchases (that I do locally anyways) at them now. You can get black label FF7 for about $50, which is a little more than eBay but if you want it now, you can get it. They also just started dealing in card games (Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, etc) so they also offer those for people who are into that.
 
There was one near me but it closed. Never went there though, there is now one in another city nearby and haven't bothered to go. Everyone who's gone to them say nothing but bad things about their prices.

I also have a mom and pops store near me that USED to be really cool. They sold stuff reasonably around the N64, PS1, and Dreamcast era. But once it got to the Gen after that, they went crazy with their prices. They also LIE like crazy to clueless soccer moms to sell them crap at higher prices and they also lie to people when they trade stuff in.

I kid you not, I tried trading in a Vampire Chronicles for Matching Service for Dreamcast a few years ago and they offered me a dollar because "an american company is making a game like it, so the value is lower" :i

Last time I ever went there.
 
The sad thing here is that people were happy with the prices at one local chain, I have mentioned it on here before, but they are more than ebay (a lot more, sometimes double) and they put stickers all over their games. I can't imagine anyone paying P&T's prices for used games unless they were incredibly stupid, and I don't think even the most stupid people will drop $90 on a common Sega Saturn game. There are about 5 stickers on each game no lie, they put the price sticker on the front and back, on the spine, then they have their store sticker which is huge and covers up half the artwork of the game, then they have a sticker advertising their store card or whatever it is. With local stores like this, ebay and GS are a godsend. If this store chain was my only option, I would quit gaming that is for sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top