Need Advice on Selling Digital Items Online (Just the Once)
August 12, 2020 7:47 AM Subscribe
Looking to sell a single lot of digital items for a videogame. I'm not sure where to do it or how to go about it.
I just want to make something clear right up-front: this post is about me not being sure where I can sell something- I am *not* trying to sell to any of you lovely people. I'm just genuinely perplexed as to how I can proceed from here.
It's also kind of a weirdly specific situation, I guess. But, yeah, I really appreciate you reading this right now. :)
O.K. so I play this game called 'Pokemon TCG Online'- it's an app and can also be played on your computer. Now, in addition to acquiring digital items (cards, booster packs, etc) by playing the game, you can also get them from IRL products you buy. So if you pick up a pokemon booster pack in the checkout line of Wal-Mart, in addition to the cards you'd expect to find, you'll also find a "code card" that, once redeemed, gives you the same booster pack in-game.
There's a whole market out there for people who sell *just* these code cards to players of the digital version of the card game. You can get code cards for booster packs, pre-built decks, promo cards- pretty much everything having to do with the game.
Now here's where I come in. I was really getting into this game about six months ago. That's when I bought a whole bunch of these code cards through eBay. Once I got them I entered the codes into the app and it unlocked the items for me in-game. My plan was to use some for myself and offer the rest in trade to other players of the game for specific cards I wanted. But I never really got around to that.
Why, you may ask? Take a guess!
....it's the pandemic. Of *course* it's the pandemic.
So, yeah, now I find myself hurting for cash and with less desire to play silly games (even if they did bring me a healthy dose of nostalgic joy).
I also straight-up forgot I'd made this (admittedly not great) purchase until recently.
That's when I realized I could probably just sell off these items on eBay (since that's where I'd gotten them in the first place). I'd seen people do that already- offer to deliver the items via an in-game trade instead of mailing the code cards.
What I didn't realize was that it's apparently (intentionally) difficult for just anyone to sell digital items on eBay. It would seem that you have to either be an "approved seller" or pay to utilize this eBay-adjacent classifieds service. The latter isn't really possible since I'd be a first-time seller and the former sort of defeats the purpose since I'd have to pay a membership fee and subscribe to the service.
So then I figured I'd try selling on Amazon. But it turns out that they don't allow *anyone* to sell digital content, so that was a bust too.
Now I'm kind of at a loss here.
Like, do I just accept the loss on this one and try to figure something else out to help my financial situation?
I mean, I've considered just keeping these items (I mean, I would *like* to). But I don't really *need* these things right now- what I *need* is money to, you know, live.
So does anyone have any advice on how I could proceed from here? Or how I could connect with someone who might be interested in paying for these items? Like a forum or something I could go to, or a free service I could use?
I have screenshots of everything and proof that I bought these items on eBay months ago (though I'm not sure if that last one would help at all). I realize that anyone interested in buying would need guarantees that this is a legitimate offer. I unfortunately don't know anyone personally who plays this game, otherwise I'd try to deal with them. I figure that the screenshots would be the best way to establish legitimacy, but I'm open to other ideas as well.
And I don't know if it matters, but I spent $100 on these items in the first place and that's all I'm looking to get for them now. I mean, I'm not looking to make a profit here- I just need *some* money (and, ideally, I'd like to not *lose* money on this whole thing). And I'm hoping that that's a sizable enough amount to make it worth it to prospective buyers (wherever the heck they are).
Any help would be VERY much appreciated. Or, if you think I need to give up on selling these cards, then I'm also open to general advice on how to make a little extra money right now- without putting myself at-risk for COVID, that is (I have an autoimmune disease and asthma so that sorta takes a lot of options off the table). To that end, I'm also happy to provide any additional information that you may need if you think it could help you to help me.
This is such a wonderful community here and I'm very hopeful that even if no one can solve my problem, someone out there might at least have some kind-hearted advice for me. :)
Take care, all.
I just want to make something clear right up-front: this post is about me not being sure where I can sell something- I am *not* trying to sell to any of you lovely people. I'm just genuinely perplexed as to how I can proceed from here.
It's also kind of a weirdly specific situation, I guess. But, yeah, I really appreciate you reading this right now. :)
O.K. so I play this game called 'Pokemon TCG Online'- it's an app and can also be played on your computer. Now, in addition to acquiring digital items (cards, booster packs, etc) by playing the game, you can also get them from IRL products you buy. So if you pick up a pokemon booster pack in the checkout line of Wal-Mart, in addition to the cards you'd expect to find, you'll also find a "code card" that, once redeemed, gives you the same booster pack in-game.
There's a whole market out there for people who sell *just* these code cards to players of the digital version of the card game. You can get code cards for booster packs, pre-built decks, promo cards- pretty much everything having to do with the game.
Now here's where I come in. I was really getting into this game about six months ago. That's when I bought a whole bunch of these code cards through eBay. Once I got them I entered the codes into the app and it unlocked the items for me in-game. My plan was to use some for myself and offer the rest in trade to other players of the game for specific cards I wanted. But I never really got around to that.
Why, you may ask? Take a guess!
....it's the pandemic. Of *course* it's the pandemic.
So, yeah, now I find myself hurting for cash and with less desire to play silly games (even if they did bring me a healthy dose of nostalgic joy).
I also straight-up forgot I'd made this (admittedly not great) purchase until recently.
That's when I realized I could probably just sell off these items on eBay (since that's where I'd gotten them in the first place). I'd seen people do that already- offer to deliver the items via an in-game trade instead of mailing the code cards.
What I didn't realize was that it's apparently (intentionally) difficult for just anyone to sell digital items on eBay. It would seem that you have to either be an "approved seller" or pay to utilize this eBay-adjacent classifieds service. The latter isn't really possible since I'd be a first-time seller and the former sort of defeats the purpose since I'd have to pay a membership fee and subscribe to the service.
So then I figured I'd try selling on Amazon. But it turns out that they don't allow *anyone* to sell digital content, so that was a bust too.
Now I'm kind of at a loss here.
Like, do I just accept the loss on this one and try to figure something else out to help my financial situation?
I mean, I've considered just keeping these items (I mean, I would *like* to). But I don't really *need* these things right now- what I *need* is money to, you know, live.
So does anyone have any advice on how I could proceed from here? Or how I could connect with someone who might be interested in paying for these items? Like a forum or something I could go to, or a free service I could use?
I have screenshots of everything and proof that I bought these items on eBay months ago (though I'm not sure if that last one would help at all). I realize that anyone interested in buying would need guarantees that this is a legitimate offer. I unfortunately don't know anyone personally who plays this game, otherwise I'd try to deal with them. I figure that the screenshots would be the best way to establish legitimacy, but I'm open to other ideas as well.
And I don't know if it matters, but I spent $100 on these items in the first place and that's all I'm looking to get for them now. I mean, I'm not looking to make a profit here- I just need *some* money (and, ideally, I'd like to not *lose* money on this whole thing). And I'm hoping that that's a sizable enough amount to make it worth it to prospective buyers (wherever the heck they are).
Any help would be VERY much appreciated. Or, if you think I need to give up on selling these cards, then I'm also open to general advice on how to make a little extra money right now- without putting myself at-risk for COVID, that is (I have an autoimmune disease and asthma so that sorta takes a lot of options off the table). To that end, I'm also happy to provide any additional information that you may need if you think it could help you to help me.
This is such a wonderful community here and I'm very hopeful that even if no one can solve my problem, someone out there might at least have some kind-hearted advice for me. :)
Take care, all.
Response by poster: EndsOfInvention- yes, that is the case. And you're completely right about the fear of scamming. That's why I was originally hoping to do this via eBay where there's a level of safety and guarantee. And, personally, I'm not as concerned with *me* getting scammed as I am with others thinking that *I'm* trying to scam *them*.
posted by jamesdtj at 8:35 AM on August 12, 2020
posted by jamesdtj at 8:35 AM on August 12, 2020
I was looking into this briefly earlier and don't have the links handy, but I did want to mention that I saw at least two people say selling digital items for real cash is against the Pokemon TCG Online terms of service and could get your account banned. You might not care about that, but thought I'd mention it just so you're aware. I would double check the TOS yourself to see what it says specifically.
posted by brook horse at 3:19 PM on August 12, 2020
posted by brook horse at 3:19 PM on August 12, 2020
Response by poster: brook horse- thank you! I hadn't thought of thought, so I definitely will look into it.
posted by jamesdtj at 12:45 AM on August 13, 2020
posted by jamesdtj at 12:45 AM on August 13, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
I would find a popular forum for the Pokemon TCG and see how/if people generally sell traded cards. Personally I would be very wary of doing a sale remotely (where you send the cards and they send the cash) because of the ease of being scammed. Maybe you can safely meet someone in-person to do the trade/payment? If the payment is via Paypal or similar and the trade is done on your phones/iPads/etc then you can maintain a safe distance, and an in-person meeting is less likely to be a scam.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:26 AM on August 12, 2020