December 10, 2025 • 6 mins
“Would you trade a $34,000 Pokémon card for $30K cash—and trust GameStop to make it happen?” That’s the jaw-dropping question Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray tackle in today’s Ben and Skin Show.The crew dives into the largest single trade-in in GameStop history—a PSA 10 Holo Gengar card swapped for $30,000 at a Grapevine store. How did GameStop pull this off? Why did they troll critics on social media with the line:
“Any prior and ongoing objections to our trade values are now deemed without merit and factually invalid.”
And is this a smart move or a risky bet in the collectibles market?But that’s just the beginning. The gang unpacks GameStop’s bizarre “Trade Anything Day,” where customers brought in everything from bowling balls and speed limit signs to a taxidermied bobcat and even a copy of the Declaration of Independence (cue the Nicholas Cage jokes). With 80,000 random items collected nationwide, GameStop handed out $400,000 in store credit—and now owns a mountain of weird junk.
“Any prior and ongoing objections to our trade values are now deemed without merit and factually invalid.”
And is this a smart move or a risky bet in the collectibles market?But that’s just the beginning. The gang unpacks GameStop’s bizarre “Trade Anything Day,” where customers brought in everything from bowling balls and speed limit signs to a taxidermied bobcat and even a copy of the Declaration of Independence (cue the Nicholas Cage jokes). With 80,000 random items collected nationwide, GameStop handed out $400,000 in store credit—and now owns a mountain of weird junk.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yes, it is a Hume Day edition of the Ben
and Skin Show. Thank you for making us a part
of your daily routine. I hope you have awesome holiday plans.
We'll go around the sports here in ten minutes on
some unfortunate injury news for one of our local teams.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
But right now it's time for this. Give me that
news quickie. All right? We got two stories as we
go around the game stop and inside it.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Oh nice.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So there's a GameStop customer in North Texas that traded
in a fully authenticicated, authenticated just likes you, fully authenticated
PSA ten Pokemon card for thirty thousand dollars. This is
at the Grapevine store. It's a gear right, it was
(00:46):
a Hollo gen gar a game stop location. Had thirty
grand to trade with somebody. My biggest question. This happened
on December first, so this would have been last Monday
at two thirty pm. We're sitting in here getting ready
to do our show and someone had just gone and
collected thirty thousand dollars from a game stop. Now, GameStop
put out a little post on x this is the
(01:08):
most valuable single trade and ever recorded in GameStop history.
Oh yeah, the fair market valuation of the card was
rounding up to thirty four thousand dollars, so it was
traded in for thirty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So did they make four thousand dollars off this?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think they're feeling like they will, okay, But in
their post it said at the end of the final paragraph,
it's aid Furthermore, any trolls who publicly claim that Game
Stop trade and values are bad are hereby factually and
demonstrably incorrect. Any prior and ongoing objections to our trade
values are now deemed without merit and factually invalid. They
(01:45):
trolled them on the post about it. Now, probably happy
because they made four thousand dollars. If they keep the
card in that condition and the market value stays, it's
a risk on their part. But what I mean thirty
thousand cash, We need more details on that. They paid
eighty eight percent of the value. Yeah, but so they
are so you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So if this person had sold it at the market value,
they would have made twelve percent more. And so they
came out to said, hey, we pay the most, don't
ever talk trash. We pay more than anybody so quit
knocking our value.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Don't take call Eco Vision somewhere else. Like I don't understand, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I don't. I think I don't know. This is not
my world, Skins, it's my world.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
So a guy, a guy walked in there and he's like, hey, GameStop,
I bet you guys got thirty grand laying around. I'll
give you this thirty four thousand dollars cards from four
thousand dollars. And then the nineteen year old that was
working there with the beard goes, yeah, I mean here
take this money.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
What well, they've pivoted, right who GameStop did they They've
pivoted to more than games because you don't have to
go in and buy games anymore. So they've they've pivoted
to the collectible world. As evidenced by my second story.
Oh okay, GameStop did something called trade Anything Day or
just chaps my ass a little bit. I should have
(03:06):
done this, but I just didn't. But I wanted to
do when I did mornings, just do like a trade
in trade in show. You know what they used to
do in the old days. It was a small town radio.
I don't I got a nineteen ninety four Ford peno yes,
barely runs. Yes, and then to which you would tell
them just donate it to carsfourkids dot org. Okay, high
(03:26):
schoolge kid a second chance to graduate. Don't be a douche.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Are you saying it's like an audio garage sale.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, yeah, it was a very famous I mean this
is have a small town old school radio for sure.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
It also happens a lot in public radio. Yeah, okay,
you know Cano n or KSC or k E r A.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
They had it every Saturday, yeah, on or every Saturday
or Sunday morning in Whichitol falls one of their country
music stations. By the way, that would have been fun
to do. But the point is they did a trade
anything day. So basically what they would do is they
encourage customers to trade in anything. And they had on
the you know, they had some rules you can't trade
in like live animals or you know, hazardous materials or
(04:04):
drugs or things like that. Make a trade in and
we'll give you a five dollars you know, you know,
in store credit card to GameStop. So it's like we'll
take your stuff. You try it. So like you know,
across the country, you know, people with one guy brought
in a bowling ball. One guy brought in a speed
limit sign. One guy brought in friends on VHS but
(04:25):
in up in Corsicana. I guess it's down in Corsicana
from where we are, right, Corsicana's south of here.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I thought it was north to here.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Is it? No, of course, Cana south? All right? Come
on right?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Is it that important?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It is? It's important to know they're in the listening area.
He Corsicana. Shout out to our friends down there in
forty five out in Navarro County. We love you and
thanks for listening. Ninety seven one the Eagle up. You
have a happy holidays. A guy brought in a taxidermy Bobcat.
They literally would take anything they accepted. They accepted some
(05:00):
other things that overall across the nation, eighty thousand items
were brought in, so people were participating. There was a
tiny Jesus, a framed dog portrait, a ball of lin,
a gas mask. Some guy even brought in a copy
of the Declaration of Independence. Oh whoa wait, yeah, Nick
Cage incredible. So yeah, they said they gave They gave
(05:23):
out about four hundred thousand dollars of five dollars traded
in credit vouchers. Now they have all this crap that
they don't know what to do with is crap, but
maybe they'll find something that's like worth it. And okay,
one of them is they make all that money because
they're in the collectible game. Now, that's it.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
You guys can't imagine where maybe you know how much
money Half Price Records and Books has made. I mean yeah,
And what happens is is they take giant collections and
they go, all right, we'll give you forty dollars for
this because someone's like, oh really, and they don't want
to forty dollars, screw you. And they don't want to
take it back to their car yep, because it's just
something their parents left behind.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It usually like five dollars by the way.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, and so then there will be one thing in
there that's worth like two hundred bucks.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Right. And they love the game too, right, They love
the hunt, the juice, Yeah, the thrill of the hunt.
I'm guessing they love the hunt. Otherwise, why would you
get in that heels like you're going through a lot
of junk. Man, you are, you absolutely are.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
But man, take a look at how many Half Priced
records and books are around. Ye, there's a ton of them.
That thing is a massive institution that has just cranked
money for.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Go through more junk than Angela White. All Right, there
you have it.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
There is the news quickie coming up in just over
three minutes. Terrible injury news for one of our teams.
This is tragic. We'll talk about it next
Yes, it is a Hume Day edition of the Ben
and Skin Show. Thank you for making us a part
of your daily routine. I hope you have awesome holiday plans.
We'll go around the sports here in ten minutes on
some unfortunate injury news for one of our local teams.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
But right now it's time for this. Give me that
news quickie. All right? We got two stories as we
go around the game stop and inside it.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Oh nice.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So there's a GameStop customer in North Texas that traded
in a fully authenticicated, authenticated just likes you, fully authenticated
PSA ten Pokemon card for thirty thousand dollars. This is
at the Grapevine store. It's a gear right, it was
(00:46):
a Hollo gen gar a game stop location. Had thirty
grand to trade with somebody. My biggest question. This happened
on December first, so this would have been last Monday
at two thirty pm. We're sitting in here getting ready
to do our show and someone had just gone and
collected thirty thousand dollars from a game stop. Now, GameStop
put out a little post on x this is the
(01:08):
most valuable single trade and ever recorded in GameStop history.
Oh yeah, the fair market valuation of the card was
rounding up to thirty four thousand dollars, so it was
traded in for thirty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So did they make four thousand dollars off this?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think they're feeling like they will, okay, But in
their post it said at the end of the final paragraph,
it's aid Furthermore, any trolls who publicly claim that Game
Stop trade and values are bad are hereby factually and
demonstrably incorrect. Any prior and ongoing objections to our trade
values are now deemed without merit and factually invalid. They
(01:45):
trolled them on the post about it. Now, probably happy
because they made four thousand dollars. If they keep the
card in that condition and the market value stays, it's
a risk on their part. But what I mean thirty
thousand cash, We need more details on that. They paid
eighty eight percent of the value. Yeah, but so they
are so you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So if this person had sold it at the market value,
they would have made twelve percent more. And so they
came out to said, hey, we pay the most, don't
ever talk trash. We pay more than anybody so quit
knocking our value.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Don't take call Eco Vision somewhere else. Like I don't understand, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I don't. I think I don't know. This is not
my world, Skins, it's my world.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
So a guy, a guy walked in there and he's like, hey, GameStop,
I bet you guys got thirty grand laying around. I'll
give you this thirty four thousand dollars cards from four
thousand dollars. And then the nineteen year old that was
working there with the beard goes, yeah, I mean here
take this money.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
What well, they've pivoted, right who GameStop did they They've
pivoted to more than games because you don't have to
go in and buy games anymore. So they've they've pivoted
to the collectible world. As evidenced by my second story.
Oh okay, GameStop did something called trade Anything Day or
just chaps my ass a little bit. I should have
(03:06):
done this, but I just didn't. But I wanted to
do when I did mornings, just do like a trade
in trade in show. You know what they used to
do in the old days. It was a small town radio.
I don't I got a nineteen ninety four Ford peno yes,
barely runs. Yes, and then to which you would tell
them just donate it to carsfourkids dot org. Okay, high
(03:26):
schoolge kid a second chance to graduate. Don't be a douche.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Are you saying it's like an audio garage sale.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, yeah, it was a very famous I mean this
is have a small town old school radio for sure.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
It also happens a lot in public radio. Yeah, okay,
you know Cano n or KSC or k E r A.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
They had it every Saturday, yeah, on or every Saturday
or Sunday morning in Whichitol falls one of their country
music stations. By the way, that would have been fun
to do. But the point is they did a trade
anything day. So basically what they would do is they
encourage customers to trade in anything. And they had on
the you know, they had some rules you can't trade
in like live animals or you know, hazardous materials or
(04:04):
drugs or things like that. Make a trade in and
we'll give you a five dollars you know, you know,
in store credit card to GameStop. So it's like we'll
take your stuff. You try it. So like you know,
across the country, you know, people with one guy brought
in a bowling ball. One guy brought in a speed
limit sign. One guy brought in friends on VHS but
(04:25):
in up in Corsicana. I guess it's down in Corsicana
from where we are, right, Corsicana's south of here.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I thought it was north to here.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Is it? No, of course, Cana south? All right? Come
on right?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Is it that important?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It is? It's important to know they're in the listening area.
He Corsicana. Shout out to our friends down there in
forty five out in Navarro County. We love you and
thanks for listening. Ninety seven one the Eagle up. You
have a happy holidays. A guy brought in a taxidermy Bobcat.
They literally would take anything they accepted. They accepted some
(05:00):
other things that overall across the nation, eighty thousand items
were brought in, so people were participating. There was a
tiny Jesus, a framed dog portrait, a ball of lin,
a gas mask. Some guy even brought in a copy
of the Declaration of Independence. Oh whoa wait, yeah, Nick
Cage incredible. So yeah, they said they gave They gave
(05:23):
out about four hundred thousand dollars of five dollars traded
in credit vouchers. Now they have all this crap that
they don't know what to do with is crap, but
maybe they'll find something that's like worth it. And okay,
one of them is they make all that money because
they're in the collectible game. Now, that's it.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
You guys can't imagine where maybe you know how much
money Half Price Records and Books has made. I mean yeah,
And what happens is is they take giant collections and
they go, all right, we'll give you forty dollars for
this because someone's like, oh really, and they don't want
to forty dollars, screw you. And they don't want to
take it back to their car yep, because it's just
something their parents left behind.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It usually like five dollars by the way.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, and so then there will be one thing in
there that's worth like two hundred bucks.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Right. And they love the game too, right, They love
the hunt, the juice, Yeah, the thrill of the hunt.
I'm guessing they love the hunt. Otherwise, why would you
get in that heels like you're going through a lot
of junk. Man, you are, you absolutely are.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
But man, take a look at how many Half Priced
records and books are around. Ye, there's a ton of them.
That thing is a massive institution that has just cranked
money for.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Go through more junk than Angela White. All Right, there
you have it.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
There is the news quickie coming up in just over
three minutes. Terrible injury news for one of our teams.
This is tragic. We'll talk about it next
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