Is Gamestop Evil? The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[Michi]

I'm ok with you trying to sell me, that's your job. But once I make it clear that we've made our purchase decision, then you need to back down.

Oh, I know. I hate it when they do that. There's one store in particular that I always hesitate to go to because one of the workers will Just. Not. Stop.

"Do you want to upgrade your reward card?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"You know, I've seen you in here before, you should really upgrade-"
"I don't want to."
"If you upgrade you get a discout-"
"No."
"It also comes with a magazine subscrip-"
"No! Just ring me up, Carlos!"


Every. Damn. Time. I dislike Carlos. I dislike him a lot.

Thankfully, the guys at my local store don't do that

[flex wood]

My siblings and our significant others are putting our money together to get my step-dad a Wii. For whatever reason he says he wants one, and it'll be a nice surprise.

So I go into GS today -- not my local one, but one that I frequent enough times I year that both guys working recognized me. I told them I was picking a Wii as an xmas gift so I wanted a new (not used) one. Immediately they launched into the "but the used one is $80 and comes with warranty etc.

That should have been the end of it but then they went on to trying to get me to buy a Wii-U instead. That shit is lame. I'm ok with you trying to sell me, that's your job. But once I make it clear that we've made our purchase decision, then you need to back down.

It's going to be real funny when it turns out he actually wanted a Wii U and not a Wii.

[MrPopo]

You guys should start off all your transactions by saying "If you ask me to buy used I will walk out this door", and then walk out the door if they do. If coroprate realizes that forcing their employees to give the stupid speech is losing them sales then they might stop.

[Zing]

You guys should start off all your transactions by saying "If you ask me to buy used I will walk out this door", and then walk out the door if they do. If coroprate realizes that forcing their employees to give the stupid speech is losing them sales then they might stop.

But if you aren't buying used, why would the clerk care?

Hell, if you aren't buying used, corporate may not care, either!

[AppleQueso]

You guys should start off all your transactions by saying "If you ask me to buy used I will walk out this door", and then walk out the door if they do. If coroprate realizes that forcing their employees to give the stupid speech is losing them sales then they might stop.

But if you aren't buying used, why would the clerk care?

Hell, if you aren't buying used, corporate may not care, either!

Gamestop pushes used over new. They make a lot more profit on used games.

[Xeogred]

Trade game for $5 store credit, see it on the shelf a week later for $40.

[MrPopo]

You guys should start off all your transactions by saying "If you ask me to buy used I will walk out this door", and then walk out the door if they do. If coroprate realizes that forcing their employees to give the stupid speech is losing them sales then they might stop.

But if you aren't buying used, why would the clerk care?

Hell, if you aren't buying used, corporate may not care, either!

Gamestop pushes used over new. They make a lot more profit on used games.

Indeed, but making some profit on new is better than making no sales at all.

[noiseredux]

I know you want new as a gift but maybe the used vertical Wii should be considered?

But much like I told the employees, my siblings do not want to give a USED gift.

Those employees probably did not include this important aspect in that tired sales pitch.

They didn't need to tell ME anything I didn't know about the Wii's functionality.

Not only for Gamecube games which are inexpensive to sweeten the gift, but for Wii games that use a Gamecube controller and capability of add on adapters to use Arcade sticks

I promise my stepdad has no interest in GameCube games. Or even knows what a Gamecube is. And I promise that he wouldn't know what to make of an arcade stick. In fact, I'll be surprised if he ever uses the Wii for anything more than Wii Bowling.

The Wii is probably my least favorite console, yet I own two of them. Trust me, I know all the pro's and con's of each model and made sure we decided which one to get accordingly. As it was a gift the most important thing was the recipient and how he'd be using the console.

[BoneSnapDeez]

The Wii is probably my least favorite console

You'll change your mind. In 10 years I expect to see noiseredux vs. Wii.

But yeah, pushing the used stuff is irritating. I probably posted this about a year ago, but one time I went in to get a Wii motion plus attachment. I couldn't find them in the store so I went up to a sales clerk and asked where they were located. Without answering this dude whips out a loose used motion plus and starts ringing me up. I told him that I wanted to be directed to the new ones and he was all like, "What?! You don't want this cheaper used one?!"

[Michi]

Huh. I've never had the "Don't you wanna buy used?" discussion issue. That's probably because the majority of what I buy is used, though. Only in a blue moon do I buy new there, and most of those have been pre-orders.