Goozex

Goozex was an online trading community established in July 2006 which allowed people to trade video games and movies in the United States, Canada and Bermuda. The name Goozex came from a shortened version of "Goods Exchanged."[2] Goozex used an internal point system as currency and worked as a middleman matching buyers and traders instead of handling the actual movies and games. In November 2007, Goozex was ranked as the best website for trading games online by video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamesRadar.com.[3][4] It has since received a ranking of F from the Better Business Bureau.[5] Goozex traded games for the Atari 2600, Xbox, Xbox 360, NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, PS Vita, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Dreamcast, PC, and Macintosh, along with movies in DVD, Blu-ray, HD DVD, and UMD formats.[6][7]

Goozex, Inc.
Type of businessPublic
Available inEnglish
Traded asOTC Pink: SLGI
FoundedMarch 2006 (March 2006)
HeadquartersNewburyport, Massachusetts, U.S.
Area servedUnited States, Canada, Bermuda
OwnerBay Acquisition Corp.
Founder(s)Jon Dugan
CEOJ.P. McCormick
Key peopleFlavio Del Greco, Jon Dugan, Mark Nebesky, Valerio Zanini, Matt Dugan
IndustryInternet, online retailing, video games
ServicesOnline trading community
Revenue US$ 232,464 (2011)[1]
Operating income US$ -52,210 (2011)[1]
Net income US$ -27,205 (2011)[1]
Total assets US$ 143,259 (2011)[1]
Total equity US$ 138,401 (2011)[1]
Employees2
URLGoozex.com
AdvertisingWeb banners
RegistrationRequired
LaunchedJuly 10, 2006
Current statusDefunct

History

The idea for the site began late 2005 as founder Jon Dugan was annoyed by the low prices he received when trading games in to a local used-video-game store.[2] Dugan teamed up with two other graduates from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland and incorporated the company in March 2006. The site opened to a public beta on July 10, 2006. Within three months, Goozex had 1,500 users signed up trading over 7,000 games.[2] More than 48.6 million points were exchanged during their first two years, representing over US$2.1 million.[8] Over 160,000 games were traded throughout 2008.[9] On August 17, 2009, Goozex began to offer movie trading with 130,000 titles listed over four formats.[7] On March 30, 2010, the site opened up trading of 6,000 titles from eight additional classic game systems.[10] On November 16, 2012, Goozex was privately acquired by a holding company, Bay Acquisition Corp. for an undisclosed amount.[11] On December 20, 2012, it was announced that J.P. McCormick would be the company's new President and CEO.[12] Mr. McCormick resigned as president and CEO on December 31, 2013 and the website went down on the same day and Goozex.com never returned.

Trading

Trading at Goozex was accomplished by a software algorithm matching buyers and sellers. Buyers requested games and movies with varying conditions and were then matched to sellers through a queue system. Each seller had 26 hours to accept the trade and another three days to ship the game to the buyer.[13] After the trade was complete, buyers left feedback in order to show how well the trade went and if the game was received as expected. This feedback comprised a seller's feedback score.

Trades were made using both points and trade credits. Points were the currency of Goozex and were valued at 100 points for five dollars.[14] Points were traded between users in exchange for movies and games or bought directly from Goozex. Games and movies were valued between 100 and 2400 points at intervals of 50 points. The game prices were set by Goozex and not individual sellers. The price of games and movies could have risen and fallen due to a variety of factors. Prices could only change once a week and by a difference of 50 or 100 points. Trade tokens were paid by buyers directly to Goozex as a commission fee. Each trade token cost $0.99 and trades cost between 1 and 3 tokens depending on the value of the game,[15] although users with feedback scores of 500 or greater received a 50% discount.

Closure

The site shut down on December 31, 2013 since the funds necessary in running the site are being held in escrow by Meyers Associates, L.P.[16] Mr. McCormick resigned as president of Bay Acquisition Corp. on December 31, 2013.

See also

References
  1. "AUDITOR'S REPORT AND AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF GOOZEX". United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. Musgrove, Mike (2006-11-06). "Anger From 1 Ripoff + 2 MBAs = a Game Plan". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  3. Orland, Kyle (November 2007). "Learning a Trade". Electronic Gaming Monthly: 40.
  4. Bratcher, Eric (2007-12-25). "Get games from Goozex". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  5. "BBB Business Review Reliability Report for Goozex". Archived from the original on 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
  6. Cohen, Peter (2007-04-30). "Goozex game trading site adds Mac titles". MacWorld. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  7. "Goozex Extends Its Leading Trading Service Into Movies". PR Newswire. 2009-08-17. Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  8. Rice, Brad (2008-07-10). "Happy birthday to Goozex, they turn two today!". Destructoid. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  9. Musgrove, Mike (2009-03-14). "Used-video-game services clicking with users". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  10. "Retro Game Trading Added to Goozex Service". PR Newswire. 2010-03-30. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  11. "Form 8-K for BAY ACQUISITION CORP". EDGAR Online. 2012-11-16. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  12. "Bay Acquisition Corp Appoints JP McCormick New President and CEO". Business Wire. 2012-12-20. Retrieved 2013-01-04. The site unceremoniously went down on 12/31/2013 with only a note posted on the Goozex Facebook site stating "We apologize for the downtime. We are working hard to get the site back up." Speculation
  13. "Trade video games for Sony Playstation 3, PS2, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii, Gamecube, PSP, DS, GBA, Dreamcast, Mac - Your game trading community". Goozex. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
  14. "Trade video games for Sony Playstation 3, PS2, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii, Gamecube, PSP, DS, GBA, Dreamcast, Mac - Your game trading community". Goozex. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
  15. "Trade video games for Sony Playstation 3, PS2, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii, Gamecube, PSP, DS, GBA, Dreamcast, Mac - Your game trading community". Goozex. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
  16. http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/12/23/599153/10062449/en/Bay-Acquisition-Corp-Files-Lawsuit-Against-Meyers-Associates-L-P-for-Breach-of-Contract.html
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