Bargain Bastards

I know this is sort of a contradiction from what I posted a few days ago regarding buying new video games, but this is actually a pretty sweet deal. I was always planning on buying Call of Duty: Black Ops on launch day as I know I’ll get tons of playing time with the multiplayer, but Halo: Reach was going to be a used purchase for the single player only. However, I’ve changed my mind due to the current deal running at Best Buy.

If you’re not a Reward Zone Member take a minute to sign up and then make sure to Opt-in to the Gamers Club so that you receive better deals on video games. The Gamers Club also makes it easier to get gift certificates back when you purchase games. For example, normally for the reward zone you need to spend $250 in order to receive a $5 gift certificate, but with the Gamers Club you only need to spend $150 on video games to get a $10 gift certificate. So this deal would also net you $120 towards that $150 you need for another $10 credit, so you’re next gaming purchase will get you a $10 gift certificate. So if you already have at least $30 worth of video games purchased since your last $10 gift certificate you could get both games for $65. Now let’s look at how it will all go down.

Now that you’re a reward zone gamer club member you have access to special deals, but what we’re interested in right now is the 500 bonus points you get for preordering Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops (both offer 500 points each, so 1000 points). So each game will net you a $10 gift certificate for preordering them, so there’s $20 right there. Bestbuy.com is currently running a promotion where if you buy (or pre-order) any game or accessory over $39.99 they will mail you a $25 gift card (make sure to add the gift card to your cart, I don’t think it just automatically appears). So essentially you’ll have to buy the games up front for $120, but you’ll get back $45 in gift cards and if you’re anything like me and buy Movies/Video Games at Best Buy all the time, the gift cards will get used eventually so it’s just like having $45 bucks in your pocket.

Now as I mentioned before, if you already have at least $30 worth of games on your gamers club account, this purchase will net you another $10 gift certificate giving you a grand total of $55 in savings, basically buy 1 get 1 free for 2 of the hottest releases this fall! And that’s not all, if you find you don’t like one of the games and can’t see yourself playing it that often, sell it on eBay or Glyde the 1st or 2nd week it’s released and you’re sure to make at least $50 back, so you’ll almost get 1 game for free. This is what I will be doing with Halo: Reach. I’ll play through it and then sell it on eBay, thus allowing me to get Black Ops for next to nothing.

Also, if you don’t want to wait for bestbuy.com to ship the games (since they don’t guarantee release date delivery) make sure to do in-store pickup. I don’t see any stipulation regarding using that option instead of shipping as far as the $25 gift card goes.

Just an FYI, make sure you add the $25 gift card to your cart, see the image below. Click that link on either games product page and add the gift card to your cart. After you add 2 qualifying games the gift card will drop it’s price to $0.

A brand new video game is probably one of the dumbest things you can buy if you’re looking to save money. Sure there are games-by-mail places like GameFly™ and now Blockbuster online, but those are actually kind of expensive if you don’t play through games fast enough. Wouldn’t you rather play a game for a week for free?? I know I would, and I do, and here’s how.

If you have a GameStop in your area you can take advantage of this little trick, if not you may be able to find another store that sells used games that has a similar policy. All you have to do is find a game you want to play, buy the used version of the game, play it for 7 days and then return it. GameStop’s return policy on used games is that if you return it within 7 days of purchase, you get a full refund. So in other words you can basically give GameStop a small loan to borrow a video game, try it out, and return it without losing any money.

If you find yourself beating games really fast or getting bored of them really fast this is definitely the way to go. I can usually fly through a First Person Shooter in a couple days so buying them is a total waste of money unless I know I’m going to play the multiplayer a lot. For example, I know I’ll be buying Call of Duty: Black Ops because I’ll play it online for the next year, but something like Medal of Honor, which I don’t think I’ll play the multiplayer too much, I’ll just pick up used the week after it comes out and bust out the single player in a week and return it. There are no negatives here, especially since there’s a GameStop right near my work so I don’t have to go out of my way to return them.

I will say that the easiest way to do this is to make sure that you pay cash for your games. If you pay with a credit card and then return it, it can sometimes take a few days to get the money credited back. Also I guess if you’re paranoid about GameStop cutting you off, using cash would be a better way to prohibit them from having a record of your returns. I’ve never had a problem doing this although I do it at my girlfriend’s brother’s GameStop, but he’s told me before that they don’t care if you do it because that’s the company policy.

So stop wasting money on new games that you know you’re going to get sick of in a week. Buy them used at GameStop (even new games can be found used for $55 about a week after release) and play them for a week and get a full refund. If you don’t happen to finish the game in a week and still want to play it, return it and go buy it at a different GameStop. I guess you could try to rebuy it right then and there, but then you might start running into problems. I can’t tell you how much money this method has saved me, but I know I hate watching games pile up after I stop playing them…. huge waste of money.

I know some of you are lazy like me and well hate to go the extra mile if you don’t have to. Well there’s a fix to that problem and it goes by the name of Glyde. Basically this is a way for people to sell and buy media without really doing anything. Its really simple to use. First you have to make an account, as usual with anything today duh. Then after you do that you just goto your game box sitting in the dust and pick out the games you want to sell. To post your games you want to sell is pretty simple. There is a tab at the top that says “Organize”. All you have to do is Add the media you want to sell and it puts it in a really neat order, showing you the picture of the media you selected. After that’s done you just click on the picture and hit the tab Sell This Item. Now after that’s all done and you’re just cruising along, you will get an email that says CONGRATS on selling this item. Now most would think, oh man i need to go to the ups store or FedEx Kinko’s, BUT Glyde takes care of that chore for you. Yes you heard right. They send you a prepaid zip envelope that is all ready addressed to the recipient and boom you’re done.

Now i know you’re probably wondering how they can do that and make money, well they charge you a tiny fee for the shipping, BUT like a good friend of mine said, “Convenience is sometimes worth a little less money”, and he could not be any righter! So get on the intenets and sell that unwanted media!