History Main / BetterOffSold

* ''VideoGame/BioShock'' has replicators and vending machines that, among ammo and useful items, also dispense small junk objects at very low prices. The junk is limited to snacks, alcohol and cigarettes with marginal use – respectively, they increase health[[note]]Pep Bars increase both health and EVE[[/note]], health at the cost of EVE and EVE at the cost of health, all in very small amounts.

** While everything you find in ''VideoGame/Borderlands1'' is either money, equipment or ammo, the fact that most of the equipment is randomly generated [[CantCatchUp and usually a few levels below you]] (if it's even a type of weapon you like to use or a class mod compatible with your class), most of it is shop fodder. In fact, there is a unique gun in the game, [[http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Knoxx%27s_Gold Knoxx's Gold]], which has the special power of being particularly good for selling (its sale value is very high), though it can appear with such a good set of parts complementing its base that it becomes a PunchPackingPistol that's not worth selling for a while.

** Items are the main source of income. Although some of those items can be used in certain quests, their main utility is being sold or exchanged for other items. The game mechanic is actually based on an early scene in [[Manhwa/{{Ragnarok}} the original manhwa]], when Chaos chops a horn off of a Face Worm so that he'd have proof that he'd killed it when he returned to Alberta to collect the 5,000 zeny bounty on its head. In ''RO'', a soldier in Izlude provides the justification as to why characters sell items to merchants and not to a bounty hunter's office by explaining that the kingdom passed a law in which merchants can act as bounty hunting offices, and are compensated by the kingdom for paying out rewards.

* ''VideoGame/{{XCOM}}'' has plasma weapons for an interesting example. Such armaments are endgame-tier weapons for your soldiers, and require plenty of research before you're able to build your own or refurbish captured alien guns. But since plasma weapons are standard for the alien forces, by the time you've reached the late game, you'll probably have accumulated a decent stockpile of plasma weapons from captured aliens, meaning you can afford to sell some extras and still have enough to outfit your squad.

* In ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'', enemy drops are useful early on for equipping your character and [=NPC=]s; however once you have everybody decked out in the nicest armor drops, enemy drops essentially become a source of money, as do the enemies themselves if you manage to take any prisoners. Prisoners can be recruited to your army, but the chances of that happening are low; the point is moot if your army is at capacity anyway. To sell them, you have to go from town to town until you can find a ransom broker, meanwhile with the prisoners dipping into your food supply. Captured lords and kings can be the most annoying to have to drag around, since the usual ransom brokers won't purchase them from you; you just have to wait until someone makes you an offer for them. There are also items that you can purchase from vendors for the sole purpose of reselling them elsewhere for a profit, some of which have absolutely no function apart from their inherent money-making value.

** The Goddess Icon is a stat booster that raises the LuckStat. While all other stat boosters are highly sought-after, Luck is a DumpStat and the Icon's bonus is rarely enough to make a difference, so the decent amount of gold it sells for is often more valuable than its intended use.

** defeating most enemy ships only gives you money and basic resources, but occasionally defeating an enemy or completing a quest can give you useful equipment like an extra weapon, [[AttackDrone remote drone]] or augment. Most of these are useful for expanding or slotting into your weapons loadout, but particularly resource-intensive or underpowered weapons (like the Burst Laser III and Breach Missile, which require 4 and 3 weapons bars respectively out of a potential maximum of 8, have very slow charge times, and only do moderate damage) will often be sold to stores instead of actually equipped. The same goes for [[AttackDrone drones]] if you don't have a drone system to actually use them with, or the Repair Arm augment which [[CastFromMoney takes a percentage of your money to automatically heal you]]. Stores only pay half-sell-price for equipment, but you can still get quite a bit of money from selling 2 otherwise useless/impractical pieces of equipment.
** One unlockable ship starts equipped with the Crystal Vengeance, which fires a single shot at the enemy ship every time yours is damaged... or can be sold to the first store you reach of a good early-game money boost.

* In the spaceship flying/combat game ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', defeating most enemy ships only gives you money and basic resources, but occasionally defeating an enemy or completing a quest can give you useful equipment like an extra weapon, [[AttackDrone remote drone]] or augment. Most of these are useful for expanding or slotting into your weapons loadout, but particularly resource-intensive or underpowered weapons (like the Burst Laser III and Breach Missile, which require 4 and 3 weapons bars respectively out of a potential maximum of 8, have very slow charge times, and only do moderate damage) will often be sold to stores instead of actually equipped. The same goes for [[AttackDrone drones]] if you don't have a drone system to actually use them with, or the Repair Arm augment which [[CastFromMoney takes a percentage of your money to automatically heal you]]. Stores only pay half-sell-price for equipment, but you can still get quite a bit of money from selling 2 otherwise useless/impractical pieces of equipment.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', selling ShopFodder is about the only way to farm rupees, as you can no longer get rupees from slashing weeds or killing most enemies (the exception being the Yiga clan soldiers), and [[RewardingVandalism smashing pots for money]] has been {{nerf}}ed dramatically. Most item drops do have non-monetary uses, but many of them are so common that you end up with far more of them than you could possibly use, or (in the case of gems) selling them is just more beneficial. Kilton's special "mon" currency can only be acquired by selling [[OrganDrops monster parts]] to him.

* Protective artifacts in ''[[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]: Shadow of Chernobyl'' absorb a deplorable amount of the damage they guard you against (5% at the very most), in exchange for a prohibitive rate of radiation per second[[labelnote:exceptions]]Batteries and Springs reduce the damage of their respective elements by 30%, and the Kolobok and Mama's Beads increase resistances by 5%; all of these artifacts are radiation-free, the only drawback is their weight[[/labelnote]]. The only conceivable use you'd have for them is if you have an anti-rad artifact and no other good ones to put on your belt. Fortunately, they fetch as much of a price as all other artifacts, including the good ones. ''Clear Sky'' and ''Call of Pripyat'' use different mechanics for artifacts[[labelnote:details]]artifacts are divided into ones with beneficial effects but a rate of radiation, and anti-radiation ones with no downsides other than weight[[/labelnote]], so a truly worthless one is much rarer.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': Plenty of items are better of sold. Stims, for instance. The bonuses they give don't stack, and they are only mildly useful once you've have access to the more powerful Force abilities. Ditto with medpacks, standard blasters, vibroblades, and such. The second game does this too, and can also give you 5-6 copies of an allegedly "one of a kind" blaster.

** Promotion items the player doesn't plan on using. Especially in games that split promotion items by class, where the player might not have anyone decent to use some of them on. Orion's Bolts in the GBA games get this especially bad due to the [[TierInducedScrappy general weakness of Archers]]. ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' in particular has only ''one'' non-promoted Archer, rendering Orion's Bolts ShopFodder to anyone not planning on using Neimi.

** When playing a [[SelfImposedChallenge Nuzlocke]], Revives and Max Revives cannot be used, since a fainted Pokémon is [[KilledOffForReal well and truly dead]] by the rules of the challenge. Thankfully they're worth a pretty penny when sold off.

* Protective artifacts in ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}: Shadow of Chernobyl'' absorb a deplorable amount of the damage they guard you against (5% at the very most), in exchange for a prohibitive rate of radiation per second[[labelnote:exceptions]]Batteries and Springs reduce the damage of their respective elements by 30%, and the Kolobok and Mama's Beads increase resistances by 5%; all of these artifacts are radiation-free, the only drawback is their weight[[/labelnote]]. The only conceivable use you'd have for them is if you have an anti-rad artifact and no other good ones to put on your belt. Fortunately, they fetch as much of a price as all other artifacts, including the good ones. ''Clear Sky'' and ''Call of Pripyat'' use different mechanics for artifacts[[labelnote:details]]artifacts are divided into ones with beneficial effects but a rate of radiation, and anti-radiation ones with no downsides other than weight[[/labelnote]], so a truly worthless one is much rarer.