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Buying 3DS with a limited budget


Kiroen

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I finally have enough 3DS games in my wishlist to justify the purchase, but MONEY ISSUES happen.

I have been thinking in buying a secondhand console and games online, but I have never done anything similar, so I was expecting someone of you could share experiences with what sites are trustworthy, what guarantees I will have about the items being in a good condition, etc.

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Amazon is generally what I stick to. Make sure you pay close attention to the reputation rating of the companies when you view the price listings for the product, only go with those who are within the top 90th percentile of positive rating (Which is easy cause most of the time they get filtered to the top of the list).

And make sure you read things thoroughly so that you know what you're buying. And like Mde said, Ebay can work just as well, though that's considerably a bit more risky if you aren't cautious with who to trust when it comes to purchasing from. Same general rule applies there, check the reputation and reveiws of the seller and the product both. And to save a hassel, try to avoid any items that are being auctioned off and instead go after those that are listed with a set price, cause an auction requires far more of your time, an will likely be a higher price than a standard listed item.

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A general rule of thumb I would suggest is trying to avoid secondhand consoles, but the 3DS especially. Amazon is usually the best site to order these consoles off of, and reviews are generally not full of ass-kissers.

I bought a Luigi's Mansion special blue regular 3DS off Amazon new back in October of last year, and the thing was a decent piece of machinery. One thing I do warn is the triggers. They are notorious for wearing out real easily. Mind wore out in April and Nintendo was nice enough to replace them for free when I sent it in, since I was under warranty.

The 2DS and New 3DS might be your best bets for getting a 3DS imo. And try to stick with new with these things, because they aren't tanks like the Game Boy Advance was. I still got mine, and it works amazingly.

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My advice, never buy second hand anything from gamestop. I have bought 3 games and 1 console (Ps3) from them, all second hand, all deffective*

Also, I got my 3ds by trading in my dsi+20€. it's some kinda "limited edition Red 3DS!!" or something.

Edited by Juuzou
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i buy and sell from eBay regularly, and it's really not as unsafe as you might think. Just make sure to check reputation points and that the seller has a few sells, or even better buy from starred sellers. Ask about the condition, more photos, etc. And if anything is off, make sure you buy with an account so you can report the seller for a full refund or return. But you shouldn't have this issue.

Overall, I like eBay better than Amazon because it's a lot easier to contact the seller for more info. Plus unless it's an Amazon-certified seller I don't trust it.

And yeah, if you're going to buy a 2DS, buy it new, it's dirt cheap. The New 3DS isn't a bad price but I wouldn't buy it used, and you can buy refurbished 3DS from Nintendo's website (I think - not sure if this is still going on).

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Like the others, I can't really recommend a used system, but if you have to go somewhere, Amazon is the place, but make sure you have read everything carefully. I've bought used systems before and most of the time, people get rid of them because they don't know how to clean them. Never bought a good, fully working used system before (until I clean it out). Games, on the other hand, I can recommend used. My gamestop has a selection from the gods and I never bought one from there that didn't work (and I've bought about 1/3rd of my game collection there). I buy very few games brand new which is how I can afford new systems. I've only had one semi defective game which is Metroid Prime that only works on the gamecube (the wii is too sensitive for it...don't ask me how that works). But honestly, how I budget my stuff is to pick up extra hours at work (which is half the reason I can afford all of these amiibo).

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I probably wouldn't buy one second-hand, I was planning on getting a second-hand xl but for the price and condition some people were selling them for was just silly

I ended up waiting until black friday to get a really good deal on a new XL from target, I suggest you do the same, getting these consoles second-handed just isn't worth it

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You can, that's the entire point of it. 3DS games without the 3D and at a lower price.

I'd honestly stick to going new, even though I've had my 3DS since release. My triggers don't work anymore, though, so I'd be careful about that.

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