How to...Sell Your Games

There comes a time in a girl's life when she needs a few extra bucks. For me, that time came when I decided to study in England for 5 months.
And between my summer job, scholarships, student loans, and my wonderful parents, I had almost enough money to be able to not only live but travel around as well.

But it never hurts to have a little extra right?
So I looked at my (rather large and somewhat outdated) game collection and thought to myself, "Am I really ever going to play Gauntlet: Dark Legacy again?".
The answer was no. (For the record I loved the game, still do. But me and my dad used to play it when I was 11, and it just doesn't tickle my fancy anymore.).
So I did what any sane person does: I tried to sell it.
Easier said than done.
There are just so many ways to sell things nowadays, that it's  hard to know what will give you the best value for your games.

So after days of researching and (successfully) selling my unused games, here's what I learned.

1. Research. The first thing to do when you decide to sell something is to look up all the websites that offer want ads (Kijiji, Craigslist, Ebay). Now, you can go the old fashion route and try to sell things at garage sales or flea markets, but you probably won't get as much money. That's because garage sales are for (usually) pretty useless garbage. Whereas online sites tend to be stalked by collectors and gamers, most of whom know the true value of your product (and who will still try to argue and haggle the price down). For me Ebay was King. It offered me a way to get a fairly decent chunk of change and reach a huge audience of people. Definitely the way to go if you don't mind dealing with the whole shipping process.
   
2. RESEARCH! This time you have to really look at the value of your game. Some games deprecate as time goes by, but some increase in value. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy was 15$ when I bought it. I sold it for 50$ on Ebay (Big surprise, considering I don't know anyone but me who still uses and loves the Gamecube.). Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, however, was bought for 20$ and only sold for 3$. Not that big of a deal for me, money is money, but if I had put it up for the original price I would have been laughed off the internet. Similarly, if I hadn't charged more for Gauntlet I would have lost out on a lot of money. The easiest way to price, no matter which site you're using (or even if you're doing it the old fashioned face to face way) is to search up your game on google, and to look at items which have sold. This'll tell you what people have actually paid for the game, and not just what people price it at. (Tip: Don't ever use Amazon as a price indicator, because they usually inflate the cost of video games to crazy levels.)
3. Be Patient. Selling your game could take some time, especially if you restrict shipping to a certain area or country. Just keep holding on for that special collector to come by and swipe it up. If no one is biting, maybe you need to research more, or switch up how you're selling.
4. Make sure this is the right decision. I sold Gauntlet because I knew 100% that I wouldn't play the game ever again (unless I'm at the movie theater, where they have the old school arcade version for 50c). The worst thing is having a craving for a game that you no longer have, so make sure you know what you're doing before you put your item up.
5. Decide what to spend the money on! This is the fun part. I knew my money was going into a bank account, to sit until I needed it for travel, but there are so many cooler things out there to buy. Why don't you reinvest that money back into video games and get that new Halo title you've been eyeing?

These tips may seem basic but honestly they helped me out a lot when I first started selling my games. Organization and being prepared is key!

-Jules