Gamestop, it's criminal what they get away with

FutureGuy

I love these posts. I really do.

You weren't treated badly. You weren't mugged. You weren't robbed.

You knew what you were getting for the games and you still traded them in. You made the mistake. By the way, what did you think you would get for them? Red Dead is an ancient game and COD is one of the most traded in games ever. GT6 is also quite old,FC3 is free on PS+ and DS is free on XBL Gold.

They are a business. They need to make profit. If you spent 10% of the time you spent complaing here and did some research, you would have found a number of options where you could have made more money.

Lesson learned I hope!

Hotman wrote: »

Hi,

I just went into Gamestop today to get a little cash (didn't want to go on the credit card and payday is tomorr). So i traded a couple of games for cash.

I gave them CoD:Ghosts, Red Dead Redemption, Farcry 3 and Dark Souls, finally Gran Turismo 6.

Now just to note, i bought those games new from Gamestop for the usual crippling price apart from GT6. Ghosts was 59.99, Red Dead was, 54.99, FC:3 was 54.99 and Dark Souls was 39.99. If i'd have bought GT6 in there it would have been 59.99 also, but i checked in Argos at the time and they had it (on release day) for 51.99.

Anyway, for those 5 games, they gave me 38 euro... 38. I walked out of there feeling as if someone had literally just mugged me.

I went back in, and took note of the prices they're gonna resell my games for just to see how badly i'd been treated and wanted to climb in over the counter after people.

Ghosts will sell ALONE for more 1.99 more than they gave me for all 5 games. 39.99.
cod = 40, red dead = 25, Farcry = 20, dark souls = 25 and GT6 = 30. totaling 140 quid.
So they just made 100 quid profit from me. Now thats ontop of the the money they already made from me for bying them new, considering i got GT6 8 quid cheaper on release day than gamestop, i can only assume they have some pretty tidy margains already.

So what happens if they sell all 5 of these to the next guy who comes in, he pays 140, he plays them, he needs some cash, he trades them in, thats another 100 quid profit for them when someone else buys those exact same Discs. And the length some of these games have been out, it's not too difficult to assume each disc could have been owned by 3, 4, 5 different people, ontop of the price the original owner paid for the games.

Am i the only person who see's this as literally criminal? Like if a game is 60 new, and you trade it in, they give you €14 for it, and resell it for €55...How can there not be a law against that? selling used games for 5 quid less than new ones, and then still charging 25 quid for games that have been out for 3-4 years or more ... it's literally a crime in my eyes.

Is there no way they can regulate this? Now i understand more (but totally am disgusted by what Microsoft were trying to do) about why Microsoft wanted to stop these third party resellers from making insane profits over and over for each single disc, when the publisher's and developer's arn't seeing a penny of that money after the initial sale.

Any opinions?

Stylesclash07

I'm not defending gamestop but I traded in a ps4 for a mate yesterday and they gave him 392 cash for it and he paid 400 for it I was very impressed with that. My experience with games has been bad and good. I don't like trading games but for me it's a necessary evil for me to get games these days

nerd69

Hotman wrote: »

Hi,

I just went into Gamestop today to get a little cash (didn't want to go on the credit card and payday is tomorr). So i traded a couple of games for cash.

I gave them CoD:Ghosts, Red Dead Redemption, Farcry 3 and Dark Souls, finally Gran Turismo 6.

Now just to note, i bought those games new from Gamestop for the usual crippling price apart from GT6. Ghosts was 59.99, Red Dead was, 54.99, FC:3 was 54.99 and Dark Souls was 39.99. If i'd have bought GT6 in there it would have been 59.99 also, but i checked in Argos at the time and they had it (on release day) for 51.99.

Anyway, for those 5 games, they gave me 38 euro... 38. I walked out of there feeling as if someone had literally just mugged me.

I went back in, and took note of the prices they're gonna resell my games for just to see how badly i'd been treated and wanted to climb in over the counter after people.

Ghosts will sell ALONE for more 1.99 more than they gave me for all 5 games. 39.99.
cod = 40, red dead = 25, Farcry = 20, dark souls = 25 and GT6 = 30. totaling 140 quid.
So they just made 100 quid profit from me. Now thats ontop of the the money they already made from me for bying them new, considering i got GT6 8 quid cheaper on release day than gamestop, i can only assume they have some pretty tidy margains already.

So what happens if they sell all 5 of these to the next guy who comes in, he pays 140, he plays them, he needs some cash, he trades them in, thats another 100 quid profit for them when someone else buys those exact same Discs. And the length some of these games have been out, it's not too difficult to assume each disc could have been owned by 3, 4, 5 different people, ontop of the price the original owner paid for the games.

Am i the only person who see's this as literally criminal? Like if a game is 60 new, and you trade it in, they give you €14 for it, and resell it for €55...How can there not be a law against that? selling used games for 5 quid less than new ones, and then still charging 25 quid for games that have been out for 3-4 years or more ... it's literally a crime in my eyes.

Is there no way they can regulate this? Now i understand more (but totally am disgusted by what Microsoft were trying to do) about why Microsoft wanted to stop these third party resellers from making insane profits over and over for each single disc, when the publisher's and developer's arn't seeing a penny of that money after the initial sale.

Any opinions?

your simplifying there buisness and ignoring there other costs if you feel its easier open a buisness yourself should be no problem

Spazdarn

Hotman wrote: »

i needed cash.
some people don't have the luxury of of shopping around etc, such as kids. they need a new game, so they have to give sometimes 5 or 6 old games, just to afford 1 new one.

You have your opinions of course, and so do i

Selling them individually on adverts is your best bet.

Dave_The_Sheep

Funnily enough, for all the OP's bitching (and I'm sure it's not pleasant being taken for a ride like that, regardless of who initiated the transaction) - it's people who trade in games that are helping Gamestop stay afloat. Without the second hand market, I wonder how they'd be doing.

Sure, they might be assholes - but it's not like we're in the zombie apocalypse and you're forced to sell your daughter's body to bandits for food. It's a computer game after all.

nerd69

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Funnily enough, for all the OP's bitching (and I'm sure it's not pleasant being taken for a ride like that, regardless of who initiated the transaction) - it's people who trade in games that are helping Gamestop stay afloat. Without the second hand market, I wonder how they'd be doing.

Sure, they might be assholes - but it's not like we're in the zombie apocalypse and you're forced to sell your daughter's body to bandits for food. It's a computer game after all.

without the 2nd hand markey they would crash and burn very quickley i dont think there assholes at all to be honest staff in my local are quite friendly and helpfull

Dave_The_Sheep

nerd69 wrote: »

without the 2nd hand markey they would crash and burn very quickley i dont think there assholes at all to be honest staff in my local are quite friendly and helpfull

I should probably clarify. I don't go to Gamestop, as I only play games on PC, so I'm not referring to the staff. I more mean the company.

Nody

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Funnily enough, for all the OP's bitching (and I'm sure it's not pleasant being taken for a ride like that, regardless of who initiated the transaction) - it's people who trade in games that are helping Gamestop stay afloat. Without the second hand market, I wonder how they'd be doing.

Strictly speaking it's not the people trading games in but rather the people who insist on buying their games in the stores (rather than in an online alternative at a significant discount); esp. the once who then go on complaining the games are to expensive and that they are being ripped off...

Local-womanizer

I used to work in GameStop. The number of people who came in to trade games, you gave them the price they would be getting for them games, in cash or credit, and they would stand there telling you how ridiculous it is and it's a scam, and they are getting screwed over.

I wouldn't even humour them with explaining about wages, rent and costs to run the store. I never once forced someone to trade, in fact I'd tell them to shop around if they felt that strongly about it. And plus giving out to me, who was just a store assistant earning minimum wage isn't going to change gamestops global pricing strategy.

Dave_The_Sheep

Nody wrote: »

Strictly speaking it's not the people trading games in but rather the people who insist on buying their games in the stores (rather than in an online alternative at a significant discount); esp. the once who then go on complaining the games are to expensive and that they are being ripped off...

Chicken/egg, for me. They wouldn't able to buy traded in games if people weren't trading them in, and people wouldn't be able to trade them in if there wasn't a market for them. Point taken though.

Generic Dreadhead

Hotman wrote: »

Hi,...
...Any opinions?

Yup, gonna copy/paste this out of the other thread on this

If you're going to use maths, use it right.

It's also assuming a title is still going to €50 second hand one year later which is an Absolute minority.

Game costs:
Player 1 buys game at €60 (current Gamestop take = €60)
Player 1 trades it in: Gets €30 cash back (i'm going to use cash to keep it straightforward.
Player 2 buys game at €50 2nd hand (current Gamestop take = €80 factoring in)
Player 2 trades it in: Gets €25 cash back
Player 3 buys game at €45 3rd hand (current Gamestop take = €100)
Player 3 trades it in: Gets €20 cash back
Player 4 buys game at €40 4th hand (current Gamestop take = €120)
Player 4 trades it in: Gets €15 cash back
Player 5 buys game at €35 5th hand (current Gamestop take = €140)
Player 5 trades it in: Gets €15 cash back
Player 6 buys game at €30 5th hand (current Gamestop take = €155)

So Gamestop have made €155, of which it is not all profit and a certain % must go back to the distributor, even assuming that would be 66% of the RRP (so €40) at launch time, they have still only made €115 in a year off one title that has been through the cycle 5/6 times.

I'm not defending Gamestop, I'm defending maths

um7y1h83ge06nx

Shop around.

I bought Metro Redux for the PS4 on Sunday.

That morning I checked the prices on all Irish retailer sites, a bunch of UK sites and some international sites like Video Games Plus and Play Asia.

Surprisingly the cheapest after factoring in any delivery costs was Argos at 36.99.

Gamestop was 44.99 I think.

Radiosonde

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Funnily enough, for all the OP's bitching (and I'm sure it's not pleasant being taken for a ride like that, regardless of who initiated the transaction) - it's people who trade in games that are helping Gamestop stay afloat. Without the second hand market, I wonder how they'd be doing.

Sure, they might be assholes - but it's not like we're in the zombie apocalypse and you're forced to sell your daughter's body to bandits for food. It's a computer game after all.

I don't understand why people trade-in stuff like Red Dead or Dark Souls. Annualized stuff like COD is pracrically made to be traded in, but I'd consider those two keepers, even if completed.

Randall Floyd

I've only traded in a few times with Gamestop and to be honest found them fair enough in terms of the trade-in value they offered me for my games. They are wildly inconsistent in terms of their pricing on secondhand games though and a lot of the time you could buy the games new for less elsewhere.

ScumLord

Hotman wrote: »

It's not so much about how much they paid me, the point is, shouldn's what they pay me be a straight multiple of what they're resell it for?

SAys who? They price the game based on their costs.

I mean, the game has already done what it's supposed to do, sell new.
So after it's sold new, someone has paid that games cost, covering all the development, advertising etc.

That's got nothing to do with gamestop, they don't make the games they just buy them in at one price and sell them at another. Gamestop has to pay for their staff, their shops and their overheads which have nothing to do with making games. In reality they treat you no different than they do their official suppliers, they buy the games off them for as little as they can and then sell them to the general public for as much profit as they can.

So why such massive prices on it when it's second hand?

Because thats the price people are willing to pay obvioulsy.

thats kinda what i mean. How do they get away with selling a 60 quid new game for 55 quid, when they probably already sold that exact copy and made their margains on it.

It doesn't matter what profits they made on it the first time, that sales covered the initial costs of buying and displaying the game. When they buy it back off you that starts the process again anew. As far as the shop is concerned it's a new item and has to be treated as such.

YouSavedMyLife

The OP is done with the thread and i don't think the second post needs to be echoed times 20+

Potatoeman

Hotman wrote: »

Is there no way they can regulate this? Now i understand more (but totally am disgusted by what Microsoft were trying to do) about why Microsoft wanted to stop these third party resellers from making insane profits over and over for each single disc, when the publisher's and developer's arn't seeing a penny of that money after the initial sale.

Any opinions?

I dont buy into the publisher being owed on resale. Ever buy anything second hand?

Its also a problem with steam. You cant loan someone a game even though you own it.

ScumLord

Potatoeman wrote: »

Its also a problem with steam. You cant loan someone a game even though you own it.

No but they can buy their own copy for less than a tenner more than likely.

You can also add them to a list of people that can play your games. I have two family members that have complete access to my library, it would only become a problem if we wanted to play against each other.

Generic Dreadhead

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

The OP is done with the thread and i don't think the second post needs to be echoed times 20+

This is Boards!!!! :mad::pac:

Potatoeman

ScumLord wrote: »

No but they can buy their own copy for less than a tenner more than likely.

You can also add them to a list of people that can play your games. I have two family members that have complete access to my library, it would only become a problem if we wanted to play against each other.

The sales make it worth it. I've picked up games I would not pay release day prices for.

I didnt know you could share. Can only one of you be logged in like account sharing?

ScumLord

Potatoeman wrote: »

The sales make it worth it. I've picked up games I would not pay release day prices for.

I didnt know you could share. Can only one of you be logged in like account sharing?

There's a family group, you just share your games with the people in your family group, the only restriction is you can't both play the same game at the same time.

CiDeRmAn

Cormac... wrote: »

This is Boards!!!! :mad::pac:

Exactly , and the response might make the next person who is so deluded to thinking that a business owes them a good deal consider again if they should moan about making a poor choice here.

GameStop don't know you
They aren't trying to steal from you
They offer you a deal
They offer a choice of take the deal or not
This is not a Faustian pact, your soul isn't on the line
You can walk away with your stuff and sell them in CEX or Adverts, you can give them too your local charity shop if you want joy joy feelings about yourself even.

It is that simple
GameStop can offer anything they like for your stuff
A lot or a little
Doesn't mean they hate you or want to take advantage of the weak minded
They mostly offer a service for those who want to quickly get rid of their stuff and are not bothered selling elsewhere.
CEX have their limits , they can't sell new games, and there'll be no new releases until someone trades them in, at least in Gamestop there's the latest stuff to be had.
By the same token in Gamestop they do offer decent packages around trading recent releases for new titles, while older titles so get hit quite hard, but this is to be expected.

So, eyes open, you are in control, look at what's being offered.

Best idea might be to use the bloody phone so you can get a picture of what's offered for cash or credit before you are in the shop and feel embarrassed walking away from the counter.

NotorietyH

Cormac... wrote: »

Game costs:
Player 1 buys game at €60 (current Gamestop take = €60)

Gamestop's take isn't €60 in that case. Their percentage of the sale of a game new is tiny. A few euro at most. I know years ago GAME were selling new games at a loss. Gamestop makes next to nothing on new game sales.

Generic Dreadhead

NotorietyH wrote: »

Gamestop's take isn't €60 in that case. They're percentage of the sale of a game new is tiny. A few euro at most. I know years ago GAME were selling new games at a loss. Gamestop makes next to nothing on new game sales.

Awkward.... god forbid you actually read the entire post.... best to read the 1st bullet point and comment :rolleyes:

Agricola

Going into a Gamestop / trading in games in a Gamestop are 2 things I stopped doing around 8 years ago.

deink

I was offered 20 cent by them when I went to sell Fifa 12 a couple of week after the new one had come out ... crazy

ScumLord

deink wrote: »

I was offered 20 cent by them when I went to sell Fifa 12 a couple of week after the new one had come out ... crazy

It;s only crazy if you took the offer. It makes sense to me, the worst possible time for them to try selling the 12 version is as the 13 version is being released.

Doesn't anyone watch Pawn stars? The whole process is explained fairly clearly in that show.

Maestro84

Cormac... wrote: »

Yup, gonna copy/paste this out of the other thread on this

If you're going to use maths, use it right.

It's also assuming a title is still going to €50 second hand one year later which is an Absolute minority.

Game costs:
Player 1 buys game at €60 (current Gamestop take = €60)
Player 1 trades it in: Gets €30 cash back (i'm going to use cash to keep it straightforward.
Player 2 buys game at €50 2nd hand (current Gamestop take = €80 factoring in)
Player 2 trades it in: Gets €25 cash back
Player 3 buys game at €45 3rd hand (current Gamestop take = €100)
Player 3 trades it in: Gets €20 cash back
Player 4 buys game at €40 4th hand (current Gamestop take = €120)
Player 4 trades it in: Gets €15 cash back
Player 5 buys game at €35 5th hand (current Gamestop take = €140)
Player 5 trades it in: Gets €15 cash back
Player 6 buys game at €30 5th hand (current Gamestop take = €155)

So Gamestop have made €155, of which it is not all profit and a certain % must go back to the distributor, even assuming that would be 66% of the RRP (so €40) at launch time, they have still only made €115 in a year off one title that has been through the cycle 5/6 times.

I'm not defending Gamestop, I'm defending maths

Don't forget VAT at 23%

Generic Dreadhead

Maestro84 wrote: »

Don't forget VAT at 23%

That's twice now that I've forgotten :pac:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=91918684&postcount=95

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057271017

cloud493

Business is business isn't it. Cex or adverts is obviously better, if you'd gone to, I don't know, a pawn shop or whatever for quick cash, you wouldn't have gotten anymore. Thats the risk, its a similar thing to say, a pay day loan, you need the money quick, you pay for it.