Fun at Blockbuster

[GetImOliver]

Alright, I probably shouldn't be telling anyone this, but since I so enjoy taking jabs at a gigumbo corporation from the inside... here goes.

A lot of people who trade in current games are probably aware of flipping, which is pretty much trading games back and forth for a profit. Easy as pie:

Blockbuster has a buy two get one free deal. So, go buy three recently released used games, and spend about $100. Trade in those three later on and get $35 per title, you've just made a cool $5.

Go ahead and talk about the moral implications of this, but as I see it, Blockbuster is putting forth no effort to stop these things from happening so... go for it. The money is all store credit but still...

On a related note, the system for looking up the entire stock of Blockbuster merchandise is flawed at best. Currently, there are two entries for Warioware Inc. Mega Party Game$. One with the dollar sign and one without. For some reason, the version in the computer without the dollar sign has a trade in value of $30.

As Blockbuster is not into the game market enough to really train all the employees about the inner workings of video games, just go up to a normal cashier and make sure to tell them you have the special "without dollar sign version."

[Blanka789]

Wow! Great tip, and something I never would have noticed, but I try not to trade in my games.

[njiska]

Hmmm not a bad idea.

Fucking block buster really pisses me off though. THeir games are in horrible condition and over priced. THe one near me is still selling the getaway black monday used for $49.99 CAD.

[josekortez]

I used to do that at FYE all the time until they finally got wise to my trickery.

$10 copies of Go-Go Hypergrind going for $26 store credit
$5 copies of Drake going for $15 store credit

They finally figured out that (a) these games are crap and (b) they're not popular enough to resell for what they tried to sell them for in the store...

[Muscelli]

yeah comp usa has some opened copies of games for less, which are returns for whatever reason.. u can get a cheap one for like 20, then exchange it for a 50 dollar game.. Little known method.. Comp never puts games out on display anymore, though

[esquire]

Alright, I probably shouldn't be telling anyone this, but since I so enjoy taking jabs at a gigumbo corporation from the inside... here goes.

A lot of people who trade in current games are probably aware of flipping, which is pretty much trading games back and forth for a profit. Easy as pie:

Blockbuster has a buy two get one free deal. So, go buy three recently released used games, and spend about $100. Trade in those three later on and get $35 per title, you've just made a cool $5.

Go ahead and talk about the moral implications of this, but as I see it, Blockbuster is putting forth no effort to stop these things from happening so... go for it. The money is all store credit but still...

On a related note, the system for looking up the entire stock of Blockbuster merchandise is flawed at best. Currently, there are two entries for Warioware Inc. Mega Party Game$. One with the dollar sign and one without. For some reason, the version in the computer without the dollar sign has a trade in value of $30.

As Blockbuster is not into the game market enough to really train all the employees about the inner workings of video games, just go up to a normal cashier and make sure to tell them you have the special "without dollar sign version."

Well, there's a slight problem here, and it has nothing to do with ethics. It's called sales tax. I see you are from Michigan, so that means 6% sales tax. Using your example, you'll actually lose $1, not too mention your time - which is money.

I use to do some of these same things, until I realized that with all the time wasted and gas spent driving around town it simply wasn't worth it, unless of course it's a really good deal, such as when they were doing the trade any 3 games in and get any new release for s$29.99 plus get the trade-in value. Now that was a deal. I remember trading in 3 copies of Mojo! I picked up at TRU for $1 a piece during the 90% off clearance, getting $12 in trade in value, and picking up God of War brand new for $18 plus tax.

I also remember picking up 20 copies of Drake and taking them to FYE for $300 in credit. I got my NDS plus two games with some of that.

[Nesmaster]

Hmmm not a bad idea.

Fucking block buster really pisses me off though. THeir games are in horrible condition and over priced. THe one near me is still selling the getaway black monday used for $49.99 CAD.

really? damn. theres like 20 copies here for $10 CAD

[josekortez]

I like to think of it as video game hustling. Any time you can spend $5 and make back $15, that's hustling...

[GetImOliver]

I forgot to mention that I did take into account the sales tax for these games, esquire. We sell newest used games for $44.99 which means with tax it equals about $100. Oh man, you should've seen when we had the deal "Trade in two games and get any used game you want for $5." That was horrible. A guy would come in like every day, take about 2 hours, and make $100 in store credit. Yikes.

[googlefest1]

how do you find out the trade in values of games before trying your scheme?

[kainemaxwell]

I used to do that at FYE all the time until they finally got wise to my trickery.

$10 copies of Go-Go Hypergrind going for $26 store credit
$5 copies of Drake going for $15 store credit

They finally figured out that (a) these games are crap and (b) they're not popular enough to resell for what they tried to sell them for in the store...
Yeah, another reason why my managers hate doing buy-backs. :)

[GetImOliver]

You should be able to go into a Gamerush Blockbuster and ask an empoyee for the trade in value for any game. Plus, there is usually a whiteboard around with the prices for trades on popular items, and at least 1 game that has a value of $35.

[Half Japanese]

You're waaaaay late on this one. Hezeuschrist is the granddaddy of this whole operation as far as I'm concerned, and I'm his faithful son who carried on the operation while the getting was still good.

(Hezeus posted this waaaay back in June '04 I think, I followed up and posted a little earlier this year when they brought the deals that allowed this back).

It's a nice trick, but in my area they got aware and within a few days the whole operation was shut down. They were too late though, a friend of mine turned 3 shitty ps2 'greatest hits' games into two brand new PSPs.

[esquire]

You're waaaaay late on this one. Hezeuschrist is the granddaddy of this whole operation as far as I'm concerned, and I'm his faithful son who carried on the operation while the getting was still good.

(Hezeus posted this waaaay back in June '04 I think, I followed up and posted a little earlier this year when they brought the deals that allowed this back).

It's a nice trick, but in my area they got aware and within a few days the whole operation was shut down. They were too late though, a friend of mine turned 3 shitty ps2 'greatest hits' games into two brand new PSPs.

Same goes for the TRU and FYE trick too.

Looking back on it all, I can't get the thought out of my head of some district manager for FYE wondering how he's going to get rid of all their copies of Drake of the 99 Dragons. I just have to laugh. ROFL

[hezeuschrist]

I had a whole long post typed up, but then realized DJR has taken care of the situation, haha.

[dethink]

i *heart* gamerush.

they gave me $35 for my free copy of psychonauts, $10 for the metal arms i paid $10 for at best buy, and 8.00 for PGR2 which isn't even worth the disc it's burned on at most places. plus an additional 25% for trading in 3 games.

of course their selection of new games is crap mostly, but i walked out with the xbox mega man collection, the namco 50th anniv. disc, ninja gaiden, and metal gear solid 2 substance (new for 9.99 at the one by me).

got some catchin' up to do.