So the thing about these promotions is that Meijer is paying the promotional value of the trade-in. Nextworth only pays the base value. Let's say you took full advantage of the promo and traded in 4 games for $50 each. That's $200, so Meijer pays $100 and Nextworth pays $100.
So let's say you take that $200 and buy a Best Buy gift card. In essence, Meijer pays Best Buy $100 and Nextworth pays Best Buy $100. (Perhaps Meijer gets a small kickback from Best Buy for selling their gift card, but let's ignore that for now). So now Meijer is down $100, but they do have the video games that you traded in to them. I'm not sure how Meijer and Nextworth splits the value of the games once Nextworth unloads them, but let's assume Meijer gets half.
If you got $50 per game, then I would say it's highly unlikely Nextworth unloads that game for $50. Probably $40 at best. If Meijer gets half of that, Meijer only gets back $80 on your four games. So Meijer loses $20. I might be completely wrong in some of my assumptions. If someone else knows more, let me know. The business of preowned games is getting complex.
You have to look at the chain of events and it will make sense.
I spend $200 at Best Buy for 6 games. Thats $33 per game. Best Buy's margin on games is low. So they paid $20 per game (includes contracts, payroll, physical shipping cost, etc.) Total cost is $20 per game, estimated. So the first transaction ends up like this. Me, -200. Best Buy, +80 (net profit).
Transaction 2 - I trade 4 games to Meijer. Meijer is giving me $200 in credit (net profit tbd in transaction 3). Im back to even. Lets say Meijer sells those games used for $30 a piece. Meijer is up $120 minus what they traded me for the games.....groceries, camera case, grandmas photos, pillows.
Transaction 3 - What am I going to do with that $200 Meijer credit. I spend it on something that costs Meijer... nothing! Meijer is not giving Best Buy any equity here by me buying a gift card. Im transferring my credit to Best Buy.
Now, instead of buying a bunch of things from Meijer with credit...im buying things from Best Buy, that leads us back to Transaction #1.
The score is currently.
Me - 2 games in hand, spent $200 at Best Buy. Got $200 Gift Card for Best Buy.
Meijer - 4 games in hand from a Best Buy store, gave a customer $200 in credit to be used at Best Buy.
Best Buy - sold 6 games for $200, net profit of 80 bucks. Waiting on me to spend the 200 gift card.
Transaction 4 - I spend $200 on a $200 camera that costs best buy $80 wholesale. The net profit on the games was just erased by me buying the camera.
Final result
I get 2 games and Camera for $200. Meijer gets 4 video games for a Best Buy Gift card, lol. Best Buy nets out to zero, because the cost of goods sold equals to dollar amount I pay to them for th e goods.
Best Buy loses.