Game Stores Selling Opened Games as "New"

[Owyn_Merrilin]

[snip]

The main problem is that you're paying for new, and getting something that is categorically used. It may be in "Like New" condition, but it's not new.

I can't see any meaningful difference between between "new" and "works just like new".

If they want to sell it to me for less then great, but I wouldn't demand it.

Anyone who genuinely gets their panties in a bunch over a disk having been removed from a box gets nothing but thinly veiled derision from me.

Very meaningful difference: like new is less valuable on the open market. Only in gamestop do you pay the same for an open item that you do for a sealed one, therefore, in gamestop you get ripped off. I mean, seriously, go on Amazon and look at the gap in prices between "new" items and "like new" items. Or go into a Best Buy and try to buy a TV that has been used as a display unit. In both cases, the open item is going to cost a lot less.

 

[Judgedread]

[snip]

The main problem is that you're paying for new, and getting something that is categorically used. It may be in "Like New" condition, but it's not new.

I can't see any meaningful difference between between "new" and "works just like new".

If they want to sell it to me for less then great, but I wouldn't demand it.

Anyone who genuinely gets their panties in a bunch over a disk having been removed from a box gets nothing but thinly veiled derision from me.

Very meaningful difference: like new is less valuable on the open market. Only in gamestop do you pay the same for an open item that you do for a sealed one, therefore, in gamestop you get ripped off. I mean, seriously, go on Amazon and look at the gap in prices between "new" items and "like new" items. Or go into a Best Buy and try to buy a TV that has been used as a display unit. In both cases, the open item is going to cost a lot less.

Retailers take the disks out of the case to protect from theft. Its a fact. A retailer would have to be collosal morons to place sealed coppies on the shelf.

I worked in an Australian game shop for 2 years and it is common practice. Every game retailer in Australia does this and you know what? Never once did I have a customer complain about getting an opened copy.

If you pre-order or reserve a copy, sure I would want a sealed copy too. But if you grab one off the shelf, don't expect a retailer to pull a sealed copy out of their ass, particularly if its an older game which doesn't warrant having display coppies on the shelf.

 

[MRMIdAS2k]

My local game shop has a "shelf" case and plenty of sealed ones behind the counter.

Demand a sealed product, if they can't give it to you, go elsewhere, most supermarkets have sealed copies.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

[snip]

The main problem is that you're paying for new, and getting something that is categorically used. It may be in "Like New" condition, but it's not new.

I can't see any meaningful difference between between "new" and "works just like new".

If they want to sell it to me for less then great, but I wouldn't demand it.

Anyone who genuinely gets their panties in a bunch over a disk having been removed from a box gets nothing but thinly veiled derision from me.

Very meaningful difference: like new is less valuable on the open market. Only in gamestop do you pay the same for an open item that you do for a sealed one, therefore, in gamestop you get ripped off. I mean, seriously, go on Amazon and look at the gap in prices between "new" items and "like new" items. Or go into a Best Buy and try to buy a TV that has been used as a display unit. In both cases, the open item is going to cost a lot less.

Retailers take the disks out of the case to protect from theft. Its a fact. A retailer would have to be collosal morons to place sealed coppies on the shelf.

I worked in an Australian game shop for 2 years and it is common practice. Every game retailer in Australia does this and you know what? Never once did I have a customer complain about getting an opened copy.

If you pre-order or reserve a copy, sure I would want a sealed copy too. But if you grab one off the shelf, don't expect a retailer to pull a sealed copy out of their ass, particularly if its an older game which doesn't warrant having display coppies on the shelf.

And that's why I don't buy new games from game retailers. If I'm gonna buy new as a planned thing, I'll go to Best Buy or Walmart, where the games are kept in some sort of a theft deterring case -- either a big glass one for everything, or a small plastic one for individual games. A new product, by definition, is sealed. I'm not gonna pay full price for something that isn't. It's really not that difficult of a concept.

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

Retailers take the disks out of the case to protect from theft. Its a fact. A retailer would have to be collosal morons to place sealed coppies on the shelf.

I worked in an Australian game shop for 2 years and it is common practice. Every game retailer in Australia does this and you know what? Never once did I have a customer complain about getting an opened copy.

If you pre-order or reserve a copy, sure I would want a sealed copy too. But if you grab one off the shelf, don't expect a retailer to pull a sealed copy out of their ass, particularly if its an older game which doesn't warrant having display coppies on the shelf.

Here's the thing that gets me. You DON'T NEED TO DO IT TO ALL GAMES. You need to 'gut' two to three copies MAX to put on the shelf and you can keep the rest of the game behind the counter, or out the back. I used to work at JB Hi-Fi this was the system we employed, yet places like EB will gut their ENTIRE stock and chuck 30 empty cases of COD onto the shelves. It's not unreasonable to expect a sealed copy of a game, it's not unreasonable to expect that when you buy something that is brand new that it is actually brand new.

The reason people don't complain is because 90% of them are ignorant, I've complained about it many-a-time and have forced disgruntled EB employees to go out the back and search for that one sealed copy - or just walked out and bought it somewhere else.

The games are moved from the case to an envelope that is placed in a locked drawer, nowhere else. We don't use them to play frisbee, we don't play air hockey with them, we don't use them as shurikens and we certainly don't play them.

You obviously worked at a place with more integrity than mine. I used to work at JB Hi-Fi on multiple occasions I was able to grab a "gutted" copy of a game take it home for 2 days, play the shit out of it, bring it back and put the case right back on the shelf and the disc behind the counter ready for sale. My manager knew every time and actually suggested I (and others) do it so we could "better recommend the best games to customers."

 

[ChildishLegacy]

[snip]

The main problem is that you're paying for new, and getting something that is categorically used. It may be in "Like New" condition, but it's not new.

I can't see any meaningful difference between between "new" and "works just like new".

If they want to sell it to me for less then great, but I wouldn't demand it.

Anyone who genuinely gets their panties in a bunch over a disk having been removed from a box gets nothing but thinly veiled derision from me.

Very meaningful difference: like new is less valuable on the open market. Only in gamestop do you pay the same for an open item that you do for a sealed one, therefore, in gamestop you get ripped off. I mean, seriously, go on Amazon and look at the gap in prices between "new" items and "like new" items. Or go into a Best Buy and try to buy a TV that has been used as a display unit. In both cases, the open item is going to cost a lot less.

Retailers take the disks out of the case to protect from theft. Its a fact. A retailer would have to be collosal morons to place sealed coppies on the shelf.

I worked in an Australian game shop for 2 years and it is common practice. Every game retailer in Australia does this and you know what? Never once did I have a customer complain about getting an opened copy.

If you pre-order or reserve a copy, sure I would want a sealed copy too. But if you grab one off the shelf, don't expect a retailer to pull a sealed copy out of their ass, particularly if its an older game which doesn't warrant having display coppies on the shelf.

And that's why I don't buy new games from game retailers. If I'm gonna buy new as a planned thing, I'll go to Best Buy or Walmart, where the games are kept in some sort of a theft deterring case -- either a big glass one for everything, or a small plastic one for individual games. A new product, by definition, is sealed. I'm not gonna pay full price for something that isn't. It's really not that difficult of a concept.

But why do you even care? I'm really struggling to understand it.
I don't even buy discs anymore really, and if I do it's from amazon so it's a non issue for me, but I think having a seal broken on a box is probably worth games not being stolen. It makes literally no difference to the product that you receive, in fact, maybe the disk would even be safer locked away in a drawer than on display being picked up in it's case by everybody that walks by it.

 

[Eddie the head]

I have never had this happen. I go to my local Gamestop all the time whenever it's a new game it's sealed so I don't know what any of you are talking about.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

[snip]

The main problem is that you're paying for new, and getting something that is categorically used. It may be in "Like New" condition, but it's not new.

I can't see any meaningful difference between between "new" and "works just like new".

If they want to sell it to me for less then great, but I wouldn't demand it.

Anyone who genuinely gets their panties in a bunch over a disk having been removed from a box gets nothing but thinly veiled derision from me.

Very meaningful difference: like new is less valuable on the open market. Only in gamestop do you pay the same for an open item that you do for a sealed one, therefore, in gamestop you get ripped off. I mean, seriously, go on Amazon and look at the gap in prices between "new" items and "like new" items. Or go into a Best Buy and try to buy a TV that has been used as a display unit. In both cases, the open item is going to cost a lot less.

Retailers take the disks out of the case to protect from theft. Its a fact. A retailer would have to be collosal morons to place sealed coppies on the shelf.

I worked in an Australian game shop for 2 years and it is common practice. Every game retailer in Australia does this and you know what? Never once did I have a customer complain about getting an opened copy.

If you pre-order or reserve a copy, sure I would want a sealed copy too. But if you grab one off the shelf, don't expect a retailer to pull a sealed copy out of their ass, particularly if its an older game which doesn't warrant having display coppies on the shelf.

And that's why I don't buy new games from game retailers. If I'm gonna buy new as a planned thing, I'll go to Best Buy or Walmart, where the games are kept in some sort of a theft deterring case -- either a big glass one for everything, or a small plastic one for individual games. A new product, by definition, is sealed. I'm not gonna pay full price for something that isn't. It's really not that difficult of a concept.

But why do you even care? I'm really struggling to understand it.
I don't even buy discs anymore really, and if I do it's from amazon so it's a non issue for me, but I think having a seal broken on a box is probably worth games not being stolen. It makes literally no difference to the product that you receive, in fact, maybe the disk would even be safer locked away in a drawer than on display being picked up in it's case by everybody that walks by it.

Basically because I don't like overpaying for things. It's a rare exception for me to buy a game new in the first place. If I'm buying new, I want new, dammit. Don't give me used and charge me for new. If I wanted used, I'd buy it used.

 

[ChildishLegacy]

[snip]

The main problem is that you're paying for new, and getting something that is categorically used. It may be in "Like New" condition, but it's not new.

I can't see any meaningful difference between between "new" and "works just like new".

If they want to sell it to me for less then great, but I wouldn't demand it.

Anyone who genuinely gets their panties in a bunch over a disk having been removed from a box gets nothing but thinly veiled derision from me.

Very meaningful difference: like new is less valuable on the open market. Only in gamestop do you pay the same for an open item that you do for a sealed one, therefore, in gamestop you get ripped off. I mean, seriously, go on Amazon and look at the gap in prices between "new" items and "like new" items. Or go into a Best Buy and try to buy a TV that has been used as a display unit. In both cases, the open item is going to cost a lot less.

Retailers take the disks out of the case to protect from theft. Its a fact. A retailer would have to be collosal morons to place sealed coppies on the shelf.

I worked in an Australian game shop for 2 years and it is common practice. Every game retailer in Australia does this and you know what? Never once did I have a customer complain about getting an opened copy.

If you pre-order or reserve a copy, sure I would want a sealed copy too. But if you grab one off the shelf, don't expect a retailer to pull a sealed copy out of their ass, particularly if its an older game which doesn't warrant having display coppies on the shelf.

And that's why I don't buy new games from game retailers. If I'm gonna buy new as a planned thing, I'll go to Best Buy or Walmart, where the games are kept in some sort of a theft deterring case -- either a big glass one for everything, or a small plastic one for individual games. A new product, by definition, is sealed. I'm not gonna pay full price for something that isn't. It's really not that difficult of a concept.

But why do you even care? I'm really struggling to understand it.
I don't even buy discs anymore really, and if I do it's from amazon so it's a non issue for me, but I think having a seal broken on a box is probably worth games not being stolen. It makes literally no difference to the product that you receive, in fact, maybe the disk would even be safer locked away in a drawer than on display being picked up in it's case by everybody that walks by it.

Basically because I don't like overpaying for things. It's a rare exception for me to buy a game new in the first place. If I'm buying new, I want new, dammit. Don't give me used and charge me for new. If I wanted used, I'd buy it used.

It is new, it's never been in another console's/pc's disk drive, they're just protecting the new copy. Why does breaking a box seal alter anything about the actual goods? It just seems very picky to me.

 

[spartan231490]

Doesn't bother me, all I care about is that the game plays, if that works I'm totally ok with it. As for sealed copies turning up, they're probably just reserved copies and the clerk figures that the guy it's reserved for won't care so dang much.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Doesn't bother me. As long as it isn't fucked up then I have no real reason to be upset. I'm not so obsessed with "getting what I payed for," that I'm actively try and find a sealed copy.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

[snip]

The main problem is that you're paying for new, and getting something that is categorically used. It may be in "Like New" condition, but it's not new.

I can't see any meaningful difference between between "new" and "works just like new".

If they want to sell it to me for less then great, but I wouldn't demand it.

Anyone who genuinely gets their panties in a bunch over a disk having been removed from a box gets nothing but thinly veiled derision from me.

Very meaningful difference: like new is less valuable on the open market. Only in gamestop do you pay the same for an open item that you do for a sealed one, therefore, in gamestop you get ripped off. I mean, seriously, go on Amazon and look at the gap in prices between "new" items and "like new" items. Or go into a Best Buy and try to buy a TV that has been used as a display unit. In both cases, the open item is going to cost a lot less.

Retailers take the disks out of the case to protect from theft. Its a fact. A retailer would have to be collosal morons to place sealed coppies on the shelf.

I worked in an Australian game shop for 2 years and it is common practice. Every game retailer in Australia does this and you know what? Never once did I have a customer complain about getting an opened copy.

If you pre-order or reserve a copy, sure I would want a sealed copy too. But if you grab one off the shelf, don't expect a retailer to pull a sealed copy out of their ass, particularly if its an older game which doesn't warrant having display coppies on the shelf.

And that's why I don't buy new games from game retailers. If I'm gonna buy new as a planned thing, I'll go to Best Buy or Walmart, where the games are kept in some sort of a theft deterring case -- either a big glass one for everything, or a small plastic one for individual games. A new product, by definition, is sealed. I'm not gonna pay full price for something that isn't. It's really not that difficult of a concept.

But why do you even care? I'm really struggling to understand it.
I don't even buy discs anymore really, and if I do it's from amazon so it's a non issue for me, but I think having a seal broken on a box is probably worth games not being stolen. It makes literally no difference to the product that you receive, in fact, maybe the disk would even be safer locked away in a drawer than on display being picked up in it's case by everybody that walks by it.

Basically because I don't like overpaying for things. It's a rare exception for me to buy a game new in the first place. If I'm buying new, I want new, dammit. Don't give me used and charge me for new. If I wanted used, I'd buy it used.

It is new, it's never been in another console's/pc's disk drive, they're just protecting the new copy. Why does breaking a box seal alter anything about the actual goods? It just seems very picky to me.

Broken seal = no longer in new condition = less valuable = I'd better be charged less for it, otherwise I'm going elsewhere where I can either get it sealed, pay less, or both. By definition, if the seal is broken it's no longer in new condition. The shape the disc is in is immaterial -- I've bought some absolutely beautiful used games, but I've never paid the full new price for one, and I'd be crazy to do it barring, say, a rare game that is now more valuable than it was when it was new. And then I'd still be crazy to pay as much for a copy with a broken seal as it would cost me to get a sealed one.

 

[Kapol]

I understand why companies do it, and I don't mind it for the most part. But that doesn't mean I have to like it or accept it. I really haven't bought anything from places like Gamestop in months if not a good year.

Just because they don't use the game doesn't mean they don't remove other things. A good example of which is how Gamestop opened PC copies of Human Revolution, took out the coupon for a free Onlive copy, and then sold them for full price without letting customer's know. They said it was because they 'don't make a habit of promoting competitive services' even though those PC copies had to be activated on Steam to play.

 

[sanquin]

If I'm looking to buy a game totally new, and when I bought it I can play it as if it's totally new, then I don't care if it was used before. I got exactly what I wanted and paid for in terms of gaming experience and price.

Now, if I wanted to buy new and got a copy with scratches, or smudges, or with cartridges save files on it. Or with codes, where the code was already used. Yes, that's a different matter. But no store in their right mind would sell those as new.

Furthermore, what's the big deal? 'Still sealed' is NOT the same as 'new' you know. So the disk was taken out. It has never touched a DVD drive or whatever before, it has no scratches or smudges if the employees did things correctly, and it has the codes that go with it not even looked at yet. So it's still new, just not sealed.

 

[ChildishLegacy]

Broken seal = no longer in new condition = less valuable = I'd better be charged less for it, otherwise I'm going elsewhere where I can either get it sealed, pay less, or both. By definition, if the seal is broken it's no longer in new condition. The shape the disc is in is immaterial -- I've bought some absolutely beautiful used games, but I've never paid the full new price for one, and I'd be crazy to do it barring, say, a rare game that is now more valuable than it was when it was new. And then I'd still be crazy to pay as much for a copy with a broken seal as it would cost me to get a sealed one.

So you refuse to pay more money than copies that have actually been used because they broke a seal that you are about to break in about 30 minutes when you get home? I guess this is just one of those things that I'll never give a shit about tbh. You're getting the same gaming experience as everybody else that bought the game new with the disc in fresh out of the factory state. Everything but a seal that makes no difference to your gaming experience is objectively the same. If I get the same experience from that disk at the same time as somebody else I'd be expecting to pay the same price as them. It's like the actual game comes second to people when issues like this come up.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I've been buying from gamestop for years and I've never seen them do that. These were local game stores or national chains? The only time that I've seen gamestop do the game in an envelop + empty box is when I buy used. I'd call that pretty shady if they doing that with new games at the stores in your town. Next time they do that I'd call bullshit on them and ask if they have any sealed copies left.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm not cool with it either. It's why I buy my (new) games from either work or amazon these days. It's alright: you can admit to shopping at Gamestop by the way. The place is a monopoly at this point. Apparently if you make a stink about it they take off about %5 since you're technically getting a display copy.

 

[Starik20X6]

"Opened" does not mean "used". Pretty sure most stores remove the everything from the case before they put it on the shelf. The only time this has ever been an issue was a whopping two times in my life where they accidentally put the wrong game in for me. As long as the game itself hasn't been used it's still a new game.

 

[Moontouched-Moogle]

I've bought a "new" GBA game with a SAVE FILE already on it with 98 HOURS logged.

Cannot trust a single gaming retailer. Ever. Shameless scummy bastards. Oh, so this disc is new? WHY ARE THERE 7 THUMB SMUDGES ON THE DISC!? I swear one of these days I'm going to go in with a cop and buy a game and see how they dive for their magical "not last copy."

I have to wonder how you bought a "new" GBA game without realizing it was false, considering they come in those semi-flimsy cardboard boxes, which would be hard to maintain and even harder to reseal/return in new condition, and Gamestop doesn't put used ones in a box of any kind.

As for the original topic, my local Gamestop seems to be doing this less and less with the major console games, just using the printed-out Display covers on empty boxes instead. There are still a few like that here and there though, and it seems to be very common with the PSP games. On the other hand, PSP games are harder to wreck, what with the plastic shell around them. The shell DOES have that opening where the disc is exposed, but it's a lot safer than a naked disc.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

A few months ago I purchased Skyrim from a local game store and the clerk told me that this particular copy of Skyrim was the last copy, so he took the display box put the disc in and sold it to me at full retail price. I'm a pretty chill dude so I was like, "Cool, I got the last copy." I then later purchased Borderlands from a different local game store and the same occurrence as previously stated happened. Again, I shrugged it off and went on my way. Recently, I just purchased Red Dead and again it was the "last copy." After this third occurrence I'm beginning to suspect that game stores purposely open up and remove discs from their games. Maybe they do this to lock up the discs or to let employees take them home. Regardless, it's starting to bug the life out of me they are selling unsealed games as new, for full price.

Has anyone else experienced this before and are you cool with stores doing it?

Uhh... Yeah? All stores take the discs out of the boxes to prevent theft. It's not like they're out playing them in the back. They're not "used", it doesn't affect the game at all.

How do people not know this, even if you haven't worked in retail, you should've noticed this by now.