Walking by my local GameStop, I noticed they were advertising the sale of pre-owned PlayStation 4 consoles. Normally $399.99 brand new, a pre-owned PS4 is being sold for $369.99 at the retailer — a savings of $30. Not bad considering you're practically getting a brand new console that — if traded in — hasn't even been owned for a full month.
But then it got me wondering how much is GameStop offering for a PS4 trade-in? Not that I would ever suggest trading in your PS4 that you fought so hard to get in time for the holidays. With curiosity getting the best of me I called up GameStop and here's what they told me.
For those looking for cash, selling your PS4 to GameStop will get you $220, a little more than half of what you paid for. At that price, I'd suggest selling it elsewhere, like eBay where it's actually selling for more than the retail price.
Those looking to use the trade-in towards other video game purchases, you'll get at least $275 worth of trade-in credit. This is considerably more than the cash, but you're also only being store credit, meaning you're forced to eventually buy something else from the store. However, depending on what you put the trade-in credit towards, it's possible to earn an additional 30% credit, pushing the total to over $300.
Like the cash offer, the store credit you'd be getting isn't nearly as much as you paid for the system. You're probably better offer selling it second-hand on a site like eBay or Craiglist. Then again, by going through GameStop you are assured the money and you don't have to deal with the hassle of shipping the item or some sort of recipient complaint.
Trade-in value aside, you can see why certain publishers have an issue with GameStop's second-hand sales. With each pre-owned PS4 sold, Sony is losing out on a new console sale. Now I don't know how many gamers are actually trading their PS4s in this early, but with only $220 cash back and reselling it for $369, GameStop is undoubtedly making a pretty penny. Even with store credit possibly surpassing $300 it's not like GameStop is losing out on money. After all, those sales are going back to the retailer at the end of the day.
How do you feel about the trade-in value for the PS4?
