Selling and Buying stuff online: Glyde.com

(UPDATE: New Drama with Glyde. Bottom Line, don't use them yet until I figure out how they deal with missing packages. http://ppgeek.blogspot.com/2011/01/glydecom-you-piss-me-off.html)

I don't quite remember how I got to know this site, but I think it was through some other game traders. Glyde's whole premise differs pretty significantly than that of goozex, which I had previously reviewed (check my archives!).

It's a pretty simple concept for buying and selling:

Selling is simple:
1. List your games/dvds/books online
2. Glyde will send you the package you need to send the product out to the user
3. Wait a couple days
4. Profit with money!!! No points, nothing in the way of cold, hard cash!

Buying is just as easy...


1. Select a game/dvd/book that is listed that you want to buy
2. Glyde will send your request to the seller who will send you the product
3. Wait a couple days
4. You get it!

You will get your money in an account on the site, which you can withdraw and have them directly deposit into your account, or you can use it to buy other products on the site. No points system, and they guarantee all transactions.

I've done three transactions so far with them (possibly a 4th one coming up) and my experience so far was this:

1. The selling process is VERY easy.

But there is one caveat: You can change the price the system wants you to list it at, but there is a high/low limit.
WTF? Really? I mean, I appreciate Glyde telling me it's "above the market price", but it is my item and I should deservedly list it at the price I want to list it at. Generally, this price range is fairly reasonable (I think around 10% upper and below the market price wherever they may find that price at ), but for older or more obscure items, I feel like I should be able to list it at the price I want to since they are so hard to find.

They send you a prepaid mailer and you simply put the game or item in it, then mail it out. It'll arrive to the buyer and in a few days, you get credit for the item you sold. Easy.

Downsides?
1. They take a painful cut. Oh man, for selling a copy of Modern Warfare 2 for example:

They charge 1.25 for the mailer, I can understand since they pay for the mailer AND for postage and tracking. But here's the kicker: They also charge shipping and handling when you BUY something.

Let's take Modern Warfare 2 for example.
As a seller:
-You list the game at $34.50
-Glyde takes a cut of $4.70
-You get $29.80

As a buyer for that very game:
-The game is listed at $34.50
-Glyde charges you an extra $3.47 for shipping and handling.

That means Glyde gets 8 bucks (over 20%) of every transaction total. Shipping and handling I understand, but damn.

In any case, I use it because it's VERY easy to do transactions, there are a fairly large number of people using it, and I can use that money to get other stuff on the site, reducing the painful feeling of reaching for my wallet. Also, I find myself now getting games off of Goozex.com and selling them on Glyde. Helps me mitigate those points which are now steadily creeping up to around $500 worth of credit...


In any case, I recommend Glyde.com, but I'm still a little miffed about the pricing and the amount they charge. These guys really rely on internet traffic for them to survive, and I would think Amazon would be smart to adopt their system for buying and selling used items. Taking advantage of Amazon traffic could be huge for these guys. But still, I like them now the way they are :-)

I have a pretty thorough review of Boltbus coming up, I just need to get some time to clean it up a bit. Also, I'm still gaming pretty damn hard. In the meantime, stay smart and stay cheap.

A minor note...

I figured I might as well throw in some random tech related stuff, since, hey, this is my freakin' blog.

Darryl Gates died today. For those of you who aren't older than 20, he is considered the founder of the SWAT team concept and former LAPD Police Chief, and lent his name also to the Police Quest Game SWAT (which then started the SWAT series, etc). Rest In Peace.

Also, my childhood neighbor, Mr. Miller, had passed away recently as well. Sad.

I really need to stop playing Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, by the way. That game is just a time waster.

Quick hit: HDMI Cables

A while back, a friend of mine asked me about buying a new PS3. One of the topics that came up was HDMI cables. I'll save you the conversation but it basically boils down to this image (click to embiggen):




1. Buy your HDMI as cheap as possible.
2. Ignore anyone that is trying to tell you to pay more than $10. Or even $5. I got mine for $2. WITH SHIPPING.


Interesting post. Keep an eye out for my newest article, a full article length review on Bolt Bus! In the meantime stay cheap and smart.

Holeeee crap.....hello 2010, you certainly got a jump on me.

Alright, so long story short, I can sum up why I haven't been posting with a single picture (my gamertag is Nissan288):



I am both proud of this score, and extremely depressed. I think my total game time is somewhere north of 200 hours now. This combined with my new found weightloss regimen (I've stopped eating all red meat like beef and pork and I'm going to the gym 3x a week now) has sucked all my free time.

Obviously much has changed in the geek world. Ipad, new Android phones, 3D Hdtv (wtf?), and new games to play have come out. I haven't noticed myself since I've been playing MW2.

I have a new list in the coming year of things I'd like to research and look into:

-A New Phone (No, I'm not getting an Iphone. Android phones look promising, I'm also playing around with developing an application for it, again, related to Modern Warfare 2)
-Selling games and movies (I've amassed a fairly large collection from Goozex, and I'm finding some good sites to sell them. I'll review them soon.
- Traveling between DC/NYC/Philly Revised. Much has changed. DC2NY now has new buses that I've ridden in, new locations have opened (Union Station DC FTW), and new bus routes have opened (Megabus to Philly!).
-Other random crap. I found an article I half finished that I'll push out shortly on a rant of mine.

All in all, it's a good time to be cheap. See you guys soon, hopefully this weekend....

I might be cheap as all hell, but I'm (probably) not gonna do Black Friday

Sorry if I haven't been able to blog the past few weeks, work has been crazy still. And now for Thanksgiving, somehow I wound up in Miami....where it's sunny and 80....:-)

Anyway, it's that time of the year again.....

BLACK FRIDAY!!!!


Uggghhhh. I don't like Black Friday. See one of my first posts as to why.
I'll admit tho, I will try to make it out there tomorrow morning. But only for one thing and one thing alone: Pants.

Yes. I need new jeans. Old Navy has a deal on Black Friday where you can get the new Lego Rock Band for free if you buy $20 worth of stuff, which isn't hard at Old Navy. If anything, you could go to an old navy, then take the game to Gamestop and sell it to them for $25, and you just got yourself a free pair of pants.

And that's pretty much it. Well, maybe somewhere else depending on where I get dragged to with my friend here in Miami...

A bit of a warning for those of you who go out or are planning on spending themselves into the red this year:

-Compare online before you buy in store. Some things are actually cheaper online than on black friday. Blu-Ray players and bluetooth earpieces come to mind.
-It's a good Black Friday for video games. Gamestop has a 360 Elite with 3 good games for 300, or PS3 120gb with 3 good games for 300. While you could get this on Amazon (or something close to it), you could have this one RIGHT NOW.
-Avoid big box retailers like Walmart. With so many people fighting for so few items, it's just not worth the hassle.
-Go in groups with friends and keep cell phones on to keep track of each other.
-In regards to the friends, make sure they are the kind of friends that do not like shopping. That means they'll get what they need, pay for it, and leave. No hanging around and dealing with the crazy people.
-If you can't deal with it, just stay at home. Is it really worth getting push around and waking up at an unGodly hour just to save 30 bucks?

More to follow later. Happy Tofurkey day!