Games rip off ! ! !

crock

Dont buy games in the likes of gamestop or hmv or argus in the south of Ireland,

thier ripping you off,

i bought Fifa 10 in ASDA up north for £26 and its only €35 in Tesco down here,

why support these shops i have mentioned when their out to screw you for every last penny. Bycott the fcukers ! ! !:mad:

LD 50

They charge these prices either
a; because they have to. High overheads, and cost.
or b; because they can. People are still only now getting their head around the idea of shopping around.

You could prob have gotten it even cheaper online too

zero19

Cdwow and ebay are great if your not in a hurry with a game, have to buy the big releases on the day of release personally

dazftw

Yeah thats the killer, wanting games on release day! If only we weren't so impatient.

That_Guy

crock wrote: »

Dont buy games in the likes of gamestop or hmv or argus in the south of Ireland,

thier ripping you off,

i bought Fifa 10 in ASDA up north for £26 and its only €35 in Tesco down here,

why support these shops i have mentioned when their out to screw you for every last penny. Bycott the fcukers ! ! !:mad:

If you have patience and can wait for a new release to be delievered to you then yes you will definitely find it cheaper on the web or possibly up North.

Game retailers such as Game and Gamestop charge high prices for certain new release games because they know that people who badly want the game on the day will pay these prices.

They're not exactly ripping people off. The price is there for everyone to see and is then up to the individual to decide whether they want to pay the displayed price or not.

If you're looking for the best deal then shop around. There won't be much of a difference in price really here in different shops. Maybe only a fiver or so.

If you have the means available to you to travel up North or order a game online then go for it. It will be cheaper and in the case of an online purchase you may be waiting a few days for the game to be delievered to you.

If you've a few old games that you don't play anymore/completed then trade them in and you'll often get a good trade in value against the cost of the new release game depending on how old the game is.

There's alternatives and everyone knows that. Yes Gamestop and Game are expensive at times but they usually have posters up in their shop letting you, the consumer, know that there are various ways of getting the game cheaper.

Jip

crock wrote: »

Dont buy games in the likes of gamestop or hmv or argus in the south of Ireland,

thier ripping you off,

i bought Fifa 10 in ASDA up north for £26 and its only €35 in Tesco down here,

why support these shops i have mentioned when their out to screw you for every last penny. Bycott the fcukers ! ! !:mad:

Your point is ridiculous. You fail to recognise the blindingly obvious fact that HMV, Argos, Gamestop, Game etc are also dearer than Asda and Tesco in the north and mainland UK. It has nothing to do with a North or South price differential. In fact games retailers in the UK are looking to have below cost selling banned for the likes of Tesco and Asda.

If you were to follow on from your argument you will also refuse to buy any item from HMV, Game, Gamestop, Amazon, etc etc in the UK as, to use you're none too fine words, these 'fcukers' are also dearer than the major supermarkets there.

Go look up the recommended retail price and the actual cost of something and you'll realise the supermarkets are selling these as loss leaders, nothing to do with them

out to screw you for every last penny.

Oh dear, another persons basic understanding of economics and retail lost to completely ill-informed rubbish.

Jet Black

Very few game's keep there value so i just buy them second hand in a couple of month and can get them for a fraction of the price.
Most of the game's i have i got online or bought second hand.

super_furry

Tesco and ASDA sold FIFA at a loss in order to get people through their doors.

Rev. Kitchen

Its very simple Tesco have massive buying power, They can simply go and buy 1 million copies of FIFA for 35 euro say they will pay for them in 6 months, then they sell them for 35 euro bank the money (35 million) collect the interest from that 35 million for 6 months. Pay the original bill.

Chances are when 1 million people go in to buy FIFA they pick up something else too.

The game stores are dedicated game stores they cant match the Tesco buying power. They need to make a profit on a game to pay wages rent etc, and they also offer way more than Tesco . Try to buy FIFA in tesco the next day you wont be able to get it. You wont be able to trade in games and their prices for old games are ridiculous. Games a year old are 59.99.

consultech

super_furry wrote: »

Tesco and ASDA sold FIFA at a loss in order to get people through their doors.

That's not true. That would make absolutely zero sense. If they were selling an in-demand type of grocery at a loss I could understand this; but 13 year olds were not flying out to Tesco at 10am last Friday morning to get the game on release day, then deciding to do a €100 shop while they were at it.

Tesco's bulk purchasing power is the reason they sold it comparatively cheaper than the games retailers, and you'd be well-advised to adopt the assumption that every single thing Tesco does is profitable, or they wouldn't be doing it.

super_furry

consultech wrote: »

That's not true.

I'm afraid it is - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/retailers-furious-at-price-slaughtering-by-supermarkets

consultech

super_furry wrote: »

I'm afraid it is - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/retailers-furious-at-price-slaughtering-by-supermarkets

What is citing that article supposed to prove; except that Tesco and co's competitors are having a whinge cause they think they're selling at a loss without any proof? There's little fact, plenty of conjecture.

brian plank

consultech wrote: »

What is citing that article supposed to prove; except that Tesco and co's competitors are having a whinge cause they think they're selling at a loss without any proof? There's little fact, plenty of conjecture.

whether its true or not hmv and gamestop will never be able to compete with the likes of tesco on price.

super_furry

Meh, I'm not really interested in some internet argument, but if the managing director of the UK's biggest independent game stores is calling for legislation to prevent the below cost selling of games because of what's going on, then that's enough for me.

crock

Jip wrote: »

Your point is ridiculous. You fail to recognise the blindingly obvious fact that HMV, Argos, Gamestop, Game etc are also dearer than Asda and Tesco in the north and mainland UK. It has nothing to do with a North or South price differential. In fact games retailers in the UK are looking to have below cost selling banned for the likes of Tesco and Asda.
Go look up the recommended retail price and the actual cost of something and you'll realise the supermarkets are selling these as loss leaders, nothing to do with them

Firstly my dear friend i do understand the difference in price differential's:
As a retailer myself i know what it is like to have buying power, i can buy a single product from a supplier for x ammount ! i can buy a container load for a fraction of the price, it means i can sell my product a whole lot cheaper and the customer gets value or i can stick to the original price and make more money for myself, the bottom line is if supermarkets buy in bulk and sell at a small profit they will alway's lead the market,
What about the small guy you say???
Buy in bulk or find another product to sell but dont rip the consumer off just because you can and thats exactually what their doing.

Here is the perfect example of how we are bieng ripped off, last xmass i priced my childs gifts in Smyths in Drogheda, the total came to over €700

I went to smyths in Newry and bought the same products for over €200 less, And before you even think about going on about different taxes here in the south, DONT !!

I sell a product i import from the UK, and i actually sell it cheaper than it can be bought in the UK retail shops, Why ?? because i can make enough profit at the price im selling it at without ripping people off ! ! !

As for R.R.P its exactly what it says! ! ! recomended...

So yes i will stand by my original statement:

Dont get ripped off by these greedy retailers who will use any excuse to justify their actions. The bottom line is the Irish are getting wise to the fact that retailers (some not all) will take as much as they can get, which in my eyes is not fair trading.

Jip

consultech wrote: »

but 13 year olds were not flying out to Tesco at 10am last Friday morning to get the game on release day, then deciding to do a €100 shop while they were at it

Very true, because most 13 year olds are in school at 10am on a Friday. However a parent may not be and therefore do their shopping while in they're in there anyway for little Johnnies game.

crock wrote: »

As a retailer myself i know what it is like to have buying power,

I don't believe that for a moment, firstly due your original post and secondly, you seemed to either have misunderstood, or simply ignored, what I, and subsequent people, have said in reply.

Kinetic^

Moved to consumer issues.

dudara

Moved to Rip Off Ireland

dudara

monkeypants

I always use Play.com for games. They're only attempting to rip you off. It's only a rip off if you buy it. Just don't do it.

That_Guy

It's a simple case of supply and demand.

FIFA being a popular series there is gonna be a big demand for it. Retailers know this and so can realistically charge what they want for it because they know that people will pay over the odds for the game to have it on the day.

If you paid €55 for it and saw it cheaper elsewhere then it's your own fault for not shopping around.

MOH

crock wrote: »

I went to smyths in Newry and bought the same products for over €200 less, And before you even think about going on about different taxes here in the south, DONT !!

Uh, why not?

VAT alone is going to make a big difference, considering it's currently 15% in the North vs 21.5% here.

If you compare the pre-VAT prices, the difference is under €4.

crock

MOH wrote: »

Uh, why not?

VAT alone is going to make a big difference, considering it's currently 15% in the North vs 21.5% here.

If you compare the pre-VAT prices, the difference is under €4.

LOL, anything to be argumentative::

Think before you write please,,, Fifa 10 £26.50 in asda,
Fifa 10 €59.99 in gamestop

Please dont be daft and tell me €4 extra in VAT can justify the difference, get real here people.

The prices are there for everybody, if you like to pay double for your games, well ! ! ! good luck to you.:eek:

Its the same with everything that has the Irish label, Ooooh your buying Irish, keep people in work, buy Irish

Yea, we'v swallowed this (CRAP) for long enough, get real and be honest with yourself's, were bieng ripped off.

If you pay €10 for a taxi home tonight, and tomorow a guy from the same company tells you its €15 your going to question it right??

So stand up for your rights and demand to know why we (the Irish) pay more for the same products as our Europeen friends.

Allowing for the different vat rates of course:pac::pac::pac:.

digital_d

crock wrote: »

LOL, anything to be argumentative::

Think before you write please,,, Fifa 10 £26.50 in asda,
Fifa 10 €59.99 in gamestop

Please dont be daft and tell me €4 extra in VAT can justify the difference, get real here people.

The prices are there for everybody, if you like to pay double for your games, well ! ! ! good luck to you.:eek:

Its the same with everything that has the Irish label, Ooooh your buying Irish, keep people in work, buy Irish

Yea, we'v swallowed this (CRAP) for long enough, get real and be honest with yourself's, were bieng ripped off.

If you pay €10 for a taxi home tonight, and tomorow a guy from the same company tells you its €15 your going to question it right??

So stand up for your rights and demand to know why we (the Irish) pay more for the same products as our Europeen friends.

Allowing for the different vat rates of course:pac::pac::pac:.

A lot of the north/uk V's Ireland price differences are really to do with a lot more than just greed.

Rents, taxes, VAT, labour cost and earnings come into play - if we want to throw figures around... the UK CSO figures put the average yearly earnings (gross) in Northern ireland in at the lowest in the UK at 21736GBP based on multiplying the weekly figure given by 52. per... Ireland based on the CSO figures for the last quarter of 2008, has an average earning of in the region of 47000EUR based on multiplying the hourly rate by 37.5 and then by 52.

You can't just compare prices in one economy to another without considering the bigger picture. And before the ah that was 2008 and replys start... those where the most up to date figures I could find I also used Q4 as it included drops for some sectors.....

(figures from - http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/earnings/2008/earnlabcosts_q42008.pdf & http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285)

Jip

Crock, to misquote Michael Caine in an episode of the Simpsons, do you have some form of mental defect in that you can't read ? Why do you fail to see that the same retailers you're telling is are ripping us off in Ireland are charging alot more than the supermarkets in the UK too, it's nothing to do with ripping us off in Ireland, and why do you simply gloss over the whole loss leader point ?

And using bold and red do not make your misguided points more valid.

How about you thinking before you write

Think before you write please,,, Fifa 10 £26.50 in asda,
Fifa 10 €59.99 in gamestop

I see your comparing the euro price in Gamestop, obviously therefore an Irish branch, with the sterling price from Asda, obviously in the UK. Now why don't you make the comparison valid and compare the price between Asda in the UK and Gamestop in the UK.

Weepsie

they had to be selling it at a loss as the RRP on it wholesale is around that price in ireland at the least and remember 1/66 or about 5-6 euro was VAT which means they probably sold it less than they bought it wholesale.

Though i will say this. I went into a game store today as i was shopping around for best prices on modern warfare 2. The guy said itll be either '70 or 75, mad expensive anyway, the manager said we could sell it at any price really'. He's probably not wrong either, when COD 4 came out game was the only place i could find it after the first few weeks. incidentally gamestop gave me 30 euro credit for ufc so im only paying 35!

If you pay €10 for a taxi home tonight, and tomorow a guy from the same company tells you its €15 your going to question it right??

not really. It's not only the distance of the journey, its also the time it takes. you could hit twice as many red lights, heavier traffic and perhaps take a slighly different route which would account for that 5 euro.

mcaul

If its of any help, the price charged to independent retailers for FIFA 10 is €39.30 + vat. There is a rebate system that can bring up to 12% discount on this based on volume, other tiltles taken and payment terms.

If crock is in the retail game as he claims, he would understand that a €59.99 retail price less vat = €49.38 leaving a 20% margin for the retailer.

Certainly not excessive and certainly not a rip-off.

Supermarkets use certain products as loss leaders and as headline grabbers. Alcohol & games are simply part of this strategy.

On alcohol, a local pub pays €1.72 + vatfor a pint of carlsberg yet supermarkets can sell bottles for 79c incl vat! Same principal of below copst selling to get you to use that supermarket for other items.

Antigone05

the cost of Fifa 10 on the xbox is about between 40-48 euro inc vat.

working in retail myself almost all games are sold under cost just to compete with the likes of Tescos etc..

its not that shops are trying to rip people off as so claimed by the OP, but that others can afford to sell a game like Fifa 10 @ €35 to get the footfall and turnover.

Their buying power would be considered bigger but their cost on a game from EA would be pretty dead set, if EA did a deal with Tescos at a certain cost at a certain amount of units other retailers would drop their supplier or ignore them for a financial quarter.

I cant see, you being a retailer..cant see how this works. Tescos are loosing money on every one of those games they sell at €35, but they dont care..they are taking the business from everyone else and in the current market thats the biggest thing.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

I'm going to put an Irish retailers perspective on this.

Fifa 10 was given a recommended retail price here in Ireland of €59.99
It was given a RRP of £49.99 sterling. Our cost price from EAs distributors in Ireland is over €45.00 - that is a stone cold fact. Tesco came out and sold the game for €10.00 cheaper than we can buy it from the Irish distributors and in UK terms nearly half the RRP. That's enough of an indicator to me that this is below cost selling. When the biggest internet sites selling VAT free from Jersey is selling it nearly 50% dearer than Asda were with UK VAT included I don't see how you could not form the same opinion.

It is incredibly frustrating for me personally to read posts where someone comes on here and implies a retailer like ourselves is "ripping people off", "charging what we want because we can" or "screwing every last penny from the Irish public" etc.

I'm not saying that I don't understand people shopping where the best price is etc, at the end of the day the consumer isn't that caring of whether or not a retailer is selling at a loss or not but this kind of pricing is designed to do exactly what prompted the OP to post this, to damage the smaller players reputations and attempt to squeeze them from the marketplace. I can guarantee you that if / when Tesco become the dominant player in the video games market there will be no sign of that kind of pricing - it will more than likely be higher than the normal retailers are selling it for now.


edit: removed amazons name from vat free comment: vat is amended / added by amazon before checkout.

Weepsie

Just as a point of note, Amazon is not jersey based and charge vat on everything. They in fact charge 21.5 percent VAT now on buyers from IReland which gets sent to our revunue, but sendit and play are most definately jersey based

Jip

Gamesnash.ie (Pat) wrote: »

That's enough of an indicator to me that this is below cost selling.

Didn't you read Pat, Crock is a retailer too so he knows how it really works Or more likely the truth is that he pretended to be a retailer to try bolster his misguided argument.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

This may be of interest ...

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/asda-admits-to-selling-games-below-cost-price