'Video Game Swap Shop' That's Saving People Thousands Reaches Business Award Finals

Thats pretty cool I guess

This is certainly one step up from public libraries lending out video games for free.

Being from Peterborough I thought I would have heard of this but nope. Great idea and from the reviews it seems to work well. I may give this a go in the future.

I had this exact idea, although in app form.

Nope. I absolutely wouldn't recommend this service at all.

I was on the Facebook group for a while and happened to notice that one of the mods kept sharing the exact same games over and over again, and no one was taking him up on his offer. After another 'bump' without any subsequent interest from anyone, I posted a comment highlighting that he shares the same games nearly every day and that no one is clearly interested. A couple of the mods ganged up on me and told me not to speak to them that way, hahaha.

It was pathetic really, and I left not long after after being spoken to that way by a bunch of grown men who only share shovelware and can't take criticism. Definitely avoid.

I nearly laughed in the employees face the last time I got a trade in price at Game. I didn't because he was only doing his job, but geeze, half the price offered by CEX.

Amazes me that Game is still going.

Great idea and nice for people with low income to play more games.

Watch Nintendo sue for damages LOL

400K Euros is a lot!

@Duncanballs Only time in recent memory that GAME was worth going to was when they would price match other places on trade ins. Once traded in a copy of Pikmin 2 on Wii that they were going to give me less than a tenner for and price matched it with CEX for nearly £40 at the time. Was an effort to get them to honour it but rules are rules 😬

Since that stopped…man. It’s good there’s still a dedicated game shop on the high street for new games but it’s no wonder most people turn to online when that’s one of the only brick and mortar options for a lot of places. Grainger Games were a much better chain of game shops, was gutting when they went kaput.

There used to be two physical stores not too far from where I used to live, that did something like this. One literally called Game Swap. Neither was free, but the prices were often decent, although the price categories were a bit arbitrary in the other store. You could get some very lucky trades for no money at all. Or just buy without trading. It's where I got my first Gamecube, which also happens to be my first home console after nothing but Gameboys. With RE0, and shortly after, Wind Waker with the OoT bonus disc, Hitman 2 and Freedom Fighters, REmake and Eternal Darkness, Luigi's Mansion and Mario Kart and Mario Sunshine, Soul Calibur 2 and 1080 Avalanche,... my expectations were set. What happened then, I don't really know, but now I have about six Gamecubes, and WAY too many games, other consoles, and games for those, but stopped collecting. It's all stored away in my old room in my mother's house. It kind of sort of spiraled out of control, and now I just use my Switch, to actually play most of the games I buy cheap.

The store where I used to work, had this model where a second hand copy got a trade in value of 1/3rd of its new price, a resale value of 2/3rds. Now that store does a mere 5 euro's off the new price (so 55 resale for a 60 euro game), and you're lucky if they give you 15 in store credit, sometimes up to 40 if you trade in a recent highly popular 60 game for a newly released 60 game. They also did rentals back then, but the industry lobbied to outlaw that here.

@PessitheMystic Agreed. Haven't used it myself, but I wouldn't because from what I've seen on Facebook the guy who runs it has his head up his own ass.

I dabbled with something similar over 20 years ago.
You used to put your items up for bidding and gain points which are used to make bidding in the future.
It covered more than just video games.
I got so many N64/PS1 games and music albums back in the day.

All for the cost of a few singles (CD) that I didnt need as I picked up the album laters.
And some common bundles of pokemon cards.

The website obviously wasnt sustainable (there was no membership fees and there wasnt even paid advertising)

Great if your not fussy over the condition of the product.

@noobish_hat Lol I hope it dies. As Duncanballs said, GAME is just absolutely extortionate to the point they could be argued to be predatory now. They know full-well that their prices are in no way competitive or fair, their main demographic has to be children, parents and grandparents that either have limited knowledge of shopping online for games, or do not have the means to do it. CEX and other businesses dealing in retro wares, in addition to smaller, independent yet competitive stores have their place, but the sooner establishments like GAME vanish the better.

@ModdedInkling My later high school years our public library actually started offering video games but unfortunately the selection was so small it was barely worth doing. But I really liked the idea. I wish more public libraries did that.

I am member of this site and have been almost since its inception.
It's a great concept, trade your unwanted games and get something your wanting in return.
If you're on the fence about a game, this is the best way to find out if you're into the game as you only pay postage. If you don't like it, trade again for something else.
I've made several swaps myself however, I mostly buy digital these days for convince. If only there was a way to swap digital games ad I have a few that I could easily swap

@jrt87 ; there is no middle man. All traded are done between each other. Only cost is postage

Avoid! The guy who runs it is pathetic. Sell your games on eBay or Facebook marketplace but definitely don’t fund this horrible mans site.

@Gavintendo @hamatoyoshi Glad to see some people that agree with me, I felt like the minority among the Facebook users!
People don’t like it when you speak up against them, I suppose.

I just threw a couple games up on there. We'll see what happens.

"Because the site uses a 'trusted trader' network, you can be confident about the trade and won't get caught out." Hmmm, not quite sure how that guarantees the person at the other end will actually mail the game?

@Burntbreadman Do you mean Switch House? That website was a dream come true for me as a teenager with little money. I nearly cried when it shut down. I was able to experience so many more games and CDs than I otherwise could have.

@Coldheat64 Yeah I was confused as how that works. Could easily legit do one trade of a shovelware game worth a dollar to be considered 'trusted' and then turn around and rip someone off of a newer game and just never go back to the site.

Don't understand how people trade in at Gamestop or even at this service, when you could just sell them on your own. You know, for hard coin. At least here in Germany there are a couple of platforms to sell privately, with no cost. I regularly buy the newest 60 € Nintendo game, play through it, and am able to sell it a week later for maximum 10 bucks less.

I've used the site and Facebook group several times. Personally can absolutely validate for it and have now played some amazing games I may not have experienced if not - a cheap swap is more appealing on those "will I or won't I like it" titles than buying and finding out.
Lots of money raised in the group for Great Ormand street too.
Basically - if it sounds like your thing it is. If it doesn't, fair play to you. You do you