Topic: So nobody likes GameStop?

[Dirk Temporo]

Because as much as you may like to think so, you aren't at the center of the retail world. Your average customer will wander Wal-Mart for two hours before asking for help finding what they need, then they'll complain about it later.

[KDR_11k]

But Gamestop isn't Wal Mart, you can see all their shelves with one glance.

[Dirk Temporo]

But Gamestop isn't Wal Mart, you can see all their shelves with one glance.

But can you see their entire inventory? All the stuff in the back room? Games that might not have boxes representing them on the shelves?

You can't form a legitimate argument against retail employees asking customers if they need help. If you could, somebody would have at some point in the last seventy years of retail history, and they wouldn't do it anymore. But the fact is that good customer service is the number one thing you can do to ensure that customers will return, and that begins by greeting them and being friendly.

[Kairon]

I really can't stand it (at Gamestop or anywhere else) when employees come up to me and ask if I need help. No, I know what I'm looking for goddamnit, and if I'm confused, I'll ask YOU.

And to GS employees everywhere:

Geezus fracking Krist, most gamers who come into a GS know something about video games, including me. Don't freaking lecture me about what games are good and bad on (insert system here). I'm just gonna start carrying a bundle of my NWR business cards around, and start handing them to GS employees who start talking to me.

I'm never lectured when I go into my favorite Gamestop, they respect me.

This.

I'm sure I've related this story before, but I frequented a Gamestop during college and they were never a bother to me. They were always courteous, and whether or not they greeted me depended solely on whether they were in the middle of helping other customers. Also, since the regulars there knew me from the list of only Wii and DS games I'd pre-ordered, they knew that I was a veteran of many console wars and could probably hold my own in any flame war. &P

At my current indy store, they actually do offer me additional items of interest. This is understandable, I don't begrudge them trying for add-on purchases. Bawls drinks? No thank you. Imported White GC Controller? YOWZA! ... I bought that 4 months after they first showed it to me... I caved T_T. But it's always friendly there too, like when I pre-ordered Muramasa the clerk related how he had also pre-ordered it himself. Or they show me the latest shinies they got from Japan... like that White GC Controller...*drool* But yeah, they very readily take no for an answer and treat me with respect.

[BlackNMild2k1]

GameStop CFO Leaves, Analyst Downgrades stock
GameStop in trouble? Why is no one sad? Why are all of you laughing?

Videogame retailer GameStop Corp. took it on the chin Thursday with news of the CFO's departure and an analyst's warning that the company faces pressure as more games are sold directly through online channels.

Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith, who had been in the post only six months, is jumping ship to join Wal-Mart Stores Inc. She had joined GameStop last August after a stint with homebuilder Centex Corp.

Robert Lloyd, the company's chief accounting officer, will assume the role of interim CFO.

Ms. Smith's departure was unexpected, though analysts didn't seem to read it as any indicator of a specific financial problem at the company.
[...]
Mr. Gikas said the loss of the CFO so soon "is clearly not a good sign in our view." He thinks the departure "likely signals tough times ahead and a negative near-term and long-term outlook for the company."

However, the bigger threat is the industry-wide shift to online distribution, he said. Packaged-goods game sales have declined from approximately 85% of industry sales to about 70% during the past two years. "We expect the shift to digital entertainment will continue as the current video game cycle plateaus and declines during the next three years," he wrote.

This potential shift has been a concern for investors, who worry that in the long term, GameStop's customers will increasingly download games instead of purchasing traditional consoles.
[...]

The fact that Wal-Mart has been cutting into GameStop's sales poured salt on the wound of the CFO's departure. Last month GameStop slashed its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings forecast as aggressive promotions by Wal-Mart ate into results and raised fears it can't compete with the discount giant as well as hoped. Meanwhile, sales across the videogame industry weakened last year after a record performance in 2008 on the back of several top titles.

Despite the current negative headlines, Janco Partners Inc. analyst Mike Hickey said he still sees reasons for optimism around GameStop.

I don't know.... sound like trouble to me. And to the #1 competitor too. all that salt in the wound must really burn.

[Chozo Ghost]

Gamestop employees are rude and stupid.

What a ridiculous and stupid statement. Great job lumping everyone into a specific category, considering I've seen the opposite it shows how asinine your stereotypical point really is as is any statement that says "X" group is ALL a certain way. Usually it makes me wonder if it isn't the employees with the problem but the attitude of "X" customer who makes statements like that.

Well, he shouldn't have lumped EVERY one together like that, but in my experience there has been some rude employees there. One time I went there to buy a game (I think it was Zelda) and the gamestop dude was trying to force me to buy the player's guide with it, and I told him "no thanks, I can find whatever info I need online", and he seemed to get really offended and angry about that. I was like WTF?  I buy what I want. I'm not some idiot that needs to be told what I want.

So after that I stopped buying from there altogether, and now I just do almost all of my purchases online. I realize not every employee is like that, but its hard not to generalize when that's the sort of experience you have with a place.

[Kairon]

There's a gamestop opening up near me just half a mile away. I think I'll get all my first-party purchases at TJ-Spyke's amazon shop and pre-order more unique and exotic (and likely to be overlooked) third party titles at the GameStop, like I did with Ener-G Dance Squad and Princess Debut.

[BranDonk Kong]

I must give GameStop credit for giving me $90 for an Xbox 360 I got off Craig's List for $35. Other than that...they're ****. I was going to take advantage of a local Blockbuster that was closing, I could have got like 5 copies of GHWT for $4 each, and GameStop sells it for $30...but they buy it for $2.99 - they sell it for 10x what they pay for it! I would have lost 4 dollars. Gay.

[Stratos]

They probably buy it for so cheap because new music games come out all the time so their perceived long term value is close to what annualized sports games are valued at. They drop in price so fast GS could easily lose money on buying used copies. No excuse for charging that much, though.

[Halbred]

I got a free Jirachi from them today, so I'm not complaining...today.

[Kytim89]

I just went into Gamestop and preorder Red Steel 2 and Monster Hunter 3. I took advantage of that fifty-percent(50%) trade in value. I traded in a bunch of my old PS2 games and only payed ten dollars on both games. I want to do the same thing Metroid: Other M and Galaxy 2, but I do not have much left that I want to trade in right now.
 
Secondly, what is up with this 50% trade in deal?

[Stratos]

Secondly, what is up with this 50% trade in deal?

They make the prices up so much that a 50% boost to what they normally give you is still pretty low.

[Kytim89]

They paid me about $8.50 for GTA: Vice City and $7 for MGS3.

[Kairon]

Is there any game that GameStop WON'T take? Even if they only give you a dollar?

[KDR_11k]

Probably ones they've got a serious overstock of or that are for old systems.

[Kairon]

I don't know. I remember reading one ex-Gamestop employee saying that one thing people don't take into account is the sheer number of used Maddens they have, that they can't unload, but that they still accepting trade-ins for anyway.

[Chozo Ghost]

I highly doubt you could get them to take Atari Jaguar games or something obscure like that.

[Mop it up]

Is there any game that GameStop WON'T take? Even if they only give you a dollar?

You mean besides games for non-current systems? I don't think so. And a dollar isn't the least they will offer, they will give you a penny for most sports games if you do not have the case and manual.

As an aside, I don't even remember creating this topic...

[Dirk Temporo]

Is there any game that GameStop WON'T take? Even if they only give you a dollar?

Fifty cents is the lowest they go. And there actually are some PS2 games they won't take.

[Mop it up]

If that's true then they've changed things since the last time I traded in games, which was a couple of years ago.

[Chozo Ghost]

You'd do better to sell your old games on ebay or something.

[Stratos]

Or use the game discs for coffee table coasters.

[Morari]

You'd do better to sell your old games on ebay or something.

You wouldn't be helping to support a ridiculous corporation like GameStop then either. It's win-win!

[D_Average]

Craigslist is the best way to go. Fast, free, and no shipping. Just gotta pack heat when making the deal in case your buyer is a rapist wearing a hockey mask. But that doesn't happen much anymore

[Halbred]

I've had more than a few instances on Craigslist where the dude gets to my house and is all like "Would you take (like 10% less than what I'm selling it for)?" I usually say yes, but there have been times where I've said no.