The GameStop Return Blues
My son got a cool DS case from my wife’s sister for his birthday. Because she lives far away, she ordered it online and had it shipped. The GameStop site said ‘colors are shipped at random’ – which meant my 11 year old son naturally ended up with the Pink & White version. The return process was simple enough – just go exchange it at a local store (after calling to make sure they had a black or charcoal one). But it is what I saw done to an 8-year old kid who just wanted to get his copy of the new Zelda game that almost had me in tears.
The Zelda game cost $35, and it was cool to watch because the mom was obviously also somewhat of a gamer and was quite excited about actually getting the chance to play it at some point. But one thing was clear – it was the son’s game and therefore his responsibility to pay. So he produced a bag with a bunch of game cases inside and took them out – he was going to trade his way to Zelda. His first game – Animal Crossing for the GameCube – was quite a deal: $7 for the full package! The boy was beaming! Then the other shoe fell – the remainder of his bag, 7 more games, came to a total of just over $14. That is right – they were giving him ~$2 each for PS2 and GameCube games they would immediately turn around and sell for $15 – $20!
I have always despised that system, and that is why I use Goozex to trade games. But for a kid and his mom, this sort of highway robbery is the only choice they see. They happily paid the extra $14 and left with a wonderful new game. Unfortunately they were long gone by the time my return was complete so I couldn’t help them with any advice on online trading, but I’m not sure it would have mattered. I have spoken to some non-gaming parents and they really don’t want to deal with something like Goozex or GameTZ or other peer trading sites. They just know their kids want the game and are willing to trade away to get it. Gaming parents, on the other hand, seem much more likely to see the terrible value they are getting. It is barely worth trading it in!
What is your experience? Do you trade-in at GameStop? What about when they run special deals? I did one where they were taking a GBA and 3 games and trading for the new GBA SP and a few $$. It worked well for me at the time – but I don’t pretend it made fiscal sense.
October 17th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
This sort of thing burns me up. One time I was in GameStop and the clerk was trying to convince this kid to trade in his PsP for $5o and was trying to make it sound like a great deal. Just about a month ago I gave me brother-in-law $1oo for his PsP just so GameStop wouldn’t get the satisfaction of making a killing.
Don’t even get me started on the fact that they sell games without cases and/or manuals.
I’ve been guilty of trading games in the past, but much like you said I wasn’t aware of alternatives. I would like to sell must my old games via Amazon or eBay, but it seems like too much of a hassle.
I’ve never heard of Goozex, but you best believe I’m going to look into it. Any other advice you would like to share on trading in games feel free. Maybe it could be your next blog.
October 17th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Hmmm – that sounds like an idea 🙂
October 17th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Lots of factors here, so let me start by saying: “I agree” and “you’re right.”
Now to explain where and why you’re wrong. GameStop is performing a service, I’d argue. Being that they’re now the most high profile chain offering exchange for credit, it’s good they do it. Also the pricing structure reflects something you’re not considering….
That kid was offering GameStop stuff they knew they wouldn’t, maybe ever, sell. If GS was ruthless, they could refuse certain games altogether but they don’t (to my knowledge). They offer that token $7 and they make it up when they do sell a Used game. We pay a premium for the stuff that doesn’t sell, is my point.
The answer would be a Used game war. Say if Best Buy jumped in and undercut the market. GameStop would have to follow suit. But the industry itself works hard to stifle Used games because game developers and makers don’t make money off that market.
Tough stuff but as far as that kid goes, what kind of market is there for what he was selling? Sounds like it was a bunch of GameCube games, right? You have to consider that part too.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
GameCrazy has a deal where they offer 80% of the selling price. GameStop has killed used games on a ‘per platform’ basis.
As for being ruthless, take sports games – as far as I understand they won’t take back last year’s Madden / NBA / NHL / etc.
And I get that they are ‘doing a service’ – but they push it *hard* and market it like it is something value-added for consumers. Consumers need to be smarter about this stuff – or accept the consequences, I suppose.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
I’ve never traded in to GS, but I admit that I buy used there all the time. When they run a buy one get one (or buy two get one) on used stuff, you can get some really good deals. I realize that this creates demand, but I figure most of the people doing the trading are just clearing out the game shelf of their 10-year-old who would never play it again anyway. Maybe that’s misguided, but I figure I’m not going to affect the supply-demand situation either way.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
GameCrazy doesn’t have enough reach.
Remember Mike, I’m not saying it’s good, but it is better than no Used places at all and caveat emptor.
They don’t take previous year sports games eh? That’s smart of them. Few would buy them.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
My question is how long are they going to be able to keep this up? More opportunities for getting rid of your old games are springing up, and sooner or later even the youngest kids are going to be realizing they could be getting a better return elsewhere.
October 18th, 2007 at 4:50 am
They will do what any good business does and keep it up as long as there is a significant return on it. Being the stats dood that I am, I can practically see the metrics I would set up and the competitive analysis I would demand to monitor the health of the program.
From a business side I completely get it, but from the gut-feel parent side I think it sucks. Like hearing about a 6 year old new to the school bus getting swindled out of all of his best Yu Gi Oh cards by middle-schoolers.
As of now I don’t believe that things like GameCrazy / GameTZ / Goozex / SaySwap / etc make a signicificant impact – and remember that this stuff has *huge* bottom line impact for GameStop, so they are serious about it.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Yep Buyer Beware.
Plus many use GS or GC not out of ignorance, but out of convenience.
October 18th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I never liked this. I used to trade in games, and I didn’t now what I was doing. My brother did it, so I did it. i always traded games, and got worse games, then traded 3 of those for even more even worse games, etc. I finally just bought good games, and abandoned trading at GameStop.
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:12 am
I tried GameTZ , Sayswap. Both are a pain. I had successful trades at both, but it took so much work. I won’t trade at gamestop, too little money.
eBay is the easiest. Why trade for points and tokens, when you can trade for cash.