I love to buy things used. Recently I made a list of books on different areas of child rearing that I wanted, but I didn’t want to pay full price for them. I went to Half Price Books armed with my list and walked away happy. I found most of the books I wanted and some not on my list. I didn’t pay a lot and was very pleased with my transaction. I went home and collected books that I no longer wanted so I could take them with me next time to trade-in for credit toward my purchases.
I do this with my children’s clothes and toys at Once Upon a Child too. It is so easy to pack up what they’re not using or have outgrown that I’m not keeping for a future placement and turn the cast-offs into something they need. That’s how I got Jessie’s toy chest.
GameStop and similar stores provide this same service, but with video games. Throughout the years I’ve taken games that I’ve finished, grown tired of, or didn’t work out for me to get credit for something new that I want. I’ve traded in DVDs this same way. It’s perfect for me because I end up with a lot of games that don’t work for me. I have games I have to take in now and games I want. I can even take in my old GameBoy for credit.
This way of doing business is being threatened. The Ninth Circuit Court has ruled that resale of books, DVDs, computer software, and video games are outside copyright and businesses like Half Price books and GameStop may cease to be. Online e-tailers like ebay, Half.com, and Amazom.com would also suffer if this ruling goes through.
I don’t understand; people have bought used media since there’s been media.