One of the main reasons not every local game store enters the video game category is because dealing with the hardware can be daunting. There’s some amount of expertise needed, though the real amount needed is less than most people think for 95% of business purposes. There is a real concern about the “junk shop” aesthetics having a negative impact on the store. Bad actors can be a real problem, whether it’s a person trying to sell you a broken system and hoping you don’t notice, or a person who got their system banned from online services for modifying it, and wants to unload.
In reality, even though there are a lot of systems out there that a video game store should be aware of, the Pareto rule absolutely applies: 20% of the systems that exist will account for 80% of your system buying and selling. Master the ones that count and have a basic procedure ready for the ones that are a bit more obscure, and you can make great money off anything that lands on your trade counter.
This article is exclusive to paid subscribers below the paywall. We’ll cover a few systems above the fold so you have a notion of what information gets reached about each system, and then cover all the rest in the exclusive section.
First, here is a reprint of my public-facing system buylist from DSG when we were heavily into video games. Note that this goes against the norm that you want to advertise that you buy everything to train people to bring you everything; labor constraints were a real thing for us, and you might not be situated the same. Crucially, this article will delve into the specifics of why I did or did not buy any given system, so even if your store does buy everything, you’ll have more knowledge to use to raise or lower offers when it makes sense to do so.
[Start Buylist]
We buy great video GAMES and SYSTEMS! Also 1st party controllers and accessories! For games, just bring it in. We buy most titles but may sometimes turn down outdated sports or other titles in low demand. To sell us a system, it must be working and include the matching first-party controller and any necessary hookups or included hardware. For most systems this means a power cable or power adapter, and a video cable or HDMI cable. Playstation 3/4/5 have controller charging cables as well. Nintendo Switch (non-Lite) has a dock and grip. Even if your system is incomplete, you can still sell it to us, but we must reduce your offer by the price of the parts needed to complete it, since we have to take those out of our inventory.
Systems We Buy!
Systems We Buy, But Please Message Ahead for an Appointment!
Systems We Don't Buy.
Systems We Buy!
Atari 2600
Microsoft Xbox 360 (2013-2014 "E" version only)
Microsoft Xbox One S and X (with disc drive)
Microsoft Xbox Series X
Nintendo NES (Top-loader only)
Nintendo Super NES (Regular or slim)
Nintendo 64
Nintendo Gamecube
Nintendo Switch (any)
Nintendo GameBoy Pocket (Black/White)
Nintendo GameBoy Color
Nintendo GameBoy Advance (including SP and Micro)
Nintendo DS
Nintendo 3DS
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis (Any)
Sega CD
Sega 32X
Sega Saturn
Sega Dreamcast
Sega Game Gear (Always bought as "broken")
Sony Playstation 2 (Slim)
Sony Playstation 3 (SuperSlim)
Sony Playstation 4 (Slim or Pro)
Sony Playstation 5
Sony Playstation Vita (Launch or Slim)
Systems We Buy, But Please Message Ahead for an Appointment!
These systems are unusual enough that our daily staff may not be familiar with them, so we want to make sure one of our video game experts will be on duty when you bring in the gear, so we can make you a great offer!
1UP Arcade Consoles
3DO Panasonic or GoldStar
Action Max
Atari 400/800/XEGS and so on (any)
Atari 5200
Atari 7800
Atari Lynx
Atari Jaguar
Bally Astrocade
Bandai WonderSwan (any)
Colecovision/ADAM (any)
Commodore 64/128/PET/VIC-20
Commodore Amiga (any)
Emerson Arcadia 2001
Evercade
Fairchild Channel F
Magnavox Odyssey/Odyssey2
Mattel Aquarius
Mattel Intellivision I/II/III/INTV
Microvision
MSX/MSX2
NEC PC-Engine
NEC PC-Engine CD
NEC SuperGrafx
NEC Turbo Express
NEC TurboGrafx-16
NEC TurboGrafx CD
NEC Turbo Duo
Nintendo Japanese Systems (Famicom, Super Famicom, etc)
Nintendo Virtual Boy
Nokia N-Gage
Philips CD-i
Pioneer Laservision
Polymega
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (any)
SNK Neo Geo AES
SNK Neo Geo CD
SNK Neo Geo Pocket
Tapwave Zodiac
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
Tiger Game.Com
Vectrex
Systems We Don't Buy.
Sorry, I promise they were cool and you were cool to own one. Usually the reason we don't buy these systems is because they fail at a high rate, especially the ones with CD/DVD drives.
Microsoft Xbox (2001 Original)
Microsoft Xbox 360 (Fat or Slim)
Microsoft Xbox One (Launch/Fat with separate power brick)
Microsoft Xbox One S Digital Edition (no blu-ray drive)
Microsoft Xbox Series S
Nintendo NES (Front-loading with lifting door)
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii U
Nintendo Game Boy (Original w/green screen)
Sony Playstation
Sony Playstation 2 (Fat)
Sony Playstation 3 (Fat or Slim)
Sony Playstation 4 (Launch/Fat)
Sony Playstation 5 (Digital Edition, no blu-ray drive)
Sony PSP
Games/Accessories We Don't Buy.
There are some things we just can't resell for various reasons, so we want to save you the trouble of bringing it in.
PLEASE NO:
Microphones or headsets or other items that touch the mouth or head when used
Wii Fit Balance Boards
VR hardware such as PS-VR, Oculus, etc
Guitar Hero controllers
Rock Band controllers except those designed for PS4/Xbox One
Custer's Revenge (Atari)
The Guy Game (PS2/Xbox)
“Reproduction” software
[End Buylist]
I had a secondary buylist behind the counter only for staff to see, listing the systems on our “no” list that we would buy if they walked in the door and were in great shape and powered up on test. We would still tell people online or over the phone that we were not buying these:
Microsoft Xbox (2001 Original) if limited version such as Green Halo, Mt Dew
Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim manufactured 2011 or later
Nintendo NES
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii U
Nintendo GameBoy (Original w/green screen)
Sony Playstation 3 (Fat CECH-A01/B01 that boots a game and no yellow light)
Sony Playstation 3 (Slim)
Sony Playstation 4 (Launch/Fat)
Sony PSP (HIGHLY condition dependent)
There it is. Now I’m going to cover every single one of those entries with an explanation as to why, and the first few will be above the fold for everyone to read.
ATARI 2600 (Video Computer System or “VCS”) - You generally want to buy these if you can power them up on test and they are in reasonable aesthetic condition. They have relatively little replay value and you should not pay a high ratio, but they almost always work, vintage enthusiasts want them, and they have great shelf appeal. I would consider a system complete as long as it has the AC plug and two joysticks. The RF-out cable is built in to the system, and you should have a bucket of very cheap RCA-to-coax adapters on hand to include for free rather than trying to get the right type of switch box.
MICROSOFT XBOX 360 (2013-2014 “E” VERSION) - I’d consider not taking any 360 units right now, because in a few weeks Microsoft is shutting down the Xbox 360 digital store entirely, and while the system can still run disc media, the vast majority of consequential titles have been re-released for newer systems, made backward compatible, have had their servers shut down, or otherwise won’t be in demand (i.e. Madden 2008). But there’s probably a number that’s correct to buy any 360 at, and if you’re buying any of them, you really only want the E version, which is the good one. No power supply burnouts like in the early fats and elites, actual buttons instead of the accident-prone touch power in the S, and comes with 250GB or 500GB hard drives if it has one (and you need to physically check). The earliest 360s didn’t even have wi-fi or HDMI, so there definitely is a difference. If the system doesn’t come with an OEM controller in decent shape, pay very little if you buy it at all.
MICROSOFT XBOX ONE S and X (with blu-ray drive) - The Xbox One is mostly redundant now with the Series consoles exactly compatible with it (except for Kinect, but trust me when I say you don’t care about that). However, as a cheap alternative to a Series, the Ones still have some market value. Avoid the launch/fat One at all costs, it is the one with a power brick, and those bricks have an insane failure rate. There are some other corner cases where you want a One S or X as well, such as forward controller compatibility, since Microsoft started on a proprietary-only connection with the One Fat and transitioned to a bluetooth-compatible connection later. The X can have heat issues, and either one could need a hard system update via USB drive and not wireless, but other than that, they are generally safe to buy. Always log in to Xbox Live (create a store dummy account) to see if the system is hardware banned.
MICROSOFT XBOX SERIES X - Buy with confidence. Again, have a store dummy account to log into Xbox Live so you can make sure the console isn’t hardware banned, and not too many people are selling these or Playstation 5 units these days, so do your normal diligence to avoid buying one that is stolen.
NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM (“NES”) (Top-loader only) - The NES is of course the first modern video game console and will always be in some demand. It came in two versions: the very common front-loader, and the uncommon top-loader. Always buy the top-loader if it boots. You can even pay a high ratio. It is probably the second-most-wanted official NES, with the AV Famicom (Japan-only) being the most wanted version because of its upgraded video output. I took the front-loader off our buylist because of labor constraints. The reality of the front-loader is that they pretty much always need a re-pin. Replacement 72-pin connectors are cheap and widely available and the refit isn’t the worst repair in the world, but it’s a bit time-consuming and it’s just one more problematic thing bottlenecking your throughput. So, unless you are putting console repair and modding in a prominent place in your business model, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. You can always buy them for very low rates as “untested” and sell in bulk to modders, as a secondary thing, but I suggest that this is mostly just a long play that helps when you buy entire collections of video games and end up with NES front-loaders as a side-effect.
Next below the paywall, the greatest console of all time, the Super Nintendo! For everyone who isn’t a paid subscriber, I hope you enjoyed the partial article, and have a wonderful week full of health and prosperity.