Used Game Sales

Are you interested in selling your used games to Starlit Citadel? Here is what you need to know about our pricing and policies.

Quick Reference

    The Sales Process - The Offer
    The Sales Process - Sending Your Games
    The Sales Process - The Inspection
    Pricing Policy
    Frequently Asked Questions

The Sales Process

The process of selling used games to us has 3 steps:

The Offer

Before sending us any items, please email us with a list of the names and conditions of all of the games you wish to sell. Items should be rated for their condition according to our Damage Scale, and any missing components should be noted. If you are unsure of the appropriate damage grade for an item, please send us a photo along with a 1-2 sentence description of its condition. Please also note the game's edition if it is anything other than the most recent printing. Your emailed list should look something like this:

1 x Dixit (Grade A)
1 x Claustrophobia (Grade C. 1 troglodyte mini is missing.)
1 x Forbidden Island (Not sure of grade. Tin is slightly dented on 2 sides, and the lid fits badly because of it. Photo included.)

We will reply with a payment offer for the items listed, based on the information you have provided and on our pricing scale. All prices quoted are for store credit. If you wish to be paid in cash, reduce the quoted amount by 50%.

If the offer is acceptable to you, please confirm your acceptance by email before shipping your games, and let us know if you wish to be paid by cash or in store credit. Shipping your games to us is considered an offer to sell and acceptance of the quoted price. We will not ship the games back to you for any reason. If the items diverge significantly from your description, the payment you receive will be adjusted to compensate for the actual condition of the games.

Sending Your Games

All shipping costs are the responsibility of the seller. To get a sense of how much it will cost you to send us your game, you can use Canada Post's "Find a Rate" tool.

During the shipping process, we recommend you take the following steps:

• Verify condition of game boxes and completeness of contents, and ensure they match your emailed description.


• Sort and properly store all punched counters. Loose counters are easily lost, and missing pieces will reduce the value of your game. We may also reduce our offer to you if a game is extremely poorly organized in order to cover the extra time cost of inventorying the game.


• Use packing material for your shipment (newspaper works well), but do not tape your game boxes closed. If you are concerned that they might open, use rubber bands.

We recommend that you ship the games to us with insurance and tracking information. Our shipping address is:

61 West 7th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Y 1L4

Once you have shipped the games, please email us the tracking information so that we know to expect your parcel. We are not responsible for games lost while being shipped to us, nor any damage suffered during shipment.

If you live in the Greater Vancouver region and wish to sell your games to us, you can drop them off in person during our regular pickup hours of 12pm - 6pm, Monday to Friday. Please do not drop off any items that we have not provided you a quote for, as they will not be accepted.

The Inspection

Once we have received your games, all of your items will be inspected thoroughly to confirm their condition and completeness. This process may take up to 2 weeks from our receipt of your items. We reserve the right to alter our price from the initial offer if the games sent are not in the condition stated at the time the offer was made (e.g. if a game that was listed as a Grade A via email is assessed as a Grade C, or if the game is extremely disorganized or missing pieces, we will reduce our purchase price). After games have been received and inspected, we will issue you payment in the form you requested.

Pricing Policy

We make offers for purchase based on the following formula:

Offer Price = Base Price x Condition Discount x Demand Ratio x Processing Fee (applicable only to certain items)

Base Price : 45% of US MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, usually listed on the game box or on the manufacturer’s website). Please note that this percentage is subject to change if the US exchange rate changes significantly. For Out-of-Print games, we use an average of the game's selling price on Ebay, the BoardGameGeek marketplace, and similar sites, in place of MSRP.

Condition Discount : The base price will be modified by the appropriate discount for its condition, rated on our Damage Scale.

Demand Ratio : The price will be further modified according to current demand for the game, based on these guidelines:

• Bestseller (sells bi-weekly or more): no discount
• Regular Seller (sells at least once every 3 months): 10% discount
• Slow Seller (sells once every 6 months): 20% discount
• Very Slow Seller (sells once a year): 35% discount
• Glacial Seller (sells once every few years): 50% discount
• Sale Bin (hasn’t sold at all): 80 - 100% discount
• Out of Print (no longer available through regular distribution channels): No Set Ratio. We will make an offer based on the game in question.

Processing Fee : All counter-based Wargames will be marked down another 20% to account for the time cost associated with inspecting them. The combination of a high component count and minimal component information (as many games will simply announce that they include "2 sheets" of counters) means that these games can take us 1-2 hours each to inspect.

Offer Price may be further discounted for the following:

Missing Parts : if a game is missing a small number of easily-replaced pieces, its price will be reduced by 10%. Any game missing a large number of pieces or missing pieces that cannot be replaced (due to the game being out of print, etc) will be marked down 20%. If a game is missing enough parts to render it unplayable and unsellable, we will withhold payment for it until we have sourced a replacement.

Improper Storage : if we have to take additional time to sort and categorize your game in order to assess its condition, a discount ranging from 10 - 25% may be applied. Some examples of improper storage include loose counters in Twilight Imperium; loose tokens and cards in Mage Knight; or a base game and expansion that have been stored together and have not had their components separated/sorted.

Used Games that are already in stock : If we already have a game you offer in stock (or have recently quoted a customer on it), we may reduce our offer by a Demand Grade to avoid overstocking.

Sample Calculation : the offer price for the 3 games listed in the sample email above would be priced as follows:

Dixit : Base Price (45% x $34.99 = $15.75) x Condition Discount (Grade A : 90%) x Demand Ratio (Bestseller : 100%) = $14.18

Claustrophobia : Base Price (45% x $64.99 = $29.25) x Condition Discount (Grade C : 80%) x Demand Ratio (Regular Seller : 90%) x Missing Parts (90%) = $18.95

Forbidden Island : Base Price (45% x $17.99 = $8.10) x Condition Disount (Grade B : 85%) x Demand Ratio (Bestseller : 100%) = $6.89

Total Offer = $40.15 ($20.07 if paid in cash)

Please note that these prices and policies are subject to change at any time, at Starlit Citadel’s discretion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I sell to you? I could do better selling these games myself!

Yes, you could. The above pricing really works for those looking to sell a large number of games to us at one time and/or those who have a few ‘rare’ games and do not want the inconvenience of selling or trading these games themselves.

I don’t like the final value you quoted! I want my games back.

Once a game is shipped to us, it is considered a final offer to sell. As we have now taken the time to inventory and review your items, we will not be shipping them back to you. To avoid unpleasant surprises, please carefully read over our pricing policies and damage grades and make sure that the descriptions you send us is as accurate and complete as possible. If you have accurately portrayed the state of your game(s), there should be no difference between our initial, emailed offer and the final price you are paid.

80 - 100% off for "Sale Bin" items? Isn’t that free?

Yes. There are some games that we know will not sell and that we have no interest in buying. Our initial emailed offer will include the demand discount, and we will usually let you know in this offer that we don't value a particular game.

What type of games do you want to buy?

We are generally looking for strategy board games and war games, as well as role-playing games. We are less interested in miniatures and collectible card games, though we would be willing to consider purchasing them depending on the items in question and their condition. Generally, we are not looking to purchase accessories.

I want to sell an Out of Print game. How much will I get for it?

As the value of out of print games vary, we cannot provide a blanket demand ratio for items in this category. In general, games that are temporarily out of print (e.g. major releases from large publishers like Fantasy Flight that are between reprints) will see no additional price adjustment. For older, in-demand out of print games, it is best to contact us directly. In all cases, we will provide an initial offer that takes into account the demand for a particular out of print game.