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

[SpoonyBard]

Ive seen gamestops with that box of ps2 games in the sleeves for cheaper, ours doesnt have that at all.

Most Gamestops have either stopped carrying PS2 games or started tossing the cases in an effort to save space. Some do it to all pre-owned PS2 games, some do it to pre-owned games under a certain price point. Regardless, they have the same SKU and sell them for the same price as they would in cases.

Also I believe the prices set by corporate are probably just a minimum. I just took a look at the gamestop.com website, and Fight Night Round 3 is listed at 2.99 on there, I just bought a copy probably a month ago for 6.99.

It could be that it went down over that time. Sometimes the price on a game there will drop fairly significantly overnight.

When I take a day to go game shopping I usually stop at several GameStop stores in several districts (sometimes different states). I can't recall ever seeing a game priced differently than the other shops.

[oxymoron]

... my gamestop chooses not to stock cheap games.

Ask for the store number of your local shop. Call Game Stops that have the game you are looking for, and have them ship it to your store number.

Simple as that.

I called a store (about 15 miles away) a few days about sending a copy of Hammerin' Hero closer and they said we don't do that for "those" kind of games. Whatever that means. I'm guessing the game has to be over "X" amount for them to ship it.

[Luke]

I called a store (about 15 miles away) a few days about sending a copy of Hammerin' Hero closer and they said we don't do that for "those" kind of games. Whatever that means. I'm guessing the game has to be over "X" amount for them to ship it.

You may not have the quality of being très agréable. You either find a common ground with the other person on the phone or say "Manager X said to send game X to store X". I've procured at least twenty rare games (worth $100-400 a piece) by being nice to the GS team.

[SpoonyBard]

You may not have the quality of being très agréable. You either find a common ground with the other person on the phone or say "Manager X said to send game X to store X". I've procured at least twenty rare games (worth $100-400 a piece) by being nice to the GS team.

This.

As far as I know (through ordering tons of games from them) there is no minimum to ship. I'm good friends with the staff at my local GS and they've had stores across the country ship $1 cables over for me (it's restricted to in-district only now though, unfortunately).

If it's only 15 miles away though, why not just go pick it up yourself?

[CRTGAMER]

You may not have the quality of being très agréable. You either find a common ground with the other person on the phone or say "Manager X said to send game X to store X". I've procured at least twenty rare games (worth $100-400 a piece) by being nice to the GS team.

This.

As far as I know (through ordering tons of games from them) there is no minimum to ship. I'm good friends with the staff at my local GS and they've had stores across the country ship $1 cables over for me (it's restricted to in-district only now though, unfortunately).

If it's only 15 miles away though, why not just go pick it up yourself?

Double This
Do the drive if its that close! You waste more time and gas requesting a game shipped that close by. Regulars know me, I have done over 100 mile runs on obscure games at Gamestop. At the same token, games can be shipped if you request the manager at the local store to do the phone request. There is no official price limitation on this. It really helps to have good Rapport. I had under 85% clearance GBA games some at around a dollar shipped all the way from the East coast across the states. Gamestop lost money on the shipping, their gain is customer loyalty as word gets out.

One thing nice about Gamestop is their online site. You can find any game and the current price listed is what is on any cash register nation wide. A Zip code search will show which stores are in stock unless their counts are off. Individual stores cannot bump up the price. The chance you take as previously mentioned is one SKU covers CIB or disc only. On the other hand, I have found Special Editions of certain titles that have the same SKU as the regular edition.

Remember what I mentioned about the online game listing? Look up Xbox, Gamecube and GBA games. A long shot, but you just might find a Cubivore or Conker buried at a far away Gamestop drawer somewhere even though officially these systems are no longer carried. Happened to me for a few games! Ah, the thrill of the hunt.

[Luke]

You may not have the quality of being très agréable. You either find a common ground with the other person on the phone or say "Manager X said to send game X to store X". I've procured at least twenty rare games (worth $100-400 a piece) by being nice to the GS team.

This.

As far as I know (through ordering tons of games from them) there is no minimum to ship. I'm good friends with the staff at my local GS and they've had stores across the country ship $1 cables over for me (it's restricted to in-district only now though, unfortunately).

If it's only 15 miles away though, why not just go pick it up yourself?

Double This

I found a Gamecube Player for a friend on this site from GS just by being polite with the guy on the other end of the phone.

If you get "It isn't cost effective to ship this from x to y..." tell the guy or gal that you've looked everywhere (and you probably have) and that you could use a break and you are only asking for a one time favor. Don't seem desperate, just tell 'em the truth.

I think I paid $14.99 for my copy of Rule of Rose at GS, so there are deals to be had.

[CFFJR]

I think I paid $14.99 for my copy of Rule of Rose at GS, so there are deals to be had.

I remember when you were looking for Rule of Rose and I was just about to ask you about it while reading this discussion.

I'm looking for it now. There's a copy of the game at a store in New Jersey, maybe I should go talk to the guys at one of my local stores and see if they'll help me out.

[CRTGAMER]

I think I paid $14.99 for my copy of Rule of Rose at GS, so there are deals to be had.

I remember when you were looking for Rule of Rose and I was just about to ask you about it while reading this discussion.

I'm looking for it now. There's a copy of the game at a store in New Jersey, maybe I should go talk to the guys at one of my local stores and see if they'll help me out.

Do it! A chance the game might be disc only, but the phone call from the local store manager can confirm this.

Some games I have requested Gamestop to ship in have certainly gone up in price, glad I did the search back then!

Getting Gamestop to ship in games
The GBA games I have been listing were all found local, but I really wanted to get some hard to find ones at the 85% off price. Another go at requesting more games shipped in. This worked in getting me Cubivore, Gotcha Force and GBA Boulder Dash EX. This time a huge list, the store does get busy and may not have time to do all the phone calls.

This works when you have built up a rapport with the local Gamestop Manager. Past purchases, sharing information and good personal comments in the survey back to Corporate at the Gamestop site. Take care of the employee and they will take care of you and go the extra step.

I searched early in the morning at the Gamestop site before the stores opened for a list of hard to find games. I keyed in random Zip Codes to find the games and then copy pasted the Zip Codes and Phone Numbers for a printout. Any games that I could find three stores, I listed all in case one store was not in stock. I brought the list that same Wednesday morning right when Gamestop opened. Why Wednesday morning? That is when price changes happen and all the Gamestops have a Manager or Senior Employee on the floor who have better pull. The morning calls are crucial especially when calling a Gamestop store back east which are ahead three hours. The earlier the better, before the stores get busy. Some games on my printout could only be found all the way across the country.

[Luke]

I remember when you were looking for Rule of Rose and I was just about to ask you about it while reading this discussion.

I'm looking for it now. There's a copy of the game at a store in New Jersey, maybe I should go talk to the guys at one of my local stores and see if they'll help me out.

Duder, Get it!

Rule of Rose, the Hack series, the Persona series, the Shadow Hearts series, the Suikoden series, Firefighter FD 18 and more than I can count; all sent to my local GS for pennies on the dollar what I would have paid on E-Bay.

Maybe I'm super lucky that my local store manager isn't a wiener, but I truly believe that if you can get a minute of the manager's time (and I don't pre-order) he or she will help you out. You don't have to give a sob story, but knowing how GS works and "I've been looking for this game for months and I could really use a break" goes a long way. That, and if you prove to be a repeat customer (pre-order or not, $2.99 purchase or not) managers will bend over backwards for you.

In short, be nice and things may be in your favor.

[Sasha_Blue]

I hate gamestop for producing more copies. One for selling them at an absurd price for a used copy and two for devaluing my copy by half.

$90 is not half of $100 and change.

Before they started producing more copies, the game was close to the $200 mark. Now its at half.