Within minutes you can make room in your house and earn some money from games you never play again. Or do you give such a game a new home, because that way we are sustainable with board games and you can buy a gem cheaper. This guide will walk you through the essential features and functionalities to help you get the most out of your experience. Whether you're planning on buying or selling, these steps will help you on your way in no time.

Buying

You don't need to have an account to buy on BGS, but you will miss out on all kinds of extras such as saving points with every purchase. If you only wish to make purchases via our platform without offering items for sale yourself, it is sufficient to create a standard account by registering via the button below your account drop-down menu at the top right (If you wish to be able to buy as well as sell, it is best to create a seller account immediately, see below)

Note: Confirmation emails can end up in spam.

1. How to Add a Product to the Cart

• If you're looking for a specific boardgame, start typing its title in the search bar, and our autofill function will provide suggestions.
• Note: Our catalog lists all boardgames with their original title (often in English). If you can't find a particular boardgame, try its original title (Easy to find on boardgamegeek.com by entering the title of your version in the search bar and you will automatically be redirected to the page with original title that you can copy in our search bar). Our catalog contains over 60,000 boardgames, so it's highly likely the original version can be found.
• You can browse the different categories and use filters to refine your search.
• Our boardgame section groups all offers of the same game together. Click on a game to view all versions currently for sale and check details like language and price which you can filter on.
• If you are looking for an expansion that you want to buy separately you can find it in the expansion category, but if you want to buy a base game with expansion(s) together then you can search for the base game and filter on "Including expansion(s)"
• Click the "Add to Cart" button on the product page to purchase a product.

2. Earning and Spending Points Through Purchases

• Each purchase automatically earns you points if you have an account. Points are listed on the product page.
• Points can be redeemed for BGS merchandise.
• Earn extra points by acquiring new users through a personal referral link that you can copy and forward. Both you and the person you hire will receive free points once the code is used to create a new account

3. Setting Up Wishlists/Product subscriptions

• Add products to your wishlist by clicking the heart icon.
• Receive notifications when a specific board game is offered for sale by checking the box for this on the product page

Note: Notification emails can sometimes end up in spam until you mark messages from BGS as not spam.

4. Checkout Options

• Select the buyer's protection option for guaranteed satisfaction.
• Shipping rates are automatically calculated based on your address and the vendor's location.
• Choose your preferred payment method and follow the instructions to complete the payment securely.

5. Leaving a Review

• Give the seller a rating by clicking on the seller's name and going to this user's page and you can click through to see previous reviews and leave one yourself.
• Leave a testimonial on the homepage if you enjoyed using BGS.

Selling

Note: In the seller panel, only functionalities related to sales can be found. To find the features such as product notifications and others already mentioned above, you need to switch to the top left of the store page and then find the desired page (under "My account" at the top left in case of product notifications)

1. Creating a Vendor Account

• Create an account by clicking on "Sell Now" or "Request Seller Account" and choose the desired account type. If you already had a normal (buyer) account, you can upgrade it via the same links, but you must first be logged in because otherwise you will receive an error message that an account with your details already exists. However, you can also just create a seller account right away, which also works as a normal buyer account.
• Provide all required information, including your address, for shipping rate calculations.
• Create a free Stripe account for secure payments and link it to your BGS account.

Note: this step is crucial, without a Stripe account you could not receive payment for transactions through the BGS platform.

2. How to List a Product for Sale

• Log in to your vendor account and go to "Products."
• For boardgames, select from our catalog for prefilled information. For other categories, create a new entry and fill out the details.

Note: Games that you want to sell with expansion as a whole can be entered by selecting the base game and indicating that you are selling it with expansion. Details about which expansion(s) can be entered later in the description. 

• Enter the price, description, and images for each product. If the board game contains deluxe components or is a kickstarter version, don't forget to mention this in the description. 

Note: Provide descriptions in multiple languages if desired, or copy the text if you want it to be visible in other display languages. 

• The shipping details section is pre-populated with default values that ensure correct shipping price in our shipping tool. These do not need to be adjusted to the effective values unless it concerns a product with excessive dimensions or weight (e.g. more than 10kg or larger than 50cm such as a board game table)

3. Selecting a Shipping Method

• After a product is purchased, choose a courier in "Shipping Methods."
• Attach the prepaid label to your package and send it within 5 days.
• Package items securely to prevent damage during transit.

These tips should help you get started with buying and selling boardgames! You are now ready to participate in our motto "Trade, Play, Repeat" by buying boardgames cheaply to test them out and then recover part of the cost by reselling which makes this sometimes expensive hobby more accessible and allows you to discover more games. For more assistance, check our FAQs or visit the news page for updates and giveaways. Happy swapping!