pinata242

I've never bought a used game in my life. But I borrowed God of War from a friend and I noticed he paid $45 for it used. I can't say if it was from EB or GS, but likely it was. Anyway, I just couldn't believe someone would pay that price for a used game.

Now, I don't know how much of that was in trade-in credit or if there was a coupon or a BXGX deal involved, but at face value it was absurd.

KurrptSenate

i had an experience where I stupidly bought a new, used game to save 5 bucks (Star Wars Jedi Academy 2)

the game locked up like 4-5 times, so i figured I might as well take it back and get a new one.

I remember the associate trying to tell me I needed to format my regular xbox hard drive so it wouldn't freeze, and that they had to do that to their store's model a bunch of times.

After I told him he was full of crap, i was like "Yea.....just give me the new one"



the funny thing about that store is, even IF the associate is all preachy and thinks he knows everything, you can still slap his bitch-ass in line by either making him either

1) ring up a sale

2) call another store

3) ask a bunch of questions that require him to do some ACTUAL work


yea, i fuk with those guys a lot, but most deserve it

Michael Corvin

First, I absolutely HATE being assaulted when I walk in the door. "Do you have any games to trade?" Does it fucking look like it dipshit?

I had this happen last week with WiiPlay. I called to see if it was in and got the regular spiel- "didja pre-order?" Why yes, I actually thought I would give your store a chance for the first time in a long while. He said to wait until the GS/EB service called me to say it was in. Do you have it or not? Apparently the simplicity of the question confused this moron completely. I NEVER got the automated call. I just went in a few days later and got my money back. He wondered why I didn't want it. Flat out told him I got it somewhere else the day of release when I couldn't get it from my preorder business I gave them. He didn't like that.

Needless to say, after NOT receiving that call, it will be interesting to see if they call me now anyway for this new "promotion."

The same store also wanted me to preorder Halo when I picked up Gears(used credit). I asked him why would I give your company money to invest/save for a year on a game that doesn't even have a release date? His jaw, literally dropped open and he didn't say another word.



Ditto. Back when retail outlets got them a day or two late, pre-ordering was actually worth it at these places. As of right now they aren't good for anything....... unless of course you like ass raping.

KurrptSenate

damn you're smooth Corvin

Josh-da-man

I think that's the way the Gamestops near me handle all of their new games.

I've never bought a "new" game there (my g/f is the primary gamer, and she gets them online or at Best Buy or Target) but they have multiple copies of their "new" games opened and on the shelf, the cases plastered with stickers. So I'm assuming they open all of them.

We've only bought something like four used games from them; all out of print and in the rare instance when they're actually in halfway decent condition.

Giantrobo

Speaking of that I saw one of the Burger King Games for $12.99 at Gamestop the other day. I'm pretty sure it was used, although my eyes were glazed over with tears from laughing.....

Mr. Cinema

This is another reason why I prefer to walk into Best Buy where they have a zillion copies and I can just buy it and leave.

Mopower

Would you like 6 free issues of Entertainment Weekly with that? Do you want to buy the replacement warranty for that game, they get scratched very easily!!

You have to put up with the bullshit no matter where you go.

boredsilly

Or Toys R Us?

"Can I have your phone number please? Area code first."

But you really have to have thick skin when shopping in Gamestops. Their assaults don't mean shit to me. Hell, I'm one of those cats who used to get free dvds from freedvd4me and all those other sites, so I'm used to being hassled.

GS has nothing on trying to call and cancel trials for AOL or Video Professor for the third time!

No need to be nasty, just firm. They have to go down their list of things to try to sell you, but soon they know who isn't going to budge and half the time won't even bother.

Josh H

At least that's only when you check out, versus getting hounded about trade ins when you walk in and preorders when you check out.

The cashiers at Best Buy are rarely pushy as well, say "no thanks" and they usually shut up...guess they have less pressure on them to sell shit than the people at the game stores. Lots of times the cashiers don't even ask about that shit at my local BB as well.

slop101

I do have to point out that not all Gamestops are the same - I think it depends on the manager.

For example, the (evil) GS by my house will not sell a game to you on it's release date unless you pre-ordered it. It doesn't matter if they got in 50 copies and only 5 pre-orders, it's just their policy. The (good) GS by my work, however, doesn't give a shit and pretty much sells to anyone at any time and they never try to push pre-orders on you, or browbeat you with selling/trading in your old games - since they're near a Jr.High, they're just happy to deal with an adult customer who actually wants to buy something, instead of loitering 13-year olds.

BravesMG

Holy cow, that has to be one of the single worst business decisions I've ever heard of. Do their suppliers know that they are refusing to sell customers their available product? That is insane, I'm blown away by that fact. You've got a customer standing there willing to shell out $50-$60 and you say "no, come back tomorrow..."???

darkside

It sounds stupid, but from what I have heard the GameStop DMs care more about preorders and used games sales/trades (and the magazine subscriptions tied into that) than they do about actual overall sales.

taffer

It doesn't sound stupid. Preorders and used game sales are where they get their biggest profits. Selling a new game without a preorder is where they get their least amount of profit. They want to make the biggest profit possible, so they concentrate on preorders and used games and don't give a shit about selling new games to non-preorder customers. They don't give a shit about their pleasing their customers; they just want profit.

Arpeggi

It's not as if they don't make any profit from selling regular games though. They are just dumbasses.

Supermallet

The actual profit GS gets from a new game is very low. Places like Best Buy and Target make most of their profit from appliances and TVs, but Gamestop has to make its profit from used games. You may think it's dumb, but it's highly profitable.

Josh H

True, but by having policies such as that with new games, you piss off customers and likely keep people from ever coming there again and buying anything, including the highly profitable used games.

Supermallet

I agree that purposely holding back unreserved new games is a terrible idea. It's not company policy to do such things, it's just the manager trying to make an extra incentive for people to reserve. If enough people complained to his district manager, he'd have to stop.

shumway

How many want to bother going through that extra step though? It is really that much easier to say screw 'em, no business from me.

Supermallet

That's entirely your prerogative. No one is saying you have to shop there.

shumway

I have no problem going to them. I occasionally pick up some used games. I'm not in on the whole beat down of them because I really don't care. I'm just trying to put forth the attitude that many have in that particular situation.

BravesMG

Supr, do you know how EB/GS allocates the number of non-preordered new releases a store gets? If the margins on new games are very low, and I'm sure that they are, why would they order many more than they need to cover the preorders?

The argument I used to get into with a friend that managed an EB was that EB never gave me a reason to pre-order a game since I've never had a problem finding a new game within a few days of release. The idea of not selling someone a game that they have in stock, only because they didn't preorder it, is insane. But why would they buy enough to cover anybody that walks in anyway on the initial release date?

Shagrath

I'll chime in and say I don't really have a problem with EB/GS, and go to one at least once a week to look around. I don't like getting hassled when I come in about "do you have anything to trade?" and will probably pull the whole "does it look like I have anything?" next time they say something.

I mainly shop there for used stuff (dvds & games) as you can usually find a good deal if there's a promotion (B2G1) + the Edge card. I haven't bought a game new there for years, as I'll wait for a sale at a big box B&M or use Reward Zone certs or something to bring a price down.

Their unsolicited calls and pre-order practices can be pretty bogus, but since I never pre-order or buy anything at release, I save myself a little hassle on that end.

Giantrobo

True dat. My only real complaint is their used game pricing but I'm cheap what are you gonna do... Anyway, I still go in and check things out few times a month and to honest at the stores I go to regularly they leave me alone and are always pretty cool and knowledgable if I have quyestoins.

Supermallet

AFAIK, they track pre-orders and expected sell-through. So for a game like Crackdown, which they expected to sell a lot, they sent me double what our pre-orders were. But for a game like SF Alpha Anthology, when we had 3 reserves, we got only two on top of the reserves, and they went right out the door. You get the most out of a reserve if you like to trade games and movies and have an Edge card, because you can get 20%-30% more on your trades towards reserves that way. If all you want is a guaranteed copy, you probably don't need to reserve if it's a big title (a la Halo) but definitely reserve if it's a smaller title (Dawn of Mana).

Now, note that I have routinely sold out of the big games, too, and while we get replenished quickly, we don't get infinite reserves of the big games.