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Second hand games: can ValuValu help consumers get more for their used titles.
From TechCrunch’s elevator pitch comes news of ValuValu, a Seattle start-up that aims to bring sophisticated revenue-management techniques to the selling of video games.
Founded by 2 former Microsoft employees, the site is based on the same premise used by hotels and airlines to maximise revenue for the airlines by using a dynamic pricing model. The ValuValu team argue that dynamic pricing both reduces prices for buyers and maximises revenue for sellers through ensuring that products get sold at close to their current “clearing price” in the market.
A test shows Call of Duty 4 available on ValuValu for $35.83, versus $40 for a second-hand copy from Amazon. Shipping is $4.50 from ValuValu, $3.99 from Amazon.
ValuValu charges sellers 5% as a transaction fee (but zero for local “pickup” transactions”, and claims in its pitch that it can increase by 7% (which sounds pretty paltry to me). It seems unlikely to take off as a mainstream alternative to taking your game back to GAME for its trade-in value.
But since there is no guesswork for the best price and no artificial deadline like in an ebay auction, it could be very useful for independent retailers trying to build and manage an viable online trade-in business.
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