Looking for Input - Used Board Game Policy

[OrganizedPlay]

Heya,

Been tossing around some thoughts for how to manage and set up a used board game business that's fair to the seller, the customer (and, well, me too. ) I've got an idea, but I want to throw it out there for discussion and see what you guys think of it before I move on it.

Just FYI, at this point board games are foreseeably the only used product I'll ever deal in - McKay's does a better job at used RPG books than I could ever hope to; used comics take up too much space and they're hard to keep my store stocked with and keep the look I'm trying to go for. But there's nowhere else in town that offers a used board game service, so I think it could be an intriguing draw and save folks some money, as well as provide a conduit for people to move their old collections into newer games they want to play at less cost.

The Rules:

First, any board game that I accept for trade-in would have to to meet these criteria:

• All pieces have to be in place - no missing parts, from instruction sheets to dice.
• It has to be in good condition. Some wear and tear is OK, but broken parts are a no-go.
• It has to be a board game that I am currently carrying in the retail selection, am interested in carrying but haven't been able to find, or that I just like.
• I can't have more than two used copies of any given board game at any one time.
• Trade-ins will only be accepted on Sundays - typically, our board game-themed days - and on Mondays between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. These days, so far, are typically slower and will allow me less-interrupted time to count through the pieces with the customer (which is a real concern with Fantasy Flight )
• And all that said, I reserve the right to refuse any trade-in for reasons such as cash flow, condition of our stock levels and available storage space.

As far as pricing goes (and I believe in being fully transparent on this,) trade-ins will receive 30 percent of MSRP as credit towards any purchase in the store. Trade-ins will be sold for 75 percent of MSRP. In the case of more expensive games - such as say, Descent or Twilight Imperium - this means that one could entirely likely walk in with a game and walk out with another used one.

Obviously, I am making some profit here, but there's a time cost in making sure the board games are acceptable piece count and condition, and there's also space being taken up by pretty heftily sized games that could be used for other product.

Let me know what you think! I'm definitely open to suggestions and/or critique; all I ask is that you keep criticism constructive and try to offer a good alternative plan of action with it.

-Morgan

[raddevon]

I think buying and selling used games would be a fantastic idea. Board games are pretty expensive. This would let people buy more. It would also give you a way to increase your margin a bit over new games as well as giving your shop a distinction over other local shops. I'm sure you know this, but BGG has a list of bits for all games which would make it easy to find whether or not games are complete.

I support this.

[OrganizedPlay]

Devon:

Thanks for the thoughts! Yeah, I'm familiar with BGG's piece listing, but there's a few issues there:

• First, BGG's list would have to be referenced for every individual piece that's missing.
  
• Second, there's a time cost to doing the checking; you're also often dealing with multiple people and trying to coordinate multiple pieces arriving for one game at the same time. I've learned from doing some purchasing on eBay that this can be a little problematic.
  
• Third, I'd have to hold the game in the back until all the pieces came in for it. What you see when you walk in my door is pretty much all the space I have available to me - there's a small bathroom closet, and a little back hallway that's unsuitable for keeping stock in... I definitely do JIT (just in time) ordering on games.

All these things combined means that a lot of the margin would be eaten up in my own labor with hunting down the pieces, and I've got pretty crowded notes/mental space as-is. While it's possible that I could do them in slow times, typically, I spend downtime datamining games manufacturer's community sites and finding gamers local to Knoxville to make personal connections with and make sure they know about my store and what I can offer; I also spend it updating all the social gatherings affiliated with this site (like this board!)

All that said, if someone comes to me with a high-dollar game such as Descent and there's just one or two pieces missing, I'll probably make an exception for that. But those exceptions will probably be pretty far and few between.

I hadn't even thought about possibly making exceptions until you mentioned it, so I do definitely appreciate it.

-Morgan

[Thag13]

What about older games, like old SPI games or Avalon Hill?

Is there a market for those games.?? And considering the amount of game parts and small tiles, could you even consider checking that EVERY counter is there?

My suggestion on those game is buy cheap, sell cheap and with a AS IS policy.

I also think a seller that came in with all the parts in zip baggies and an a good looking game, would get a better deal that seller that had everything just dumped in a box.

[OrganizedPlay]

On the last part, Thag, I was definitely considering adding a 5 percent premium to any game that comes in pre-bagged and games with large amounts of counters pre-sorted in stacks of 5 or 10. My only slight issue with that is I prefer to keep my programs very simple - it helps the customer be clear on what they're getting, and it makes their expectations of me transparent. But that is a slight issue, and if I roll out the program, I could definitely see implementing it not long afterward.

As far as older games go, I'm just not that sure. The idea with only taking games I carry is to save shelf space - all I have to do to let people know the used version is available is put a sticker that says, "Used Copy Available!" under the new one. If I deal in older games, I'd have to find space to display them.

For a lot of shops, that's entirely doable. But I'm committed to showing all my merchandise fully face out and well-spaced. One issue I've had with some local gaming stores is going into them feels claustrophobic. They're just so filled with stock that it doesn't feel comfortable, and everything's uninviting to look at because it's side-out. I figure companies pay good money to develop a good looking face side of the box, so I want to reward that!

I really only want to deal with games that I've verified are fully intact because to you, me and other people who are into board games, that's not a big deal. But my shop's positioned for a lot of pass-by downtown traffic, and while I could say games are as-is till I turned blue, there would be people who wouldn't be satisfied with receiving a game that's missing pieces. I would just rather take the time to avoid that hassle.

And, yeah, it's a long time to check those counters, but that's why I set the times I accept games to what I foresee now as being my slower times. It's also why my proposed margin is pretty good on them.

-Morgan

[Thag13]

This sounds like a well thought out policy.

[raddevon]

Morgan,

I wasn't really suggesting that you could take games that are incomplete. I was only pointing out that you could use BGG to determine if a game is complete or not. If it isn't, I agree with your first instinct (you should not take it). Taking incomplete games would be harder on you and provide more variables to the consumer. I think that part of the policy can afford to stay black and white.

I do think you could allow yourself some discretion in carrying multiple copies of a game. If it's a game you think will be easy to sell, is relatively cheap, takes up little space, or some combination of the three, I don't think it would necessarily be a bad thing to have two copies. What brought this to mind is a thread I was reading on BGG which says there is a set of rules that supports four players if you have two sets of the game.

I understand it will be a difficult thing and there are more considerations than outsiders could ever consider. It would make me happy, but, obviously, that isn't the only end you're trying to achieve in your business.

Good luck either way.