GameStop 101: Your Questions Answered!

[Veriz]

Hello!

Let me just say first that while I have only been active on this forum a few weeks I have greatly enjoyed the topics and articles on the site and look forward to more great information in the future! With that said I have noticed in my short time here there are a lot of concerns and topics listed about GameStop and their practices and procedures. As I am always up for helping people with questions and problems I thought why not with this subject since it is greatly discussed and I have been trying to come up with some good topics. Just to give a little background information I worked for GameStop for seven years before finding a better (and less stressful) job. I started working there when I was seventeen and thought working at a game store would be awesome. I worked my way all the way from grunt to store manager in those seven years so I know all kinds of information and have seen the inner workings of the company and their practices for a long time. I am not doing this to defend GameStop or to put them on blast either. As with you guys I do not agree with a lot of the things they do or I would not have left my position for better opportunities but there a some things here and there they do right by. If I can help someone with a problem they are having at one of their local stores or just general questions why they do certain things let me know and ask away!

[TEKTORO]

I have a question,

I bought some Gamecube games from them during the %50 off sale but a few didnt work so when I went to exchange them for the same exact games instead of honoring the sale a day prior I was charged the difference?

And the cashier was like "ahh that sucks you lost the sale".
At first I didnt really give a hassle cause it was holidays and didnt feel like arguing but after a week or so Its just been urking me and I would really want the differece back or just straight up return them even if it cost more in gas to get there.

And I think this is the reason why they have the rep that they do amoungst other things.

WWhat should I do?

[BoneSnapDeez]

- Why do they buy and resell so many games that are in terrible condition? This drives me crazy, their used game selection is virtually worthless to me.
- Why do they try so hard to push used games on customers?

[retrosportsgamer]

- Why do they buy and resell so many games that are in terrible condition? This drives me crazy, their used game selection is virtually worthless to me.
- Why do they try so hard to push used games on customers?

I'm going to go with - they can return unsold new games.

[Veriz]

I have a question,

I bought some Gamecube games from them during the %50 off sale but a few didnt work so when I went to exchange them for the same exact games instead of honoring the sale a day prior I was charged the difference?

And the cashier was like "ahh that sucks you lost the sale".
At first I didnt really give a hassle cause it was holidays and didnt feel like arguing but after a week or so Its just been urking me and I would really want the differece back or just straight up return them even if it cost more in gas to get there.

And I think this is the reason why they have the rep that they do amoungst other things.

WWhat should I do?

I hope your cashier was some holiday temp that didn't know what they were doing because that doesn't make any sense. With any sale, be it 50% off or B2G1F if you have an issue with a used game you are allowed to return the game within 7 days for a full refund if you do not like the game or within 30 days for the same game or another game of equal or lesser value. If they switched your games for identical copies it should have been just a even swap. You should never have to pay out of pocket for the exact same game you just bought that needs to be exchanged. The only way you should have been charged more is if you ended up getting a different game that costed more than the original and the manager should have been able to honor the 50% off on the higher priced game so you still got the sale.

I would get that corrected and if they give you a hard time use this link: http://mfisurvey.marketforce.com/GameStop/IndexCC.aspx

You can select the exact store and cashier that gave you the problem and you can bypass putting in info for the survey and have your complaint go directly to the DM. These negative hits go against the stores customer service numbers that the store is graded on and reflects on all the employees and even the DM by the higher ups. DM's don't like negative hits and they will take care of it since it is part of the stores/district yearly reviews.

- Why do they buy and resell so many games that are in terrible condition? This drives me crazy, their used game selection is virtually worthless to me.
- Why do they try so hard to push used games on customers?

As far as the games go, the employees should be trained to inspect the used games that come in to look for defects on the disk. If games are in bad condition they should be taken for a reduced amount and are then shipped to home office not to be resold in the store. Once they go to home office they are either destroyed or resurfaced if they can be saved. If you have a problem with finding a lot of badly damaged games at a store it sounds like they are not taking their trades properly and that is unfortunate. As a collector I would go nuts when I still had my store if an employee took a nasty looking game wrong, its just good business to be as neat as possible but sadly some managers at these stores don't care and it shows. As far as pushing used games on a customer its easy. They make more money on used sales. Used games are taken in by the store and resold at a higher amount that is all profit directly to GameStop instead of having to first buy the game from the vendor and barely make any profit from the new sale of the game. Pretty much like a pawn shop, etc.

[noiseredux]

- Why do they buy and resell so many games that are in terrible condition? This drives me crazy, their used game selection is virtually worthless to me.
- Why do they try so hard to push used games on customers?

I'm going to go with - they can return unsold new games.

I'm thinking it's even simpler... markup on Used games is more profit for them.

[TEKTORO]

Thanks I dont wanna send in a complaint,but Ill toughen up a bit to get it corrected.If they give me hassle then surely will report it

[Veriz]

- Why do they buy and resell so many games that are in terrible condition? This drives me crazy, their used game selection is virtually worthless to me.
- Why do they try so hard to push used games on customers?

I'm going to go with - they can return unsold new games.

I'm thinking it's even simpler... markup on Used games is more profit for them.

Bingo

Thanks I dont wanna send in a complaint,but Ill toughen up a bit to get it corrected.If they give me hassle then surely will report it

Good idea. Always give the manager a chance to correct an issue. Its sad but they don't really provide enough payroll hours to train the employees well enough and some things slip by making the employees look worthless when they can't help it lol. However if its the manager not wanting to fix the issue take it to the next step.

- Why do they buy and resell so many games that are in terrible condition? This drives me crazy, their used game selection is virtually worthless to me.
- Why do they try so hard to push used games on customers?

I'm going to go with - they can return unsold new games.

Even though thats not why they push used titles your statement is not false. If a certain new game is not selling well at one store but another can't keep it in stock they will have the slower stores send their copies to the busier store before they return them back to the vendor. I can only recall a few times where they ever requested we send games back to home office to be returned to the vendor but I am sure it happens. By taking reservations for games a store is not usually over stocked on a game since it gives the company an idea of how many games to order for the store to make sure they don't sit on overstock.

[Luke]

Even though thats not why they push used titles your statement is not false. If a certain new game is not selling well at one store but another can't keep it in stock they will have the slower stores send their copies to the busier store before they return them back to the vendor. I can only recall a few times where they ever requested we send games back to home office to be returned to the vendor but I am sure it happens. By taking reservations for games a store is not usually over stocked on a game since it gives the company an idea of how many games to order for the store to make sure they don't sit on overstock.

It's also because used games account for over 50% of their sales in volume (not in dollars). Getting rid of inventory of used games also opens up space for new games, which have a higher profit margin.

My question would be: It's my understanding that new sales reps/cashiers are expected to get 20% of their customers to pre-order, or subscribe to Game Informer. What type of training do these kids get to make this possible? And how harshly are they judged on this percentage?

[gtmtnbiker]

If a store does not carry a used item that you want, what's the best strategy to get an item shipped from another store? Any tips/suggestions to make this easy?