Yeah, it’s hard to make it if you’re not lowballing customers on trade-ins. I was there when Gamestop (EB) first started taking trade-ins and I was blown away at how little they were offering. We had a store in town at the time that gave top dollar but only allowed two of any one title on the shelf used at any given time. People were conditioned to expect more. They were offered far less.
That fellow eventually quit the business but his model worked for him because his rent was low and his hours were all when he worked the store. It was a solo operation. I think Complete In Box does restrict some trade-ins. They don’t allow there to be more than like five of any one title available. It just makes sense to do that even if people are willing to only take a buck for their used game. It actually pisses them off less to be turned away.
That said, even offering a dollar more than Gamestop for any one game does make people come to your store. I’ve seen that at Just Press Play when people bring in their trade-ins.