A GameStop customer from Clackamas, Oregon is going viral after trading in hundreds of old, busted consoles to earn over $10,000 in store credit from the games retailer.
GameStop is notorious for being exceptionally stingy when it comes to paying out customers selling or trading in their pre-loved games, consoles, and peripherals. In fact, the company's payouts are so low that their trade-in policy has evolved into a meme over the years, with many sellers accepting that they likely won’t get the dollar amount they’re expecting from GameStop as opposed to independent game stores.
However, one seller has proven them wrong. On August 17, 2026, the official GameStop X account posted perhaps the most eye-popping trade-in profit a customer has ever gotten.
A customer based in Clackamas, Oregon turned in “hundreds” of broken consoles from various generations to their local GameStop, earning a whopping $10,690.06 in store credit. The company shared a photo of his haul, showing a tub stacked full of PSPs, Nintendo Switches, an original Game Boy, an old-school NES, and much more.
They also shared a picture of seven lengthy receipts from the exchange, which boasted amounts that mostly totaled around $900 or so. And finally they posted a photo of the man himself, proudly showing off his ‘money spread’ of GameStop gift cards for the camera.
While $10,690.06 is nothing to sniff at, commenters across social media couldn’t help but mourn the amount he might’ve scored by trading in the consoles elsewhere.
“Bro could’ve sold it all on eBay for $100,000 if GameStop actually shelled out $10,000,” one wrote on X. “Fumbled.”
“Based on GameStop’s bulls**t exchange rates, I’m guessing this guy sold them a Ferrari, a six-bedroom home and a small battleship to get $10,000 from GameStop,” another joked.
Even the official Razer account got in on the conversation, writing, “What would you be willing to sell him for all $10,000 at once, though?”
This is one of the highest amounts ever earned from a trade-in at GameStop, but it isn’t the highest. That score goes to a customer in Grapevine, Texas, who famously traded in a 2003 fully-authenticated PSA 10 Gengar Holo Pokemon card for an eye-popping $30,494.70.
GameStop celebrated the record-setting trade-in on social media in December 2025, along with a tongue-in-cheek statement poking fun at the criticism toward its buyback program.
“Any trolls who publicly claim that GameStop trade-in values are bad are hereby factually and demonstrably incorrect. Any prior and ongoing objections to our trade values are now deemed without merit and factually invalid,” the company joked.
This is the latest wild story to come from GameStop following its viral “trade anything day” event that took place around that same time, where customers could literally trade in almost anything, resulting in some hilarious and horrifying transactions at the counter.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
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