GameStop iPhone App Actually Tells You a Game's Trade-In Value

I don’t trade many games in at GameStop, but when I do, I’m usually flying blind as far as the trade-in value is concerned. The GameStop website lists trade-in specials; these are the games that the retail locations will pay more for, and the trade-in may or may not have to be coupled with some other purchase. You can also try your luck calling into the store, though if you’re trading in a large amount of games, this could be tedious. If you don’t do either of these, you’re pretty much showing up and seeing what GameStop will give you in cash or store credit.

There is a third option, though, and I’m disappointed I didn’t know about it sooner — the GameStop iPhone app.

The trade-in value of a game has always felt like super secret data that you could only get by visiting a store, but once you launch the iPhone app, the option to do so is right there in front of your face. Tap the “Trade” tab at the bottom, and then tap either “Games,” “Consoles,” “Electronics,” or “Accessories.” You can then search to find the item you want the value for, and you’ll be  able to see the trade-in value for store credit and cash for both PRO members and non-PRO members.

Looking something up takes very little time — seconds, really — and you may find out that a game you want to exchange won’t net you the cost of the trip. Halo 4, which is the newest Halo game available right now, would get me exactly $1, and an extra 10 cents on top of that for being a PRO member. I know Halo: Master Chief Collection is coming soon, but I’ll probably just keep Halo 4 anyway.

I found out about this in a forum somewhere, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out which one. But just know that I didn’t stumble upon this myself. There. Conscience cleared. But seriously, if you often travel to GameStop to trade in games and you’d rather know the trade-in value beforehand, download the app. And if you have any thoughts about it, leave them below.