Argos steps up pre-owned offensive

The pre-owned ambitions of Argos have seemingly taken a big stride forward with a brand new cut-price offer on two upcoming new releases.

The retailer is offering either Red Dead Redemption of Split/Second, both of which are out this Friday, for just 9.99 when customers trade in two titles from a pre-defined list.

Also up for grabs for 9.99 in 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

Games included on the accepted trade-in list include Assassin’s Creed II, Uncharted 2, Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Aliens vs Predator, Smackdown vs Raw 2010, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Left 4 Dead 2, Professor Layton, FIFA 10, Super Mario Galaxy, BioShock 2, Wii Sports Resort and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – the last of which was recently available for as little as 4.98 from rival GAME.

In March Argos told MCV that it was trailing pre-owned games in 27 of its stores. However, the fact that this offer is valid in all Argos stores suggests a possible national rollout for the scheme.

Interesting, the T&C’s for the offer make specific reference to rival retailers using the offer to gain cheap stock – a practice that’s often openly promoted amongst MCV’s indie trade audience in retaliation to aggressive discounting on the High Street.

It reads: We will only accept trade in games from customers who are dealing with us as a consumer and if we suspect that you are operating on a commercial basis we will decline to trade with you. We reserve the right to refuse to accept multiple copies of the same game or stock believed to have been sourced through a trade buyer.”