Trading Video Games with the Cap'n

Now that you're here, you will find all the information needed to Trade in your video games for up to 60% retail value!

In some cases, we may offer you as much as 80% of our retail price! It is rare, however, if we have a customer who really wants a game... we go all out in order to satisfy our customer's needs!

We use a small business called, Price Charting, to provide a base price for our video games... and now (12/2022) consoles as well!

We then factor in a few things...

  • What is the current price in the video game marketplace? We use the service which keeps up with everyone else's price (Amazon, eBay, etc.) so we don't charge too much (or too little) for any of our items.
  • What condition is your item in? If we have to do anything to it, we have to give a little less (think buffing or a new case is needed).
  • How many copies do we currently have? If we have one already, we give a little less. If we have 5 or more, a little less... and if we have more than 11 copies, still even less.  If we have so many copies now, odds are good we won't need more for a while (think old sports titles).

We factor EVERYTHING into our pricing quotes...

  • the game itself
  • the case
  • the insert
  • the manual

... to ensure you are treated as fairly as possible!  We all know having the original manual for a game increases the value.  Those "other" stores out there who don't factor those things in?  I dunno... I just wanna be fair to everyone!

Also keep in mind, we don't sell newly released used titles (or preowned, previously played, previously touched, prevously enjoyed, blah blah blah) for Five Bucks under the brand new price.  That's craziness!  We look it up and see what others are actually paying for that newly released, yet now used, video game title.

That's called fairness.  And that's what we strive for!

To get a trade in quote right now, we need a little work from you...

We need to know what you have!

Create a detailed list of everything you have to get a trade in quote.  I recommend using a spreadsheet (Google Sheets, OpenOffice.org) to create a list of what you have.

Common Headers are: Title - System - Condition - Includes.  Having these common headers makes it easier for us to give you a quote.

Example:

SUPER MARIO BROS            NES         COMPLETE
SUPER MARIO BROS 2         NES         GAME ONLY
SUPER MARIO BROS 3         NES         INSTRUCTION MANUAL ONLY

We take everything!  From cartridges and discs to inserts, manuals and cardboard boxes.  Even styrofoam and cartridge insert holders.  If it's video gaming related, we'll take it in trade!

We also pay cash for items.  Cash value is 1/2 the Store Credit values, as is common for the marketplace.  We ALWAYS recommend selling your items Person-to-Person if you are looking to get the absolute most out of your items.

In the future, we will have a fully-functional trade-in system so you can build a trade cart to submit along with your items. It's in the works.... but will be a minute.

Send your complete list via email (copy/paste out of spreadsheet into email body) - DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS (or pictures).  Too many viruses, so any attachements are NOT ACCEPTED by the email server.  Sorry.

Send your email to Sales<at>CapnGames.com - use Subject "Quote Please" to receive a quote for your items.  We use a filter so please be precise (we get 1000s of junk email a day).

All quotes received are printed out and put in queue with the other quotes we get every day.  Since we are the only game store that takes everything (that I'm aware of), we get a TON of stuff traded in.  Please be patient.

Upon receipt of your quote, we will reply with a time-estimate based on our current work-flow as for how long it will take for us to respond with a quote inquiry.

Any questions? You can also give us a call at 775-677-0311 - HOWEVER, we DO NOT give any sort of quote for your items over the phone.  Quotes are all done in writing only.

And final note: 90% of all walk-in trade quotes are DROP OFF ONLY.  We get so many trade quotes a day, we can't always help you with your many items at that exact point.  We've tried countless times to come up with a better system for immediate trade-ins.  The best we got is under 10 video game item trades, processed at time of walk-in (as able).  Anything with a console must be dropped off.

Drop slips were created in 2015 as a way to keep from having people stand around forever, since we have always taken everything other game stores send away (including sports titles).  We count every items you bring in, notate serial numbers, gather contact info and then put your accounted-for items in queue to be processed for a quote.  We welcome customers to take pictures of their dropped stuff and to help us count/verify the dropped items BEFORE signing the release form.

As holidays get closer, more and more people want to trade items in.

Please be paitent with us around the holidays.  Especially 11/20 to 1/31. New toys and a need to trade in old toys!

Thanks for reading about our trading page.  This page updates frequently, so please check back.  We will assume you have read this page each and every time you've traded with us... and signs update in-store as well.