Capitalism

Ah, capitalism. Wait. This isn't a political blog. I won't be making a political commentary here.

Nah. None of that. Too much hassle.

But I will point out how much I love using my cunning, market awareness, and a little investment capital to pull out some considerable gains.

I was given a bag of random PC games by a relative the other day. They all look more-or-less like shovelware games with some kind of base in the classic adventure genre. Whatever the case, thanks to Goozex, a site where you can trade games for points... which can then be traded for other games, I'm shipping out one of the games for 450 points.

450 points doesn't necessarily sound like a lot, but as soon as my transaction goes through fully, I'll be picking up Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX with 50 points to spare.

The only cost to me is the cost of shipping on the game I'm sending, and then a buck a game as the "trade tax" (for lack of a better term) that Goozex charges in order to make money (unlike Gamestop, they take no part of the trade value of a game... which works out really well for the end users).

So. That comes out to like... what... five bucks outta pocket for two Final Fantasy games? Yes. I'll take that.

Okay... so it's not actually a "profit" in the traditional sense since I'm still spending a couple of bucks, but the comparative cost to purchase the games outright would be somewhere around $40 or so. Savings of $35? Pretty sweet deal. I'll take it.

Then... later on in the day... I went to Gamestop. Traded in five old games that I paid like... $5 each... and picked up three new games (total used value over $40) with no cash out of pocket.

Financial gain? Though small... yes. Collection gain? In terms of quality... yes.

All because there are markets in place that a little research and wit can give me what it takes to come out ahead.

Love it.

Now... back to those games.