CEX barcode scanner that runs in your browser
Point your phone at the barcode on a game, DVD, CD or book and get the CEX cash and voucher price, with recent eBay sold prices alongside. No app to install, and the barcode is decoded on your device.
First 10 scans each month are free. No signup to try it.
Nothing to install
CEX doesn't publish a scanner app of its own, so the ones in the app stores are third-party builds of varying age. Pricesweep is a web page: open it, allow the camera once, and scan. That matters more than it sounds if you are standing in a charity shop deciding whether a box set is worth £2, because the decision costs you ten seconds rather than an install.
The decoding happens in your browser. The picture from your camera is not uploaded anywhere; only the digits it resolves to are looked up. On iPhone, Share then "Add to Home Screen" gives you an icon that opens straight to the scanner.
How to scan a CEX price
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Open the scanner
Go to the app and switch to Barcode. The first time, your browser asks permission to use the camera.
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Point at the barcode
Hold it steady and fill the frame. It reads EAN-13 and UPC, which is what is printed on essentially all retail media.
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Read the price
The CEX cash and voucher price appear, with eBay sold prices underneath so you can compare trading it in against selling it yourself.
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Save it if you want to keep it
Items can go to a saved list so you can add up a pile before you decide what to do with it.
When the barcode won't cooperate
Shrink-wrap, creased card sleeves and the tiny barcodes on some CD spines all defeat a camera sometimes. There are two fallbacks, and between them very little gets stuck:
- Decode from a photo. Take a picture of the barcode and have it read from the still image, which copes better with glare because you can retake it.
- Photograph the front instead. Pricesweep identifies items from the cover art, so a damaged barcode is not the end of the road.
What you get back
| Figure | What it means |
|---|---|
| CEX cash | What CEX pays you in money for that exact item. |
| CEX voucher | What they pay in store credit, usually around 40% more than cash. |
| CEX sell price | What CEX charges customers for it, which tells you the item's ceiling. |
| eBay sold | Recent completed sales for the same item, so you can compare trading in against listing it yourself. |
One honest caveat on electronics. A barcode identifies a product, not a condition or a storage size. That is exactly what you want for a DVD and much weaker for a phone or a laptop, where CEX prices vary by capacity, battery health and cosmetic grade. Treat a barcode price on tech as a starting point.
Scanning one at a time isn't always the answer
If you are working through a pile rather than deciding on a single case, photographing the whole lot is faster: Pricesweep identifies every item in one picture. And if you already keep your stock in a spreadsheet, the bulk CEX price check takes the barcodes straight from the file and prices thousands of them in a couple of minutes.
Questions
Is there a CEX barcode scanner app?
CEX doesn't publish one. The scanner apps in the app stores are unofficial, built by third parties. Pricesweep runs in your phone's browser instead, so there is nothing to install and nothing to update: open the page, allow the camera, point it at the barcode.
Does it work without installing anything?
Yes. The camera runs in the browser and the barcode is decoded on your device, not on a server. On iPhone you can add the page to your home screen from the Share menu if you want it to behave like an app.
What can I scan?
Anything with an EAN or UPC printed on it: DVD and Blu-ray cases, game boxes on every console, CD and vinyl sleeves, and books. If CEX lists it against that barcode you get their price.
What if the barcode won't scan?
Creased or shrink-wrapped sleeves are the usual culprits. You can photograph the barcode and have it decoded from the picture instead, or type the digits in by hand. Failing that, photograph the front of the case and Pricesweep will identify it from the artwork.
What prices does it show?
The CEX cash price, which is what they pay you in money, and the voucher price, which is store credit and usually around 40% more. You also get recent eBay sold prices for the same item, so you can see what it actually fetches if you list it yourself rather than trading it in.
What happens if CEX doesn't stock it?
It says so rather than guessing. You still get the eBay sold prices, which for anything CEX doesn't buy is usually the more useful number anyway.
Is it free?
The first 10 scans each month are free with no signup. Beyond that there are paid plans, and if you have a lot of barcodes already in a spreadsheet there is a bulk import that prices the whole file at once.
Can I scan a lot of items quickly?
For a shelf or a pile, photographing the lot at once is faster than scanning them one by one: Pricesweep identifies every item in the picture. And if the barcodes are already in a spreadsheet, the bulk importer prices thousands in one go.
Try it on something
Pick up the nearest DVD and see what CEX would give you for it.