Rationalization said:
Owyn_Merrilin said:
They screw over customers because they have the used games market cornered, and are able to knock $5 off the new cost of a game, call it used, and actually get people to buy it. Before they bought out EB games, the highest cost you would see on a used game was about $20, with the average being somewhere between $5 and $10. This is barring, of course, extremely rare games sold at specialty shops and through auctions. A lot of people also claim that they're screwing the industry over by not giving the developers a cut of the used game profits, but that's a load of bull, and as far as I can tell is a piece of PR spin coming right from the mouth of the publishers.
Almost everything you said was wrong, it's actually kind of impressive. The things you weren't wrong about arn't their fault and involve customer choice. As stated others have used games, department stores are starting to do it so in no way cornered. The highest cost of a used game before they bought EB was NOT $20 I have no idea where you got this info, and the average was not 5-10.
duchaked said:
Brand new game: $60 (also it's not sealed, FYI)
Same game used: $55 (wtf?)
To both, if someone buys a used game that was released recently for $5 off how is that screwing them over? They could just buy the new game for 60. I'm about to buy a $55 force unleased 2 used game because I know it could suck I may want my money back (7 day full price return if you don't like the game, 30 day return if it doesn't work.)
Edit: Also they institued a new points system where you get free shit just for shopping there.
They really do have the market cornered on used games. There have been a few department stores talking about selling used games, but none of them have started the service yet. As I mentioned in an earlier post, online and independent brick and mortar stores do tend to have better prices, but they obviously aren't putting enough of a dent in Gamestop's bottom line for Gamestop to drop its prices. This is especially true of the independent stores, which are practically non-existant in many parts of the country.
As for the figures on the prices, that is what I remember games costing up until the mid 2000s. I live in a part of the US that had more EB games stores than Gamestops, right up until a year or two before the buyout, so if Gamestop has overcharged to the extent they do today all along, I wouldn't know. It would, however, be surprising that the company with the higher prices was the one that prevailed in the long run. If you can get me a source that shows my memory to be faulty, I'll accept it, but until then it's my word against yours.
As for your point about charging $55 for a used game not being a case of screwing over the customer, that's just ridiculous. It's screwing over the customer in that they're way over charging the customer. You said it yourself -- why pay that much for a used copy, when a new copy is actually new and costs a negligible amount more? The only reason Gamestop gets away with it is that its the biggest used game retailer by far, and in fact the only one in most parts of the country. You can't honestly tell me that a used game, regardless of condition, and which is probably extremely common, is worth $55, only $5 less than it would cost new?
TL;DR: You can only blame these things on the customer choosing to deal with Gamestop when the customer actually has a choice. Mom and pop stores are only an option for a small minority of game buyers,the big retailers have yet to actually do more than talk about selling used games, and there are plenty of reasons why a given individual might not do business online. Beyond this, the question was about how Gamestop screws over consumers, not whether we can blame them for it. Save that one for another thread.
