I walked into Gamestop the other day with some games in tow: Rayman Ravin Rabbids for the Wii, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the Xbox 360, and Perfect Dark Zero also for the Xbox 360. While I've heard horror stories regarding their trade-in values, I figured that I would at least get $30 for these three (especially after seeing stores sell used copies of Rayman for $35).

I was in shock when the clerk told me he'd give me $7. Seven dollars!!!???!!! I've received more for a slice of my pizza in college.

F... that.

Perusing the 1up forums days later, I discovered the usual "Gamestop sucks, blah blah RAWWWR" thread, posted in it, and saw a glint of silver lining. That lining, my friends, is Goozex.

Basically, Goozex is a third-party game trader. You list the games you're willing to trade, the website assigns a value to it ($5-$50 - way better than Gamestop's $1-15), and then it searches for somebody who wants that game. If that person has enough points (earned through his/her own trades or purchased), you ship him/her the game. It costs the sender $2-3 for postage, and the "buyer" pays Goozex $1 (which is how the site makes money - what, you expected it to be completely free?)

After this Monday, I will have shipped seven games (Doom 3, Age of Mythology: The Titans, Advent Rising, Vampire: the Masquarade - Bloodlines, The Bard's Tale, Family Guy, and Serious Sam II) paid $17.50, and earned 500 points. Those points will have acquired me:

• Sid Meier's Pirates! for PC 100pts
• Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for DS 350pts

At Gamestop, I would have received $3 for my trade-ins, as they're mostly PC games.

Not bad for $7.

Let me know if any of you want to list your games there, because I will get a few extra points to "refer a friend." Hell, even if you sign up without referring me, at least that's one more person who will get to trade games at a more reasonable value.