Video Game Trading

What's the best way to go about trading those games and where can you find people to hook up with? Keep reading, because LoveToKnow is here to help you in your game swapping journey.

Video Game Trading

Why would you want to partake in video game trading? The most obvious reason is that it becomes incredibly economical to try out a wide range of titles. Even if you find discount video games, you still have to fork out some money, whereas if you find someone with a title that you want and one that is equivalent value to one that you no longer play, both of you benefit with a new game, so to speak.

And believe me, there are plenty of players out there who want to do the exact same thing as you do: save money but still enjoy everything your video game system has to offer! You don't need to go to video game retailers and pay full price though! Trading is the way to go!

Who Should You Trade Video Games With?

The most obvious choice would be among your close friends and family. After all, you can feel much more comfortable dealing with these people because you know where they live and you know that they are reliable. You can quickly contact them if anything goes wrong (and even ask for a video game cheat code or two). But what about beyond your friends? Are you comfortable finding video games for kids from strangers?

Sure! As long as you're careful!

A couple of resources that you might want to look into are:

• Local forums, regardless of specific area of interest. Look into forums that cater specifically to your area as most of these online communities will have a buy/sell section. There, you can post up the titles you'd like to trade, the games you'd like to receive in return, and any other stipulations you may have. Don't post your phone number publicly, though, just to be safe.

• Craigslist. This is probably one of the largest (and free) resources you can use on the internet. Surf through the wanted ads to see if anyone is looking for the game you want to get rid of and then reply to those ads asking if they have anything they'd like to trade. Alternatively, you can put up your own posting, exclaiming that you'd like to do some video game trading, what titles you have and what games you want.

• RedFlagDeals. If you're Canadian, this site should be bookmarked anyways. They post great deals from a variety of stores, but it's the forums that you should be most interested in. There, you can post up your video game trading intentions and let the fun begin. "Free" trades are even better than cheap video games.

Factors to Consider

• Games should be equal value, otherwise cash should be added on top by the party with the lesser-valued title. To research this, look into sites like eBay and Amazon to see what the current used price is for the two games in question. Don't settle with a loss just because they have a game you want.

• A word to the wise: Never trust the idea of trading video games with people at the other side of the nation, let alone the other side of the Earth. It is best to meet up with strangers in person and in a public area. Safety should always come first. That, and you don't want to get ripped off.

• Be wary of game condition. Especially now that nearly all games are on optical discs, even the smallest scratches can have drastic effects on playability. Ideally, you'd like to test out the games before doing the trade, but at the same time, it might not be the brightest idea to invite a stranger over to your home. Trading portable games (like the DS and PSP) is a different story.

• Pirated and illegal copies are in abundance! And most of them may not work on your system. Look carefully at the game itself, the instruction booklet, the case and so forth to see if they are legitimate. The last thing you'd want is a fake game.

• What's included? It might not be a big issue for some people to be missing the original box or the instruction booklet, but it can be a big deal breaker for others.