Getting rid of old gaming kit?

[LazyBoy]

General question about getting rid of old stuff as I’m clearing out all the old consoles, and some old games. Are there any services out there that will take a bundle of stuff and price it up for you? Short of that are there any good websites for specially selling retro stuff (or is eBay just the best bet?). And if all that fails, where best to recycle all this plastic?

As a side note, it’s crushing saying goodbye to some of this stuff, but the consoles take up so much space, and they get less practical every year. Keeping some of the games though.

[Dcubed]

Whenever it comes to selling stuff, you always had to make a tradeoff between convinence and the money you'll actually get for it.  You'll always get more for your money selling your bits & bobs individually then you will as a complete set in pretty much every case.

As for online sites? There are a few specialist sites out there that will buy retro games from you (like Console Passion and Retrogames.co.uk).  I've never used any of them, but they are there.  Still, eBay is almost certainly gonna be your best bet.  It's more of a hassle, but you'll almost certainly get more for your money there than selling them to a store.

What are you putting up for sale anyway? Some of us here on the N-E Forums might actually be interested... If I'm selling stuff, I usually ask around here if anyone is interested before I chuck it on eBay  (no seller fees here too )

Edited June 20, 2021 by Dcubed

[S.C.G]

If your ultimate goal is getting rid of stuff, there are plenty of ways to do that, but as Dean has already stated, it's a trade-off... betweeen time invested and the potential monetary worth. I'd say that time is more important, but equally, if you have something which has value to someone, then it's worth spending a bit of time doing a bit of research, because the extra potential bit of cash from doing so, will probably come in useful.

I've been going through my own collection, due to becoming less invested in games. If you need an idea of pricing for a few consoles and some games, I can do that, and it won't cost you anything, except the time taken to either list what you have, and/or take a few pictures of the items if necessary.

There may well be some interest on the forum, depending on what consoles and games you are planning on selling. As a general idea, if you're selling anything retro, and it's all in good working order, you can generally expect to get a decent amount of money back for it.

Options for selling stuff are out there, such as the sites which Dean has mentioned, though I personally cannot vouch for them, and the same goes for gaming groups within various platforms, you might have success there, but eBay tends to be a more known quantity. If you wait for the right time, usually every couple of weeks for personal accounts, they will offer you so much off the final valuation fees, which typically is around ten percent now, plus an extra percent or two since the whole managed payments started happening on there, and an additional thirty pence per item.

Say for instance, if you sell a console for £100 (plus postage) you'll likely see around £85 of that. When the offers are on though, the best one currently is 'up to 80% off fees' which means you'd only be paying two percent, which would only amount to £2 taken from every hundred. It is limited though, but when the offer is on (which varies between eBay users) you can list up to one hundred items, and it will give you from midnight on Friday until midnight on Monday to list everything, I believe.

There's always places like CEX... taking an unboxed N64 console as an example, they will pay you £35 cash or £50 voucher for a console, they will then sell it for £75 or so, the typical selling price for an N64 on eBay at the moment, seems to be around £70, so for something like that, it would depend on whether or not there's other stuff you wanted from CEX. If not, then it still seems logical to put it on eBay with or without the offer, as you'll still get back more for it. Places like CEX seem to be useful for getting rid of games which aren't of great value, where the price difference between them and online sites is minimal, but if you did want to get rid of a load of stuff, they are an option, just be aware that when trading in consoles, even if they are boxed, they will try anything within their 'grading system' to pay you the lesser price for your stuff, and then sell it on at a higher grade price, because of course they will, it's CEX.

I understand the need for space, and less need to keep stuff, even though I've spent a lot of time buying games here and there over the years, I've realised there's plenty I can part with. A lot of it, I either don't play, or know that I won't, whereas with other games and consoles, I do have something telling me that there is a good chance that I'll want to play that particular game or console soon, so in that instance, I keep what I believe I will use.

Now is a good time (in the year) to do it as well, we're approaching the longest day, Summer is here, it's a good time for change and moving forward in general, whatever that means for everyone, on an individual basis.

Of course it's still good to have hobbies though, so I'd advise still keeping those games which really mean something to you, or ones which you might play when you just want to 'escape' or remember simpler times. But generally, a lot of stuff can weigh you down, and if you find that none of it is serving you, it might be best to pass it on or sell it to someone else who has a need or want for it.

This information should be of use, but if there are any other questions, let me know. I do get that need to be less about 'stuff' though, even though if I do buy a game, I'll still buy physical over digital, unless the digital game is a lot cheaper, but being that this doesn't happen as much now, it's less of an issue.

I've been collecting games for most of my life-time, it's not something I want to continue doing any more, I really only want to keep a small selection of games which I have a strong feeling that I'll play, as otherwise, it's all just taking up space which could potentially be better utilised, and I know... you can say the same about anything physical, but it's the mental space that it takes up as well, that's why for me, it's always under constant evaluation, so that I can do what's best for myself and those around me.

I could get by with a GameCube, an N64 and a Switch at this point. (plus a 3DS and a Wii for their digital games and physical game back-catalogue) But I keep more than that, old Sega and Nintendo consoles, plus the odd Xbox or Playstation 'just because' but I rarely have any real desire to play them.

This is an interesting topic, let's see if we can all benefit from it somehow, be it just exchanging advice on selling a few gaming items, or taking a step back to re-evaluate how much some of these things mean to us, or don't any more, on an ever-changing basis.

[Happenstance]

Unfortunately I'm too lazy so tend to go for the simplicity of cex over selling it myself where I would most likely get more money.

[Glen-i]

9 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

Unfortunately I'm too lazy so tend to go for the simplicity of cex over selling it myself where I would most likely get more money.

Must not make obvious "selling your body" joke... Must not make obvious "selling your body" joke...

Edited June 20, 2021 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

Funnily enough I’ve been doing this recently as well. I was decorating the other week and it was a bit of a realisation of just how much stuff I had lying around or stored. I made a couple of trips to CEX in the past week and have gotten rid of the best part of my PS4 games collection (over 100+ games so far). I still need a few more trips to get rid of the rest of them though but I’ve made quite a bit of cash already. I just figured that there’s probably no way that I’m gonna back to the majority of these games now that I’ve finished them, not to mention they won’t work in years to come without updates/servers.

The whole thing got me thinking about the retro games that I have stored and will I really ever go back to them? Even when I do have spare time, there’s so many new games to play, TV shows to watch, movies to view and other activities to partake in that I doubt I’ll ever play them all again.

Like Happenstance, I used CEX because it was less of a faff. With eBay you have the fees, which Sam mentioned, then there’s the cost and hassle of postage, as well as the worry that the person may not be happy with the item or it gets lost in transit. If I do decide to get rid of some of the more expensive games in my collection then I’ll certainly be taking a look at eBay vs CEX prices though.

I think the hardest part of culling of a collection, no matter what it is, is just taking that first step. Once you get the ball rolling things tend to become a little easier and you start actively looking at other things that could probably go the journey.

The process of doing this has made me think of Game Pass on the Xbox. I’m still very dubious about what it will do to the industry going forward but if I can change my way of thinking, forget about ownership and just enjoy something in the here and now, then maybe picking up a Series S or X will be the way forward for me to enjoy indie and 3rd party games.

If I do decide to stick with physical media, there’s also the option of selling a game as soon as I’m done with it, rather than completing it and putting it on a shelf. This is definitely worth considering given the price of some games these days.

There’s certainly lots of thoughts going around in my head at the moment in terms of gaming, what I want from it in the future and how best to pursue that. I think I just want less clutter and to simplify things a little more.

[Happenstance]

I was definitely happier when I whittled my game collection down to just Mega Drive & SNES. I still have a big range of actual consoles but one day I'd like to display them somehow so keep them stored.

Don't tend to keep newer consoles anymore though and the ones that I do still have are for specific reasons (PS3 because I was playing MGS4, PS4 is now a blu ray player for downstairs).

[darksnowman]

I'm no expert in wheeler-dealing but I'd say you aren't guaranteed to get a good price if you try to sell on here. The buyer wants a low price just as much as you want a high one. I bought a couple of things here when there was a board for such (Mega Drive stuff off @flameboy I think, Gamecube games off @rokhed00, GBA e-card reader off someone, you get the idea) and I'm pretty sure they all did me a favour with the pricing; I doubt they made much of a profit, if any at all. So yeah, consider if you want your stuff to go to a good home, or if you'd rather get as much cold hard cash as possible. 

The only thing I have to add is that eBay does no fees promotions so you could lookout for one of those and try to sell then--with a reserve price just in case the bids are lower than you want.

You won't miss the kit once it's gone and besides, this doesn't have to be a permanent Marie Kondo turning point in your life as others are taking it as.  You're a free man to follow your own whims and do what feels right for you--and you can likely buy the stuff back for peanuts in future should the fancy take you.

22 hours ago, LazyBoy said:

And if all that fails, where best to recycle all this plastic?

Your local council yard?  

20 hours ago, S.C.G said:

I could get by with a GameCube, an N64 and a Switch at this point. (plus a 3DS and a Wii for their digital games and physical game back-catalogue) 

Sometimes I think all I need is a DS and Chrono Trigger, and I'm not even joking.

19 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Must not make obvious "selling your body" joke... Must not make obvious "selling your body" joke...

CeX (buys and) sells!

Edited June 21, 2021 by darksnowman
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[LazyBoy]

Alright, its all gone on ebay. Thanks for the advice, you can see my listings here. If you want any of it PM me and I'll take it off ebay.

Sad getting rid of some of this stuff, especially the N64. 

[Dcubed]

6 hours ago, LazyBoy said:

Alright, its all gone on ebay. Thanks for the advice, you can see my listings here. If you want any of it PM me and I'll take it off ebay.

Sad getting rid of some of this stuff, especially the N64. 

PM sent!

Edited June 21, 2021 by Dcubed