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

[Hazerd]

Yeah Amazon really is where it is at if your looking to buy new stuff. Plus with prime which only cost around $40 a year as long as you are a "student" you can't really go wrong with them. Plus you get Amazon prime instant video which while a little more annoying to navigate is just as good as netflix.

Hell the last package I bought was 6 new PSP games for $32 and I thought they were going to miss the 2 day delivery date due to weather. Packages hadn't even finished "preparing to ship" the morning of the expected delivery date. However they freaking used one day delivery to get it to me .

Yeah i have Amazon Prime and ordered the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection thursday night and it was just delivered about 20 minutes ago. Crazy fast!

[Ziggy]

Not to contradict anyone, but I love my Gamestop. They are always good to me, give me the best copies and typically go out of their way for me. I have always been treated with respect and given it back.

I hate their policies on trashing cases on older systems and they give crap for trades. These are not their policies, these are corporate Gamestop policies. I think we should put our anger to the "upper management" for not caring about the games and only about the profit.

Yeah, to be fair, I've had as many ups with them as I've had downs. I've had an employee throw in a disc only copy of MGS2 for free because we couldn't identify what it was (turned out to be from the box set). I've brought up a used copy of a game and had an employee say, "Nah, take this one from behind the counter, it's in much better condition." I'm sure I've had other pleasant experience.

I don't blame employees for what upper management does though. And I'll never get upset/angry with an employee in the store. Even the time that punk kid got nasty with me when I didn't wanna buy a non-sealed "new" game.

[CRTGAMER]

I hate their policies on trashing cases on older systems and they give crap for trades. These are not their policies, these are corporate Gamestop policies. I think we should put our anger to the "upper management" for not caring about the games and only about the profit.

THIS
I have sent a letter off to Corporate thru the direct Feedback Gamestop site and have gotten temporary holds at certain store locations to keep the cases and manuals. At least a small reprieve to give more time to buy additional trade ins in the past. It does work, do it if you want that CIB flexibility at your local store.

THE BAD
As stated, this is only temporary, I visited a store today that has all under five dollar PS3 and 360 games at disc only! Even more surprising and thankfully is none of the Wii games have not been destroyed yet. I think this was an over zealous idiot Manager at one store destroying all the five dollar games to make room for the ridiculously huge single game display promo racks.

So far an isolated incident at the one location? I hope so, I have been on the hunt for a certain two dollar tin case Limited Edition game to get all nine collector cards. So far I have four, the hunt continues with a time limit pressure.

THE UGLY
Eventually all used games will be cannibalized to disc only. Even used WiiU, PS4 and Xbox One games CIB days are numbered at Gamestop. Would not surprise me if they eventually sell ALL the games, even new ones disc only. Yes Gamestop has done this; new games disc only when the case and manual gets misplaced!

THE GOOD
On the other hand, I found buried amongst 100s of PS2 disc only games, a few CIBs including case and manual. Love the PS2 75% off but it has to be complete. Found another today, a rare game at Gamestop is a CIB PS2 game.

Though not as often as in the past, I'll still slug thru Gamestop stickers and sales pitches to find the best local price on the somewhat limited selection of CIB games.

[Fragems]

Planning a raid and made a nice shopping list of games to hit at 3 stores to the north tommorrow .

Using the store pick up option I managed to reserve two of the rarer games I located.

Class of Heroes- $8.99(would be awesome if it has the case and manual)
and.....

Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier- $22.49(definitely going to be loose, but hell the cheapest copy on amazon is $60 and the game looks awesome)

Here is the rest of my shopping list

Ashland Town Center

High Priority
Arc Rise Fantasia- 17.99

Low Priority
Kore Gang- $4.49

Ashland Freestanding

High Priority
Rooms: The Main Building- $2.69
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure- $2.69
Opoona- $2.69
Shiren the Wanderer- $4.49
Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll- $6.29
Last Rebellion- $6.29
Generation of Chaos: Aedis Eclipse- $4.49
Crimson Gem Saga- $11.69
Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger Vs. Darkdeath Evilman- $13.49

Low Priority
de Blob- $2.69
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon- $8.99
Jeanne D' Arc- $4.49
Brave Story: New Traveler- $7.19



Tri State Crossing

Low Prioirty
Elebits- $2.69
FlingSmash- $2.69
Blast Works: Build, Trade & Destroy- $3.59
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth- $6.29

Edit: Added prices to shopping list most are pretty good deals that are worth grabbing if you can find copies in your area.

[Ziggy]

FYI, I don't know how much De Blob goes for used at GameStop, but it's only $15 new on Amazon right now (fulfilled by Amazon). De Blob 2 is only $10 new, sold by Amazon.

[Fragems]

FYI, I don't know how much De Blob goes for used at GameStop, but it's only $15 new on Amazon right now (fulfilled by Amazon). De Blob 2 is only $10 new, sold by Amazon.

It's sitting at $2.69 it's at the point that I don't see it going any lower so I'll probably pick it up as long as it's in decent shape. Pretty much most of the low priority stuff is just things I'm keeping my eye out for will probably only pick it up if it's CIB or if the price is so low that I don't expect to see it back in stock again.

[TheSegaSaturnGuy]

FYI, I don't know how much De Blob goes for used at GameStop, but it's only $15 new on Amazon right now (fulfilled by Amazon). De Blob 2 is only $10 new, sold by Amazon.

It's sitting at $2.69 it's at the point that I don't see it going any lower so I'll probably pick it up as long as it's in decent shape. Pretty much most of the low priority stuff is just things I'm keeping my eye out for will probably only pick it up if it's CIB or if the price is so low that I don't expect to see it back in stock again.

De Blob is a great game and totally worth it. I would also highly recommend De Blob 2 because it improved on just about everything making the game much more enjoyable. It cant be had for under $10

[CRTGAMER]

Planning a raid and made a nice shopping list of games to hit at 3 stores to the north tommorrow .

Using the store pick up option I managed to reserve two of the rarer games I located.

Hope the pickup option works out, good luck.

I have concerns with that pickup option, the same as ordering the game direct from the Gamestop site. You have no idea of the condition, even worse with that local pickup option of alerting an unscrupulous employee over a rare inexpensive game claiming the game cannot be found. Most employees are honest, the few dishonest ones is why I am cautious. I found taking the chance and just popping in the door catches them off guard, a treasure buried forgotten in the drawer. Yeah I know, employees are not supposed to stash a game for a self purchase, but there was a certain last copy on shelf Wii Xeonoblade CIB game that I pulled this way before the crazy price hikes.

Also concur with others, grab both of the DeBlob games. Right now a great price at Gamestop if you can find it complete with manual and case.

[Fragems]

The way I see it Reserving is the best way to go. That way you know for sure it's available and the clerks don't get any funny ideas since you have already confirmed it's location and a hold has been placed on their inventory.

Just got confirmation that Both Class of Heroes and Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier are ready for pick up . To bad I couldn't reserve the rest of the games but I'll just have to hunt when I get there.

[CRTGAMER]

The way I see it Reserving is the best way to go. That way you know for sure it's available and the clerks don't get any funny ideas since you have already confirmed it's location and a hold has been placed on their inventory.

I'm not so sure, I hope you are right on this. Too many past purchases have gotten me games the employee did not know they even had; a CIB rare game buried in the Gamestop drawer. This worked by looking up on their site and NOT RESERVING. The Reserve should be the answer if done "by the book", just wonder how many employees with a store full of customers will take really take the time to hunt down the complete case on the shelf? Hopefully the employee that pulls the forgotten rare game will not just buy it for themselves claiming the Inventory is wrong as in the Xeonoblade story linked in my previous reply.

I would hope the Online Reserve would actually lock out the cash register to just your Reward Card, but I doubt it. Employees can claim inventory is off for whatever reason devious self purchase or just plain lazy to hunt it down.

EDIT
I think I have a better answer for this in a long winded story on the very next page.