What's the opposite of "cost" when downgrading and you get some of the money back?

Question

For example, I'm playing a game where it costs $5 to upgrade one of my weapons. Thus I have an "upgrade cost" of $5.

When I want to downgrade my weapon and I only get $3 back for it, what would be the opposite word for cost?

• Upgrade cost of $5
• Downgrade X of $3

Answer 1

I think what you are looking for is a refund.

Answer 2

I'd say "rebate". It is defined so:

• n. A partial refund to someone who has paid too much for tax, rent, or a utility. The scheme eases the move to the council tax by giving rebates in the first year.

• v [with obj.] Pay back (a sum of money) as a rebate. The government rebates part of your own and your employer's National Insurance contributions into the plan.

Answer 3

If you described and named the second, downgrading transaction more in terms of it being a return of the original upgrade (instead of giving it the separate name of “downgrade”), you could perhaps call it an upgrade “return allowance (upgrade cost less fixed restocking fee/depreciation).
(example usage from ‘Wiley GAAP Policies and Procedures’ by Steven M. Bragg, via ‘Google Books’)

For a single word that you could use with “downgrade” that implies that some, but not all of the upgrade cost is being returned, there’s “downgrade offset," which ‘Merriam-Webster’ defines as:
6 : something that serves to counterbalance or to compensate for something else; especially : either of two balancing ledger items

Answer 4

I suggest reimbursement:

The definition of reimburse is

1. To make repayment for expense or loss occurred,

2. To pay back; refund; repay

According to dictionary.com

Answer 5

The opposite of costs is pays. A winning lottery ticket pays $10. Downgrade payment of $3.

Answer 6

I'd use "saving". It fits the situation better where one is merely considering the options. A "refund" is what you get back after you've made a payment.

Answer 7

In the context of video games, I would suggest simply sell or sale price.

I would not use "refund" for this situation. What you are doing, in the fiction of the video game world, is selling the item to a vendor, and the vendor will probably resell it for a profit. This has much more in common with selling or pawning a good; the item has less value than what you paid due to usage or the costs involved in reselling it. You're not just taking the original good back to where you bought it; you are participating in a market where goods are exchanged. "Refund" does not properly connote this.