Getting the Best Price When Selling Your Online Game Account
By Aaron Crow
Sales of accounts for online games such as Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, and EVE Online are big business. Easily millions of dollars are spent on purchasing existing game accounts every year, but because it is big business, it means that there is a lot of competition. Whether you are selling your game account because you are done with the game or you are a game account broker who makes a living from the online game market, you need to market your account effectively to stand out from the crowd and get a good price.
Many people choose to list their game accounts at eBay or a site called Player Auctions. Regardless of where you sell, your listing should contain the following elements.
1. A clear and concise title for the listing so that buyers can find it when searching. A good title will always contain the name of the game, your game server, and an exact label for what you are selling.
2. A compelling description of the account needs to be created for your listing. Don’t do a rush job on it. This description will be what makes a buyer spend money. A good description will be precise and full of details. It will describe exactly what the buyer will get, how to use it and what the benefits are of having this account. Also include any statistics about the account and an inventory of its valuable items.
3. An image of the character or characters within the account should be included in the listing.
4. A price that is reasonably in sync with the market for accounts from your particular game. A price should be fair so that buyers will be willing to bid.
Setting the right price requires market research. Carefully study the completed listings at eBay for items similar to the account you want to sell. This will let you see what prices people are currently paying. You can view completed listings at eBay to see what sold and for how much by using the advanced search feature and checking the box to search only completed listings.
The auctions that sold successfully need to be studied carefully. Ask yourself what do you find intriguing about the account description? Take notes while analyzing the listings for successful sales. Can you determine any common traits that you can use on your listings? You can also take a look at listings that did not sell and learn what might have been weak about them.
Like many things in business, timing can be a helpful factor in selling a game account. The holiday season at the end of the year is a good time to sell because people are buying gifts or treating themselves. Another factor in timing is the popularity of a game. Is it still a rising star and therefore its accounts will be fetching higher and higher prices? Or is your account in a game that is waning or stabilizing in popularity?
If your game account is not from a hot game, you might want to try shopping it around your gaming community before paying to list it at an auction site. If you belong to a gaming guild, you could post on your message board that you want to sell the account. Also, while playing you could let fellow players know through in-game chatting that you want to sell. Trying to sell within your game community will target people who are still actively interested in the game. Perhaps one of your neighbors has been coveting your character. Your fellow gamers might want to buy your account for several reasons. Maybe someone wants a higher level character right away, wants to buy an account for a friend so they can play together on that server, and sometimes guilds like to have an extra account available to its members.
However you end up selling your game account whether it is through a privately arranged transaction or by listing it on the open market, you will benefit and get a better price if you do your research before selling. Find out the going rate for your type of account and prepare a detailed description that will entice buyers and you are well on your way to cashing in on that game account.
Aaron Crow is an expert on the online game market and the author of Gaming Pays! Insider Secrets to Making Money with Online Role-Playing Games. More information about this dynamic market is available at http://www.gamingpays.com.
Sales of accounts for online games such as Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, and EVE Online are big business. Easily millions of dollars are spent on purchasing existing game accounts every year, but because it is big business, it means that there is a lot of competition. Whether you are selling your game account because you are done with the game or you are a game account broker who makes a living from the online game market, you need to market your account effectively to stand out from the crowd and get a good price.
Many people choose to list their game accounts at eBay or a site called Player Auctions. Regardless of where you sell, your listing should contain the following elements.
1. A clear and concise title for the listing so that buyers can find it when searching. A good title will always contain the name of the game, your game server, and an exact label for what you are selling.
2. A compelling description of the account needs to be created for your listing. Don’t do a rush job on it. This description will be what makes a buyer spend money. A good description will be precise and full of details. It will describe exactly what the buyer will get, how to use it and what the benefits are of having this account. Also include any statistics about the account and an inventory of its valuable items.
3. An image of the character or characters within the account should be included in the listing.
4. A price that is reasonably in sync with the market for accounts from your particular game. A price should be fair so that buyers will be willing to bid.
Setting the right price requires market research. Carefully study the completed listings at eBay for items similar to the account you want to sell. This will let you see what prices people are currently paying. You can view completed listings at eBay to see what sold and for how much by using the advanced search feature and checking the box to search only completed listings.
The auctions that sold successfully need to be studied carefully. Ask yourself what do you find intriguing about the account description? Take notes while analyzing the listings for successful sales. Can you determine any common traits that you can use on your listings? You can also take a look at listings that did not sell and learn what might have been weak about them.
Like many things in business, timing can be a helpful factor in selling a game account. The holiday season at the end of the year is a good time to sell because people are buying gifts or treating themselves. Another factor in timing is the popularity of a game. Is it still a rising star and therefore its accounts will be fetching higher and higher prices? Or is your account in a game that is waning or stabilizing in popularity?
If your game account is not from a hot game, you might want to try shopping it around your gaming community before paying to list it at an auction site. If you belong to a gaming guild, you could post on your message board that you want to sell the account. Also, while playing you could let fellow players know through in-game chatting that you want to sell. Trying to sell within your game community will target people who are still actively interested in the game. Perhaps one of your neighbors has been coveting your character. Your fellow gamers might want to buy your account for several reasons. Maybe someone wants a higher level character right away, wants to buy an account for a friend so they can play together on that server, and sometimes guilds like to have an extra account available to its members.
However you end up selling your game account whether it is through a privately arranged transaction or by listing it on the open market, you will benefit and get a better price if you do your research before selling. Find out the going rate for your type of account and prepare a detailed description that will entice buyers and you are well on your way to cashing in on that game account.
Aaron Crow is an expert on the online game market and the author of Gaming Pays! Insider Secrets to Making Money with Online Role-Playing Games. More information about this dynamic market is available at http://www.gamingpays.com.
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