What’s the point of CeX?

I know they get a bad rap a lot, but in fairness it’s largely justified.

Ive been looking to buy a PS5 recently and had a look on CeX’s website to find they’re charging €560 for a boxed console? The RRP brand new is €549! 🤣

They regularly do this with phones and other tech as well as games. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Was looking for Minecraft for the young lad for Christmas, €24.99 in Smyths, €30 in CeX.

It’s made worse I think that if you have a problem with what you bought the resulting return process (or attempt therein) is more miserable and torturous than being raked across hot coal.

I’m not sure if it’s the same for all of them but in my local store they have a copy of the legislation around return, repair & replace as they are so unwilling to be reasonable they will quote the law they must follow to customers who won’t be told to piss off when the overpriced crap they bought failed to work correctly.

I have watched a customer get told to do pretty much that when they tried to return a box set that was missing 3 discs!

SuperBowserWorld

Think it only makes sense if you have stuff to sell there and want cash; have stuff to sell there to get vouchers to get something else there; or buy stuff that's cheap there ... e.g. old games.

Makes no sense to buy second hand hardware there that is more expensive than new.

Royale with Cheese

I sold them some earbuds once thinking who the fúck would want to buy used earbuds, then the kid in front of me in the queue was buying used airpods 🤷‍♂️

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121562572#Comment_121562572

Really half the time it doesn’t make sense to sell stuff to them though! Even older hardware and stuff can be more expensive than say eBay, even adverts at times.

There’s an independent store just down the road from my local CeX who cheaper. He has said CeX staff will sell older games/consoles to them that’s not shifting as well. (Not sure how much I believe that tbh)

But even their trade in prices are just awful tbh. Unless you’re absolutely stuck for cash I wouldn’t sell them anything. Last thing I sold was an iPhone the Mrs let fall so the screen had literally come off 🤣 gave me €112 for it can’t complain.

Theyve also got no real competition anymore now that GameStops gone so I feel like it will only get worse tbh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121562610#Comment_121562610

pretty sure that’s another thing they sell just barely cheaper than brand new 🤣

couldn’t be me buying used AirPods though.

thomil

One of the big advantages I see is that they're the only "electronics" retailer left in many town or city centres. The likes of Currys, DID, etc. have all fecked off to out-of-town retail parks and Maplin has been history for ages, so if you don't have a car and need something in a pinch, they're often the only place to go. And to be fair, they do offer some good deals if you're looking for some more unusual products, like an Apple Magic Keyboard with a German keyboard layout.

SuperBowserWorld

I sold a PS5 for 50 quid less than I bought it with zero hassle having to deal with random buyers and whims. So it was good for that.

Definitely would not buy a PS5 there unless I had a load of old stuff I wanted to trade for it.

So, it depends. You can often buy a new game, play it and sell it to them for a few euro less, or even more sometimes. So, you're getting to play a game for a few euro.

Also, if you've a load of stuff you never use, you can take it there for cash.

All depends.

whisky_galore

Sounds like an ideal place for a cohort who may want to move something hot on quickly for cash.

cj maxx

Sh1t , I ‘m thinking of getting a PS5 and was going to get the disc version because people said you can buy cheap games in CeX rather than get a sub

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121563066#Comment_121563066

Yes. Definitely. The place has many uses. 😄😄😄

Sonic the Shaghog

They were and still are decent if you want a quick sale and can't be dealing with private sales. It's years since I used em but they always have decent prices close enough to what a private sale would get you.

However I did notice myself in recent times that they were nearly the same if not more than new for stuff they were selling.

They are basically becoming the new game stop and will go under eventually, exact same same carry on. 2nd hand games about €5 cheaper than new, consoles 2nd hand weren't far off new prices and we saw how that ended up

Gregor Samsa

Bought a 5th gen Apple TV from them online in 2020 for €90 (new price was €150 or so). Said it was “grade A”, but I assumed there would be some sign of ware, at least in the remote.

Opened it up when it arrived, and to my surprise the device and the remote were still in their plastic wrap, and the power cable still in its paper tie. They had never been taken out of the box, let alone used. Obviously you wouldn’t get that lucky every time, but I was well impressed.

There used to be one on Shannon that always had great deals on Mophie power banks and wireless charges - again, brand new for really good prices. Mophie is owned by Zagg, who have an office in Shannon, so I assume it was staff getting freebies, and selling them on to CEX unused for cash. That branch closed a few years ago, though.

Only recently found out (through YouTube ads) that their name is supposed to be pronounced “SEX”, rather than C-E-X. Sorry guys, not happening.

harmless

If items are overpriced it is probably because they are encouraging people to trade in item for store credit rather than cash. Of course they give you more in store credit than cash. They want to keep people coming back.. They might be on to something with this model, people trading in items and adding a bit of cash on top while CEX are taking in inventory at the sametime without going in to debt.

All second hand hardware comes with a 2 year warrenty. I've tested that recently with a games controller that stopped working, they tested it and I came back in 20 mins where they refunded the ammount to my card.

I always try to sell on adverts first but if all I get is low ball offers it's nice to have somewhere to get cash for an item that would just be gathering dust.

I don't use them often but at least they offer a service that the online retailers can't. As we have seen over the years these store don't have a hope unless they have a service that online stores can't compete with.

mikewebber

Made a few bob selling new PAYG fones that were discounted by VF

dulpit

I use Cex if I'm selling something. I check the price they pay for the item and the price they charge for the item and then I put my device on sale at an in-between cost.

I have seen online that some people have been very lucky buying stuff from them online. A lot of times people get more than they asked for (e.g. you buy an item, but a bunch of extras get sent too). Apart from that, not much use for them myself.

artanevilla

You see when a man and a woman love each other very much...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121563066#Comment_121563066

They ask for ID on sales or an account.

We had someone who stole from my old job try to sell, it made the guards job simple to track him down...

Kintarō Hattori

In fairness when I had a local one I found them to be tremendous. For years I bought games digitally but after Microsoft and Sony both hinted at restrictions, I started to buy my games on disc. Being a casual gamer I wasn't to fussed about having a game there and then and would buy something when it came down to a reasonable price. With that in mind, I found them very useful and built up a nice physical collection of games over the last few years.

growleaves

Alternate thread title:

Let's talk about CeX baby

Tony EH

I've only ever bought Blu's from them and even then they can be a bit on the expensive side for second hand stuff.

But anyone buying something like a PS5 in there needs their head examined. You can get one on Amazon for cheaper than the CeX price quoted in the OP.

:/

miamee

We've used them a few times for second hand phones, trade in the old and pay the difference. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying brand new and we're not too bothered about having the very latest model. We were looking at phones before Christmas there and prices have either gone up or we were a bit delusional in what we were looking for compared to previous times.

Now that I think of it I have gotten some great deals in there. Bought a Surface Pro5 a while back, traded in a Pro3 plus some hard drives, dvds, games and other bits OH had at home. I think it cost us something like €30 in cash once the trade ins were taken into account 😂 I also got a Samsung phone a few years ago for €13, traded in my old phone plus OH had won a €100 voucher (apparently they do a draw every month for members) and there was just €13 i the difference to be paid.

UI_Paddy

If you look in enough stores you'll find real bargains, I remember the Star Wars The Clone Wars movie Blu-Ray being €1 at CeX in Bray at one point, but that seems to be the exception, not the rule. Same goes for selling, I've got some good trade-ins for store credit but it feels like a slap in the face when they can only offer you 1 cent for the item.

I don't envy them, it's tough for physical media in brick and morter stores since they have to compete with online sales and also have to pay rent on top of that but I hope they will keep going for a while.

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121578495#Comment_121578495

I believe they also have a website and the can sell online (I stand to be corrected).

z80CPU

Site is

https//webuy.com

Glad CeX keep bricks and mortar premises, one less the vacant space with the " there's another cool great fantastic wonderful shiny new store coming soon!!! " slogan on the outside in a shopping mall

touts

I remember back when there were huge supply problems with the PS5 they were selling brand new PS5s for €200 more than the retail price. People were queing up at Currys, Argos etc to get a PS5 and then going straight to CeX to sell it for €50 more and CeX were then adding around €150 to that.

And that's not the most morally dubious thing they do by some distance. They operate a similar "no serious questions asked" business model to the Cash for Gold shops that were so controversal for a while.