Best Buy Taking Game Trade-Ins; Target Taking Games and Electronics

August 26, 2010 By Geoff Duncan

Retail giants Target and Best Buy have launched trade-in programs for video games...and Target is also taking back phones and mobile electronics.

Tired of your old games and gear? Retailing giants Best Buy and Target have launched new trade-in programs designed to get people to bring in their old and tired merchandise…and exchange it for credit towards new games and gizmos.

First up, discount retailer Target has begun a trade-in program for video games and mobile electronics. The program is currently only available in northern California stores, but the retailer plans to expand it to some 850 retail locations by the end of the year. The program enables customers to bring in their unwanted cell phone, iPhone, iPod touch, or video game in exchange for gift card credit. The

“Target Electronics Trade-In offers our guests an opportunity to upgrade their consumer electronics items for less and Target Mobile ensures a convenient cell phone shopping experience,” said Target senior VP Mark Schindele, in a statement.

The amount of credit customers receive for their devices and games will vary from just a few dollars up to “more than $200 per item,” depending on the item and its condition.

Target also offers an online-only service where customers can trade in DVDs and other used electronics items for a gift card.

On a similar note, Best Buy has announced that some 600 Best Buy locations will start accepting video game trade-ins at some 600 locations this week, with more locations to follow. Customers can bring in their pre-owned games and trade them for an instant Best Buy gift card that can be used to purchase anything in the store; Best Buy also plans to start offering pre-owned games for sale shortly. To promote the program, customer who trade in their ames starting August 29 will receive an additional $20 Best Buy Gift Card on top of the trade-in value on over 100 game titles. Best Buy also offers an online trade-in program for games where customers mail in their games and receive a gift card via mail a few weeks later; in-store trade-in prices will match the prices shown on Best Buy’s online service.

Showing 4 comments

J.B. Malik at 8:54am 1st September 2010 About the electronic trade in (not games) - Best-buy and Target'sr customers might be missing out on where they can get the most cash/credit for their ipod, iphone, gps, etc. http://www.EcoSquid.com is a free site that instantly provides a comparison of just about all the major trade-in sites - so you can see how much each store/site will give you for your item.
Lothlorian at 12:04pm 29th August 2010 And don't forget EA and Sony wants to charge you 10 USD extra if you want to play a used game online! Greedy SOB's already sold the game and now want another 10 bux if you buy it used
Derek at 10:58pm 26th August 2010 I'm curious how this is going to affect Gamestop. When you look at the trends, it doesn't look good. First, you have EA/Sony/Activision (with more to follow) skimming off the top of the second hand sales bucket by using this new online code business model. Now, once the code is activated, the game cannot be played online under any new gamertag unless the new owner of the game pays $10 to unlock the online portion of the game. This devalues used games significantly, and the trend can only hurt Gamestop. Secondly, now we have Target and Best Buy jumping into the fray? Holy crap. How can Gamestop even stay afloat, or at least stay afloat as well as they are currently? Best Buy is already the only major electronics super-center in the nation after Circuit City left town. Honestly, where would you rather have trade in credit...Best Buy or Gamestop? The only thing Gamestop has over Best Buy is their selection of used games, but even Best Buy is jumping into that market as well. Lastly, there's another trend that has gaming heading to digital content. Obviously, we aren't going to be 100% digital for a long time, but it's heading in that direction. Between all three of these factors, I believe this spells the demise of Gamestop.
ioman at 10:41am 26th August 2010 Makes sense. Selling used games etc has been a huge revenue generator for Gamestop, so there is no reason for others to follow suit. I am excited to see if the prices for used games come down now that there is competition.