The money is in the water: Amazon.com has joined Toys R Us on the bandwagon and is now testing its own videogame trade-in program.
Despite being an online retailer, Amazon’s trade-in system is surprisingly simple. Prospective customers look up the titles they’re interested in trading on Amazon’s trade-in store, which will give a flat-rate value per title. A pre-paid shipping label will be generated which must be printed and affixed to the shipment; once received and validated, the total value of the trade-in will be deposited into the customer’s Amazon.com account. Games must be in good condition, with original packaging and manual, and the total value of the games traded in must be at least $10.
Amazon is taking trade-ins on the PlayStation 2 and 3, the Xbox and Xbox 360, the Wii, the GameCube and the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and PSP handhelds. Trade-in values, naturally, depend on the popularity of the game: LittleBigPlanet for the PS3 is worth $29, while Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader on the PS2 is worth $4. Amounts quoted by Amazon are guaranteed as long as the games are postmarked within seven days of submission and the maximum trade-in value of a single shipment is capped at $250. (Got more? Multiple shipments are welcome.)
The Amazon.com program is still in beta, and follows closely behind similar news about Toys R Us, which is midway through its own program to test the videogame trade-in waters. Unlike GameStop, which offers cash for trades and will take games in various conditions, both the Amazon and Toys R Us program are only good for in-store credit and games accepted for trade must be complete and in good condition.
It’s good news for gamers but I suspect a good number of publishing executives won’t see it that way. In fact, I bet that if you listen carefully, you’ll actually be able to hear the distant, drum-like pounding of a thousand throbbing forehead veins emanating from office buildings in Redmond, Cary and Cambridge.
Source: Cheap Ass Gamer
