ebgames.com rant (they damage games on purpose)

[qbertandernie]

sorry if this has been done before...i did a search and didnt find it...

i ordered a bunch of games from EB.com. i have ordered from them before, and its kind of a crapshoot as to whether the games are in good shape, but in the past about 75% were. i dont mind stickers on the carts because they usuaully arent hard to remove, but the last two times ive ordered ive found that the games seem to have been scratched all to hell. the first time i figured it was one person who traded all their games in at once, but this time there are a larger percentage and across all platforms. upon closer inspection, it appears as though the folks at EB.com are SANDING OFF THE STICKERS. this is ridiculous. several of the back labels, plastic and even some front labels(motor city patrol, ardy lightfoot and ultimate qix) look like someone sanded them down! WTF? who would prefer a label that is scratched down to the white over a sticker? and why do they need to remove other stickers on the backs of the cart when they are sticking their damn stickers all over everything? this pissed me off to no end, as i was hoping to at least get games in fair condition, but these were deliberately damaged! hope theyll take them back, because some are so badly damaged you can barely tell what the game is...

anyone else experienced this too?

[Videogamerdaryll]

They probably are doing it as quick,easy and cheap as possible..

So sanding it off then shipping it out means less time and work.....


The only things I know that EB does is..
Sell Garbage no working mismatched part used systems..

And they take stuff that didn't sell and bust it up ..(certain stuff)
I have found plenty of that with the dumpster dives...

You'd be shocked on just what they throw out/bust up..

[Captain Wrong]

I'd wager most people who buy these carts are casual/mainstream gamers who really don't care a whit about condition. As has been mentioned about a billion times before, that is the primary market EB, Game Stop and all the rest are aiming for. Sucks for you, but anyone who is a collector shoule know to stay away from these stores.

[qbertandernie]

this stuff isnt even in a condition that someone who didnt care about condition would pay for.

i think..what an odd sentence...

[EnemyZero]

thats like when i take my games to a local eb they check take the games,...look it in the system and toss it on the floor ....nice...

[ClubNinja]

Sucks for you, but anyone who is a collector shoule know to stay away from these stores.

It's not about staying away from these stores - it's about finding the right ones. Half of my Genesis and SNES games have come from one local EB. They're all flawless. I would never trust the sight-unseen games from the EB website, but some of their stores are invaluable. Even for collectors.

[Captain Wrong]

Sucks for you, but anyone who is a collector should know to stay away from these stores.

It's not about staying away from these stores - it's about finding the right ones. Half of my Genesis and SNES games have come from one local EB. They're all flawless. I would never trust the sight-unseen games from the EB website, but some of their stores are invaluable. Even for collectors.

Actually, that's what I meant. Stay away from the on-line stores.

[gamegirl79]

I ordered Zelda Link's Awakening DX from ebgames.com a few weeks ago. When I got the cart, it literally looked like it had been run over by a car. I didn't expect it to work. To my surprise the game played okay, but I couldn't save my progress or create/delete any user profiles. I called them up and they sent out a replacement, which I am still waiting on.

[Aussie2B]

Speaking of these stores purposely damaging games, what's up with EB's and GameStop's practice of damaging PlayStation and Dreamcast cases? Why do they cut out the plastic strip on the front part of the case next to the spine? I know cases can be replaced, but I'd MUCH prefer to have the original case it was sold in. I've often passed up on games that I might've bought had they not done that to the case.

[slip81]

The only cart game I've ordered from EB online is Castlevania III and it looks and plays fine. I guess I got lucky, but in the future I will be carfull not to order something from there unless I can't get it elsewhere.

[Queen Of The Felines]

I ordered Zelda Link's Awakening DX from ebgames.com a few weeks ago. When I got the cart, it literally looked like it had been run over by a car. I didn't expect it to work. To my surprise the game played okay, but I couldn't save my progress or create/delete any user profiles. I called them up and they sent out a replacement, which I am still waiting on.

You just have shitty luck with online stores in general, don't you?

I never, ever buy anything sight unseen, I don't care how good of a deal it is.

Kristine

[gamegirl79]

You just have shitty luck with online stores in general, don't you?

Yes, yes I do. But only when it comes to video games. I've bought countless computer parts, DVD's, clothing, hell even car parts online and never had a problem. Any problem I've had with online shopping was when I ordered a video game. I still have a charge on my credit card from gamestop.com that is under dispute.

[Richter]

happened to me too >_< and it's part of my secret santa gift ;_;

[izret101]

I have had no problem buying new games from them. Thanks for the heads up on used stuff.
Are current gen games equally destroyed? Or are they only doing this with the old stuff?

[qbertandernie]

ive never bought current gen stuff online...

aussie2bs post reminded me of the gamestop that i frequent...all of the ps1 games they have have been taped together with packing tape. that sticky crap doesnt come off easily, and it nearly covers the whole case. im sure they have to deal with theft, but damn...keep the disks behind the register or something.

[sirgeoph]

I hate to plug, but...

The company I work for, TheGameTrader.com, is nothing like most online used game retailers. For one, we also have retail stores and we're strict with what we take in there. Our webstore is made up of items from our stores. Every item is cleaned and tested before being listed as "in-stock" on the website. All CIB games have sturdy boxes, not crushed crappy boxes. All games are cleaned internally and externally to the best of our ability -- no stickers and little or no markings. We're smaller, so we can be more personal with our customers... I've done a few sales over the phone and grabbed stuff out of a store that someone wanted in Michigan... we do what we can, and being a smaller operation, we can do that, though I don't plan to change just because we get any bigger.

Check us out. Just wanted to let you know that not all online used game retailers are the same.

[izret101]

About thegametrader.com i just checked your site.
Your plug got me there but i will probably never buy. The shop i go to has less selection but MUCH better prices on what i want.

[sirgeoph]

Out of curiosity, what'd you have problems with prices? We've got one guy who's job is to reprice like 14000 items, so some systems havent been repriced in a while.

Lemme know and I can tell you what's up... we used to take trade-ins via the website, which counteracted the higher prices, but right now our webstore is understaffed to really handle that.

I hear about our higher prices alot in our retail stores, but, we also give nearly 70% more in trade credit than EB or GameStop, so people trade with us rather than them, making the prices irrelevant since they aren't actually paying for the items.

And, I hate to give this as a reason, but in Louisiana and Mississippi (where we have retail stores) we've pretty much got a monopoly on everything before PS1 and Dreamcast since EB and GameStop stopped carrying them in their stores.

Keep in mind too that EB and GameStop don't tell you wht condition the games come in (manual, box, loose, etc) whereas with us, you know exactly what you're getting (with cheap shipping too).

[it290]

Nice site. Some of the prices are fairly high, but hey, if everything is in great condition, that's okay. The website is a pain to navigate though. There needs to be a way to see all the games that you have in stock for any given system... browsing by genre is a bit silly.

[sirgeoph]

if you go to advanced search, then select the system, you can change Show: All Items to Show: Items in-stock only