Walmart Now Accepting Used Games
Recently, reports have been circulating that Walmart may indeed be testing the used game trade-in market. The process, however, isn’t what you’d expect.
Instead of handing the game to a store employee, you’ll be submitting it into a machine. This process, as you may recall, is similar to the RedBox DVD rental machines. All you have to do is bring your desired game into the store, scan the barcode, turn it in, and voila. You’re finished!
However, the process still has its fair share of glitches. Numerous complaints have circulated, citing the inability for the scanner to read the barcode, or reporting that the game they want to trade in isn’t in the machine’s database.
No word yet on whether this is a direct shot at GameStop’s long-tenured dominance at the trade-in market, or just a meager attempt to raise some money. Anyone brave enough to try it out themselves?
[Source]
24 Responses to “Walmart Now Accepting Used Games”
I haven’t seen any of these yet, but I’ll probably never use it. I don’t like it either.
screw gamestop and screw walmart. they both have the same business practices.
i wouldn’t trust Wallmart employees with my used games either. you should see the delli workers at my local Wallmart… scary stuff man.
I wonder how Gamestop will respond. Lower prices for used games? $5 off is just laughable right now.
I gotta say, this is interesting. I too wonder how the biggest game retailer in the country will react to the biggest retailer on the face of the planet cutting into their most profitable business.
sweet. hopefully they give you better deals than gamestop
what if i scan one barcode and put in a cheaper game?
too bad the machine isn’t in the game department, not that I would shove Wii games in there, just sayin’.
Does it take out the disk, check to see if the data areas are scratched? The machine (nor almost anyone in Wal-mart) will be able to help you make the best decision. How much do they give for the game? Do you get store credit? Is the store credit you get from trading in games removing the taxes due to not being an actual transaction but just a trade?
So many questions.
@KnaveX
I’ll raise you one higher. What if I scan one barcode, and put in an empty box? lol
So many stores getting into the used game business ..
Interesting first Amazon, Gamefly, Bestbuy, and now Walmart enters the used gaming market. Wonder how Gamestop will respond to this? Will they lower their used games? Will they give more store credit? My questions would be how much does Walmart give you for a $64 in store credit? I think you’ll end up getting store credit to use towards Walmart similar to how Amazon gives you a giftcard toward Amazon when you trade in your games to them. I myself would never trade in my games to Walmart or even Gamestop for that matter, better selling them online like Craigslits and meeting someone instead and making more money.
ok but what’s stopping people from putting blank cases in there…seriously, scan an empty case and deposit in machine, walk away with gift card… … Unless there’s people checking them this is going to be a big flop.
So, I could actually just bring the cover art insert for the barcode, and drop in an old DVD…?
oh hell no, i would never do this
I always see endless lines at the Red Box movies things in my Wal-Mart. That’s mostly because it ate someone’s money and then they slap an “Out of Order” sign on it for a week.
I think this will fail because I think people want to deal with actual people. I mean, if I want a can of soda and I see a machine? Sure, why the hell not. But if I want to trade in my used PS3 games that I spent full retail price on, I’m not going to take my chances by sticking it in a vending machine. I’d rather hand it to an actual person.
I don’t give a dam@ if it’s a person or a machine.
I only care what price they give you for the used games.
On behalf of e-Play, I want to assure you that the new e-play Video Game Buy Back kiosks in Walmart have been stringently tested and do not, as erroneously stated, have “bugs.” In fact, we are very pleased with the early traffic counts, high number of trade transactions and amount of positive consumer feedback.
You can indeed trade in your PS2, PS3, X-Box, 360 and Wii games with ease and for highly competitive prices (up to $25 credit for in-demand games).
We would be happy to discuss your experience with you via phone (866-602-6014), but we are confident we have identified the user error based upon the writer’s posting. Many retailers place a proprietary UPC sticker over a game’s original UPC code. If you peel back this sticker or open the game and remove the box art, you can easily access the original manufacturer’s UPC code and avoid the issues encountered by the original writer.
There are more than 4,000 games titles in our database, including each of the games you mention in your posting: Final Fantasy XII, Godfather II, Mirror’s Edge, Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, and Burnout 3: Takedown.
The following link explains the trade-in process: https://www.e-play.com/Home/TradeWalkthrough
Regarding security issues, e-Play DOES verify the authenticity of the discs traded. A valid driver’s license is required for all trade-in activity and the kiosk takes a photo of each user. Credit is applied to the customer’s credit card within a few business days.
Please take the time to revisit our kiosk and feel free to contact us directly with your feedback (marketing@e-play.com). Customer feedback is always appreciated as it steers us toward improvements that ensure an ideal user experience. Thanks and happy gaming!
This is going to be fail. They should just have a counter to turn it in instead of a machine.
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@vgleaf Says:
May 18th, 2009 at 4:06 PM
On behalf of e-Play, I want to assure you that the new e-play Video Game Buy Back kiosks in Walmart have been stringently tested and do not, as erroneously stated, have “bugs.” In fact, we are very pleased with the early traffic counts, high number of trade transactions and amount of positive consumer feedback.
You can indeed trade in your PS2, PS3, X-Box, 360 and Wii games with ease and for highly competitive prices (up to $25 credit for in-demand games).
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Are you joking? 25dollars for a new game? what a joke, then you guys turn it around and sell it for 50-55 dollars, you are no better than Gamestop. I’ll let my games rot before I trade them in to a store like you guys.
This is the reason developers are loosing out on so much money, I’ll be keeping my games or letting friends barrow them.
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