For years, GameStop has been criticized for its trade-in practices and subsequent prices on games. That said, the retailer has taken some significant steps to repair its image, including ignoring the Xbox Game Pass price hikes, as well as some massive trade-in incentives towards a PlayStation 5 Pro before its scheduled price increase.
However, not even the most ardent GameStop supporter can defend this.
As first spotted in the GameStop subreddit, and confirmed via GameStop’s own website, the retailer is selling refurbished New Nintendo 3DS XL consoles for — wait for it — $399.99.
For reference, you can get a Nintendo Switch 2 brand-new for $439.99 at GameStop, and if you were lucky, they were as low as $399.99 from Woot about 48 hours ago.
The max amount of store credit you can get for trading in a New Nintendo 3DS XL is $165, if you’re a Pro member. If not, the max is $150. Cash value at GameStop is set at $115 (Pro members) and $105 (non-members).
Either way you shake it, GameStop is giving consumers less than half its retail value on the trade-in and then turning around and selling it for nearly $400 even.
Ouch!
Is The New Nintendo 3DS Even Selling For That Much?
GameStop’s pricing is mostly on par with what you can expect on the secondhand market. Keyword: mostly. PriceCharting has the loose price of the same New Nintendo 3DS XL at $265, with Complete In-Box sets sitting at $468.83.
However, eBay tells a different story. In March, a brand-new set of the same console had its auction finish at $363. Meanwhile, a cursory search for a red New Nintendo 3DS XL brought up a listing at $309, and another region-free at $294.99.
Bear in mind that GameStop’s listing is for a refurbished console that doesn’t have the box, and potentially doesn’t even have a matching stylus.
So Why The Massive Increase?
Ever since the Nintendo eShop went down in 2023, the only way to play through the 3DS library is via physical games. However, sophisticated techies have managed to make hacking or jailbreaking the 3DS rather seamless, opening up consumers to the goodies that once existed on the eShop and then some.
Now, everyone wants to get their hands on a 3DS, resulting in a massive price swing on the secondhand market since new consoles aren’t available at retail. Recently, gamers were reminded of a time in which Nintendo couldn’t give away 3DS consoles, with limited-edition console bundles selling for as low as $99.
The current reality is remarkably different. In the end, GameStop is really just trying to take advantage of a current fad, albeit by also significantly raising the price to where it doesn’t make much sense.
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