In Dallas, Best Buy Gets in Used-Game Game

By Robert Wilonsky Tue., Jun. 23 2009 at 9:57 AM

Categories: Biz

So says this morning's blog entry from Best Buy's chief marketing officer, Barry Judge, who notes we're one of two markets in which the big box will dip its toe in the video-game trade-in business, a la Grapevine-HQ'd Gamestop. KioskMarketplace tips us to the entry, which reads, in full:

As we continue to explore new ways to make our customers happy, Best Buy is moving into the used games market. This week, several of our Dallas and Austin stores will test a kiosk-based model that allows customers to insert their used games into a kiosk that will scan it for functionality, and immediately issue a voucher that is instantly redeemable for a Best Buy gift card. It's a pretty slick system and one of the few trade-in programs to provide instant gratification; you get the gift card on the spot and can redeem it on anything in the store - not just another game. We'll also be testing the sale of used games in those stores, and some of the kiosks will even rent games and movies. We're excited about this test, especially because we know how deeply passionate our customers and our employees are about gaming, movies and entertainment overall. And the trade-in and used value propositions will give those passionate customers even more choice and value at Best Buy.

Judge then asks customers to comment -- and they have, to the tune of 179 at last count. "Solid" and "awesome" seems to be the consensus.

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