I happen to know a lot of people who work for a retailer who specialise in used games, and I understand a lot of what you’re saying with regards to supporting publishers and developers.

Over here, the vast majority of games are only available used just because of the short print run most titles seem to have. It’s only the really big games – Call of Duty, Fifa, anything first-party Nintendo – that gets reprinted over the course of a year or more. Everything else is never seen again new, which is a shame but understandably limits the risk for publishers.

One thing I did want to say is that it just isn’t possible to test every game that’s traded in – often customers will bring in their complete collections or games on multiple consoles, and it just isn’t practical to make them wait whilst each one is tested.
That’s why all stores should offer an exchange or refund if faulty – it’s like having an army of testers!

Personally I almost always buy used, unless it’s a new title and I can’t be bothered waiting! The way I look at it is that the two or five pounds I save is much better off in my pocket than somebody else’s, and I think I’ve only ever had two used games that didn’t work – Sonic CD had some issues with music and the intro video, and Mega Games I just didn’t play, but that was fifteen years ago and I’m completely over that now. I swear.