This is a long post and I tried to break up the paragraphs to avoid wall of text syndrome. I feel the subject is worth talking about or maybe I just had to get this off my chest. As most of you know, Gamestop is an immense game retailer in the states that has driven a ton of mom and pop game shops out of business. With the option to sell back used games, for many its the first choice (and sometimes only) when going to buy a game, just to get that store credit so the 59.99 purchase gets lowered somewhat. Gamestop has always been known for annoying pitches to buy their crummy gamers choice plan which comes with a lame magazine and offers a non existent discount. But recently they've started a new program where any person walking in the store, as long as they give their email address, gets signed up for a points program. This points program is supposed to give you points whenever you buy a game to give you the hopes that someday you will be able to trade in those points for a free game or free something of worth. The problem though, according to reputable consumer interest site consumerist.com, is that it would take thousands of dollars to fully earn enough points to buy one free game. So you are giving up your private email address so that gamestop can spam you into oblivion with their ads and who knows what other agencies will now have access to your information when gamestop sells it to them. But thats not all. Its not like this points program is not mentioned to a customer unless they ask. Customers are immediately confronted with this amazing plan. Plus of course the gamers club card and bogus magazine that they can purchase as well. Tonight I walked into a local gamestop (I wanted to trade in a game so didn't go to Best Buy) and yes I knew going in about the upsell, but this isn't about me. I was waiting behind this young 20 year old man. This young man was giving up his email address as I was walking in. I felt immediately sad, I knew he had fallen for whatever the salesman had pitched him. It got worse though. The salesman, no older then the kid he was selling too, immediately told him about all the cool and amazing games coming out, like Gears of War 3 (a year away!). Finally he gets to Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and the young customer's eyes light up. "I love Marvel vs Capcom!" he exclaimed. So the salesman kept pitching him on the great $5 pre order so he doesn't miss his copy, also talking to him like he was a friend and what a great series it was. The young man didn't want to do it. But the salesman persisted and as he rang up the kids order he said "Are you suuuure you don't want to put anything down?" Finally, the young man did. He added the 5 bucks to whatever he was buying, which isn't alot, but not really the point I think. So this young man had walked into buy something, and the salesman convinced him to give up his personal information with the offer of points that are meaningless, and tacking on $5 to a sale that the kid didn't really want to do but gave in. Now your probably saying the kid should have known better. But having been in sales myself in the past I know that alot of them don't. In fact, this gamestop employee was well trained in "overcoming objection". Its a little technique that basically if a customer objects to something or says "no thats ok" you then immediately ask them why or convince them otherwise. Every response a customer can give has a reply and the salesman are taught this. Such as "its going to be so popular and sell out!" or "but its only 5 bucks!" Its extemely manipulative, and it works. So gamestop employees are being trained to basically manipulate and upsell as much as possible. Old news right? Well, I think the stakes are getting higher now with the points program where gamestop can make money off of your personal information. Radio Shack, another business in the US, also upsells just less so. They have too though, because they seriously need the business as they have tons of competition and nobody needs transistor radios anymore. But Gamestop is different. They are everywhere and are practically a monopoly on the game retail business. The upselling on top of that is not needed. Its horrible. And if your wondering, when the salesman confronted me with the offers, I gave very short "no"s to him. Very friendly, smililng, just "no". The salesman then said "you know, I probably sound like a salesman, but it is a great deal". He literally said that. I just smiled, took my game, and walked out. It made me wonder if the money I saved on the trade in was really worth it. Thanks for reading.
Sadly, its one thing or another at Gamestop. Just had a good friend of mine quit working there, she had enough of their crap. And as a side note, Best Buy offers game trade-ins, or at least quite a few of them do now.
I agree 100% with this. While when I walked into one of the local GS's a few weeks ago and this didn't happen, someone was almost immediately standing in my way saying "HAI, WELCOME TO GAMESTOP!...Etc" I did not like that at all. Not to mention the lack of knowledge some of their employee's possessed. (Some guy was talking to someone on the phone about some RF Adapter*seriously* and was reading compatible systems off the label and didn't know what PSX stood for) Not all of their employee's are like that though. 2 of my friends from growing up work there and actually know their stuff. But that's an exception. But yeah, the rewards program thing. Bunch of bullshit.
I don't buy there, they are seriously overpriced here and the trade-in discounts are ridiculous. No, thanks.
I know how consumers get annoyed, but chances are that person is told to sell X amount of pre-orders as a quota. He probably hates it as much as you, but as job is a job and he has to do it. Trust me, I ask the people over the counter a billion questions when I serve them at work, not because I want to, because I have to or I can get fired. I hate saying it as much as you hate hearing it. Just spare two minutes for the guy behind the counter...
It is annoying how they are, and I've found every employee I've talked to hates the stupid corporate things, but if they don't make their quota for sales/pre-orders/registrations they get fired. So if you were working at the store wouldn't you try to upsell as much as possible? The $5 pre-order thing isn't too bad to me. Worst case if you decide against it, next time you're in get your $5 back.
It's your own fault if you give into their sales pressure. If you don't like it, don't go there. The only reason I ever found to preorder a game was if you plan to get it at midnight. Or maybe if you are a sucker and buy a limited edition. I still remember someone I knew asking me if I pre-ordered Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I just laughed at him and said no. He had this confused look. I had to explain to him why that was so dumb. I don't like GameStop either. Their business is shadey as can be. Lots of them buy stolen property so they basically are crooks as they are just like a pawn shop for crooks. I usually buy games as retailers like Target or Best Buy, if not online.
I go to a local game store called G2K Games, their pricing is fair and their trade in value is better than Gamestop of EBGames, and the guys that work/own that store truly love games. Also what I like is they buy and sell literally any console, and if you buy anything used, it comes with a warranty, which I forget how long it lasts, but its better than Gamestop. I use to go to Gamestop a long time ago, but their pricing just got ridiculous and I stopped going. The starting a points system, etc is beginning to sound like the stupid crap you hear about at stores like Macys and JCPenny, you hear about it but never know anyone who actually uses it . . . -Disjaukifa
It just amazes me though that Microsoft were taken to court and promptley sued for the same thing Gamestop and (In the UK at least) Game (Same worthless fucking points system same piss poor trade in deals etc) Continue to get away with.
That's why I love shopping at little shops: the only thing they ask you is "may I help you?" and nothing more. Then they stand patiently at the corner in order to let you have a look at your pace. Of course they're not all the little shops the same (I have met lots of asholes who own little shops) but you got the point.
I'll go there to buy used games sometimes, but even that occurs rarely. Some still have PSX1, and it's fun to pick through what they've got. I've also found "Not for Resale" DS & GBA carts there, but they usually take a black marker to the NFR label.
They don't even have a monopoly on physical distribution thanks to online retailers (Amazon and so on). That's besides the point anyway, the main concern for Gamestop (and the rest) is figuring out how they're going to stay profitable whilst everything is moving to digital distribution, on that front the future really is not bright for brick and mortar game stores. That's what all this "preorder and turn up at midnight for the official opening, buy the special edition with the little toy, buy the guide to go with it" stuff is all about - value added over the raw game data itself. They know that if they fail to sustain a market where the consumers are invested in something other than just the game then they'll be in serious fucking trouble in a decade.
Since I don't own a PS3 or 360 I really don't experience this at all. I rarely buy games there and the only ones I do are PC Games as they are slowly phasing out used PS2 games. I buy most of my stuff from steam and when I do buy a PS3 or 360, I'll probably buy games online, too.
These BS sales methods are what made starbucks the plague/success it is right now. Dont even by a second think that anything that happens inside a franchise its accidental, even that muffled music you hear in the background was carefully chosen to keep people in the mood of the situation and at same time avoiding any possibly offensive content or awkward sensation. On this points crap, its the same shit some supermarkets do, where you have to buy the equivalent of 1 year of groceries to get a POS toaster or a plastic coffee maker that burns your brew
Alot of truth here about the supermarkets. The major markets around me have a card you sign up for (give personal info etc) but you get an actual discount which isn't bad. Now CVS, a pharmacy chain, wants you to sign up for a card but gives you zero discount, nothing. And they will ask you everytime if you have or want the card. When I'm bored or in a mood I'll ask "Do I get a discount with it?" They of course say no and then can't think of a real reason to get the card besides possible coupons! Interesting point about losing customers to digital distribution but besides the 99 cent 1 mb phone game market I think most people still prefer the physical product. Maybe when high speed internet goes way down in price for very high speed will we see real adoption of the download market by both consumers and the industry.
Νοt to mention that they will sell rare games on low prices since they don't know about the rarity of these games and even they did they prefer to sell them that seeing them unsold.
I prefer Amazon as well. They've been have killer deals lately, too. GameStop is just a lot more convenient for used games. I haven't bought anything used though in a while. There's a game store nearby that has new and used for basically every console there is. Problem is their prices on used stuff is like eBay+50%. They wanted $20 for Super Mario Bros. 3 and $35 for Mario 64. I want to support smaller stores and stuff but I just can't bring myself to for those types of prices.
TBH I think that a 'steam console' (as in with the game deals and such) could be very attractive to both devs and buyers.
There's a Stop & Shop near my workplace that I enjoy using. With the card, I can get a scanner and scan/bag my own groceries. At the check out line, I just scan the "done shopping, checkout" barcode and pay. It's great. I like using the handheld scanner so that I can verify what I'm paying for an item and I get the running total. Plus, they have sale items that are only good if you use the card. I also like the True Value (hardware store) rewards card. It seems that every month or two, I get $5 coupon that I use to buy some cheap stuff when I'm in the area. It's free money so what the heck.
