If you’re a cash strapped gamer, chances are you’re quite familiar with the art of game trading.
Some of the bigger video game retailers out there “underwhelm” those folks who are looking to get some worthy dough for their used games. One of the latest used game trade-in services that’s surfaced in SpareCoin, an online service that’s easy to use and understand. The service is currently in a beta phase, but its going to go public sometime later this month.
We spoke with the chief financial officer of SpareCoin Jake Lumetta, who gave us the lowdown on everything gamers need to know about this new service.
1. What is SpareCoin?
SpareCoin is the fastest way to trade in your video games from home. You can literally trade in your entire collection of used games in under 60 seconds.
2. How does SpareCoin work?
We allow gamers to trade in games in three simple steps:
1) Enter the games you want to trade.
2) We send you a free CoinBox (a prepaid and pre-addressed shipping box).
3) You send the games back to us and we pay you cash. If you prefer, we’ll even pick up the box right from your house so you never have to leave home.
3. Where did the initial idea for SpareCoin come from?
My Xbox 360 died twice from the dreaded RROD (Red Ring of Doom) so I finally gave up and decided I would just sell all of my stuff. That’s when I realized my only choices were taking my games to the local game store for pennies, going through eBay’s headaches, or facing Craigslist’s relentless hagglers. There had to be a better way and thus SpareCoin was born as a fast, safe, and fair way to trade in old games without ever leaving home.
4. How is SpareCoin different from other game trading services?
We have a belief: Life is short and busy. You should spend it enjoying new things, not trying to get rid of the old. We help you enjoy new games by instantly unlocking the value of your old ones. With that said, we have designed the entire process to be as fast and hassle-free as possible. From entering the games you’d like to trade in, to shipping the games back to us in our pre-paid + pre-addressed CoinBox, to receiving your payment via a wide array of choices. It seriously only takes 60 seconds or less to complete your trade and completely handle all shipping costs and materials. The only thing you need to do is drop your games into the CoinBox and peel off the self-adhesive strip.
5. How have gamers responded to the beta phase?
The response has been awesome and we’ve seen a wide array of people using the service from hardcore gamers looking to get more cash for their games then their local store would offer to busy mom’s looking for a dead simple way to get rid of old Spongebob Squarepants and Star Wars Lego games their kids have grown out of. Over one thousand gamers have used SpareCoin to unlock the value in their games and have priced more than $100,000 worth of Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and Nintendo (3)DS games.
6. When will SpareCoin publicly launch?
We will be launching publicly at the end of this month.
7. Is SpareCoin prepared to allow the trading of next-gen games (Xbox One and PS4)?
We plan to support all next-gen consoles and is something we’re following very closely. The Wii U and PS4 seem to be well positioned to allow for a used games ecosystem and as of late the Xbox One sounds like it’s joining the party but details are still in flux. We can all hope Microsoft makes the right move here.
8. What are some games that you’ve noticed being traded the most through SpareCoin?
It’s pretty fascinating to see which games folks trade in. Halo 4 has been very popular which to us doesn’t bode well for the longevity of that game, meanwhile other blockbuster games like Borderlands 2 very rarely gets traded in. Of course a lot of the older Call of Duty games and last year’s sports titles are also pretty popular trade ins as people move on to the new hotness.
9. Are there any special deals that can only be used through SpareCoin?
We don’t currently have any specials running during our beta period but once we launch publicly we’d love to offer Heavy.com readers an exclusive. We’ll reach out early next month with more details :)
10. What are some new features that you’d like to implement through SpareCoin?
One of the most requested features is to be able to trade in hardware which makes total sense. Since we’re the fastest way to trade in games we find a lot of gamers would love to be able to unload their entire collection, hardware and all, in under 60 seconds. We also have plans for a super slick mobile app where you can scan in games and make trading in even faster!
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Video Game Trade Service SpareCoin: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know (Interview with Jake Lumetta)