Controllers
Sell a console with drifting sticks.
Joy-Con drift, a DualSense that wanders left, triggers that stopped triggering. Send them anyway. They are worth more attached to the console than in a drawer.
Stick drift is the most common fault in gaming and the one people most often assume makes a controller worthless. It does not. A drifting controller is still worth money to us, because the shell, the board, the battery and the triggers are all fine and the sticks are a cheap, standard repair.
So the answer here is short: send them. All of them. A console arriving with three controllers, two of which drift, is worth more than the same console arriving with one perfect controller, and it costs you nothing but the space in the box.
Joy-Con are the special case worth calling out, because drift on those is close to universal and Nintendo has repaired them free for years. We price them expecting drift rather than being surprised by it.
Every one of these has two numbers.
What it is worth working, and what it is worth faulty. Both are real, both are yours in about a minute, and both depend on the actual console rather than a best case printed on a page. That is why the number lives in the calculator and not in a table here.
DualSense drift
PS5, one stick or both
DualShock 4 drift
PS4, very common by now
Xbox controller drift
Series and One pads
Joy-Con drift
Expected rather than surprising
Dead triggers or bumpers
Priced separately from drift
Worn or torn stick caps
Cosmetic, small deduction
Upgrading?
Then you are not really selling. You are part-paying.
Trading in the whole set, drifting controllers included, is the cheapest way to end up on newer hardware with sticks that work. Credit adds 12%.
Take the payout as EpicDeals.co.za credit instead of cash and we add 12% on top. That is us paying you for not needing the money in your account today, and it costs you nothing if you were going to spend it here anyway.
The 12% is only worth taking if you were going to spend it. If you need the cash, take the cash, and we will not make the voucher hard to refuse.
What actually moves the number.
Send every controller you have
The most common mistake on this page is leaving the drifting ones at home. Two working controllers plus a drifting third is worth more than two working controllers. There is no version of this where keeping it in a drawer pays better.
The console itself is unaffected
Drift is a controller fault, not a console fault, and it does not touch what the machine is worth. If the console is fine, the console prices as fine.
Joy-Con are priced expecting drift
Drift on Joy-Con is so common that a pair without it is the exception. We do not treat it as damage in the way we would on a DualSense, so do not talk yourself out of sending them.
Do not buy replacement sticks first
A repair kit plus your afternoon costs more than the drift deducts, and a controller somebody has already opened is worth less than an honest drifting one. Send it as it is.
Things that do not disqualify it.
Every one of these lowers the offer. Not one of them ends it. Pick the matching condition, say what is wrong in the notes, and the price you are shown already accounts for it.
- Stick drifts on its own with no input
- Stick needs a hard push to register
- Triggers or bumpers dead or sticky
- Buttons need pressing twice
- Battery no longer holds a charge
- Stick caps worn through or torn
- Rumble stopped working
- Will not pair or stay connected
Three ways to take the money.
Cash
Instant offer
Assessed within 1-3 working days of arriving, paid within 5 working days of your offer being confirmed.
+12%
Trade-in voucher
Take it as credit on EpicDeals.co.za instead and we add 12%. Useful if the plan was always to upgrade.
+10%
Consignment
We list it, we sell it, you get 10% more than the instant offer. Most sell within 13 days.
Trading since 2014 as Epic Deals, with 2,500+ reviews and 30 people who answer the phone. Not a stranger with a bakkie and a WhatsApp number.
console with controller drift questions.
Also selling one of these?
One minute, one number.
No account, no obligation, no salesperson phoning you at supper time.