Reselling Video Games For Profit

Learn how to buy and sell wholesale and liquidation video games with little to no investment.

People are searching online for answers on how to buy wholesale video games to create a side hustle or just to add a little extra cash to their pocket, but more often than not expectations are high and results seem to fall short. The business of wholesale-to-retail is a little unorthodox for individuals or small start-ups who only have a little money to invest, and entrepreneurs might feel a little overwhelmed combing through a sea of sources that may take weeks to months to vet. And honestly, there really is no clear path for selling in this marketplace. However, with a little hustle and knowledge there are many ways to buy and sell profitably.

Hi! My name is Jeff and I have been buying and selling video games for the last 10 years. I have made a good amount of money selling goods using various storefronts as a side-hustle in my free time. I have had success and also many failures. I move forward with great ideas, but I also don’t let go of anything that may have steered me wrong so I can document and remember what to do and what not to do in the future.

As you continue reading you will discover real-life scenarios on what I have done to profit off reselling video game hardware and software, and what resources I used to find these products. I will also show compare platforms to use to sell your products and a few tips on how to run your business and how to avoid scams.

I have read a few eBooks about wholesale video games and I was not impressed. I would add these purchases into the “steered me wrong” category. The reason for this is because each eBook continues to state the obvious without providing answers on how to make it happen. I actually read an eBook that said to find suppliers you need to “do research on the internet”. Uh ok. This is true, you do need to do your research, but I imagine the reason you’re here reading this today is for a little more guidance and insight. So you can expected a bit more than that in this story and my goal is for you to take home some valuable information that can truly help you get started with a few small sales that will eventually blossom into a full-fledged business.

Retro Gaming - Bringing back the good ol’ days.

It’s no secret that retro gaming is making a comeback. Just look at the fascination with the newly released classic versions of Nintendo and Playstation consoles from the 90’s. Consumers are interested and there’s a good market for nostalgia. The only problem is these games are no longer in production and major retailers don’t keep them in stock at reasonable prices. There are very few markets where you can offer a better priced inventory than Amazon or Walmart, and this might be one of them.

My favorite source for wholesale retro games is JJ Games (JJGames.com). JJ Games is family owned, has been around for decades, and blind drop ships all of your orders for you directly to your customers. With drop shipping (more on that to come), you will never hold any physical inventory which makes it a great way to sell and ship products as long as you have a trusted supplier like JJ Games.

The JJ Games website is a marketplace for used previous-generation video game console software such as Xbox 360, Playstation 2, Sega Genesis, SNES, and much more. Their used game business model is similar to GameStop, they buy used video games from the consumer and resell them at a slightly higher price for a profit. As a wholesale buyer, you will receive a discount on all everyday prices.

Creating a wholesale account with JJ Games is simple. Just send them an email inquiring about their wholesale program, they will ask a few simple questions about your business and provide a unique coupon code for you to use with each order. List your games for sale and when you sell something, return to JJ Games to order that product with the provided code. The discount code will be valid for one year. The items are shipped quickly and can easily be marked as “blind”, meaning they will use your company information on the packaging so your buyer believes it was shipped directly from your inventory and warehouse.

Shop GoodWill is another valuable option for used retro video games. GoodWill offers an online auction marketplace available to the general public at shopgoodwill.com where you can bid on goods that were donated to GoodWill stores around the United States in the comfort of your own home. These items range in quality and can be anything from consoles, games, or accessories. The availability can be sort of a grab bag and you never know what you’re going to find, which makes it kind of exciting.

My favorite part about Shop GoodWill is it isn’t as widely known or used as many other auction sites, so the competition is often much smaller. Making the likelihood of snagging an awesome deal much higher. Finding the products you’re looking for is more difficult. When you visit the website you won’t see video game listings, you’ll need to dig through sub categories to find “Gaming Systems & Games”. Shop GoodWill takes just a little extra effort and that is something you can use to your advantage.

Liquidation - If you can’t beat the big-box retailers, join them.

Buying liquidation lots can be a little daunting, costs are higher, product condition can be questionable, and holding a physical inventory may not be your first choice. But liquidations can also pay off huge as big name retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart discount overstock, shelf-pulls, and customer returns. If your business plan is to strictly drop ship inventory, I can respect that, but if you’re open to new opportunities and can make a higher-cost investment, I would highly recommend liquidation lots.

One of my favorite liquidation auction websites is Liduidation.com. Liquidation.com is a liquidity services marketplace where anyone can purchase retail surplus inventory assets. Bulk lots are sold by the truckload, pallet, or small package, and conditions range from new-in-box to customer returns and used items. They sell a wide variety of product categories including video games, apparel, computers, electronics, housewares, industrial equipment, and even vehicles. The best part about Liquidation.com is there are no requirements to buy. There are no minimum orders and you don’t need a license or tax related documents to sign up. You just create an account and verify your email, it’s that simple to get started.

When I look back at my previous sales, Liquidation.com is where I made a large chunk of my money. Here is one of my favorites:

While searching through Liquidation.com lots I came across an auction for 175 brand new copies of Super Dungeon Bros for Xbox One. This game is obviously not a high-ticket title for Xbox One but if I scored this at the right price it could easily pay out. I fought it out with three other bidders and came out successful after 18 bids. I won the auction for $240 with $30 worth of shipping costs for a grand total of about $270. That brings the cost per unit to about $1.54. At the time the absolute lowest price I could find for Super Dungeon Bros from a retailer was on Amazon.com for $8.75. I undercut Amazon’s price and listed the game for a flat $8.00 with free shipping to provide incentive since there are no Prime features involved for purchasing my item.

About a month later I was able to unload all 175 copies for $8.00 each on Amazon Marketplace. After deducting seller fees of $3.00 and $1.38 for shipping and packaging per sale, I banked $3.62 for each game sold. I know that doesn’t sound like much but don’t forget, I purchased 175 of these at $1.54 a unit! Conclusively, I got a return of $633 from a $270 investment, netting me $363 from one Liquidation.com auction.

Now you’re not always guaranteed to get lucky but with the right investment and a little research you can easily come out on top. Track a few auctions to see what they sell for and work out a scenario of where and how you would sell the inventory and what price you could charge per unit. Once you’ve completed your analysis and find a recipe that works, start bidding!

Other notable liquidation companies:

DirectLiquidation.com — Powered by overstock and returns from Amazon, Walmart, and other big retailers, Direct Liquidation has a sizable selection of video game lots available. Signing up is easy and free but you do need to verify a payment method before you can start bidding.

TechLiquidators.com — Tech Liquidators was created by Best Buy to liquidate their own inventory directly to businesses. Most of the lots available are returns from Best Buy retail stores. The sign up process is a little more involved as it asks for your business name and estimated sales, but the service is free for anyone to use.

Buying Damaged Goods - One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

This is a chapter you won’t find in wholesale eBooks or other other “how-to” articles and one might consider these methods a bit obscure. But in order to make money sometimes your thinking needs to be a little unique, right? Repairing damaged goods can be a very lucrative market if you’re savvy enough to figure it out. No, I’m not talking about being a mechanic who fixes cars. I’m talking about video game salvage lots. Products that have seen better days, products that need a little attention to shine again on the marketplace.

When merchandise is marked as “Broken” or “As-is” it drastically lowers its value no matter what the details behind the title might say. Most consumers and even most resellers won’t go near products with these labels. I’m asking you to reconsider. I’m asking you to look past the cover and read it’s “pages” so to speak. Often a “broken” item might not be as it seems once you learn more about it.

The truth is people regularly list products as “broken” when they should really be considered “flawed”. “Flawed” you say? Well that doesn’t sound so bad. Would you purchase merchandise labelled as “flawed” or “broken”? I would. The point I’m trying to get across is that merchandise is often completely functional with one flaw and is sold as “broken, as-is”.

Here’s an example:

This Playstation 4 console was listed for sale on eBay as “as-is” and “bad disk tray”, but no details on if the console actually powers on or if it’s been opened up. When I questioned the seller, he stated that this Playstation 4 console is working perfectly fine. It powers on and it plays digital games, the only problem is the disk tray will not pop out. Now if he were to provide these details in the description the auction wouldn’t immediately scream “stay away!” and it might sell for much more. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around why people market products like this and provide very little information to their customers. People are pretty much considering their expensive electronics trash and selling it as trash. With this strategy or lack thereof, most potential customers will move on due to the fear of possibly buying a dud.

Since I now know the PS4 was mostly in working condition I bought it for a grand total of $88.62.

This is where I need to use my savvy-ness to return this gem to its former glory. With a little bit of Google searching, I found out that this PS4’s flaw is caused when the optical disc rollers get stuck in the casing. It can be fixed by simply popping the rollers back into place. You only need to remove a few screws from the case to extract it, and there are dozens of YouTube videos with step-by-step tutorials that show you exactly what to do.

The blue cylindrical pieces are the rollers that pull and push the disc in and out of the system.

With a little bit of effort I was able to resolve a flaw from an expensive video game system that few were interested in purchasing because it was considered “broken”. I listed the console for sale on Amazon and sold it for $155.00 as refurbished.

I know this is a unique situation but the point I want to get across is that listings like this on eBay are extremely common. It’s the digital version of people selling their junk at a garage sale while not realizing the true value of the merchandise they’re pawning. Their carelessness is our profit!

Find your gem — Try searching through eBay for a valuable product that could be cleaned or easily repaired. You might just be able to resell it for good money.

Where To Sell - Your sales are only as good as your platform.

You’ve done the research and you now have a plethora of quality video games to sell, the only problem is you currently have nowhere to sell them. Next, you’ll need to build an online presence to establish your company, prices, and superb customer service.

Shopify: The most popular platform for online business. Unlike other platforms, Shopify’s primary purpose is eCommerce. Setting up an account and customizing a predefined template is easy. Once your account is created, you choose a payment plan, give your store a name, and customize your store to your taste. You can also link products from suppliers on platforms like AliExpress and Shopify is great for a Drop Shopping business model.

Pros

• It is the most popular pre-built eCommerce platform available.
• It was designed for eCommerce. No coding or modifications required.
• Easily scalable — Grow your storage, products, and features when your sales increase.
• It has a 14-day free trial to test it out.
• Shopify has a ton of useful plugins for various functions that may not be available on other platforms.

Cons

• It is more expensive compared to other platforms at about $29/month or $348/Annually.
• Transaction fees — 2.9% + 0.30 Cents per transaction. Fees drop with high tier plans.

WooCommerce: WooCommerce is the next most popular exclusively eCommerce platform. WooCommerce is used with WordPress and the base package is 100% free, which is the main selling point that drags users to this platform. You can build WooCommerce into any WordPress-based website, but don’t expect it to be overly simple.

Pros

• It has one of the largest number of users making it a very popular platform option.
• No limits — Completely open-source code. You can use it to sell anything.
• Offers lots of add-ons and plugins that can be purchased separately for additional features.
• Plenty of documentation — Easy to find guides and help online with building a store.

Cons

• You need to pay to host your website to use WooCommerce
• WooCommerce must be integrated into a WordPress website.
• It can be difficult to use if you do not have some prior knowledge in web development.

Big commerce: An up-and-coming eCommerce platform offering a similar service to Shopify but offers less features. It is also a subscription-based platform. With customizable website templates, BigCommerce is ideal for beginners or skilled web designers.

Pros

• It has some built-in plugins that Shopify may not offer.
• 14-day free trial to test it out.
• Easy to use.
• Offers deep customization.
• No transaction fees.

Cons

• Offers less features than Shopify
• Subscription rates are expensive. Standard plan is $29.95/Month or 359.40/Annually.
• Big commerce also has product quantity limits.

Amazon & eBay: Amazon and eBay are marketplace platforms, meaning they offer more of an online flea market setting where buyers can find listings for auction or set prices. There are no start up costs for either, all you have to do is create a seller account and start listing items for sale to market to millions of active users.

Pros

• You don’t have to create a website to start selling.
• Built-in customer base.
• No advertising budget needed

​Cons

• They charge high fees for each sale.
• You do not manage the customers.
• Recurring customers are unlikely.
• There are restrictions for what and how you can sell.

Tips For Selling Online

Follow these five guidelines for online success.

Before you start uploading your products to your website or online marketplaces, be sure to follow a few guidelines I have detailed out below. These tips will help your business succeed and establish an online presence as a valuable and reputable company.

Tip 1: Research is key to successful marketplace auctions. You will find postings offering similar products, so be sure to find out how much they’re selling for and list your items using the average sale price. Online pricing is competitive, don’t get greedy, list your products for a fair price you know interested lookers will consider. You’re only wasting everyone’s time by offering extraordinarily high prices.

Tip 2: If you can, take pictures of your products and post them to your listings. Pictures say a lot when it comes to convincing people that a product is eye catching or not. If you’re selling a used game in “Very Good” condition, there’s really no way to tell what that means or if it’s true without a picture, which will make a customer unsure if the product is worth purchasing. A photo will show those little details, such as a non-damaged case or a scratch free disc. Obviously, If you’re drop shipping or have inventory offsite, this might not be an option for you. However, if your supplier offers photos of products, go the extra mile and upload them to your sales pages.

Tip 3: Provide a detailed description of each product to give your customers an idea of what to expect when they order the item. And like posting good pictures, convince more buyers and bidders to visit your website and purchase each item with creative but accurately descriptive articles or posts.

Tip 4: Provide multiple payment options. Buyers will look for better and easier payment options when purchasing products online. At very minimum, be sure that you can accept payments made through credit/debit cards, PayPal, and a physical option such as a check for the few (but still active) people who don’t have online payments configured.

Tip 5: Be professional when dealing with clients! I can’t stress this enough. No matter what you sell, this can make or break your business. Keep your mind focused on making loyal customers out of your buyers through professional and truthful customer service. Make sure that every detail or bit of information that you post online is true. Respond to your clients’ queries and feedback in a timely manner and most importantly, the customer is always right. You could end up losing potential customers if someone who is unsatisfied posts a negative review for your business online.

Scam Prevention - How to stay safe online and avoid scams.

It’s easy to find wholesale suppliers on the internet, but finding a trusted, reliable source is much harder to do. You can keep yourself out of a messy situation if you follow a few simple rules when ordering merchandise online.

Ensure the supplier has an extensive online presence — You should be able to easily find reviews and forum discussions regarding the supplier in question. There are a number of review websites such as Consumer Reports, Trustpilot, and Site Jabber to examine each supplier’s history with previous customers. It’s also recommended to view social media accounts to make sure the company is still active and thriving. If you really want to go the extra mile, check their WHO IS to find information on the site owner and how long the domain has been registered. This service provides details on who runs and operates a website and how long it has been online. If it was recently registered it would be considered questionable.

Items priced too low — If you come across merchandise with prices that seem too good to be true, they probably are. Thieves often list electronics and other expensive goods at unrealistic prices to bait a buyer into a large purchase. Once the payment is received, the supplier disappears with your hard earned money. To avoid these scenarios, ensure pricing is believable but at a low enough cost that will allow you to profit. Drastic price cuts are improbable for most wholesale companies.

Supplier professionalism — Professionalism proves someone is putting in the extra effort. Just like Bank of America would never send you a phishing email with spelling and grammar errors, a legitimate business with a well-informed team will never post products or pages with suspicious language. If you find this type of work you can determine that it’s a single person running a website or quite possibly a scam.

Customer-backed payment methods — Do not work with suppliers who only offer payments by wire transfer. This form of payment has no money-back guarantee or buyer protection plan making it much easier for a thief to run off with your money. Verify your supplier will accept payments by PayPal, credit card, and other payment methods that offer buyer protections and put those options to use. Don’t ever pay using wire transfer unless you are absolutely sure you can trust the supplier.

Now that you know where to find quality wholesale video games, have an understanding on what the most-popular eCommerce platforms offer, and can display world-class customer service to your customers, I challenge you to brainstorm what options would work best for your business and create your own brand name.