Consign or Sell?

I have two game stores within 25 miles that deal in used games. I likely have 30+ titles I'm looking to liquidate, and I'm trying to decide which option I should take.

1. Go the the closer store (much closer, like, two miles from where I work) and offer up all the games for purchase. They buy the games at a reduced price, cash me out and then sell them at a mark-up. My concern is that I'll bring in 30 games, they'll only make a reasonable offer (or any offer) on 16 of them, and I'll still have to use option 2 anyway. But, I'll have cash in my pocket that I can use for games, booze, cheap dames, etc. And I can purchase from online retailers (games) for cheaper prices with the instant proceeds.

2. Go to the farther store and put every doggone game onto their consignment rack at a price I set. When they sell at my price I get 100% of that in store credit. They'll order just about anything I want, including from GMT, VPG, etc., so I'll have solid options for the money I earn off the sales. Sure some games won't sell or won't sell soon, but presumably I'd head up that way to pick up new purchases anyway. More money, but all of it must be used for games, purchasing at MSRP. Eventually they'll throw the last few titles back to me that don't sell.

I'm a busy man with four kids, so option 1 looks easiest. But it's not the most lucrative, or at least doesn't appear to be on the surface. But it doesn't require a 50 mile round trip.

There's some good titles in the mix, so this likely is more than a few hundreds of dollars involved.

Anyone care to make a recommendation?

The second option seems much better. In order for it to be worth it for the first shop to buy your games, they'll have to reduce the cost too greatly to be worth it.

Either way, you should try local facebook groups or the like. It's work, but there are no real work-less ways to sell these games.

Erik Twice wrote: but there are no real work-less ways to sell these games.

I believe "time value of money" comes into the picture. If I drop everything in the first store's lap I'll get some amount of proceeds, in cash, done. The other two options (item 2 and your rec to hit Facebook) will likely generate more, but how much more, and how much hassle am I going through to generate it? Lining up with 18 buyers is going to suck, and I don't want to ship if I can possibly help it.

It's an opportunity cost scenario. Questions to be answered are:

What's the likelihood of you spending all of what you'd get from Option 2 on games? The opportunity cost is a lesser amount of cash that can be spent on anything, but a greater amount that can be spent on games.

Considering your busy schedule, what's the likelihood that you'll both have the opportunity to play all those new games to get value from them AND be willing to put up with regular greater travel times to Option 2? Opportunity cost there is both immediate (initial travel time) and long-term (getting more games that you may not be able to play, plus regular travel back to the store when things sell.)

How much is "more than hundreds of dollars" worth to you in opportunity/time? I ask myself this every time I think I'm making a trade where I'm getting the lesser "value" for it. Usually, my answer is: not as much as you'd think. I traded four out of print expansions for Arkham Horror recently for a copy of a "Works" edition of Kevin Smith's TMNT: Shadows of the Past. Nominally, those expansions had greater value than something that could be gotten from Ebay or elsewhere for straight cash. But my cost assessment was: a new game that I probably won't get a chance to play without spending money that I'd rather not spend vs. a bunch of stuff that's sitting on my shelf and won't see the light of day again anytime soon. I made the trade (like I almost always do.)

Comparing our situations is difficult, since I only have two incidental kids (my girlfriend's; both (largely) self-sufficient teenagers) that don't take up my time at all. The key question for me would be: Do I want more games that I might not play and might not get for months because things don't sell or do I want money right now that I can use for anything?

Given my current mindset, I'd say that *I* would take Option 1.

I've done both.

If I have surplus games and I have no pressing need for the money, I will do a consignment. Most of the time, I just want to dump the items and get the money, so I either sell to the store or sell online.

Good Luck!

What are you selling?

I haven't made the list yet. But it's likely to be 25 or 30 games, because frankly I'm out of space and that more or less is preventing me from buying anything new. It's not like I'm looking to blow hundreds of dollars on new games, but all the old that I'm not playing are just extra baggage. Now that I'm in a new house I have less space and I'm looking to free some of it up.

I have an original Through the Desert people keep asking about, a Cleopatra, Captain Sonar . . . a lot of stuff that is either duplicates with friends or just never played.

Is there a local game con with a flea market? Local meetup group ?

I'd personally take option 1. When I want stuff gone, I want it gone, period. If the store only wants 16 of the games, make him an offer of something like fitty bucks for the rest. Get em go, get some cash, continue with your life, don't look back, full heart, empty arms, can't lose.

I'd go with option 1 and then donate the remainder.

For the love of Pete (Putnam)...

Just sell the games for cash now. Death is coming for us all and we've no time to waste.