Leita and I went to Market Mall (Calgary) the other day to do some impulsive shopping (uh oh....) and she let me go into EB Games after I took her to the pet store to look (momentarily) at kittens and puppies. They (EB) ended up having a big sale on that day where they were trying to get rid of some of their bloated inventory of used games.
For everyone who doesn't know (and I'm assuming that everyone that reads this doesn't), this company makes the vast majority of it's profits from buying used games from people for peanuts and then reselling the used games for almost-new prices. The great (for them) thing about that is that the whole price difference (between buying used and reselling) is profit for the comapny, whereas only a fraction of the sales price of a brand-spanking-new game is profit. I think their rule of thumb is that they buy a game for 1/4 of what they can resell it for, so they'd give someone $10 and sell it for $40, reaping an easy $30 profit...
I usually avoid buying used; call it elitism, snobbishness, whatever, but I don't like someone else's grubby hands being on something before me. I think too much of the time I like new and shiny; be it gadgets, games, clothes, or any other piece of... anything. Yeah, I'm a snob, and I like it like that.
Anyway, Leita let me get a couple (3) games, and the total was less that I'd usually spend on one new game. $19.99 (Pheonix Wright - DS), $9.99 (Prey - PC), and $4.99 (Act of War - PC) YAY! So if I can learn to love the 'previously loved' section, we can save a good chunk of coinage. Of course, these used games were more the exception than the rule: popular games or newer games usually go used for only $5 or maybe $10 cheaper than the brand new. My mom would be so proud of me for finding such bargains; but come to think of it, she'd probably give me shit for spending money on video games in the first place. Actually, it would be dad to give me hell for buying video games, he thinks they are a waste of time (right, dad). Meh, you gotta do what you gotta do!
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