Mooch is a new video game trading site looking to help users trade games directly with each other, allowing them to bypass middleman stores like GameStop and save money in the process. Depending on how new and popular the games being traded are, members can expect to save as much as $30 per trade, and simply have to mail their games to each other after establishing a trade on the site.
Mooch uses an automated system to calculate the value of each game, taking into account factors including its lowest price on Amazon, how old it is, and how popular it as. Each game is assigned a point value (new games seem to be around 200-300 points each), and to trade for a game you need to offer something of the same value, or buy more points to match it. If you come up short you can buy extra points, but they don’t come cheap – they’re around $15 for 100, but the purpose of the service is to encourage trading games, not buying them through a roundabout method.
At this point the market is nearly empty, and won’t become very useful until it can attract a sizable number of users (it’s the classic chicken-and-the-egg problem). To entice users, Mooch is totally free to use during its beta period, with plans to shift to a $20 annual subscription model later on.
The industry may hate it, but video game trading isn’t something that’s going away soon – at least until game downloads with DRM become the norm. And stores like GameStop (and more recently, Amazon) don’t really offer much value to gamers that frequently trade their games, often exchanging games for significantly less than their true market value. Mooch saves users money, but it also comes with its own problems. For one, you have to rely on other members to ship your game promptly, and there’s always the fear that they may never do it at all (though Mooch does appear to guarantee trades, promising to refund with Mooch points should one go awry).
Mooch isn’t the first player in this space, either. SwapTree supports video games, and other sites like the now-defunct PeerFlix and the old Lala tried to swapping models for other forms of media without much success.
Looks similar to http://www.Goozex.com, which I’ve heard is doing good.
It’s interesting they use an ‘automated system to calculate the value of each game’. Not totally unlike our own site, http://www.ValuValu.com, then!
In any case, good luck to them. It’s kind of funny to see so much action on the ‘used video games’ front, recently…
Goozex really does seem to be doing quite well. The number of users seems to keep going up, and it seems like a thriving market for my used games.
Not sure why the author of this article said the market is “nearly empty”
Goozex is great. I’ve been using it recently and like it. I’ve been able to get some games i wanted and unload many games i had no interest in. Goozex also has recently added some sweet features (like on-site shipping label creation and postage paying;
SwitchPlanet.com has been doing this for a while now but also for movies, CDs, books, etc. Not sure what Mooch will offer that makes it much better than anything that’s already out there (other than a decent user base after a TechCrunch spike).
Didn’t Peerflix try an automated pricing system?
Ive been using http://www.swaptree.com for the last 4 months and love it.
I dont like point systems, cause if they go out of business, (what? a web 2.0 company going out of busines?) your out all your points. just ask peerflix users.
I agree with GenGame. Points systems are tough. I prefer systems like Swaptree. Much easier for me and can trade across all media types.
I have tried many of the sites listed above – but as a recent mooch.com user (3 trades so far) it looks like maybe it has learned from the others. The point system is just there to enhance it (unlike goozex that relies on it). It is a slick interface (unlike any of the others with the exception of goozex). It has a really great interface. Incorporates postage system. Eliminates haggling. The valuation seems very fair from what I can tell. They obviously put a lot of thought into it and is very professionally executed.
The thing that most of these new sites don’t realize is that the barter business model has been around for ages, and many players have come and gone.
Maybe just a little bit of research would be useful before investing in a new marketplace! Here’s a short list off the top of my head: WebSwap, MonkeyBin, SwitchHouse, SwapRat, Mr. Swap, ExchangeAnything, iSwap, Swappingtons, SwapShop and TitleTrader.
Good luck Mooch!
Gina is dead on. Amazon has also gotten in as well. A LOT of people have said that they’re disruptive. The differentiator for Amazon is that they offer more than video games, so trade-ins can be for things other than games.
I think they are hitting a different segment of the market, and I don’t think it’s disruptive. I wouldn’t expect Amazon to be disruptive to offline players, like GameStop (which tried online) because the market focus is different…GS is more hardcore gamers, while Amazon appeals to the casual gamer.
I wrote more about it at http://phrenzie...tbuy-toys-r-us/
I think this is such a good evolution of internet, this idea of sharing and exchanging and reusing. So good. I’m not surprised that more of those websites are coming up since it’s really fitting with the new times of more unity thinking and sharing.
Great!
The inventor of the concept… 3 years ago : http://www.splitgames.com.
Look at this post :
http://www.tech...es-vs-swaptree/
Nice post! Check out my site too at http://macmaniapodcast.com.
and don’t forget http://www.GameTZ.com
I think points systems are confusing and frustrating…goozex actually makes you “purchase” points sometimes – which is a rip off. Swaptree is better for media types, but I use SwitchGames which is the best peer to peer free trading site…
Agreed, points are confusing, frustrating. They also require the marketplace to reach some big size before trading there can have any interest.
Money was invented 60,000 years ago to precisely solve those bartering problems!
Why use points, instead of money, then?
First, it forces the users to stick to the respective websites.
Second, and probably more important, it allows those websites to ’secure’ the trading by acting like a ‘payment intermediate’. Doing the same with real money is a pain, as there’s a ton of regulations (e.g. escrow license)
The are similar start-ups in Germany which are both doing great. The one is Trade-a-game.de, I have forgotten the name of the other one.
I agree that Goozex already offers this kind of system and does it better, AND GameTZ is an excellent straight-up barter site. Both have something that a site like this isn’t ever going to have, a sense of community. That’s what will let sites like this succeed, it’s not just the ability to avert buying games for full price and from big box stores (we have Cheap Ass Gamer for that), but it’s adding a social aspect to it.
Not sure how this market can be viewed as empty. I’d argue that Mooch seems late to the game (yep, pun intended). Swaptree and Goozex already do this. I haven’t tried goozex, but have been using swaptree for trading games for a while now. Swaptree is probably the largest community with goozex number two. Not sure we need a #3.
Why not just use swaptree? It’s hands-down the best trading site out there.
It really IS free (and will remain so) unlike mooch. Add mooch to the long list of swap sites built wrong.
Swaptree WILL survive.
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