GameTZ.com
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GameTZ.com logo and screenshot.
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Type of site
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Online trading community |
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| Available in | English |
| Owner | Bill Marrs |
| Created by | Stephen Osborne, Bill Marrs |
| Slogan(s) | "Traders wanted" |
| Website | http://gametz.com |
| Alexa rank |
 408,175 (April 2014[update]) |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required, Free |
| Launched | 1996 (as Used Game Trading Zone) |
| Current status | Active |
GameTZ.com is an online trading community established in late 1996 which allows people to trade video games, books, music, movies, and other items through negotiating with other traders from countries worldwide. Once a trade is completed, a record is created on the site for future reference.
GameTZ.com has forums and a trading/matching system that contains a large number of tools necessary for tracking and recording online trading transactions. GameTZ.com's offer system provides users with the ability to send and receive offers, check out trade details, shipping methods, and so on. GameTZ.com also operates a simple IRC chatroom which allows users to create trades and discuss various topics.
Multi-platform gaming magazine GamePro and Forbes magazine have cited trading sites, specifically GameTZ.com, to be excellent alternatives to selling games back to retail outlets at significantly reduced value. GameTZ.com has also been featured in other magazine articles and online reviews, as well as in a short TV news segment syndicated to stations across the United States.
The Used Game Trading Zone (UGTZ) was founded by Stephen Osborne in the mid-1990s. Exactly when UGTZ came into existence is uncertain, but it has been traced back as far as December 23, 1996 (via a USENET posting by Osborne). Osborne manually maintained a growing list of items that traders had available for trade. Traders would then scan through the very large lists to find items they wanted, then make offers via email to the owner(s) of the items.
As UGTZ continued to grow, this list became perpetually more difficult for Osborne to maintain by hand. In October 1997, Bill Marrs created a system which automated much of the work Osborne had been doing by hand. For a short time thereafter, parts of UGTZ were maintained on both Osborne's and Marrs' sites. Eventually, the decision was made to move the whole operation to Marrs' site.
The domain name ugtz.com was registered in the summer of 1998, followed by the implementation of an independent database in the spring of 1999 . This database allowed traders to view a list of potential trades, saving them a great deal of time in finding trades. In an effort to generate some income, 1999 also introduced advertisements, subscriptions, and an affiliate marketing program to the site.
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Wikipedia