Mashing Buttons

I wrote a while back on my other blog about the commitment to de-cluttering our lives and shedding a lot of the stuff that we have accumulated over the years.  Our biggest problem is books as we have the sheer number of books that would fill two small libraries and maybe a book mobile (you know, like one of those vans, not the big trucks).

One of the other things I identified was my attachment to games that I’ve enjoyed and in the case of the Playstation 2 games that I probably will never play again (or for the first time in a couple of cases).  I really wanted to finish the Transformers game on the PS2 but I’ve moved to the Transformers game on PS3 and I don’t honestly think there is any turning back.That’s not to say they weren’t great games but there just isn’t enough time in the day for me to go back and play them.  So the reality check is that they really should go.

So we tried selling a couple on eBay and with any consumer electrical peripheral there is a chance that it’s not going to work on someone’s set up despite being tested on my system and working fine.  And that would be okay too but there is a new, dimmer breed of eBay customer who don’t know how to act within a society*, I assume these are the same people leaving comments on YouTube.

So I snapped this morning and decided that I would take 51 of my games over to EB Games** to trade them in, to be honest I just wanted them out of the house.  I called up my local EB Games and asked if they were okay with my bringing in fifty odd games at once and they were perfectly happy and explained that they couldn’t give me a quote over the phone, which was fine because I wasn’t expecting it.

So I packed up the piles of games and ducked down to the shop.  On the way I tried to work out what figure I’d be happy with and again secretly I just wanted them out of the house so I doubt I would need my arm twisted too much even if it were a low price.

I already marked the games missing manuals and the one game that was in the wrong box (how I bought it originally) and they went through and checked the discs.  The entire time the man I spoke to on the phone was engaging and we chatted about games  and movies whilst he went through the games.  He also dealt with other customers professionally as he advised them that he was unavailable to serve them despite their rather rude demands despite there being another clerk standing there ready to help them.  Full credit to the guy!

Once he tallied it all up and explained why some games didn’t fetch as much due to some mild scratching I was more than happy with the price and the fact that I had the option of store credit or cash (the cash amount slightly lower but not unreasonably so and understandable).  I won’t say how much it was because I’d rather not put that expectation out there for anyone else but it was a figure well above my safe mark.

So I traded most of my PS2 games and walked away with:

I’m pretty happy with the whole thing actually, I managed to save myself a lot of effort (remember that time is really valuable) and I got to pick up Red Dead Redemption which I’ve been eyeing off since it came out and two Lego games that I’ve had recommended to me numerous times in the past but never been moved enough to get it. The other thin was they had a three for two deal so I really did make out like a bandit.

But as I’ve already alluded too one of the most rewarding aspects was the customer service and the complete lack of pain involved in the whole process.

Good work EB Games!

*Yes we got burnt with a simpleton who upon realising that a certain game didn’t work, apparently went and got it cleaned three times before contacting us with threats to leave bad feedback before actually engaging in any dialogue.  If you’re on eBay and especially if you are new on eBay, don’t be that person.

**I or Mashing Buttons in general am not associated with EB Games Australia, this is an unsolicited post.