I have a GameStop case sitting on my desk

[17daysolderthannes]

You need to understand that it's not the employee that's ripping him off, it's corporate. I'm willing to bet you haven't worked in retail and therefore don't realize this- it's not the employees fault, they're just doing what they're told, but no one seems to know this and takes their anger out on the scapegoat. This is why customers are almost always worse than the employees.

Once again, I link to the Zero Originality series, as it fluently illustrates what's wrong with Gamestop.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6w...e-1_videogames

I didn't know Michael Moore did GameStop reviews


Sounds like a bunch of unreasonable demands, a misunderstanding of how pricing works, and a misunderstanding of how other game stores operate. Every Play N Trade I've been to handles new games just like GameStop (out of packing empty case on the shelf).

I agree, eBay/Amazon is cheaper, that's why I go there, and also I don't trade in games so the trade values don't affect me. There have been instances where online prices spiked up and I got a deal on games at GameStop. At one point Mega Man X Collection for PS2 was skyrocketing online and I got it for $17.99 complete at GameStop.

I mean, I don't see how GameStop is a dick for bulk resurfacing or trade values that get them a whopping...$10 per game. And oh, cry me a river, GameStop hiked the used price of an old game TWO DOLLARS. How will anyone feed themselves!

If you want to talk rip off, explain to me why Best Buy charges $80 for an HDMI cable that I can buy for $2.50 off of Amazon SHIPPED. Now $77.50 mark up is a ripoff, not $10-$20.

So, to recap, is GameStop evil? no. Is it the best way to buy games? also no. Is it the best way to go if you usually trade games in? no, Gamefly is. GameStop operates the way they have to in order to stay in business and with DLC on the way, that won't be for much longer.

[Why-Disciple]

There's three more episodes, I believe. There's a lot more to it. In any case, you're right in a way. It's just that GS makes more profit than they need to by using dick techniques that are shittier than they need to be. Plus, they treat the employees like shit, which one of the episodes addresses.

[Puffy2k316]

theres no such thing as making more profit than you need to

[Why-Disciple]

I'll reword that- they make a shitton of profit when they can still make a ton even if they didn't participate in some of these shitty practices. Other stores sell and buy honestly and stay alive and well, so it's not like it's not possible for them. It's all in greed.

[Puffy2k316]

What other stores? Who has better used game prices than gamestop? Play N Trade's prices are basically the same. My local independently owned game store was way more expensive than gamestop and they still went out of business. Profit margins in the video game industry are incredibly thin. You have to make a lot of money just to stay in business.

[Why-Disciple]

I believe the vid I posted mentioned Gamecrazy having better prices. Plus amazon, ebay, and other online stores if you count that.

[Puffy2k316]

I believe the vid I posted mentioned Gamecrazy having better prices. Plus amazon, ebay, and other online stores if you count that.

Well, he only gave one example as I recall. I could find an example of gamestop being cheaper than gamecrazy if I only had one example to prove it. Plus prices fluctuate from store to store. I doubt it ever gets much cheaper than gamestop.

Besides, didn't gamecrazy close 40% of their stores last year? Whatever they're doing isn't working for them anyway.

[17daysolderthannes]

Well, he only gave one example as I recall. I could find an example of gamestop being cheaper than gamecrazy if I only had one example to prove it. Plus prices fluctuate from store to store. I doubt it ever gets much cheaper than gamestop.

Besides, didn't gamecrazy close 40% of their stores last year? Whatever they're doing isn't working for them anyway.

Well, like my example, I found MMX Collection for about half of what it was selling online. Back when GameStop still handled PSX games, FF VII was selling for $70+ online and it was still $20 in the GameStop computer. Now, it was bought up instantly due to losers that go in every day looking for eBay resell opportunity (or people that desperately wanted a cheap copy of FF VII, or perhaps employees?), but that doesn't change the fact that they aren't always more expensive. GameStop simply can't go chasing internet prices for every game every day. That GTA4 example was probably a few weeks away from a major GTA4 price drop. GameStop lowers prices relative to new selling price (usually) and sometimes it results in being cheaper than online if copies get scarce. I bet Samurai Shodown Anthology was cheaper at GameStop when it was selling for like $80 on Amazon and eBay due to a low initial print run.

As for everything else, right, IIRC lots of GameCrazy stores did close recently. In addition, every Play N Trade I'm aware of isn't doing too hot financially. As far as I know, I don't think the store I worked for ever did better than break even except for christmas season, even with people working extra hours for store credit and me sometimes helping out behind the counter FOR FREE. GameStop makes pretty thin profits for how large of a company it is. Last time I checked, it came out to a profit of about $70,000 a year per store, which isn't a whole hell of a lot for being the most successful used game store out there.

Lastly, it doesn't really make sense to me to be super picky about completeness or condition that that doesn't affect play. If you don't like the condition of the game, don't buy it. It's not like you walk in the store and someone follows you with a shotgun saying "you said you wanted Resident Evil 5, now you betta buy it!" Pricing based on condition is very subjective and time consuming to do. Instead, you basically pay a loose-disc price even for complete copies, which I prefer. If you compare GameStop to Amazon, you'll find that many games (especially older games) will be cheaper at GameStop for a complete copy. I like the idea of game stores operating outside of the Amazon/eBay price motto as sometimes it lets you grab a game at a good price due to random demand surges.

[GohanX]

did they know it was dead? if so, wow, that was a good deal.

Yeah, the value for a working console was $40 at the time, minus $20 for the system not working, plus $20 for a promotion that they were running. I was even up front about the shitty controller, since I hoard my controllers (I still have a couple of NIB controllers for lots of systems.)

[WarmSignal]

GameStop makes pretty thin profits for how large of a company it is. Last time I checked, it came out to a profit of about $70,000 a year per store, which isn't a whole hell of a lot for being the most successful used game store out there.

$70,000 x how many stores they actually have. That's a lot. There are three in my town alone, and I saw four others on a trip I went on yesterday. Pretty much every town that has a shopping center has at least one. I don't see how it's so thin.

Also, they would have to keep new releases behind the counter otherwise and that might keep people from seeing them if they aren't regular customers.

If glass cases are too expensive, then I wonder if they've ever considered the Sam's Club model. With their new games, they just put cardboard cutouts of front and back box art on the shelves, you take it to the counter, they give you your sealed game.

Sometimes I hear that a GS "doesn't have enough room" for all the new cases. But then most of them seem to have all of the new cases behind the counter anyway, separate from the drawer of CD sleeves, while the actual display of new games usually only has one gutted copy per game. I suspect that it's only intended there be one gutted copy for display, but the employees open them all anyway to take home at night.

One time I specifically asked for a sealed copy, the guy opened drawer and only one copy hadn't been opened out of about ten.

EDIT:

Felt like bringing this back up because of my experience with GS yesterday. Bought a new game there. Why, you ask? It was $8 "final clearance", from the leftovers in the Game Day Sale. Since it was the last copy, I pretty much expected the display case to be the actual opened "new" copy. But what I didn't expect, was that the disc would have more scratches and finger prints than most used games that I buy. Damn. Should have figured that buying a "new" game at GS for half the price of the used copy is too good to be true.