Gamestop's Online Product Finder by ZIP, reliable?

[Castelak]

I'm only asking this due to the fact that one gamestop according to the website has had "1-3" copies of Suikoden 2. The site says that the total number of games is of "last night". When I asked about it, they started to act suspiciously. It's been on the website like that for around a week. Does Gamestop allow employees to put aside games they will eventually buy? Is the site full of crap and it's really from months ago? Maybe some Gamestop employees can shed some light on this.

[portnoyd]

Somewhat. If it's a sequel, or has sequels, count on half the listing being the title you're not looking for.

And yes, there is a hold box; the copy of Suikoden 2 was most likely there.

dave

[Castelak]

Hehe yeah that must be the case. The cashier said to me, "... Would you really pay 60 bucks for Suikoden 2?"

"Yeah, if it's complete and in good shape."

"Hmm..."

x_x

[MegaDrive20XX]

It was for me when Viewtiful Joe and SF Anniversary Collection arrived on PS2

[calthaer]

Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I scored a copy of XCom: UFO Defense for the PS1 one time through that thing for a really good price...also found Tactics Ogre (manual and everything) for PS1 and a few other very nice ones including River City Ransom for the NES in good condition.

But then I go and look for Valkyrie Profile, call all the stores, and none of them have it even though it says they do.

You need to call and ask them to hold it for you. I've found that they do and that their prices are generally reasonable on the rare stuff.

[-hellvin-]

It's worked for me a few times. When it comes to psx era games expect the games to have a 60% chance of being loose.

[Aboliax]

I've never had any luck with it unless its new games we're talking about. Generally the older the system, the less likely it is to be accurate, and since I mainly collect for a 15+y/o system, we're talking pretty inacurate. I always call first, more often than not I dont like the answer, but it saves me a trip too.

[bargora]

If it's just any old game, I'll generally call and ask:
(1) Is it really there?
(2) Is it complete/in good condition?

As has been pointed out, sometimes it's not there, and if it is, it's often a bare disc (or a cart filled with marmalade or something).

On the other hand, if it's a rare game, then I might not call. I'm paranoid that a clerk answering the phone might realize that it's actually a valuable title if I have him (or her) check it out. And then they might say "sorry, no, we don't have it."

*clerk shoves Dragonball into pants*

So I'd be more likely to just show up and see if it's there in that case. Of course, with PS games I suppose that they keep the discs in a case behind the counter or in the back, and so could still rook ya, but whattya gonna do.

[downfall]

Never worked for me.

Said that my local stores had various NES games in stock.

Not only did just one of the four ever carry NES games, but this was after they stopped carrying them completely.

[Ikari Warrior]

I've found it to be remarkablly accurate. I usually never call the stores, you always get a "we don't know, we have a lot of stuff moved around so we can't check if we have it". I took several road trips and found RType 3, Contra Force, DDR Disney Mix, ec. and the next day they were gone from the inventory on the site after I bought them. I'm very happy with the service, but it's true that much of the PS1 stuff may be loose.

[jerkov]

I've had awesome luck with that thing. Calling the stores usually gets you nowhere, since the employees (understandably) don't feel like rummaging through a bunch of usually unsorted games. I've found some rare stuff through that game finder: Bubble Bobble 2 (NES), Little Samson (NES), Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES), Pirates! Gold (Genesis - it was even boxed!), Panic Restaurant (NES), and a ton more. You do run into the aforementioned problem of a sequel being mislabelled or vice versa (one place showed a copy of Bubble Bobble 2, but it turned out to be the original instead, although the price tag did say Bubble Bobble 2), but if it shows up on that locator, it's can't hurt to take a trip to the store and find out for sure.

[Oobgarm]

I used it all the time when hunting for NES/SNES/whathaveyou. It's accurate up to the close of business on the previous day.

'Hold Boxes' aren't allowed, there are very few managers who will actually let their employees do that anymore.

[FantasiaWHT]

Another possibility-

the game used to be at the store, was stolen "lost" or whatever and it hasn't been officially shrunk out yet because counts haven't been done and they don't know it's gone, or they did the counts and just didn't want to do it yet for some reason.

I'll have to check that out tho, I was just telling my manager that EB needed something like that.