Thursday, April 7, 2011

A Gamer's Guide To Smart Shopping

Well, I promised you something more interesting, i hope this is it.
I've just bought a new Xbox 360, and spent most of my savings on it. some of you may know, i don't live in the UK or US or any other country where a game costs 50$, I live in israel and it costs more like 90-100$ for new console games because of taxation of import.
I still like to buy original games and am generally against the piracy of games.
So how can i afford new games while keeping my low budget demands? EBAY!
Now i know most of you probably know this, so this won't come as a shock, but i wanted to show the others, who are afraid of trusting strangers from a strange land with money and hope they ship something that's not broken.
Well first off, on ebay, if you wait long enough and are clever enough, you can buy completely new&sealed games for a fraction of the original price, how much is a fraction you ask? Mass Effect 2 cost me 15$ including shipment, and if you feel you can buy used games in great quality(seriously, they seem like new games just without the wrapper) I got Assassin's creed II for 10$ including shipment.
Now you might notice that these games are not the newest games on the market. you'd be right, it's sometimes hard to get new games at proper prices, but compromises must be made.
So how to find these games at such a bargin you ask?
Go to the search, and type the game you're looking for, then in the results page sort by shipment P&P: Lowest First. Then enter your place of residence.
Now you have to be careful, cause a lot of sellers don't specify shipment to shithole places like where i live, but will give you a rate if you ask.
Then depending on how fast you need the game, you can either look for Buy It Now or Bidding.
Also remember: watching is your friend, it'll keep a list of the items you might like and watched.
Finally, after you find the game you want you need to order, here most people get scared of giving out credit card info and such. Well, that's what PayPal's for.
And if you get a faulty game or broken or whatever? Ebay Consumer Protection will let you file a complaint and if you don't settle this with the seller, ebay will refund fully.
Happened to me a couple of times and nothing was wrong!
So good luck getting your new Halo:Reach for only 25$ incl. shipment!

12 comments:

  1. Very interesting read, thanks for sharing!

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  2. Hardcore gamer reporting. Following mate !

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  3. Thanks for the tip, shame about those crazy taxes

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  4. I am always buying games so any way I can save money is great, thanks for the info!

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  5. It's good that your found a way to get games so cheap. I would never pay $100 for a game regardless.

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  6. I buy most of my games through steam. :D

    Respect for being Israeli though.

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  7. Hah, ya games and consoles are pretty expensive here...

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  8. I've been buying my games from online shops for ages. Although I still usually have to wait few months for their prizes to drop, but they still cost less than half what they would in stores here. I don't even remember the last time I have bought a game that cost more than 25 euros.

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  9. awesome tips but i use steam when i buy but will keep this in mind

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