Is Gamestop punching holes in the game covers?

[Veriz]

I worked at GameStop for seven years before being saved by a better job lol. I was a store manager and in seven years we were never told to punch holes in barcodes. They dont even have single hole punchers in the store lol. I do recall seeing games come in sealed with a hole punched through the barcode but on the shrink wrap they placed a new barcode sticker. Since these games you found were used then they may have been games that came in new at one time with the bar code on the shrink wrap that was removed when it was bought. I also noticed that the bar codes with the hole punched in them would not scan in the system, so the manufacturer may have changed their code and just issued those copies out with the outer sticker to save money and not have to reprint them all.

[dsheinem]

this will make shopping on ebay, Amazon marketplace, etc. an even bigger minefield

[noiseredux]

somebody should reach out to GS for an actual statement. Maybe the OP could email pics and their story to joystiq or kotaku or something and see if they could get a response from GS.

[CRTGAMER]

somebody should reach out to GS for an actual statement. Maybe the OP could email pics and their story to joystiq or kotaku or something and see if they could get a response from GS.

Go right to the source, throw it in Gamestop Corporate's inbox. For anyone who have been to a store selling the holy games, maybe the direct comment route to Gamestop Corporate? I'll be doing this myself if I ever come across this stupid practice locally. Be sure to check off the District Manager Contact Box.

Here is the direct Gamestop link that bypasses the survey.

http://mfisurvey.marketforce.com/GameStop/IndexCC.aspx

[Hobie-wan]

Whew! I might forget what holes in a bar code look like if the picture isn't quoted every other message. Everyone do what they can to use up Hashiriya's photobucket bandwidth!

[JC48573]

lol, I just got my new copy of Child of Eden today from Amazon. There was another barcode sticker covering the original barcode. The game didn't have any punch holes, but it sure freaked me out.

[Jontendo]

There are plenty of ills to blame on GameStop, but I'm not convinced this one is their doing.

* This is done with promo & items marked down from the manufacturer so they cannot be returned for full retail price (which they would not have been sold for). Some are punched, some are marked through with permanent marker.
* If you've ever sent a UPC in for a rebate, it's a similar "contract" that gives you a bonus with the understanding that you can no longer return the product.
* Veriz has pointed out that while working at GS for 7 years the store did not punch barcodes.

Full retail price games or used games that originally sold at full retail should *not* have this affliction. Please correct me if you find a situation to the contrary, however.

[JC48573]

There are plenty of ills to blame on GameStop, but I'm not convinced this one is their doing.

* This is done with promo & items marked down from the manufacturer so they cannot be returned for full retail price (which they would not have been sold for). Some are punched, some are marked through with permanent marker.
* If you've ever sent a UPC in for a rebate, it's a similar "contract" that gives you a bonus with the understanding that you can no longer return the product.
* Veriz has pointed out that while working at GS for 7 years the store did not punch barcodes.

Full retail price games or used games that originally sold at full retail should *not* have this affliction. Please correct me if you find a situation to the contrary, however.

Veriz no longer works for Gamestop. I think this punch holing errand started not long ago.

[Jontendo]

Veriz no longer works for Gamestop. I think this punch holing errand started not long ago.

It may be a recent affliction of GameStop merchandise, but is it inflicted by GameStop merchants? That's what I'd be interested to know.

[pakopako]

Holes - proof what you have isn't "Gamestop New"