Amazon is determined to dominate all areas of online shopping, be that new products, products offered by third-party sellers, and of course digital downloads. But Jeff Bezos' company has also embraced used items and runs a trade-in program where gift cards are offered in exchange for goods.
Typically, trading in an item takes around 10 days to ship and be processed before payment is received. However, if you want to trade video games, Amazon's service just got a lot quicker as the gift card credit is now added to your account instantly.
To take advantage of the offer there's a simple 3 step process to follow:
- Submit the item you wish to trade after checking it is on the eligible list
- Receive your gift card credit instantly
- Ship the item using a prepaid shipping label from a UPS location
You may receive credit instantly, but Amazon expects to have the item traded for the credit shipped within 7 days. Once the item is received, Amazon will verify its condition and decide whether or not to accept it. If rejected, an item will be returned to the customer without any fees being applied for shipping it back. If found to be counterfeit, Amazon will dispose of the item.
The value of individual items will depend on their condition, but Amazon has shared examples of what prices it is willing to pay for some of the more popular video game products out there this year:
- Nintendo Wii U Console: up to $150
- Sony PlayStation 4 500GB Console: up to $170
- Microsoft Xbox One 500GB: up to $115
- FIFA 17: up to $25
- Paper Mario Color Splash: up to $30
- Gears of War 4: up to $26
Amazon has posted details of the condition it expects games, consoles, and accessories to be in to qualify for trade-in credit. It's certainly worth reading before deciding what to trade.
For now, the "Instant Payment" offer is limited to video games, but there's every chance it will be expanded to other product categories if it proves successful for video games over the holiday season.