More Than Half of GameStop Customers Unaware of Stores' Trade-In Policy
- Thread starter roseofbattle
- Start date
sell the used games at a lower price, BS. Anyone remember what they did back when Xenoblade released?! the game was selling....USED....for upwards of 80-100+ BIG ONES. the game cost 40 bucks at launch. They are full of it and price their stuff based on how they see fit........oh sorry...."Market price".....*coughcoughBSCough*... Plus the constant hawking of services has me to the point of denying them the chance to even offer anything, and that's if I even go in to one nowadays. I prefer disc games over downloads, unless its something like humble or Gog, but Gamestop at this point is more a problem than a convenience I feel....
Actually, GameStop policy is that if the game is opened from it's shrink wrap for more than a day, then it's considered used. That's what they were doing with the sudden impulse of "trade ins" they got for Xenoblade Chronicles, when in reality NeoGaf and other sites discovered that the "used" Xenoblade Chronicles were actually reprints, like how the Metroid Prime trilogy's were. It was easier to spot the Metroid ones because all 2009 original print ones were in tin cases only, and had a sleeve on the front. The reprints are in white Wii cases with no slide-on cover. So theoretically, GameStop could take some new games, remove the wrapping, and sell them for used. Now that'd be suicide for newly released games, but they can get away with it when it came to reprints.RJ 17 said:
For price comparisons, for a "used" copy of Xenoblade Chronicles when they first started doing it, it cost $95 for the used copy and only $60 for the new, but there were no new copies except online. GameStop also makes it's money off the used sales, so in the case of Xenoblade they would make $95 each sale and not have to give any of that to Nintendo since it was considered used and not new.
Now, I've shopped at Gamestop for a while now, I'm aware of how up front they are with their trade in policy.
I'd like to say I'm surprised that this many folks haven't heard of it, but I've worked the retail front lines before and I remember all too well that customers are oblivious as hell.
From what I've seen, that 60% is probably the only thing keeping the employees from taking their own lives rather than face one more belligerent halfwit who just can't grasp why their used copy of 2006 NFL blitz isn't worth the $50.00 they originally paid for it.
I'd like to say I'm surprised that this many folks haven't heard of it, but I've worked the retail front lines before and I remember all too well that customers are oblivious as hell.
From what I've seen, that 60% is probably the only thing keeping the employees from taking their own lives rather than face one more belligerent halfwit who just can't grasp why their used copy of 2006 NFL blitz isn't worth the $50.00 they originally paid for it.
The key to this is "only 40 percent of the people who walk into a GameStop store today know that we accept trades of games"
What day was it? If it was Black Friday I'd expect about 90 percent wouldn't know about their trade in policy. If it was the Tuesday release day for a big budget AAA game in the middle of summer I'd expect it to be about 10%.
The better question is,
What percentage of their regular customers don't know?
Then again it varies based on how you ask the question. Toss in smart devices, and I'll say I didn't know that. I don't think of GameStop as the place to sell back my smart phone when I'm done with it.
What day was it? If it was Black Friday I'd expect about 90 percent wouldn't know about their trade in policy. If it was the Tuesday release day for a big budget AAA game in the middle of summer I'd expect it to be about 10%.
The better question is,
What percentage of their regular customers don't know?
Then again it varies based on how you ask the question. Toss in smart devices, and I'll say I didn't know that. I don't think of GameStop as the place to sell back my smart phone when I'm done with it.
It might be for the best, but it amazes me that with all those banners and with the clerks pushing the stuff that more than half of consumers would be unaware. I mean, I've worked in retail, I'm aware people can be really freaking oblivious. This isn't completely new, but 60% seems high, even for the lowest common denominator.Neronium said:
Whether or not publishers like it, selling off or trading in their last half-finished DLC fest to pay for the next one has become a part of the infrastructure. And it makes sense, as publishers have decided games are disposable and should only have replay value until the next one comes out.MrHide-Patten said:
There's also no reason to spread it around.
Err...No. Considering publishers and console makers cowtow to Gamestop and make special deals with them. They're not taking shots at or hurting Gamestop.
I honestly think that they are using hyperbolic numbers for that really, because not only do they have banners, they have the magazine, sites, TV ads, and website ads that promote it because like you said 60% seems a tad high. If anything I'm going to assume more people answered sarcastically because they don't use it, but that's probably me being optimistic as I've worked with people who don't notice things that right in front of them before.Zachary Amaranth said:
It's probably more reasonable that the surveyors simply were oblivious to sarcasm.Neronium said:
I find this hard to believe. Actually, I have to wonder about some of the things EVER said about Gamestop sometimes. Can it be that I have the only shops in America that have polite and decent employees that are informative and helpful? I've never had a Gamestop problem except for a time where something I wanted wasn't available there, and they DID try to help me find it. No doubt, the bad business IS true, but the way I hear it talked about, it's like it's everywhere but here.
Looking into it I found that it could be a case of currency conversion but the mark up on the cards shouldn't be as high as $2 and $5, respectively.-Dragmire- said:
Seems like they're either arbitrarily rounding up for...reasons[footnote]Certainly not to pocket a little extra cash on each sale.[/footnote]... or applying tax (which they shouldn't be).
Either way, that's pretty lame. But at least the markup isn't completely ridiculous.
That...still doesn't explain how 60% of the shoppers are completely oblivious as to where GameStop's used games come from. Yeah, that explains a scam that GameStop tried to pull with that particular game (and perhaps others), but still, the very fact that GameStop HAS used games kinda implies that they would be "legitimately" getting them from somewhere. 60% of their customers not knowing about trading in games is still ridiculous...especially since every GameStop that I've seen has it's windows covered with "TRADE IN YOUR OLD GAMES, IPHONES, AND IPADS HERE!!!" posters.Neronium said:
good. it's not uncommon to get 1 or 2 dollars for a game they will turn around and put on the shelf for 30.
That's probably for the best, you'd get better deals selling them online. Games are now investments.
I'm aware of the policy from having worked there and it's really better to just rent a table at a flea market and sell your games there. Even if you make a couple of sales, you'll end up with far more than you would selling to Gamestop. I'm extremely lucky to have an independent games retailer nearby.
Why is it sketchy? Last time I checked, the cards openly say they're USD, so why is it sketchy to pay an amount respective of that? Lazy perhaps, being set at an arbitrary mark rather than being adjusted on a daily (or even hourly) conversion rate, but yeah, hard to join 'I am upset I am paying an amount which is reflected in my currency value' to be sketchy.-Dragmire- said:
Do you honestly expect a 50 USD gift card for less than 50 USD?
The whole thing is just a mess because people walk into a store and see a card which has one number on it, being sold for another number, I suppose.