Where do gamers go?
The choices you have as a gamer are:
- Buy (Online, Ebay, used, Gamestop..)
- Rent (Gamefly, blockbuster…)
- Trade (Goozex, Switchplanet..)
Renting in the past at your brick and mortar rental place can easily set you back more then $5-$7 every week like Blockbuster. There have been other online rental game sites that charge a monthly fee like /month for one game out like Gamefly. Renting isn’t all together bad but playing videogames isn’t like watching movies. Much more time is needed for videogames than movies. Most movies range from 1.5 hours to epics of 6 hours. Where most videogames you could get a good feel for a game in 3 hours but most sports games and long role playing games could be played for more then 70 hours.
This is where Goozex steps in. Goozex allows the gamer to keep the game as long as you want but have the option to sell it too. There is only a $1 transaction fee if you request a game on their network. So basically you can trade in your older games and build up Goozex credit until you get enough for a newer title and just pay the $1 transaction fee. All shipping costs are handled by the sender so if you are requesting a game you only pay the and not the shipping and handling. No membership fees so no need to feel you need to use the system. This is ideal in the sense that you could play the game until you are actually sick of it then send it in for credit. So you’re not rushed to get as many games played on the network because you can play at your own pace. Plus you OWN the game. From then on the game is yours, not a rental.
You only send games directly to the next member. There is no single central warehouse and the pricing of the credits of the system are in points (100pts = $5). The pricing of the game is determined by market demand, release date, initial cost of the game, and a couple other factors. Most xbox 360 titles will go for 800-1000 pts which translates to $40-$50. This isn’t bad for a used game. You could probably save a little bit of money if you bought it at a used gaming store but then you would have to pay tax and actually go to the store. Goozex gives you free shipping to you with no tax charge. You also have an option to buy credits if you want but I wouldn’t recommend that unless you have no games to send in or nothing of yours is being requested. The game prices will fluctuate and you will see the price change in your history. I’ve had a couple games I requested and I can see that price increase/decrease. It doesn’t happen that much but some games change +/- 200pts depending on market demand.
So why use Goozex instead of a used videogame store or an auction site with games like Ebay? You just need $1 to pay for the transaction fee. Most people don’t like to continually shell out more money for a game and then feel like the games they bought are depreciating at a very fast rate. Selling your game for cash anywhere will not give you that much. Brick and mortar stores resell your games for a huge mark up. Selling online is tiresome. Goozex at least you get to trade in games you are done with and still get some value out of it as it will lead to other games you really want. There might be more difficulty in sending older sports titles as those don’t have much demand once their season is up like trying to sending in EA sports Madden 2005 will be a hard game to sell to someone on the network. Older games on ebay are a hassle to sell. You can build your own game list and no insertion fees.
Lots of integrated information like tips and reviews. The best feature is the ability to see how many copies of a game are listed on the network verses how many are being requested. This will let you know if you have a game people want or if you can possibly get a game on the network. Goozex determines who gets the game by matching up users. There is a waiting list that is generated and when you add a game you will see in what place you are waiting for that game. You get a good feel to when you will get a game. You need to make a list for want and haves for your games. They will show you your place in line per game. Great place to build your wishlist. Building a large list ensures some games will continue to come to you. I was requesting Crackdown for the Xbox 360 and I was 60th person in line. I got this game in 14 days. Just because you’re really deep in line doesn’t mean you won’t get the game soon. Newer games do get pushed out in the system fairly quickly. You have many options to what you want to trade in terms of instructions, case or just game. This is helpful as some gamers tend to lose instructions and/or cases. The value of the game doesn’t go down as the credits don’t reflect what is included. This is because the user requesting the game can have the option to request only full packaged games, games with instructions, or just the game itself. I have not had a problem with getting full packages as I’ve gotten over 49 games and I’ve sent out 54 in under 2 years of being there.
Why NOT to use
For this site to be a perfect 5 star site I would like to see:
1. More users (will there ever be enough?)
2. More old school games (nes, snes, saturn….)
3. Sure isn’t free but man it’s 4 quarters. I’m a member of another site that has no transaction fees yet still protects the members.
4. Video game trailers for each game
5. More community interaction (user reviews, recommendations…)
All the above are small tweaks to the system that is already very functional. The main reason someone would NOT want to use this system is time and money. If you have the dough you would just buy it new down the street? Why wait? The main draw to the site is how much money you can save and the community there. Save money and also connect with other gamers. If you wanted to save money but are impatient then this sits is NOT for you. I’ve experienced about 1-2 month turn around time for new games. Why? You are placed in a waiting line. The order of the Que determines when you get the new game, but more importantly is how many are available? Most will eventually get bored of their new game and will send them out as “have” games. That could be more time than one might want to wait. Say you want a popular game that normally runs 40 hours to complete. Some people like myself take a long time with games. More popular games of course like Madden will hit the system quicker but that is also a bad thing. You don’t want to hold a game too long or it will lose it’s value. Trading for early on might be for 1000 points but in a couple months with the market being saturated it could be 500 points in no time losing half of it’s value. Not Goozex’s fault but some games just don’t move well.
Current Goozex Simultaneous Transaction on the Network as of Mar 11, 2009 = 4793