Sad reality of the bigger game stores and clueless people

[wrldstrman]

I was in eb games today looking at the nes and nintendo 64 carts and got talking to one of the employees..They had a shelf with about 150 nes carts on it.During the conversation he mentioned that one guy have brought in all those carts and they bought them for 25 cents each..Of course they had 9.99 on most of them..I cant belive anyone would just give away their stuff to the bigger game stores..Then I was waiting in line a kid came up to the counter and asked if the had a nes system they pulled a box out from under the counter and opened it reveling the most yellowed nes i ever saw with no controllers for 39.99..he told the clerk he would be back later he had to get more money When the clerk wasnt paying attention I told the kid to meet me outside the store..I told the kid I would hook him up with a nes with controllers light gun and in clean condition..for a lot less then 39.99..Makes me want to open up a game store if people are willing to give their stuff away.

[crazyjackcsa]

It really isn't the fault of the employee you know. Prices are completely outside of the employees hands. I agree, but as an employee the price is the price is the price.

[Sothy]

It isnt the employees fault.

Then you overhear the employee saying how Final Fantasy is worth 100$ on Ebay and the Atari was the fist Video Game system made,


Then It is your fault for not shooting the employee in the face.

[Hollenscythe]

Well it's a sad state of affairs... and it isn't. It's like that South Park episode about the Wal*Mart. People are supporting these stores and most of them aren't clueless idiots either - they're so called hardcores. They do it because they think, "I'm just one person" or, "I really, really want a DS but I have no money". They do it because it's fast and convenient, I'm sure. eBay is a pain in the ass for most, unlike places like EB. The guy with the NES games clearly could have got more if he wanted to put some effort in to it... maybe he didn't. Why shouldn't EB capitalize on fools like this?

I agree in principle, it's pretty bad - but would the world be better for any of us if these people were getting more money for their old games? Places like swap meets, forums, and of course eBay, exist for those who want to ring every last cent out of the sale. In my opinion those who take their childhood memories in a box down to EB and accept the $50 (or less) they get for 100's of dollars worth of games deserve no sympathy - they are the problem and they deserve what they get.

Plus, the longer systems like the NES and SNES (etc.) are considered valuable the better chance they have of surviving further decades. Places like EB driving prices up are probably a good reason why more old systems aren't melting under the sun on garbage dumps right now. The seller gets a couple of bucks and the system surely finds a new home. It could be worse.

[CocoVG]

Heh.

Unfortunately, it's not the employee's fault - prices are set be head office, they have nothing to do with it, blah blah. That's why I refuse to purchase used games from EB. I mentioned in another post that here in Canda, pretty much all used games from the current generation sell for only $5.00 less than full retail. Games from past generations are less, but still a significant amount of money. I've seen what EB actually gives people for their used games in relation to what they turn around and sell them for, and it's practically criminal - so I choose not to support that one little bit.

I'd have probably done the same thing - hey kid, I'll get you a much better condition NES for less if you really want one. The sooner they can be taught how criminal the big-box game shops are, the better.

[EricRyan34]

Yeah I agree. I know that its not the employees fault at all, and when they buy NES carts for 25 cents each, then try and sell them for $9.99 each!?!? Come on, thats just lame.

[mills]

I must agree the prices at ebgames for trade ins are horrendous. I gave them 6 SNES games and 2 genesis games and when the clerk said "thats $1.95 in store credit" I said " for which game?"....All of them.

I took my games back.

The only thing I like about ebgames is that all of their products were cleaned and tested before hitting the shelf.

[MegaDrive20XX]

It isnt the employees fault.

Then you overhear the employee saying how Final Fantasy is worth 100$ on Ebay and the Atari was the fist Video Game system made,


Then It is your fault for not shooting the employee in the face.

Exactly.

It's the Corporation's fault for making these prices.

This week at GameCrazy, there was price changes for SNES, Genesis, NES, PS1, and N64.

So I'm changing the prices, yet the weird thing was most of the NES games were dropping down to $1.99-$4.99, but all the sports titles on SNES kept going higher....which made no damn sense to me. NBA Jam that was like 99 cents, went to $4.99....no clue why...yet DOOM and Super CasteVania 4. on Super NES went to $4.99....Hell Secret of Evermore is $4.99 now...

Some sports games shot up to $9.99 on SNES....yet World Heroes 2 is only $1.99.... That makes perfect sense....right??

As for trade in value. All of those games we do not even take anymore, especially sports titles....

One time a lady traded in Spider-Man for N64. It was worth 0.01...which means we cannot accept this. Now I knew for a fact some people want Spider-Man N64. It's just not that common....so I had to tell the lady that it wasn't worth anything.

Another issue I've been seeing, is some companies do not give cash for systems. A lady asked me why and I honestly said "It's just the company, I'm just an employee"

Yet strong word of advice, NEVER trade in your system at a game store like GameStop, EB Games, GameCrazy, etc....they never give you a fair amount. $28 in credit for a PS2? They can kiss my ass...

[Griking]

It really isn't the fault of the employee you know. Prices are completely outside of the employees hands. I agree, but as an employee the price is the price is the price.

If you felt so bad about it then maybe you should have let the guy know what they were worth before he sold them to the big name franchise.

[sisko]

Yet strong word of advice, NEVER trade in your system at a game store like GameStop, EB Games, GameCrazy, etc....they never give you a fair amount. $28 in credit for a PS2? They can kiss my ass...

Uh...for a broken one. Working ones trade in for around $75.

[Jumpman Jr.]

Then It is your fault for not shooting the employee in the face.

Totally though, the amount that these big game-stores rip off kids (and unknowledgable adults) is ridiculous. I understand they need to make their money but marketing something at something like 400 times what you paid for it is uneccassary.

[jdchess]

In reply to Sisko's comment...

Not anymore they don't. The used price for an Xbox / PS2 at Gamestop just fell to $100. The trade in value will be around $40 - $45 after today.

[Cmosfm]

I really hate threads like this.

To put it bluntly, either they buy low and sell high or they go out of buisness. They make no money on new games, and even take a loss when they get in shipments of absolute shit games that price drop in a matter of no time.

The only items they make money on are used items and new accessories. It's simply astonishing the amount of adults that do not understand simple business practices and decide to rattle on about "ripping people off". Please.

The reason they give next to nothing for some games is because they DON'T SELL, Why would EB games give more than .50 for a copy of Catwoman on PS2 when they have 20 on the shelf that hasn't moved in months? Also, as much as you may deny it, NES/SNES/Genesis games don't sell, sure Tecmo Bowl/Mario/Zelda does, but that's all people want! No one's going in GameRush looking for Sparkster or Pinball Fantasies, so again, why would they give more than .25 for a game for them? Take in 50 games, sell the popular ones for 9.99 each, let the rest rot on the shelf until they have a clearance sale.

Simple. Business. Practices. Whine all you want about it, but they either handle things the way they are currently doing or they go out of business. I personally like EB/Gamestop/Gamerush/etc and I'd rather like seeing them stay in business.

[Griking]

I really hate threads like this.

To put it bluntly, either they buy low and sell high or they go out of buisness. They make no money on new games, and even take a loss when they get in shipments of absolute shit games that price drop in a matter of no time.

The only items they make money on are used items and new accessories. It's simply astonishing the amount of adults that do not understand simple business practices and decide to rattle on about "ripping people off". Please.

The reason they give next to nothing for some games is because they DON'T SELL, Why would EB games give more than .50 for a copy of Catwoman on PS2 when they have 20 on the shelf that hasn't moved in months? Also, as much as you may deny it, NES/SNES/Genesis games don't sell, sure Tecmo Bowl/Mario/Zelda does, but that's all people want! No one's going in GameRush looking for Sparkster or Pinball Fantasies, so again, why would they give more than .25 for a game for them? Take in 50 games, sell the popular ones for 9.99 each, let the rest rot on the shelf until they have a clearance sale.

Simple. Business. Practices. Whine all you want about it, but they either handle things the way they are currently doing or they go out of business. I personally like EB/Gamestop/Gamerush/etc and I'd rather like seeing them stay in business.

I don't think people have a big problem with stores paying peanuts for a traded in copy of Catwoman, it's the $3 they'll pay for a copy of Sukioden II and other rare and/or valuable games that pisses people off.

[Cmosfm]

I really hate threads like this.

To put it bluntly, either they buy low and sell high or they go out of buisness. They make no money on new games, and even take a loss when they get in shipments of absolute shit games that price drop in a matter of no time.

The only items they make money on are used items and new accessories. It's simply astonishing the amount of adults that do not understand simple business practices and decide to rattle on about "ripping people off". Please.

The reason they give next to nothing for some games is because they DON'T SELL, Why would EB games give more than .50 for a copy of Catwoman on PS2 when they have 20 on the shelf that hasn't moved in months? Also, as much as you may deny it, NES/SNES/Genesis games don't sell, sure Tecmo Bowl/Mario/Zelda does, but that's all people want! No one's going in GameRush looking for Sparkster or Pinball Fantasies, so again, why would they give more than .25 for a game for them? Take in 50 games, sell the popular ones for 9.99 each, let the rest rot on the shelf until they have a clearance sale.

Simple. Business. Practices. Whine all you want about it, but they either handle things the way they are currently doing or they go out of business. I personally like EB/Gamestop/Gamerush/etc and I'd rather like seeing them stay in business.

I don't think people have a big problem with stores paying peanuts for a traded in copy of Catwoman, it's the $3 they'll pay for a copy of Sukioden II and other rare and/or valuable games that pisses people off.

Yes, but honestly, most stores would give more than 3.00 for Suikoden 2 unless they had a set base price for a certain system's games, like .25 trade in for all NES games.

Anyway, if the guy trading in Suikoden 2 doesn't know of the games value, and he's happy with 3.00...oh well!

[evil_genius]

Whenever I can I will buy from an indy game store. But game stores rip people when you trade stuff in, thats common sense. Rip people off in a sense that, they give you less than what it is worth. Not just the major ones but ALL of them.


Funny story: EB wanted to give me $7 trade-in value for my Marvel vs Capcom 2, I nearly laughed in his face, instead I said "Hmmmmm I could get a sandwich from Wendy's with that, no I'll pass thanks." OK I didn't say that, but I was thinking it!

[GetImOliver]

Sometimes when I have nothing better to do at the Gamerush counter, I'll run through our database and see what we sell rare games for. 6.99 for suikoden II, 4.99 for Valkrie Profile, 16.99 for REZ, 16.99 for Cubivore etc. etc. Not to mention every Dreamcast and earlier systems are fixed at 99 cents! Part of the fun I get as a collector is scrounging through other Gamerushes. Just like a flea market, they don't know what they have if it was made more than 5 years ago. I know it sucks to get crap when you trade in games, but I'm happy that Gamerush really doesn't have too much of a gap between what people get in trade value and what we sell it for.

[boatofcar]

Well it's a sad state of affairs... and it isn't. It's like that South Park episode about the Wal*Mart. People are supporting these stores and most of them aren't clueless idiots either - they're so called hardcores. They do it because they think, "I'm just one person" or, "I really, really want a DS but I have no money". They do it because it's fast and convenient, I'm sure. eBay is a pain in the ass for most, unlike places like EB. The guy with the NES games clearly could have got more if he wanted to put some effort in to it... maybe he didn't. Why shouldn't EB capitalize on fools like this?

Well said! It's always a question of convenience vs. seeking out the good deal.

[VG_Maniac]

I was at the local GameCrazy the other day, and was talking to the employee there about all the price drops on the older games. He said that even big SNES titles like Chrono Trigger, Dracula X, Final Fantasy III, and Mega Man X3 would be priced at $7.99. However, he said that they would probably never get any of those games in again...because now they only buy them for 99 cents each, and nobody in their right mind would sell a $40 - $60 game for less then a buck!

Oh yeah, I thought I could special order some of the more indemand SNES games, get them for cheap, and sell them for big bucks on ebay...but GameCrazy can't special order most of the indemand or rare games anymore, including the ones I mentioned above.

[Haoie]

EB in NZ is a total ripoff too. They charge more for used games than other stores selling them new!!

It's just, uh, so not free market esque.