This was written by a current GameStop employee for website PlanetXbox360.com:
"Most gamers can all agree by now that visiting a local retail store to purchase games can be a bit of a pain in the ass. One of the more particular pains in the ass is the infamous GameStop. I'm not writing this article as a disgruntled customer, but instead as an employee of GameStop. Having spent multiple years with the company, I feel it is my duty to report the failed operations of this multinational corporation and how their greed affects the entire gaming industry from all of us as customers to the people that craft our beloved entertainment. You just bought one of the most hyped games of the year. Leading up to your purchase you've been keeping up with the trailers, the news articles, and you've seen the merchandising on a regular basis. The wait is finally over and the only thing on your mind is getting that bad boy into your Xbox and kicking back to experience the glory. By the time you've completed the campaign and beaten all of the challenges, you have this sinking feeling of disappointment. The game just didn't reach the hype you had for it, and you really don't care to ever play it again."
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I just cann't understand why so many people hate Gamestop. I love Gamestop, and love shopping there. Like said it's not perfect, and they need to give a little more on tradeins, but overall there a really great place for gamers.
I could buy Mass Effect 3 at Best Buy or Amazon this week for $40. Or I could buy it at GameStop for $60 (possibly an open shelf copy that's "new," then trade it in for $20 in store credit when I'm done. When it's all said and done, I either have ME3 and $20 cash still in my pocket, or $20 in GS credit, and no game.
And I'd put that $20 in GS credit towards another $60 game, but odds are that same game will pop up for $40 elsewhere, so the credit is only basically good to get the discount I could have gotten elsewhere.
Basically, I'd rather wait and shop around a bit and keep my games rather than give up all my games to trade in and feed GameStop for basically the same price.
I don't hate Gamestop as much as I just think it's a pointless business, unless you never keep your games and you are too lazy to sell them on ebay for 2-4 times as much as GS would give you.
Just because there are better deals out there for certain products that GameStop sells, doesn't mean GameStop is pointless.
It's all about convenience. Sure, you can sell your games on eBay and make a much larger profit than you would at GameStop, but you're also going to be waiting about 4-10x as long for said profit to occur. Most people don't want to wait that long, and they know that when they walk into GameStop to trade in something, that usually they're there to pick something else out as well.
On the note of Amazon. I think they're great. I think they have deals for new games that most people would not be able to receive from Gamestop (except for us employees ;)). However, Amazon also has it's drawbacks. While pre-ordering a game and receiving it the day it comes out isn't too much of a hassle, buying ANYTHING over the internet almost always comes with shipping costs and waiting times.
Again, it's all about convenience.
GS is just another retailer. No one is forcing you to buy or sell there. I agree that some of their preorder incentives are annoying, but otherwise the fact that they act as a competitor to Amazon & co. is a good thing. Competition drives lower prices.
Personally, I'm not looking forward to the day when everything goes digital distribution and we no longer have the option of buying used. GameStop may seem "evil" to some right now, but things could definitely get worse.
Ebay has been steadily raising their fees for years now. I believe that they charge you 13% of the sale price as a final value fee. Not to mention, they also charge you a fee on shipping. So, if you charge a buyer the actual shipping cost, you will still take a small loss. Figure in the cost of boxes or bubble envelopes, plus gas to drive to the post office, and the profit shrinks dramatically.
Also, you have to add the extra expense of insurance or tracking to your shipment, otherwise you run the risk of a buyer claiming that they either never received it, or it was damaged.
Gamestop is a good deal when they offer deals like an extra $10 for trading three games. Ebay is a good deal when you want to sell a newer game, because even with the fees, you'll still get a lot closer to your original $60 than you will at Gamestop.
A used games market IS in gamer's best interests. Yup........I have no issue with that. But Gamestop's business practices in that used games market are NOT in gamer's best interests. At least not anymore. They sold us out for profits once they had their monopoly.
It can be summed up easily. Back in the day when Champions of Norrath 2 came out for PS2, I traded in the first game the same day. They gave me $22 CASH for the game and immediately put it on the shelf for $44.
That is called fair market value. When value for something is known, a buyer that's reselling for profit should be paying half of what they're going to sell it for. That was what Gamestop and EB Games did in the PS1 days and right up to about 2005 or so.
Now they won't even give you cash. WTF!!??? We pay them cash. They only even give us what they call the value of our games if we take store credit. If we want cash they INSTANTLY steal away from us 20% of what they're supposed to pay us. THAT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL !!!!! Yes.....offer us MORE if we take store credit, but you can't give us LESS because we may not want to respend that $ at your store.
I honestly and seriously think them doing that should be illegal. That's tax free profit along with being outright stealing.
In comparison of what Gamestop's used games market USED to be.....which was fair. Giving me half for my games IN CASH. When Soul Calibur 4 came out in Summer 08, I disliked it so went to trade it in 1 month after it released, and they only gave me $15 for it then turned around and put it on the shelf for $55 !!!!
For you people claiming you see nothing wrong with this corrupt business, I honestly think you must be employees of the company or are just brainwashed somehow. Because there's no possible way any human being with even the slightest sense of the value of earning a dollar could consider that good for "us the consumer".
In every way Gamestop's used game market model is just stealing money. Not only from the game development community who make these games, but also right out of "OUR" (their customers) pockets.
It's not uncommon to find Amazon offering the same game for the same price.. only the difference is with Amazon the game is brand new instead of used.
The systems I ever traded in were my 360 and PS3 when I had a coupon to get more than what they were selling the systems for and bought a new 360 and PS3.
I do my trades in bulk and do it when there are trade promotions going on. If I'm only trading in one game and I know that there is a game that I want that is out or coming out I reserve it get the extra 40 percent or put it towards that game and get the extra money.
I have never received 18 dollars for a game that was newly released, because I know how and when to do my trades.
(I don't even have one, but if I went ahead and spent the money on it I'd be holding on to it..)
GameStop exists for the majority of their customers which are kids, kids aren't the brightest when it comes to business and or don't have the money to buy all the new games they want so trading in is their only option. Also, parents of children who don't care what it cost as long as they can give it to their child to shut them up. GameStop knows this and is fully taken advantage of it.
GameStop is a stain on an industry I once loved but gaming anymore seems to be nothing but a chore but I fully support the developers who want their money for the work they did.
Gamestop USED to be the ONLY place to pre-order. It's only fairly recenly that we've even been able to pre-order from other retail places. And the fact is, even though I can't stand Gamestop because of their rediculous greed in the used games market, they do still get exclusive pre-order DLC sometimes. And if they have some exclusive in-game stuff as a pre-order incentive that I want more than another retailer's incentive, I will pre-order at Gamestop no problem.
And even that's not selling my own beliefs out, because what I believe in is supporting the industry. As long as I'm buying new, even if it's at gamestop, I'm still supporting the industry. I'm just taking advantage of something Gamestop is offering.
My beliefs are always logical. No....I won't support Gamestop, but I will pre-order new games there if I'm making out and not them. I also don't support the used games market, but that's only if games are still availible on the new market. If a game's not made anymore or can't be found at retail then that's where the used games market is imortant for gamers.
It's not false, I also used to work for Gamestop and most of our customers were NOT core gamers. They were either kids or parents or grandparents buying for their kids. The only time we saw the core gamers in a large capacity was at midnight releases. And my Gamestop was right next to a nerdy tech university, so it's not like they weren't around
I also now work at Best Buy and let me tell you, they get some pretty good preorder deals that rival and sometimes surpass Gamestop preorder deals. Like when I got ME3, they gave me a $20 giftcard a week after it released, plus whatever else in game stuff comes with the game. And that's not the first time they've done gift cards for preorders. BBY, Walmart, and Amazon all get preorder bonuses along with Gamestop. Sometimes Gamestop has the best simply b/c they are the biggest, but sometimes other stores get better ones or something similar enough to where you wouldn't need to preorder from Gamestop. There are plenty of alternatives around these days.
I have never understood why people use Gamestop etc as you can ALWAYS get a better deal if you shop around online.
I my eyes "GameStop" is good for games out of production, pre-orders & and under marketed games/merchandise. Like the cool red & blue "move" guns or The Orange Box.
im not saying that the people who say they wont shop at gamestop anymore arent keeping their word, im saying that the majority of people disagree with the notion that gamestop is so horrible that they wont shop there anymore, because its pretty clear that people are shopping there, gamestop has been making a lot of profit every year so nothing anyone is doing seems to be hurting them. theyre obviously offering a business that people want, people are using it.
Oh, game journalism. -_-
Not likely my friends. Not like-a-lee!
To this end they cultivate certain relationships.
Remember why you are there.
Superstore often has better prices on most games....a grocery chain primarily....
and such prices are leverage if one goes about it correctly.
If you return a game you don't like after a few days, its a signal that you 1) didn't do your research or 2)have impulse buy control problems.
If gamers got smarter , Gamestop wouldn't be able to use this tactic. Gamers created this business model, not the industry, and not Gamestop. Its a result of dumb people not knowing what they want or like and buying things because of hype. Stop listening to the hype and make your own decisions. Gamestop's "evil" model is a convenient scapegoat to cover up gamer stupidity. You made a dumb, unresearched decision. Rather than owning up to it, you're going to deflect it to the Used games policies of a company. People rag on this model because it is a business model that forces them to confront "buyer beware" when they don't do research.
Now,don't get me wrong. I hate Gamestop. But I don't hate them for their business model. I hate them for their crappy customer service.
Gamestop just happens to use the medium of games to make a profit. Any store that specializes in a product is almost identical to Gamestop in every way.
Horrible article, no matter how you feel about the used game business.
It's commonsense shopping there. Walk in there with Dark Sector.... You should know you ain't getting anything for it( trade is actually $1.00 ). You should also know that you are only going to get maybe a 1/4 to not even 1/2 of what you paid for a game.
Hmmm. I'm gonna trade Gears3 a week after I beat it ( which I did ) Paid $59.99 no tax because of Oregon and got I think maybe $27/28.00 trade. They turn around and sell for $54.99.
Lesson of the story. Walk around their store and look at what they're selling used games for and do the math.
Also, the "Kiss-ass" corporate employee doesn't make any sense. There are rules that the employee has to follow, otherwise corporate is going to lay the hammer on you. I wouldn't give two shits if you hated the game, I wouldn't lay my job on the line just so you can get your $60 back.
Not to mention if this was the return policy I doubt I and every other gamer would ever actually keep a game over 30 days for the rest of our lives.
It's a corporate model and it clearly works at the moment for their business. If you don't like it, don't shop there, it really isn't that difficult.
Don't read the article, this does not add any magical insight, it's just more of what we already know.
Its called a Business.
They sell Video Games for 65 bucks a piece new.
If someone gets bored and trades in what they purcahsed.
they get like 30 bucks back.
awesome. cycle continues.
why not make money off used games.
and everything in between?
I hate target and best buy for Video game purchases
Without gamestop we would be SOL. There wouldnt be anywhere to browse thousands of games and find something not even in print anymore. Yea they could pay more if it were online only like ebay or amazon but the brick and mortor is the best part. Imagine not bieng able to go grab a used wiimote, old ds games, try out new systems, talk gaming with people there exc. Its more than a place that buys your games at least for me it is.
another thing, gamestop isn't the only market out there. there's amazon and best buy which have good deals on gaming
With eBay, you pay about half the new price for a disc that is in a condition you can evaluate from the auction -- often its like new.
At GameStop, they charge so frickin much for a used title, which they bought for so little, yet they can't give up a couple $$ to the publishers to include an online pass with a used title when they resell it? Come ON. They're not just hiking the price outrageously, they're selling you *HALF* a game for that price.
GameStop sucks.
The games industry is a rip off anyway. The hardware is worth the asking price, but the retail price of games are extortionately overpriced. Let alone the con of trade in prices.
no one is forcing you to use gamestop. Its there for the convenience not for the best price. I thought that was common knowledge.
2. Name a store that lets you return a game because "you didn't like it". If you can, go there and buy your games.
3. I don't know why you're surprised they don't offer you a lot for your used games and then sell them for a higher price than they gave you for them. They want to make a profit and if the game becomes unpopular the used price will go down.
4. Capitalism is evil? Then look in the mirror, because it's a consumer based economy.
when you trade stuff at GS you will never get the best price for them. This is because GS is a middle man and must mark up the price of the games to make a profit.
this same practice is true for used car lots. yes they'll buy your car, but you'd get a better price selling strait to the new owner.
when you go to GS or the used car lot, you are paying a hidden cost of convenience. They buy your game/car instantly and you dont have to do anymore work. If you sell the game your self you have to not only find a buyer but then also work out the deal/delivery/insurance.
how in the world can anyone possibly think that GS would ever give you the same price as selling directly to a new owner.
sometimes I think my fellow gamers skipped to much high school/college.