Not content to pay any old price for a used game, Kotaku recently attempted to figure out how big stores decide what to charge for old games.
The idea to research the subject of how game resellers priced their titles came after a visit to a local GameStop store. Browsing the used PlayStation 2 section, I came across used copies of Tecmo's Fatal Frame trilogy, which I had long wanted in my collection. I quickly snagged all three, only to be taken aback by the prices.
Though I was standing in front of two bins filled with $.99 to $9.99 PS2 titles, these three games were marked $39.99 apiece. I still walked away with Fatal Frame 2 and 3, both of which were in pristine shape, but it left me curious as to how, out of all the PlayStation 2 titles, GameStop decided to mark these three in particular at price approaching the original manufacturer's suggested retail prices.
I decided to contact various retail and online video game resellers to help shed a little light onto the process behind pricing used titles.
GameStop was not available to comment on this story.
A Secret To Everyone
Upon making my initial inquiries, I found myself repeatedly running into a stumbling block: Secrecy.
Used games are big business. At the core of this business is a simple economic concept -– buy low, sell high. When a new game is released, the price is generally fixed. The profit margin -– the difference between what the retailer pays and what the customer pays -– is relatively low. With a used title, retailers can essentially dictate their own profit margin, as long as customers perceive the value of buying and selling used merchandise at the set prices.
Since new prices are relatively fixed when a game is released, the pricing of used titles is an important weapon in the video game retailer's arsenal. Madden 10 might be the same price everywhere new, but if a customer can get a used copy at one store $5 cheaper than at another, that could be the impetus that drives that customer to return.
With so much riding on used sales, it really isn't a wonder that many companies weren't willing to share such sensitive data with the press. It's not that they don't want the consumer to know as much as they don't want to give the competition a leg up.
Despite this, several retailers did take the time to explain how their specific processes work.