msdmoney

Couldn't find a topic on this, its been discussed a lot over at Cheapassgamer, but I wanted to get some dvdtalkers opinions on it.

Me personally I find it frustrating. I just went in to buy Spawn for gamecube since EB has it for $10.99 new. Bring the display case up to the counter and he pulls out the game from a drawer in a plastic bag and puts it in the display game case. That just isn't new to me, so I said forget it. If it isn't factory sealed I don't consider it new. He said he could reshrinkwrap it if I wanted, but then I still have to get the sticker off, which is a pain. But I guess I'm just really anal about my games, most people probably don't care.

The employee said they do it so the games won't get stolen. I understand that, but couldn't they just lock up the entire shrinkwrapped game leaving out a display case. They only use like 10 % of the store floor space, most of the games are on wall racks. They could just have a locked case behind the wall racks storing all the new copies.

Jackskeleton

My thoughts: I don't shop at EB games for new games.

Trigger

Not to be a grammar nazi, but it's "couldn't care less..." (you also should watch your 'its & it's')

As I've said before - if it's open, it's used. I don't buy any games from that store because their prices suck - even on used games. So the fact that their "new" games are opened is just another nail in the coffin for that store to me.

mookiemeister

I also agree that if game is opened, it's used.

PixyJunket

If EB and Gamestop disappeared, the gaming world would probably be a better place. No more strategy guides, no more third party controllers and memory cards, and for the love of God, NO MORE PRE-ORDERING.

Since they've both decided to stop buying and selling 8 and 16 bit games, they are useless.

Oh, and an open game is no longer new.

kar10

EB is full of it!

Trigger: You couldn't care less?

Let's see a game is $19.99 New and $14.99 Used. You would buy a game according to them is new but in fact is used for $19.99? Instead of buying it for $14.99?


You know when you trade a game even if it's factory sealed they take it a used trade in. What gives!!


I get pissed when they try to sell me a used game for the price of new game. I have argued with them on several occasions about it. so, I agree a open game is a used game.

Goat3001

Its opened... its used. end of story. Why? Because I'm not about to trust people at EB when they say that the games opened but has never been played.

I can't stand EB at all. I hate dealing with their employees because they never can help me out. They always push the used games and even though they work 100% of the time its still not worth the $5 you save. I wish EB would be more like Best Buy and CC where I can get what I want without having to talk to employees.

One time on the spur of the moment decision I decided I wanted to buy a new video game. I didn't want to spend $50 so I was looking for one of those greatest hits titles. I'm at Best Buy at the time and I can't decide between Enter The Matrix and LOTR:TT, I haven't heard much about either game but they both sound like they could be good. So I head over to my local EB without going home and checking online reviews first. I figure that I didn't need to since they would help me out. So I go in and ask which one was better. The guy said "depends if you want to use guns or swords". A little vague but whatever, I then asked which one had better reviews, expecting a EB manager to know his videogames. He said that Enter The Matrix got higher ratings by most reviewers. So I went with Enter The Matrix.

I go home and before I open the game I check a bunch of reviews and they all bash on Enter The Matrix and give a fair amount of praise to LOTR. Good thing I didn't open the game up because now I can go exchange it for LOTR. I get back and they tell me that they were sold out of LOTR. So basically that guy just lied to my face in order to get me to purchase a game at his store. Well **** that. I returned Enter The Matrix and went to Best Buy to get LOTR.

Homer Simpson

I agree with Trigger, it's 'couldn't care less' and if it's open it's used. I generally shop at TRU and Best Buy anyway. I've only bought a few things at EB Games.

young

actually, there have been a couple discussions about this (perhaps tangential to the main subject).

if it's open and i examine it and it has no scratches, i don't mind... the problem is, the times this has happened, the discs were beat up. that is total bs.

and then reading about the guy who bought a "new" game that had been opened, and then trying to return it - got the big hassle b/c it's "opened" (yeah, by ebgames!)... that inherent contradiction makes it a stupid policy.

in the end, i'll examine the disc and if it looks new, and it's their last copy, and i have to have it now, and there's no chance i will return it, i may buy it opened.

more often, online all the way.

now... onto a bigger issue. why do online purchased games (and dvds) have those security tags? hate those things.

Lethal Nemesis

Around my neighborhood, I've grown to hate GameStop and like EBgames. I currently live in a small town, so there aren't that many places to buy games unless I go over to the next city. Anyway, GameStop is about 2 minutes walking distance from my place, but they absolutely suck. I went to go buy Metroid Prime new, but they didn't have any in stock. All they had was a used one, and it was in such shitty condition. Plus, if the new one only cost $2 more than used, then I want to get the new one. EBgames is about 3 blocks away, so I called them to see if they had new ones in stock for $19.99. They did, so I went there instead.

The big kicker was when I went to buy Mario Kart Double Dash. Went to GameStop, and the guy said I was in luck because they had one new copy left. He pulled the disc from the drawer and it was in the plastic sleeve. He went for the display case, and that's when I got the hell outta there. That was the last straw for me. Went to EBgames and they had plenty of factory sealed copies, and the one I bought even had a free demo disc.

I know that for the most part, these two stores suck the big one when it comes to games, but in my area, it's all about EB.

Absolute Zero

I have to say that I'd consider an open "new game" to be considered used. I had a situation were EB was running a special for $5 off all of Greatest Hits games. I went to buy SOCOM for my girlfriends brother and the only "new" copy they had was open. I told them I wouldn't feel comfortable giving someone an open game for Christmas. They pleaded with me that it was ok and they could shrink wrap it. However, the sticker across the top had been cut and that wasn't acceptable either. I ended up buying Max Payne and returning it later in exchange for a Sealed copy of SOCOM.

EB needs to stop using original cases as display items. There is no reason to open games and there is no reason to put price tags on games that aren't shrinkwrapped..but thats a story for another time.

jrutz

Selling opened games as new is bad practice, IMO. Who is to say the employees haven't taken home the games and played them, as they are allowed to do? Just because it hasn't been sold to a consumer doesn't mean it can be sold as new.

I've turned down purchasing a game at EB several times when the only copy they've had available is the display copy. What I think is even worse is when they are sending these to customers who purchase the game as new, sight-unseen, from the web site. They don't have the option of turning down a purchase if a game has been opened.

Jeremy

Leechboy

I am the one that had a big hassle returning a "NEW" game that was covered in scratches. I have not bought a game at EB since. Recently I have been buying all my games at Best Buy.

warcp

The EB at our mall keeps a good stock behind the counter in a glass case. I've never gotten an opened new game. If they tried to give me an opened copy, I'd refuse.

jrutz

I do have to defend one EB store - the store in Manhattan on Broadway and W 3rd St. I've seen them keep opened-but-new copies behind the glass but priced accordingly, such as Carve for $11.99.

Of all the EB stores I've been to, the management at this store in particular really seems to care about the customers.

Jeremy

MonkeyG

I've been wondering, would EB's policy hold up in court?

IIRC, stereos and such cannot be sold as new once the box is opened, to prevent unscrupulous stores from selling used equipment as new. I would think the same argument can be used against EB's policy. If you go with EB's reasoning in regards to preventing theft, then shouldn't all dvds and cds be taken out of their cases also?

Doesn't make sense to me. Once a case has been opened, I'd consider it used.

jediwicz

The problem is they can't consider it used. It was new. If people would stop stealing or if game companys would provide blank display cases with liner-notes then games could be kept shrink wrapped. I worked for TRU from 90-93 and we had tickets that had to be pulled for games (it sucked when a ticket was sold and we didn't have the game). I'd personally rather hold the game in my hands instead of locked in glass like Target/Walmart. As far as employees playing your "new" game, REMOVED ATTACK

Maxflier

I agree that if it is open then it is to be considered used.

AndyCapps

While I never liked the practice of opening a brand new game, shrinkwrapping the contents, putting them under the counter, shrinkwrapping the case, and putting it out on the shelf, I'd rather buy that than one that someone played and returned within the 10 day return policy window. If EB didn't shrinkwrap things and sell them as new, that 10 day return policy(the only reason I'd buy anything there) would not exist. That's the tradeoff. If people didn't steal so much shit(I've seen Playstations that were stored near the ceiling somehow walk away), they wouldn't have to shrinkwrap the brand new stuff.

I used to work at a Waldensoftware(managed by EB). I haven't worked there in over 7 years, but I can still smell the smell of burning plastic. I did quite a bit of shrinkwrapping during my time there.

Jtnguyen12

msdmoney

Hmmmmmmm... did you plan to sue ebgames !!! lol

mmconhea

How terrible. I think this warrants calling the place EBGame$ now.

fujishig

I thought they changed their return policy so that you couldn't return open games anymore. If so, how do you return games at all, if they're all opened?

I have no problem with an opened game that's brand new, if the game is for me. For instance, if they had to open it up in the store in front of me for some reason, that doesn't really matter. But they take home and play some of these games, then try to sell them as new, and that's unacceptable. Also, you have who knows how many people handling them, and you're bound to get scratches. And don't tell me that it's ok because you can return the item in 30 days or whatever... if it takes you more than a month to beat the game, and the scratch effects a later part of the game, what do you do then?

At least with Xbox and PS2, you can see if the seal is broken, but it's much harder to do with GCN games...

Cyberock

It really pissed me off when I was trying to find a new copy of a game that was no longer in print and EB was the only one with it. I was buying it as a gift and it made me feel like I was giving a used game. I wish they would stop this process.

Trigger

87% of US think it's crap... how do they stay in business?

fujishig

They stay in business mainly due to the people who don't know any better, who are already shopping at the mall and don't want to go anywhere else. Granted, these shops are better for hard-to-find games or used games, and there is a need in the industry for them. But when they charge 5 bucks more than retail for a new game that is on sale at Best Buy, people still buy it from them. The same goes for other mall stores, like Suncoast... who in their right mind buys dvds from there?