Confessions of a Gamestop Manager

The site Consumerist has up a lengthy post from a former Gamestop manager, listing some of the sins, boons, pitfalls and promises perpetrated while he was on the job. Includes a discussion of the 'gutted' display game, pre-orders, the 'discount' card, trades, and lots of 'pro-tips' on how to get the most out of your Gamestopping experience. "19) Don't be afraid to sell things on your own! The going resell rates for any current games or accessories online is usually close to what we resell for. If its a much newer title and you don't mind listing and shipping it, you could make a small handful more selling it online yourself. Ebay and Amazon.com are obvious choices, but you may find other outlets that work for you."

Selling policies

[ZorbaTHut]

I have to say, the thing I've always wondered about is the business side of things. I've heard, although I have no hard evidence, that Gamestop/EB stores don't make any significant profit off new games, which is why they're always pushing used games. Their profit sources are "used games" and "product placement" - publishers pay big bucks to have things like Halo 3 in the front-and-center of stores.

What I'm curious about is what they would do if you went to them and said "I have a game, I would like you to sell it, we've been doing advertising and it should sell quite a bit, we can't afford to pay you for placement but we'll sell the actual copies to you for $15 less so you can actually make a profit on it". Would they give some of that front-and-center space over to it in the hopes of selling more, or would they just relegate it to the back shelves because it's not paying the bucks?

Unfortunately it seems impossible to actually get information on the big business policies. Ah well.

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[zegota]

I doubt it. Gamestop strikes me very much as a company that sticks to the guidelines they have layed out for themselves. They make a very small profit off of new games, but beyond that, the new games will get people into the store. "Hey, buying Halo 3? Why not pick up a used controller or strategy guide?" That sort of thing. As much as I'd like independent game companies to be able to get their games into stores this way, it seems unlikely that Gamestop would accept anything outside of a regular distributor

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[jandrese]

Luckily, my local Gamestop seems to have backed off of the whole strategy guide pushing. It was real bad there for awhile, you couldn't walk in the store without them trying to pawn off some completely worthless Prima guide on you.

For that matter, for a company that supposedly gets inside info on a game before it is released, Prima continually puts out some really poor quality material. Frequently they're little more than a slightly expanded version of what came in the manual and a bunch of screenshots

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[Sciros]

Guides can be worth the purchase for the convenience (if it's well-laid-out and thorough), the aesthetics of the design of the book, and the art inside it. The Final Fantasy XII guide is fantastic, IMO, in every respect, and I was very glad I purchased the collector's edition with the included Concept Art Book.

I also have this hardcover, gold-border Twilight Princess strategy guide but it's more of a "thing to have and admire" for its design because it's the opposite of useful when it comes to actually bein

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[king-manic]

Guides can be worth the purchase for the convenience (if it's well-laid-out and thorough), the aesthetics of the design of the book, and the art inside it. The Final Fantasy XII guide is fantastic, IMO, in every respect, and I was very glad I purchased the collector's edition with the included Concept Art Book.

I also have this hardcover, gold-border Twilight Princess strategy guide but it's more of a "thing to have and admire" for its design because it's the opposite of useful when it comes to actually being used as a guide. Waaay too thorough or something. Hard to read through. But attractive.

The downside is strategy guides are often wrong, using info from a beta version or a pre-release version. It's only important if your a pedant, power leveller, completist or a obsessive item collector. But some Guides have so many glaring errors that it's often better to take a trip to gamefaqs then buying a guide.

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[Sciros]

Your criticisms are very valid but I think apply mostly to non-first-party guides. In other words, a Final Fantasy guide produced and released *by Square-Enix* is going to be a quality product, as would a Zelda guide produced and released *by Nintendo.* They're also most likely going to be up-to-date and their production quality is very high so the paper is usually pretty nice.

Oh and some guides are just plain well-written. Take for instance the Elder Scrolls guides. Whoever wrote those is a clever guy, and

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[jonwil]

The Command & Conquer 3 guide is a good example of this, there have been so many balance changes to the game since release day that the guide is now useless.

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[cgenman]

Guides are frequently written by developers at the end of the development cycle. Which means, when we're all busy, and everything keeps changing. Because of this, they usually get outsourced to the kind of people who write the manuals, and have little additional information. The game not being released yet, there is little understanding of the problems that real players will encounter. And, of course, not being final the tips in the guide are frequently out-of-date by the time the game actually ships.

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[Beardo the Bearded]

Two points in agreement:

1. My brother bought an old dreamcast game from EB. The game cost $2. The clerk said, "Would you like play insurance for $3? I have to ask in case you're a mystery shopper." I used to work retail - the people you see are just doing what they're told to keep their job. I did work for a really nice place that said, "remember, it's not your money. It's theirs. Give them whatever they're asking for, because otherwise, they'll just call head office, and we'll give them what they were aski

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[sadr]

Assuming you're not discounting the wholesale price to other retailers, and assuming that the preliminary buzz is reasonable, I suspect Gamestop senior management isn't very picky about when they get paid. (i.e. at the sale or in advance.)

Of course, you can't discount the price to other retailers, because then they could sell it for $2 over wholesale, and suddenly Gamestop won't sell any...

And you'd have to check with a lawyer to see if structuring the deal in any specific way causes collusion / anti-trust

Re:Selling policies

[orclevegam]

Going to tackle this in reverse order. First, individual stores don't order games (disclaimer: I have never worked for EB/Gamestop, but I have talked with employees). Stores place pre-orders and other than that what they receive in their shipments is decided by someone in corporate. Presumably they have some sort of system, that probably involves big sweaty rolls of money from other large corporations being left in certain key CEO pockets, and possibly dart boards at some step to help determine exactly which games and what quantities will show up. As far as not making money on new releases that's not entirely true. They of course make profit off them, otherwise they wouldn't stock them, just like any other business. The key thing is that new games are not their most profitable item. They have essentially perfected a formula for squeezing the maximum profit out of each store that they possibly can. They start by reducing orders of new games to nearly the exact amount demanded. They do that by only carrying 1 or 2 new copies of any given game beyond what's pre-ordered. That ensures that they have enough on hand to meet the initial demand (assuming everyone pre-orders, and they probably order a certain percentage of the pre-orders extra to meet demand of those that didn't, say 10% of the pre-orders), but that they won't have many or any extra copies laying around. That's the initial investment, and they do make a bit of profit there. Where the big profit comes in though is in the re-sells. They give you something like $5 credit on a game that they'll turn around a re-sell for $40, that's 700% profit! That's why they want you to trade games in and buy used games, they make insane profit off each one. As for the strategy guides and accessories, those are just icing on the cake. They like to sell them of course, it's all profit after all, but the big bucks come from the re-sells. I'm what EB would consider a nightmare customer. I buy nothing but brand new games, rarely pre-order (unless I think it'll sell out, I'm usually right on that call to), and never buy guides or accessories. I also never trade in used games.

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[Orange Crush]

I never understood the appeal to pre-ordering a game at a physical store. I mean, if you *must* have it on launch day, I suppose that makes sense. I don't mind the few extra days shipping would take and save a few bucks on sales tax by ordering online.

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[antifoidulus]

Not to mention that many online places often times actually put it in the mail a few days before the official release date. I've ordered games from Amazon that have arrived on release date or maybe the day after. Much more convenient, and depending on where you live(sales tax and all) usually price competitive with brick and mortar places(even moreso if you manage to snag it in your gold box or something like that).

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[edwdig]

Amazon also has a habit of screwing up their warehouse deliveries and sending out your game late. For example, they got Metroid Prime 3 out about a week late.

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[MaineCoon]

Your numbers are a bit off, from my experience. I've usually received about half what the used game sells for - for example, in one case with a recent release of a hot game still selling for $60 new, $50 used, I got $25 store credit. Of course, YMMV.

Re:Selling policies

[eison]

That's funny, I got the impression that refusing to stock what I want to buy and insisting that I make reservations and wait/come back later was the perfect formula for driving me to online stores and putting their bricks and mortar store out of business. Why should I pre-order with Gamestop when Amazon will have it delivered right to me?

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[PhoenixOne]

There is a better explanation of this further up, but the simple reason is this: Gamestop wants to sell used copies a lot more than it does new.

Their ideal customer is somebody who will pre-order a $60 game, play it for a couple of days, then sell it back to them for store credit. Somebody else will come along and buy the game again for $55. Bang, double sale.

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[Darkforge]

What I'm curious about is what they would do if you went to them and said "I have a game, I would like you to sell it, we've been doing advertising and it should sell quite a bit, we can't afford to pay you for placement but we'll sell the actual copies to you for $15 less so you can actually make a profit on it". Would they give some of that front-and-center space over to it in the hopes of selling more, or would they just relegate it to the back shelves because it's not paying the bucks?

No; consider the q

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[LWATCDR]

"What I'm curious about is what they would do if you went to them and said "I have a game, I would like you to sell it, we've been doing advertising and it should sell quite a bit, we can't afford to pay you for placement but we'll sell the actual copies to you for $15 less so you can actually make a profit on it". Would they give some of that front-and-center space over to it in the hopes of selling more, or would they just relegate it to the back shelves because it's not paying the bucks?"
Back shelf.
The s

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[macrom]

have to say, the thing I've always wondered about is the business side of things. I've heard, although I have no hard evidence, that Gamestop/EB stores don't make any significant profit off new games, which is why they're always pushing used games. Their profit sources are "used games" and "product placement" - publishers pay big bucks to have things like Halo 3 in the front-and-center of stores.

You are correct. The margin on new games (systems as well) is razor thin. Everyone wants to maximize their pro

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[hey!]

Any merchant tries to steer people towards goods which maximize his profits.

If you aren't paying a placement fee, then if you want the same prominence for your game, you'd have to sell it at a lower wholesale price to get the same placement. The whole point of the placement fee is that you, the wholesaler, expect a lot of these games to be sold, and you want to take as much of that money as possible from the retailer. But if you take too much, the retailer won't place your product as prominently, or maybe

acts of gord

[farkus888]

http://www.actsofgord.com/ [actsofgord.com] excellent reading. all the horrible things he did to customers in a undisclosed video game store.

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[Grandiloquence]

The difference is that those people richly deserved it.

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[TheSpoom]

Actually, the store was "Gamer's Edge" in Penticton, BC. I don't know if it's still open (the final story in Acts of Gord suggests it's not), does anyone know? I know Gord himself is in Japan or something now.

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[Akaihiryuu]

I read some more about Gord somewhere (can't remember where now) that said his real name is Gordon Hadrell, and that he did in fact spend several years in Korea before returning to Canada. He opened a place called PC Bang (which is based on a Korean phenomena and translates to "PC Room"), that's kind of like an internet cafe. http://www.pcbang.ca/ [pcbang.ca] is the place.

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[Digital Vomit]

More accurately, it's about all the horrible things customers did in Gord's video game store.

Yeah right

[Tridus]

From TFA: "Preorders are only taken when their allotment can be guaranteed. I cannot stress this enough. There are burps in the system here and there, but for every one or two preorder gaffes you read about online there are literally thousands of beneficial ones. Preorders do not cost any additional fee (only a base 5 dollar deposit) and are fully (though reluctantly) refundable for cash at any time. Yes, cancelled preorders count against the employee ringing it in and they will be reluctant, but it is your right to cancel for cash refund if you choose to and they can't decline it."

Care to explain then how my local EB took several times more orders for the collectors edition of Burning Crusade then it was actually getting?

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[Blakey Rat]

To answer your question, that would be explained away as a "burp" in the system.

That said, I've done pre-orders twice at Gamestop and both times the actual game was sold out on release date. I don't bother; where I'm at it's easier to get a hold of a game from your typical Fred Meyer or Target department store on release day than it is from Gamestop/EB.

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[Tridus]

Thats my experience too. Want a game but didn't pre-order? Sorry, you should pre-order. (I've been told this.)
Try pre-ordering? Sorry, so did everybody else.

Yet for some strange reason, Future Shop down the street somehow manages to have copies on a shelf that I can walk in and buy, without planning two months in advance.

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[MBGMorden]

Same here. I hate to be commending *Wal-mart* of all places, but the local Gamestop here is right in front of Wal-mart. ANY hot game that Gamestop doesn't have will always be in stock at the Wal-mart a short walk away.

Of course, the company that really pissed me off with Pre-orders was Blockbuster. I pre-ordered Zelda: Wind Waker for GC. The only reason I did this was because pre-orders were supposed to get a copy of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on disk along with Wind Waker. When I went in to pic

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[SydShamino]

Somehow, our GameStop ended up with 3 extra CE copies. Alas, we hadn't preordered it, and they sold the three to those who stood outside the longest before the midnight opening. (We had an ice storm that night here in Texas, and I wasn't going to stand outside in below-freezing temperatures when I had a regular one on preorder. On the good side, work was closed the next day so my wife and I got the spend the whole day playing before the kiddies got home from school and clogged Hellfire Peninsula.)

So anyw

Re:Yeah right

[oDDmON oUT]

"Care to explain then how my local EB took several times more orders for the collectors edition of Burning Crusade then it was actually getting?"

Two words:

Unsecured loan

That's right Sparky, your hard earned pesastas can go into a floating fund for 30/60/90 days, during which time the company in question makes interest off it for nothing, pays down higher interest loans, funds a corporate fly by of Strippers'r'Us World Domination Tour©, or any other thing they f*cking well please.

What's a little gamer angst when stacked up against that, eh?

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[macrom]

Care to explain then how my local EB took several times more orders for the collectors edition of Burning Crusade then it was actually getting?

I'll take a stab at this one.

1. The publisher miscommunicated the number of copies when the pre-order program started. They said 200,000 but the number was more like 50,000. Gamestop can't really do much about that other than communicate that pre-orders should be stopped when that information becomes known.

2. Your particular store kept taking pre-orders long p

Just make it easier...

[FadedTimes]

Gamestop should just change policy and practice to make it easier for the consumer. People should not have to have a specialty method or use a guide to get the most out of the experience.

Revervations are pointless

[harl]

I see no reason why they can't have more copies. They're reservation policy is why I haven't shopped there for years.

On release day Gamestop has no copies, except for preorders. Then I go across the street and grab one off the shelf at my choice of stores. Hell I can grab one for in store pickup right now. Oh and those store do preorders too which indicates that they're receiving more total copies.

This just makes Gamestop look amateur. If department stores can have multiple copies of a game then why can't a store with game in their name have enough copies? Amateurs.

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[Ogive17]

The Wal-mart in town doesn't accept pre-orders, but the Gamestop does. Of course the Gamestop will be sold out of the next "hot" game instantly because their entire allotment of games were pre-ordered by people who wanted the guarentee to get it on the 1st day. Sure Wal-mart may have a few copies on the shelf still because everyone who HAD to have the game right away paid $5 to reserve their copy elsewhere.

As for Wal-mart being cheaper... If Gamestop has the game for $39.99 then Wal-mart has it listed

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[harl]

Preorders are obsolete. Supply is at the point where they are not needed.The big box electronics stores have more than enough copies. It's simply a vendor lock in tool. You go to GS to grab game and they ask you to pre-order. Lather, rinse, repent.

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[king-manic]

Preorders are obsolete. Supply is at the point where they are not needed.The big box electronics stores have more than enough copies. It's simply a vendor lock in tool. You go to GS to grab game and they ask you to pre-order. Lather, rinse, repent.

Sure, for something like Halo 3. But what about an obscure title like Odins sphere or Etrian Odyssey? If your tastes runs into niche products then the big box stores will leave you wanting. Although I have never pre-ordered and have never been pestered to pre-order by the EB I frequent or actually by any EB in town. However it may just be that Canada is different.

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[harl]

Niche items are an exception. That's what makes them niche items.

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[k8to]

My experience is that if your tastes run to niche products, or products over 2 months old, EB and Gamestop will leave you wanting as well. Physical game stores are a waste of time for me, I sometimes find myself with time on my hands and a game store, and I go in, hoping. I typically have around 5-6 titles I might want to buy, and the game store typically has none of them, or maybe has a scratched used copy with no manual for 40 dollars (it's rare, yo!)

Sometimes asking about a game *they have* will produc

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[Nevyn]

Best Buy, Target, Toys R Us, Gamestop. All else being equal I shop for games in that order, and I never have to give gamestop money. I even bought my Wii at Toys R Us, on release day, when gamestop pre-orders didn't get filled.

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[Ogive17]

I've never pre-ordered because the area I live in (sprawling suburbia) has plenty of retail stores per capita... but I can see why people living in a densely populated area would want to pre-order. If it isn't going to cost the consumer additional money, why not?

I don't get asked to pre-order at the gamestop in town anymore. In fact, I don't hear them ask other people who are in line. They do have signs up at the register though to ask about pre-ordering.

Re:Revervations are pointless

[EtoilePB]

Because of the warehouse distribution model they use.

Warehouse has 1000 copies of Game X for distribution to all the area stores. Store A has 150 pre-orders, so they get 200 copies. Store B has 12 pre-orders, so they get 15 copies. Store C has 247 pre-orders, so they get 350 copies.

I don't know if it's changed since the merger, but that's how it worked back when I worked at GameStop. Pre-orders are construed as "local area interest," and so in a store with low pre-orders, no extra games. It's a self-perpetuating cycle sort of thing.

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[harl]

My point is that method is stupid. By short changing the stores it caused me to go else where.

If they don't send copies then I will go somewhere that has copies. This is trivial to understand.

I can't be arsed to keep track of what's coming out when. I used to do that. I find it a waste of time now. Rather then make extra trips to GS to preorder I can just walk into BB, CUSA, CC, Target, Wal-Mart, or whoever else and grab one off the shelf.

Gaming has reached main stream enough that copies are available.

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[harl]

To further illustrate my point.

Call of Duty 4 came out yesterday. Former game fo the year franchise. People are talking about this iteration as a game of the year.

Yesterday after work I walked in and grabbed it off the shelf. Just now I checked the web pages of some stores. There are copies available at all BB locations and a scattering of some of the other electronic/department stores.

For comparison. Only one of the six gamestops in a 50 mile radius had copies available.

Pre-orders are pointless. Game

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[harl]

I haven't pre-ordered a game in over 5 years yet I still get things on launch day. Other places have enough supply to meet demand.

gamestop just isn't worth it for me anymore

[DragonTHC]

I now buy all my games from amazon prime. $3.99 overnight shipping. Yes, I have to wait an extra day, but not I can afford all my games in collector's edition instead of regular due to the shipping costs. I used to pre-order from ebgames. No more.

Doesn't it all sound a bit

[joeflies]

like it was ghost written by the corporate marketing guy? The whole thing is written about "benefits of doing this vs that", just like the regular marketing fluff. A real article might have a word or two of dirty laundry in a article this long on confessions.

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[plague3106]

No, it didn't read like that to me. Marketing wouldn't ever dare say that under certain cases the discount card is not for you. They'd try to explain why everyone needs it.

Resell

[Pxtl]

The Gamestop trade-in business is based on on key tenet; we hardly turn down ANYTHING. For all the rage and screaming we take from people getting one dollar for years-old Madden games, you need to remember one key fact; we are taking in games that are often unlikely to EVER resell.

17) Outdated consoles are traded in every day. Almost every gamestop literally has fifty or more used Xboxes and Gamecubes in stock at any time. They do not sell and we get one at least every day, so they are worth very little. The new slim PSP is in much higher demand than the original, and so the trade-in value on the old model has since dropped. If you want the hot new version of anything, trade in as far before its release as you can stand so you can get the peak value.

in other words: we pointlessly hoard crap that we're not planning to ever resell, because we'd rather it go into a landfill than to actually sell it to people for what it's actually worth. I mean seriously - every game store I've ever seen has a huge stack of games they wouldn't give two bucks for if you brought them in, sitting in a bin, unsorted... and still priced at $30 each. I think they need to learn the meaning of the word "clearance".

Also, Don't lose your receipt and expect us to find records for you, it is quite difficult.

Our IT Structure Is Still Suck In The '70s.

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[Billy the Impaler]

in other words: we pointlessly hoard crap that we're not planning to ever resell, because we'd rather it go into a landfill than to actually sell it to people for what it's actually worth. I mean seriously - every game store I've ever seen has a huge stack of games they wouldn't give two bucks for if you brought them in, sitting in a bin, unsorted... and still priced at $30 each. I think they need to learn the meaning of the word "clearance".

This is precisely what gets my ire. I'd love to leave work today

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[SQLGuru]

I never bought any of the Myst games because the price stayed too high for too long and now it's too old. I never bought the DVD remote + dongle for my Xbox because the price is *still* higher than I think it's worth. A lot of games that weren't worth the current price have aged beyond my desire to buy them.....

Layne

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[rtechie]

I never bought the DVD remote because the one thing I wanted it to do, turn the XBOX on and off from across the room, it can't do. You're better off with a wireless controller.

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[porcupine8]

No shit. I have trouble ever buying even used games from a Gamestop because I can almost always get them cheaper on eBay - and I haven't traded in used games in over a decade because I can *sell* them for more on eBay. Both of these things should not be able to be true at the same time, yet they are, usually for the exact same games. I can't believe anyone buys/sells via these stores.

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[VGPowerlord]

I can think of three reasons right off the top of my head:
1. Instant Gratification. People don't have to wait for games to be shipped to them.
2. Verifiability. You can verify that a product is the one they said it is before you even leave the store.
3. Warranty. Bought a used game that doesn't work? You can return it.

I refuse to buy from Gamestop

[justinlindh]

After several bad experiences, I stopped buying altogether from Gamestop over a year ago.

The pre-order sales push is ridiculous. I was literally called a "retard" for not pre-ordering Halo 3 when I tried to pick my copy of Gears of War up from the store. There wasn't even a confirmed release date for the game at the time. I couldn't believe I was called a retard, and asked the clerk, "excuse me?" to which he repeated, "yeah, only a retard wouldn't pre-order that game... man, it's going to be impossible to get!".

Another time, I had walked into a Gamestop (different store) and asked about the new SSX game for the Wii. The store employee said, "Oh, do you have it reserved? OF COURSE YOU DON'T OR YOU WOULDN'T BE ASKING IF WE HAD IT!" to which he laughed at me, and then told me that they did have some extra copies but that they were only going to be selling the pre-orders on that day.

One of my pre-orders that I DID place was 3 days late and I got a different excuse each time. Finally I demanded my refund for the pre-order back and went to Target and picked a copy up off of the shelf.

GameStop doesn't treat customers with any respect whatsoever. I shouldn't have to feel like I'm walking into a used car lot when I want to buy a video game. The sales tactics, lies, and pressure make me loathe the place, and I refuse to buy anything from them. Hastings and Target have always had the title ready for me on the day of release (yes, even Halo 3), so I will shop there. I will also tell anybody that I possibly can about the above stories so that others may also avoid this place.

Gamestop employees: I don't care if you're "just doing your job". You're a puppet made to act like a pushy asshole. Get a new job. They're out there.

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[twistedsymphony]

Why I stopped Shopping at EB years ago... and why I started Shopping at Gamestop again

I used to pre-order the occasional game, but mostly just poked my head into a local EB to check out the used stuff.

On about 3 separate occasions I had placed a pre-order with EB only to show up on release day and they were sold out. Once such time I saw a guy buy a copy of the item I pre-ordered (and he did not have a pre order) and walk out of the store only to be told that they were all out and I would have to wait

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[Alzheimers]

You know that EB is a wholly owned subsidiary [wikipedia.org] of Gamestop, right?

Compare: EB [ebgames.com] Gamestop [gamestop.com]

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[twistedsymphony]

yes I do know that... I used the different names because it was easier to draw a comparison between the two different instances of the same franchise instead of saying "store#1"... "store#2"

Re:I refuse to buy from Gamestop

[CatPieMan]

I recently purchased a 360 Elite from GameStop. I was told by 3 different GameStops that it had a built-in HD-DVD player.

Sure, I looked online, but they were inconclusive. Amazon.com even said that buying this product would make you elegible for 5 free hd-dvds, which implies that it had a built in player (there is an offer to recieve 5 free movies by mail if you buy a certain HD-DVD player).

Also, xbox.com didn't deny that it was built in. It also did not mention an included player, so I suspected the GS employees were lying.

There is no included HD player in the 360 Elite. Not that it really mattered, as I wanted the system anyways. I just take offence to being lied to by 5 employees of 3 different stores (Vienna, VA; Reston, VA; and Herndon, VA).

I talked to a friend who used to work at a GameStop in Texas who said "We lie to customers all the time".

-CPM

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[jollyreaper]

I recently purchased a 360 Elite from GameStop. I was told by 3 different GameStops that it had a built-in HD-DVD player.

I find that Wikipedia is a great source for debullshitting this sort of information. I recently purchased a 360 and the info there was excellent for helping me figure out which unit to get and when. Specifically, I wanted to make sure I got the one where the heating issues were resolved. Found out the right manufacture date, whether or not it would have HDMI, etc. And it also told me that the HD player would be a separate unit that plugs into it.

In the past, you would get so much BS information by going to

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[LWATCDR]

I have never had that happen to me at my local EBGames. The people there are polite and actually seem to know about the games they sell.

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[jonwil]

Having been into and bought from several EB games stores here in Australia, I have never had a problem with them. The last game I bought was bought from a JB Hi-Fi though (only because the JB Hi-Fi was cheaper)

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[TeraCo]

At EB Chatswood I watched an EB Sales dude swear to a customer that he needed the wireless network adapter to use xbox live. I probably should have said something, but.. eh.

Gamestop corporate sucks

[StarvingSE]

FTFA: 7) Everybody decries the nature of the Gamestop employee to push reserves on the uninterested consumer. Please understand, no matter how dedicated an employee may be, on the district level and higher, he is of no value beyond his reserves and Game Informer subscriptions. Nearly any employee is the sum of their reserves, and unfortunately good people who treat customers well will see their job fade away because of poor numbers. A Gamestop worker pushing a reserve on you is trying to keep their job, literally.

What's sad is that the employee pushiness is the reason I don't shop there, even though I could walk to it from my apartment. I wonder if corporate knows they're actually losing customers because of this?

Glad to hear the truth about the company - employees are nothing but numbers. I really want to know why companies do this to their employees. It makes the employees unhappy and pissed off, and the customers irate. I used to work at Sam's Club way back in the day, and if we didn't process 2 credit card apps a shift, we'd get written up - 3 strikes and you're fired. My next job was Micro Center, they kept a daily percentage on how many people you successfully added to their customer database. Not only that, but if you mistyped the address and it came up as bogus, you get dinged for that as well. This is because Micro Center is too cheap to just mass mail their flyers, they rely on the customer data entered at point of sale.

Despite what the article is trying to claim, there really is no reason to shop at Gamestop. Their used prices are way too high, and their new games aren't any cheaper than other retailers that don't hassle you as much.

I would shop at gamestop if they differentiated themselves a bit from other retailes (besides being annoying). They could do this by doing things like hosting lan parties in store, or gaming tournaments, something that would make it fun to go there. For now, I just avoid it like the plague.

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[gfxguy]

I agree - I don't care whose policy it is, but it's even worse if it's corporate. That way I know to avoid ALL Game Stop stores.

When one opened very near where I live a few years ago, we started going in pretty often. The gutted game policy sucks. I don't care if they put a sticker on it - that just means the game box is not pristine, even on a brand new game, and has a messy residue of you try to take the sticker off. Yes, I'm anal retentive about it.

If we bought the logic that it's all OK because it's

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[StarvingSE]

Oh, EBgames and Gamestop both try to push the game warranties on you as well. Who the hell ever heard of a replacement policy on a piece of software anyway?

I just buy on amazon or other online retailers. For the most part, I'm disgusted with brick and mortor in general (well, big-box brick and mortor). I'd rather wait a couple of days to have to shipped to my door, and not pay taxes. There are other perks as well, such as getting the uncensored UK version of The Witcher (I hate the US sometimes).

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[porcupine8]

I have to take this opportunity to advertise for a former employer of mine, Borders Books. The main reason I loved working for them was a complete lack of this kind of policy. I never felt like I was pushing anything on any customer. Yes, we were supposed to make suggestions - but they were just that, a suggestion for another author or series or section of the store/genre that we honestly thought the customer would find interesting - OR mentioning a current sale or coupon. I always felt like I was actually

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[analog_line]

Their used prices are way too high,

You know, I gotta stop you there.

I buy a lot of used games at Gamestop. In fact, after one horrific recent incident of "new" gutted games, used is the only thing I'll ever buy at Gamestop. The last time I went into Gamestop and bought something, I paid $25 for 5 Xbox games, all of them ones that actually got decent reviews. I got Splinter Cell, Max Payne, and Max Payne 2 for under $5 TOTAL one day. Yeah, if you're trying to get games that are new, or a lot of people wa

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[Applekid]

employees are nothing but numbers. I really want to know why companies do this to their employees.

Personally, I see it as if they can't take care of their own, why would they take care of you?

I have a completely untested conjecture of a hypothesis that suggests, with salt, that the larger and farther removed stakeholders are from the actual customers: physically, financially, and otherwise, the more dehumanizing the whole organization.

You simply don't find locally owned and operated shops treating employees as worthless drones, customers as sheep to slaughter, and their business as just a couple of num

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[GreyyGuy]

You are making a simple mistake. You are assuming that the company WANTS to retain employees. What value does Gamestop get if they keep an employee? Valued, long-term employees will expect raises and if fired get more/longer unemployment. Do they give the company more value? Are they hard to replace? Will there be more eager of age high school workers there each year? Is interviewing and training a new employee very costly?

Unfortunately, long term employment is no value to the company, as they see it. At le

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[Schnapple]

I wonder if corporate knows they're actually losing customers because of this?

They probably do, and they don't care because ultimately they make more money. Sure, you are pissed off enough to not shop there anymore but for the people who either tolerate the policies or better yet, really do buy more stuff or spend more money, it makes it worthwhile. I worked for Babbage's ages ago, it's remarkably easy to talk some kid into spending more money on the strategy guide to the wrestling game he's also buying.

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[Dmala]

My next job was Micro Center, they kept a daily percentage on how many people you successfully added to their customer database. Not only that, but if you mistyped the address and it came up as bogus, you get dinged for that as well. This is because Micro Center is too cheap to just mass mail their flyers, they rely on the customer data entered at point of sale.

Totally OT, but I find this hilarious. Before I moved, I used to get no less than four Micro Center fliers: one to my wife's maiden name, one

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[RESPAWN]

Sadly enough, sometimes you have to be able to come up with firm metrics to measure employees so that you have valid reason to terminate underperforming employees. In this day and age of litigious society, it's not unreasonable to think that somebody may attempt to press a lawsuit after being terminated. So, although the employees hate the metrics, creating and enforcing metrics are sometimes the only way you can give yourself enough ammo to fire a troublesome employee. It sucks, but I've had to do it fo

This guy is completely full of shit.

[ivan256]

Gutted games:

I can't stress this enough; to remain a browsable, accessible small shop, 'gutting' a single copy is essentially unavoidable.

Complete bullshit. Gamestop has enough clout to get a few empty boxes for display purposes. They have empty boxes for the games on the wall to advertise pre-releases. "Gutting" a game is entirely unnecessary. Furthermore, nobody is forcing them to sell the gutted game at full price. If they feel they need a gutted box on the wall to sell a game, then when it comes time to sell the gutted copy, they are completely free to sell it at cost instead of taking full retail profit. It is also unnecessary for the store manager to give the customer a hard time when they change their mind and refuse to buy because the game is opened.

Reserves:

Preorders are only taken when their allotment can be guaranteed.

Complete bullshit. Preorders are taken for systems and games which haven't had their release-date or retail price announced yet. Are you telling me that those allotments are guaranteed? Did everybody who pre-ordered a Wii from you last Christmas get their system before the new year?

More importantly, if you're going to tell this blatant a lie, why should we believe the rest of the trash you're spouting?

DVD Trade-ins:

Many Gamestops don't take DVDs any more, and the company as a whole is phasing them out. DVDs are worth very little and you shouldn't bother.

Gamestop corporate just started a new chain called MovieStop where all they do is DVD trade-ins...

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[hibiki_r]

Complete bullshit. Preorders are taken for systems and games which haven't had their release-date or retail price announced yet. Are you telling me that those allotments are guaranteed? Did everybody who pre-ordered a Wii from you last Christmas get their system before the new year?

You went for exactly the wrong example. Every Gamestop in the US had a 'no preorders on Wii or PS3' since E3. Preorders campaigns lasted a whole 15 minutes. The stores advertised when they were taking preorders, and a ton of pe

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[ivan256]

Give me a break. Every "Gamestop screwed up a pre-order" story is an exception to the rule.

Fine. Replace "Wii" with "Nintendo DS Lite", or "PSP", or "Final Fantasy X", or...

The point is, they take pre-orders for things before they can possibly have any assurance that the order will be fulfilled.

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[MeanderingMind]

Complete bullshit. Gamestop has enough clout to get a few empty boxes for display purposes. They have empty boxes for the games on the wall to advertise pre-releases. "Gutting" a game is entirely unnecessary. Furthermore, nobody is forcing them to sell the gutted game at full price. If they feel they need a gutted box on the wall to sell a game, then when it comes time to sell the gutted copy, they are completely free to sell it at cost instead of taking full retail profit. It is also unnecessary for the st

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[ivan256]

Most of the time, those empty boxes aren't the real deal. I can't say I've worked at a Gamestop and have special knowledge, but it doesn't take an insider to look at them and tell they aren't official. Often enough they don't even have anything on the back.

So they should have the publisher ship them some real ones....

Nobody may be forcing them to sell at retail price, except for corporate. Corporate has decided that since the game has essentially been untouched, the price should match accordingly. That,

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[MeanderingMind]

So they should have the publisher ship them some real ones....

It's cheaper and easier to send a box of entirely blank cases followed by e-mails containing mock ups to print. The best part, the cases are reusable.

When the game actually launches, it's cheaper and easier to open a box and remove the game. You can't sell an empty box.

"Corporate"?

Who cares if an individual manager gets to make that decision or not? Am I supposed to make a sympathy buy because "corporate" forces a GameStop manager to do things th

Believable to some extent

[Thyamine]

While I also think it needs to be taken with a grain of salt, my wife worked in retail as a store manager for a well known mall store. They had a policy in place that they're not allowed to stop anyone who they see shoplifting. They can see stand there and watch someone put it into a bag or a pocket, and corporate flat-out refuses to allow store employees to do anything because it can potentially create negative feelings or negative publicity or some such shit. They are told straight-out that corporate w

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[CaseM]

They had a policy in place that they're not allowed to stop anyone who they see shoplifting.

Hmm, where did your wife work? For, uh, research purposes only, of course.

EB and Gamestop OWN NOOBS

[Sciros]

It's one of the few jobs where you mostly loaf around all day straightening up re-sealed PS2 controllers hanging on the wall and dusting off "Ninja Gaiden 2 preorder" boxes that have been up since 2006, and on occasion get to abuse a stupid customer that had the nerve to come in and buy something terrible like last year's Harry Potter game for their middle-schooler because the game he really wants is rated 'M'. Hehehe and you can reward the non-morons with super niceness and treat them like kings in order t

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[PhoenixOne]

Wait, a job who's great reward is being able to lord over middle-schoolers mostly attracts dumbasses? You're kidding!

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[Sciros]

Hehe I've never worked at one of those stores; I'd probably have gone crazy if I did. But I've shopped at them enough (yes the good old preorder-then-come-in-on-release-day method I've been using for ages) to get a feel for what goes on. And yeah, the reason I don't *enjoy* visiting the stores (go in, ask for game at register, pay, purchase the limited edition strategy guide on top of that O.o wtf, get out) is that I'm forced to listen to kids ask their parents for some decent game and the parent going "oh

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[Sciros]

Cool you should register on Slashdot so I can add you to my friends list and we can both be stupid together!

Good relationships

[RogueyWon]

I see a few comments in TFA about things you can do that will ingratiate you to the staff in a store. My own experience (UK-based) is that this really, really does matter. As a "good customer", you shouldn't count on automatically receiving any favours... but valued customers are always going to be more likely to pick up unexpected little bonuses.

My own case in point here revolves around the launch of the Wii. I hadn't actually planned on picking one up, to be honest, but these were in seriously short supply in the UK right through to the middle of February in most regions. Now, I've gotten into the habit in recent years of buying most of my games from a small branch of GAME (our equivalent of Gamestop) that I pass in the morning on my way to the office. It saves me the stress of having postmen or neighbours steal games I've ordered online during delivery (this has happened a few times now), it's convenient and the staff in this store are good; older than the average straight-out-of-a-Mickey-Mouse-degree-at-university types you often get, deeply knowledgeable about games and generally not too pushy. Because they're a small store and often don't get much stock in, I tend to pre-order most games that I know I'm going to want. I buy enough games that the Loyalty card is worth it and I don't mind getting the odd junk-mail from them (they sometimes throw in vouchers). In short, from their POV, I'm more or less the ideal customer.

Now, as the only person in the team without family committments, I got roped into manning the office between Christmas and New Year. These are typically graveyard days - you come in late, take a long lunch and don't hang around in the evening, but you're there just in case anything goes wrong (always a major concern in my line of work). On the way into the office that week, I popped into GAME to pick up some title or other; I forget what it was now... some fairly crappy expansion pack I'd been putting off buying for a while, I think. When I get in, the manager tells me that they're expecting a shipment of a half dozen Wiis in some time around 11AM. At this point, my "shiny toys in short supply" circuit goes in and the Wii moves on my list from "meh, I'll pick one up cheap in a year or two" to "MUSTHAVEMUSTHAVEMUSTHAVE". He warns me to get over for 11AM, as they'll vanish in seconds when they arrive.

I go to the office, sit down and wait out the morning. At about 10:50AM, I'm getting my coat on to pop out. Suddenly, one of our senior managers (who has also decided to work these days) decides that it's time to have a long, in depth discussion with me about a project I've been working on. My heart sinks as the clock ticks around... 11:00, 11:15, 11:30... 11:45AM. Eventually, just before noon, I finally make it out of the office. I walk into GAME and the manager says "Sorry, they all went in minutes." I think I swore at this point. Then he says "But we held one back for you".

Gaming store staff are under an obligation to treat all customers equally and most will do their best to do so. You should never expect any favours. But don't be surprised when genuinely good customers do get the odd little perk. :)

Days Are Numbered

[p0tat03]

GameStop/EB's days are numbered. I don't even go to them anymore. The local big box electronic retailers like Best Buy constantly have a massive stack of them in stock on release day, no pushy sales guys, no constant badgering for product service plans (it's a disc, leave me alone). I walk in, pick the game I want, and walk out. I recall making the mistake recently and pre-ordering Halo 3 at the local EB. By the time I got to the mall at 10:30pm the line was already easily 100 people long, their tills went

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[Emetophobe]

GameStop/EB's days are numbered. I don't even go to them anymore. The local big box electronic retailers like Best Buy constantly have a massive stack of them in stock on release day

From my experience here in Canada, it's the exact opposite. I've giving up trying to find games at BestBuy on release day, because they never have them. I then go over to EB Games and they have lots of copies.

Personally, I hate EB Games, it used to be good 10 years ago, but it's absolutely horrible now. They have one guy working

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[p0tat03]

Where do you live in Canada? I've lived in Ottawa and Toronto, and the Best Buys and Future Shops there have always had every new release in stock on launch day.

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[Emetophobe]

I live in Markham. I guess I just have bad luck, because the local BestBuy never has any new releases in stock. The Seinfeld box set just came out today and I'm going to go to BestBuy tomorrow to see if they have any in stock. Otherwise, I'll probably have to order it through Amazon... I really want that box set, 9 seasons of my favourite show.

Your EB games may vary

[C. Alan]

Locally, we have a couple of EB games. Like most people, I just buy used games there. The ones in the mall are pretty bad, but there is one in a strip center on the edge of that has a lot more used games than most, and the employees are pretty nice.

My 4 year old son loves to play lego Star Wars. I bought Lego Star wars 2 off of Amazon, and we had a good time playing. However, we had never played the original Lego Star wars. So I put my 4 year old in his car seat, and we made the trek to our local game stop.

According to the employee, they had 1 copy somewhere in the store. Unfortuanly, their Xbox games were all piled into one of those 4 foot by 4 foot bins, and in no particular order. The employee and I started leafing through all the game in search of the star wars title. We were just getting started when my 4 year old son walked up, stuck his hand in the bin, and pulled out the only copy of the game in the store. I still don't know how my son knew THAT was the game we were looking for. I suspect it was the Lego people on the box though...

Wow

[Cervantes]

Wow, I sure wish my company had a horrible reputation, so I could be a marketing droid who spent weeks writing up a longwinded guide on how to shop nicely at my store and then post it anonymously on the internet. I'm sure that would turn the reputation completely around, as well as net me that nice bonus trip to Florida.

Pirating Used

[MWoody]

Stores like Gamestop like to dance around this topic, but it's important to remember: if you buy a used game, the creators of the game don't get a dime. That's why, after all, the stores push it so hard: minus the amount they paid for the trade-in, it's 100% profit for them. These days, though, the only reason to pay for a game/movie/whatever is to support the original authors; if you're going to buy used, why not just download the game off the 'net? Pirating a game is actually BETTER for the developers

...okay

[Talgrath]

Am I the only person who simply doesn't give a fuck about this? It's a retail store; I go in, buy my stuff and leave. Yeah, I miss the old EB Games from ten years ago that was more like a hobby store; but if I go to Gamestop to buy something, I get it and get out. If they don't have it, I go elsewhere; that's called capitalism, if you don't like their policies, don't shop there. As for the pre-order stuff, I call bullshit; you should get a few copies in, even if you aren't sure of the demand, I shouldn'

Gamestop's return policy is illegal

[rtechie]

Just so people are aware, at least in California, Gamestop's return policy is illegal. In California you have the right to a full refund within 30 days for defective merchandise if you present proof of purchase. In practice, this means you have the right to a full refund within 30 days on anything because if the retailer objects you could just break it before you return it. The obligation is on the retailer to prove that YOU broke it as opposed to the customer breaking the merchandise. This applies to both new and used merchandise unless the used item is specifically described as non-functional or is obviously non-functional.

I have successfully sued Gamestop on this very point.

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[rtechie]

Though, for the record, I strongly recommend voting with your wallet and staying the fuck away from Gamestop. They are good for the industry in an abstract sense, but the price the customer pays is too high.

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[Harlockjds]

exactly i don't care why you have stupid and annoying policies, just get rid of them. or i show elsewhere. I find it comical that a gamestop is unable to stock enough games for a walk in customer (for something basic like the orange box) and the FYE's next door will be swimming with copies.

It's even more comical when they act snooty about it by saying "see you should have pre ordered" when the store RIGHT NEXT to them is selling to anyone.

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[king-manic]

Gamestop is one of the few stores I've ever been to where it appears their policy is to treat the customer like shit.
[ Reply to This ]

Depends on the store. In my town there are only EB's. I've been to about half the ones in my city and everybody has treated me well and gone that extra step to make me happy. But I live in Canada so it might be more common for younger people here to respect you. One of the stores knows me by name, and gives me a very wide berth in enforcements of store policy (on returns and such).

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[king-manic]

I'll go to a local comic shop that has them or Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart who is always cheaper.

Over here, EB is the same price on all games but has a greater variety on the shelves as well as having much older games for sale used. Best buy, Target, and wal-mart always stock the AAA and a variety of easy to find titles but if I want a copy of a Atlus game or any other obscure niche title I normally can find it at EB. My last resort is online.