How to Trade-In Xbox One Games

Financing a pretty heavy gaming habit can be difficult. It seems that the more we adjust to the price of $60 video games, the more publishers try to take them away. Every game has downloadable content that costs extra. Every role-playing game, like Destiny and The Division, have add-in character skins and clothing that costs real money for good measure. Some people say that they’re compensating for the higher prices by simply buying fewer games. Millions of others are coping with the high prices by trading-in their Xbox One games.

The fundamentals of video game trade-ins seemed like they were about to morph when Microsoft launched the Xbox One. After a backlash, those changes went away. When you buy a disk based game, it’s yours to keep and do with what you wish. You can stick it on a shelf after you finish it. You’re free to head into a retail store to exchange it for store credit or cash.

Here’s how to trade-in Xbox One games, and what you should always keep in mind when trading a game in, regardless of what console it’s meant for.

Why You Should Trade-In Xbox One Games

Time and money, that’s usually the reason that someone sells off some of their games. Xbox One games are no exception. Either shoppers need more money because they ran out of time to save for another game, or they’ve already spent a lot of their time in a game already and no longer wish to keep playing. Often times, it’s more of the former than the latter.

Say you purchased Watch Dogs 2 and finished the game’s story. Then you decided against buying a season pass. You can continue to spend time in the game replaying the missions that are available, but you’ll probably want to move on to something else. Selling that game off to a retail store lets you move on and save some cash on your next title.

The store that you sell that game to will give you cash or credit for it, then mark up the game and sell it to someone else for lower than what a new copy costs. You can use the cash anywhere. If you take the store credit, you can only use the money on other things that the store sells.

Sometimes stores will give you trade-in value bonuses for a specific occasion. Before Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon arrived, one retailer boosted the amount of credit shoppers received for their game trade-ins. When this happens, it’s usually because the credit shoppers receive has to be for an upcoming pre-order. Some retailers will boost trade-in values for shoppers that have their membership cards too.

Why You Shouldn’t Trade-In Xbox One Games

The reasons that you wouldn’t want to trade-in Xbox One games are pretty straight forward.

Simply put, you don’t want to go trading-in a game that you think you might miss down the road. This is especially true of multiplayer games, where you’re burned out on them a few weeks after release, but might want to revisit later. What if new add-on content arrives for the game you’re giving up? You’ll need to buy it again, hopefully on sale.

If someone else in your family games, you absolutely don’t want to go trading-in a title they still play. The Xbox One requires you to install part of a game on your console, but it still needs the disc to run. They won’t be able to continue where they left off, even if you do see the game in your console’s installed list.

Where to Trade-In Xbox One Games

GameStop

GameStop has the premiere program for Xbox One games trade-ins. They offer everything, from trade-in bonuses to cash value instead of store credit. Their rules for trade-ins are straight forward. When handing over your game, you need a photo ID. They’ll tell you what they can give you for your title, then have you sign it away.

It’s your choice whether you get cash or store credit, but the store credit value of your games will always be higher than cash. GameStop now lets you check the value of your games before you head to your local store online. It’s up to each manager to accept a trade-in, and they might reject your trade-in if the disc is scuffed or scratched. The company does take games that don’t have their original case.

PowerUp Rewards Pro members get an extra 10% in trade-in value.

Amazon

Game trade-ins at Amazon get you credit for your account. Because the site doesn’t have stores, it provides for postage so that you can mail your game in. Once processed and approved, the outlet adds a gift card worth the value of that game to your account.

Amazon recently began testing upgrades to its trade-in service that lets gamers get credit for their console and disc trades immediately. You can immediately purchase something with the credit, but you have seven days to get Amazon the games or hardware you promised to trade.

Best Buy

Best Buy offers just store credit for its game trade-ins, but the rules are the same as GameStop’s. The game can be missing a case, but it can’t be scratched. You’ll have to go to your local store to trade-in your games, Best Buy doesn’t process them online. You can check the value of them online though.

A Gamers Club Unlocked trade-in boosts value for Xbox One games by 10%.

Is Trading-In Your Xbox One Games a Good Idea?

Only you can decide whether trading-in your Xbox One games is a good idea, but there are some things to keep in mind. Chief among those is that you’ll never get as much money for a game as you paid for it new. Also, you’ll likely never get as much for a game trade-in as you would if you sold that same game on a website like eBay or Craigslist.

Good luck with your Xbox One game trade-ins.