Wondering what is on the table for GameStop’s Trade Anything Day? See what you can and can’t trade.
GameStop, a retailer best known for turning used video games into a form of alternative currency, is leaning all the way into the joke—and the marketing opportunity—with its newly launched Trade Anything Day. The concept is as simple as it is amusing: bring in almost anything, and GameStop will give you store credit for it. Yes, really….so what’s on the table for GameStop’s Trade in day?
The company has encouraged customers to dig deep into junk drawers, forgotten closets, and emotional baggage. And based on early reports, people certainly are.
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While GameStop still gives the most value for electronics and games, the store’s guidelines indicate Trade Anything Day truly stretches the imagination. Here are some examples of what is eligible:
✔ Old phones
Have a Samsung Galaxy from 2013 sitting in a sock drawer like a retired pet? Bring it in.
✔ Floppy disks
Finally—your stash of Windows 95 startup disks can serve a purpose other than confusing Gen Z.
✔ Things your ex left at your house
That hoodie, that DVD they never picked up, that mug they insisted was “decorative”—GameStop will take it. Unsurprisingly, they do not provide emotional compensation.
✔ Old board games
Dusty Monopoly sets, incomplete Trivial Pursuit boxes, and that Risk board missing half the armies are all fair game.
✔ Taxidermy
Yes, you read that right. GameStop’s quirky trade-in policy has reportedly welcomed the occasional mounted deer head or a scene of dancing mice —because one person’s trophy is another person’s store credit.
✔ DVDs, CDs, gadgets, cables, controllers
If it once plugged in, lit up, or made a noise, odds are they’ll consider it.
✔ Random household items
Reports include kitchen utensils, lava lamps, garden gnomes, and at least one singing fish plaque. The company says the item simply needs “resale or recycling potential,” which is corporate for “we’ll figure something out.”
Items You Cannot Trade—No Matter How Hard You Try
Yes, there are limits. GameStop specifically excludes anything that could cause legal, sanitary, or moral dilemmas. For example:
✘ Weapons – No swords, no nunchucks, and definitely no crossbows.
✘ Food or perishables – Even if it’s “collectible cereal.”
✘ Live animals – This includes but is not limited to snakes, hamsters, or that goldfish you won at a carnival.
✘ Hazardous materials – Batteries are fine; uranium is not.
✘ Anything illegal – If you need to ask if it’s allowed, the answer is no.
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The promotion is clearly designed to drive foot traffic and social buzz, jumping off GameStop’s reputation for quirky customer interactions. It’s also a clever recycling and re-use initiative: one person’s abandoned Walkman is another person’s retro treasure.
GameStop hasn’t released data on the most common or strangest accepted items yet, but judging by social media, the competition is fierce. If you’ve ever wanted to trade your way into a new game using only the contents of your junk drawer, this is your moment.
Underpinning Trade Anything Day is more than just marketing bravado — it’s part of a broader effort led by Ryan Cohen, GameStop’s executive chairman-turned-CEO, to completely reinvent the company. Since taking the helm, Cohen has driven a ruthless cost-cutting strategy, shutting hundreds of underperforming stores and tightening the company’s expense structure around “extreme frugality.”
Simultaneously, he has pivoted GameStop’s core business toward high-margin collectibles and trading cards, striking a partnership with PSA to grade cards in stores — a move that has helped fuel a significant boost in the company’s profitability. GameStop has also made bold capital allocation decisions: under Cohen’s direction, the company now has the authority to use its cash stockpile to invest in public markets, including buying Bitcoin as a treasury asset. The overall goal, Cohen says, is to transform GameStop from a declining brick-and-mortar video game retailer into a lean, liquid, and digitally savvy business — one that can survive long term, even in the fast-moving world of gaming and collectibles.
Bring what you can, don’t bring what crawls, and may the store credit gods be ever in your favor.
