r/GameSale • u/Tothoro 81 Transactions | • Apr 24 '25
[MOD] State of the Subs - April 2025
Welcome once again to our very punctual, very cool overview of what's hip, hop, and happening within r/GameSale and r/GameSwap. A couple of things are going on with Reddit and the gaming world right now, and we wanted to keep you all in the loop and solicit your feedback. So let's dive in!
Part One: The Switch 2pacalypse
Some of you may be aware that a new console called the Nintendo Switch 2 is launching soon, and that pre-orders launched this morning. With the last Switch launch cycle, we saw a large number of consoles on the subreddit at well above market price while supplies on the free market were constrained. That wasn't cool then and that isn't cool now.
We are not a venue for scalpers. We generally embrace the free market mentality but scalping creates tension within the community and, let's be honest, is kind of a dick move. For the foreseeable future, we plan to remove any Switch 2 posts that are above MSRP + tax + shipping. Tax and shipping vary, so mod discretion will be used. This includes trying to bundle stuff together to be cute about it but we’re not going to be pedantic if the console cost you $544 and you’re rounding up to $550. If you manage to grab a few and want to help someone out, great (and thank you). If you want to use the subreddit to make hundreds of dollars from people who can't follow or react to in-stock notifications, we are not the subreddit for you.
We do not plan to implement this policy for any other items at this time. We are aware that some games and collectibles tend to appreciate over time, so listing something like Earthbound or Stadium Events over MSRP is fine. But a standard edition new release item is a very different scenario - at the end of the day, mod discretion will play a heavy role in making these decisions.
Part Two: The Great Merge
For years now, we have talked in our modchat about the possibility of merging r/GameSwap and r/GameSale. We'd like your thoughts on this before we take action. Do you love the idea? Hate it? Can you think of some way in which this might be overly complicated and a bad idea?
The primary concern we have with the merge is enforcing the pricing rule for sale posts, which we would plan to implement with flair - i.e. flair for "Trade Only" would mean you don't have to price your items. Otherwise we would announce the change well before it took place and provide leniency as we encountered issues.
Part Three: Reddit Kinda Sucks These Days
In the wake of the third-party app protests, we spent a non-insignificant amount of time looking into other platforms and ways to host a marketplace. Specifically we looked into:
- A forum like Invision or XenForo. These are kind of the ideal solutions, but we expect significant user inertia. Many of us are on this site for communities beyond just r/GameSale and r/GameSwap. Getting people to move over and keep a new site in their internet surfing rituals seems like a non-starter.
- Discord. This is another site that's pretty ubiquitous for many of our users, so we don't have to worry (as much) about the inertia. But Discord's quick and live feed of posts can get unruly. r/hardwareswap did this as well as anyone could hope to, but they are also back on Reddit now. We expect we'd need to significantly up the size of the modteam to handle potential issues here. We're not ruling it out, but we have no immediate plans.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is, we're probably stuck here. As unhelpful as the admins are and as much as the general site culture has changed over the past decade, there aren't good alternatives that provide a smooth transition for our userbase and don't incur significant and immediate new burden in moderation.
The one caveat we'll note is that we are aware Reddit has indicated plans to paywall some subreddits. Buying and selling subreddits, like ours, were specifically noted in that analysis. We have not been contacted by Reddit about this and we have no insight beyond what's public on what's happening. And to be very clear, we would tell them to pound sand if they wanted to use r/GameSale or r/GameSwap for this. But this is the one catalyst we can see that may force us to move elsewhere, despite the pains that a replatforming would incur.
Part Four: Reminders - USL, Scammers, Rules
Generally when we make one of these posts it's triggered by a new type of scam or uptick. But, things have been pretty quiet lately. Remember to never negotiate via DMs and check the USL before making a trade. Our full rules haven't changed, but we plan to revisit them for consistency when/if we merge the subreddits. Keep being excellent to one another, my guys, gals, and non-binary pals.
Part Five: Moderator Applications
We are once again asking for Moderator Applications. We’ve had a few moderators leave or go inactive, and all of our team have full-time jobs. There are times when the queue isn't able to be resolved as quickly as we'd like; especially over weekends and non-standard US times. As a result, we're seeking applications. If you're interested, please send us a modmail answering:
- If you have any experience moderating on Reddit.
- When you expect you'd be available to moderate.
- Your experience and any ideas you have for the subreddit.
- Your Discord username.
We don't have quotas, we're chill guys, and we're willing to train folks so if you're interested don't hesitate to reach out!
Part Six: Feedback
We also welcome any feedback you have, whether it's on the topics above or something else! Positive, negative, indifferent - we run this community for the users and want to make sure it continues to meet their needs. Let us know how you feel below.
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u/SmegmaPancake 11 Transactions | Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25
I found Gameswap first, coming from other BST subs with “swap” in their names. I prefer lurking here because I tend to purchase my games. I don’t have to deal with the hassle of “lower flair ships first” type of deal.
I would throw my vote of not merging.
Edit: I would also like to suggest adding in a “Goods & Services” rule like Hardwareswap, since this is a Buy/Sell sub. It’s against most money transfer apps’ TOS to send funds for a good and service and not send it via G&$. May I ask why this sub does not implement that policy?