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[DrEvil]

Alright ladies and gents, as some of you may know, any time I make a new thread it's usually a way to cheat the EB system, last month it was the 100 dollar xbox360, well, the exploitation has come to an end... no, I didn't lose my job, but the merger took it's toll on something near and dear to some of our hearts: tradein deals.

Gone the way of the dinosaurs are:

-Trade in 3, get it free; now completely obliterated without a trace, we'll honor those that are in the system for yet unreleased games, but it just doesnt happen anymore.

- Trade in towards a system and get $10 for POX minimum, or $20 for PO minimum regardless of the title and quantity. -- It stopped today, without warning, vamoosh. Also with this, was the removal of the allowance of multiple of the same title on the same tradein. If we process a tradein with more than one copy of the same game, we get action taken against us.

What's soon to go the way of Michael Jackson's Career?

- EB EDGE Cards
- Gameplay Guarantees

As of January, these will no longer be offered, the edge cards WILL be honoured until they expire, however. GPGs as well.

So, since gamestop is doing some house cleaning, with all this 'out with the old' there' gotta be some 'in with the new', right?

Yup.

GameInformer Magazine Subscriptions.

So, we had trouble selling a $2 GPG on a used game? How 'bout sellin a $20 magazine subscription! YEA! It all makes sense now.


Luckily however, the $5 minimum for PS1 and all that jazz from my last post still exists, I just don't know for how much longer.

EB said that all cancelled promotions will be cancelled indefinately, and is ordering we destroy our signs as they won't be restarted... So yeah, I've gotta find different ways to exploit the system for all our collective benefit, but I figured i'd atl east give the heads up for those up here in the great white north about the lack of trades and such.

d

 

[Tarazet]

Here in the US I bought an Edge card for $5 - I understand Gamestop, which charges $15 for the same thing, will honor it after the merger obliterates the EB storefronts.

 

[VALIS]

So are these just Canada changes or can you assume they'll be company wide? Particularly in regards to the EB Edge cards.

 

[neptunes]

so uhh...what are they going to replace those deals with?

 

[DDayton]

so uhh...what are they going to replace those deals with?

Hahaahaa.... oh, that was a good one.

Spoiler

Those deals were in place primarily to compete with Gamestop. The two primary game-only stores just merged. Competition is dead.

 

[Fifty]

So, we had trouble selling a $2 GPG on a used game? How 'bout sellin a $20 magazine subscription! YEA! It all makes sense now.

:lol That's why I don't shop at EB. I feel for you guys.....being pressured to pressure people into adding these things on to every order must suck, and as a customer it sucks having people pressure you when you just want to buy your damn game.

 

[DrEvil]

Well, we used to get what they call 'spiff' on gpgs or esa (Warranties)..

basically if we sold a $3 GPG (new game), we'd get 60 cents for each one sold
if we sold a $2 gpg, we'd get 40 cents for each sold..

And as for ESA's it's something like 15% of the cost of the esa or something (both new and used).

Anyways, about a month ago they took away spiff on NEW gpg's and ESAs - thus basically removing all incentive for the employees to sell them.

the solution? if any employee complained, they were to be written up for "working for the bonus and not the company" -- HA.

Anyways, weeks later, the EBlines were laced with 'we havent seen improvement in the $3 GPGs and ESAs, we need to work on this" -- no shit sherlocks.

Basically now, if we offer the new gpg/esa, and the customer says no, most people in my store just dont care anymore, and won't pressure them.

Also, there's been rumours that used gpg and esa spiff will be dissapearing as well, thus removing ANY bonuses we get, save the 15% discount -and if that goes, I'm going to burn the building down.

 

[Fuzzy]

:lol That's why I don't shop at EB. I feel for you guys.....being pressured to pressure people into adding these things on to every order must suck, and as a customer it sucks having people pressure you when you just want to buy your damn game.

I've only stepped into an EB once this year and only because I saw the Mario Baseball demo while I was walking by. One of the employees asked me about pre-ordering a few different games after I was there for an inning and a half and I just looked at him and walked out.

 

[vatstep]

I was wondering if EB employees had incentive to sell GPGs. Now I know. When I bought Killzone :lol , there was apparently a promotion going on where there was $5 off Sony first-party games. I didn't know about this until afterwards, so the guy who rang it up for me told me I got $3 off for whatever reason. Turns out I should've got $5 off, but of course, he added on the GPG without even telling me. I didn't find out until I looked at the receipt later. I never bothered going back to get my $2.

 

[Matlock]

y'know, we lose GMR and gain GameInformer. That's a pretty shitty trade.

 

[Shinobi]

Fuck EB Canada. I went into a location a few weeks ago to trade in some games, and was told I couldn't do so unless I have a driver's license or photo ID. Not having a driver's license I pull out my health card, only to hear that it's against the law to use that for ID purposes. Since when did you need ID to trade in games for fuck's sake? It isn't like they're gonna give me gold bars for the games.

Fuck EB Canada.

 

[MarkRyan]

Are trade-in values lower now, too? Buddy brought in a copy of SSX On Tour and only got $10 in-store credit for it--game just came out and sells for $40 new.

 

[DrEvil]

Are trade-in values lower now, too? Buddy brought in a copy of SSX On Tour and only got $10 in-store credit for it--game just came out and sells for $40 new.

Seems so, they're also starting to put certain current gen games priced at zero, such as amped and crimson skies, and a few others (death by degrees, etc).

First I've seen them put active games as a 0 tradein, although it's likley due to the abundance of these titles that are sitting in warehouse, the tides are a changing.

 

[jaundicejuice]

If EB Canada starts cheaping out on trade ins, hacking away deals and what not they'll just get canabalised by their competitors.

Blockbusters does trade ins, altho I've never tried them out so I have no idea how good or bad they are, TRU Canada is just now starting to introduce that Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal with new-ish releases the States has had going on for a while now, Futureshop generally offers some new releases with discounts, nevermind all the other kinds of deals I have access to via online retailers.

What incentive will I have to ever go back to EB if they remove the few they currently have?

 

[DrEvil]

Hay, you know those $1 madden trade values we're giving?

Blockbuster gives a minimum of 7 I believe - Blockbuster gives ridiculous amounts of credit, in the long run it could hurt them, but eb is fucking itself in the foot, and it'll catch up, considering our sales ahve been steadily dropping, at least in our district.

 

[gblues]

Fuck EB Canada. I went into a location a few weeks ago to trade in some games, and was told I couldn't do so unless I have a driver's license or photo ID. Not having a driver's license I pull out my health card, only to hear that it's against the law to use that for ID purposes. Since when did you need ID to trade in games for fuck's sake? It isn't like they're gonna give me gold bars for the games.

Fuck EB Canada.

EB has always asked for ID for trade-ins. I know it was happening back in 1998 when I worked there. It's so if your games get stolen and the thief "trades in" (read: fences) the games, there's a record of who did it.

Nathan

 

[TurtleSnatcher]

gamestop u dont need an id in my store to trade in stuff unless for cash.

but why does the OP make it sound like EB is the holy grail of game sales..

 

[Mercurial]

Fuck EB Canada. I went into a location a few weeks ago to trade in some games, and was told I couldn't do so unless I have a driver's license or photo ID. Not having a driver's license I pull out my health card, only to hear that it's against the law to use that for ID purposes. Since when did you need ID to trade in games for fuck's sake? It isn't like they're gonna give me gold bars for the games.

Fuck EB Canada.

I use my health card for almost any situation that requires ID. Including selling games, opening accounts or getting into clubs/concerts. Isn't it just illegal for them to ask for it?

 

[DrEvil]

gamestop u dont need an id in my store to trade in stuff unless for cash.

but why does the OP make it sound like EB is the holy grail of game sales..

Uh, I don't -- if you've read my previous EB related posts, it's all about how to cheat the system for the least amount of money.

I'm upset that those opportunities are gone.

Go back a few pages and read the 'xbox 360 for as little as 100 dollars' thread, it outlined how you could trade 60 older generation (n64, ps1, snes) games and get a 360 for as much as it costs to get cheap ass 2nd hand games.

EB sucks in general man, I don't support the company at all in any form except for working there, and even then, it's mostyl spent divising ways to cheat the system.

edit: mer - it's illegal for us to write down the HC number, and we need an ID number for verification purposes... city bylaws actually.

 

[Hellraizah]

.

 

[TurtleSnatcher]

Who told you about the GPGs and Edge card dissapearing in January ? Was it in the EB lines today ?

Seriously, nobody should complain about the Game Informer subscription, if you think it will be hard to sell that to customers, think about how hard it will be to sell it here to :

People who only speak french (in Quebec) and feel already burned by the GMR subscription they got 2 years ago and never received any issue because the distribution was shit.

I know gamestop corp tells all of gamestop employees that eb spiffs are dead and will be gone for good.

GPG's as well and edge cards will phase into MORE cards (game informer card)

 

[Hellraizah]

.

 

[Zen]

In case the games turn out to be stolen property.

I have no problem with the ID, it makes sense.

 

[Shinobi]

EB has always asked for ID for trade-ins. I know it was happening back in 1998 when I worked there. It's so if your games get stolen and the thief "trades in" (read: fences) the games, there's a record of who did it.

Nathan

Hmmm...first time I've ever had ID asked of me. I've traded games a couple times at other EB locations and nobody said shit about ID.

Anyway, they should make that clear in the flyers or in a blowup or something before making me waste my time and having me look like a fool.

I use my health card for almost any situation that requires ID. Including selling games, opening accounts or getting into clubs/concerts. Isn't it just illegal for them to ask for it?

Beats me...there's only one other time where I've had an issue with using the health card for ID, and even then I wasn't told it was illegal. And yeah, plenty of other places where games or DVD's can be traded in, I've never been asked for ID. It just hit me out of the blue.

 

[Suikoguy]

Certain states have certain laws regarding trade ins (its considered a pawn shop)

To sum it up quickly since I have class,

Gamestop as a company frankly does not care about the laws in place, but some stores try to care anyway.

 

[Tarazet]

I should start offering to trade peoples' games in for them at my Best Buy for credit, which I will transfer back to them... not all of the values are high, but some of them are just ridiculous. They don't dock you if you don't have the manual or case, either.

They have taken it down, but they had a sheet of "Most Wanted Games" with their trade-in values. Some of these are from that list, some are from my own trade-ins:

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GC) - $31.50
Killer7 (GC) - $30
Paper Mario TTYD (GC) - $25
Drake of the 99 Dragons (Xbox) - $7.50
Killer7 (PS2) - $16.50
Digital Devil Saga 1 or 2 (PS2) - $30
Radiata Stories (PS2) - $31.50
Viewpoint (PS1) - $7.50

I did have the problem of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection ringing up at $1, which they said was most likely a mistake. Some of the other trades I didn't take or wasn't happy with: Ikaruga $7.50, Baten Kaitos $7.50, R: Racing Evolution $2.20, Eternal Darkness $4, Gran Turismo 3 $1.60...

 

[THE DUCK]

I have a real bone to pick with eb canada right now.

About 3 weeks ago I went in and asked if they were taking pre-books for launch 360's. They said yes, so I traded in a whole bunch of games and psp. Two weeks later they call me and say I won't be getting a launch unit, so I am left screwed for a unit. If they had not lied to me I would have sold my stuff on ebay and gotten the cash out of it, now I'm left trying to figure out how to pay for a $600 machine at futureshop.

Oh yeah, they offered me the option of changing to a core unit (ya like that's a good idea) or getting it all on a edge card. Which does me no good in paying for a 360 either.

What I really want is my stuff back (since they lied to me in order to get it), or cash for the trade in amount. I don't suppose there is any chance.....

It occurs to me that since they promised me a bundle unit and they have core units available, they should sell me the core unit with the remote, a wireless controller, component cable, hard drive, and headset, for $499.

 

[Hellraizah]

.

 

[THE DUCK]

I know how retail works. You don't pre-book a product unless you know for sure you are getting the product. To do anything else risks alienating customers , big time. To complicate matters, eb is taking in trade in product that can't be reversed, and they know it.

I don 't buy the arguement that EB didn't know there was a chance they wouldn't get 50 units for my store. They could have at least informed me of the risk that I might not get a launch unit, instead they steadfastly assured me of a launch unit.

Call it a lie, call it a mistake, call it incompetance, it still screwed me, thru no fault of my own.

I did pre-order a lot sooner, at futureshop. But when EB games offered me a unit at launch I traded in all my games towards one at thier store, so I would not have to shell out $600 in cash.

So before you pass judgement on me, perhaps you should understand the whole situation.

 

[Shinobi]

There's a big difference between lies and up-to-date informations. They have probably been told to take as much pre-orders as they want, and that they would be notified afterwards when allocation reach its maximum. Now they were probably alerted of their first day allocation, and they called people to tell them if they can't have their 360 on launch day. AT LEAST they called you.

Before blaming everything on the "lie", you should try to understand how retail works. If it fills you with frustation, and you want to put all the blame on them, just think about how you could have pre-ordered a lot sooner......

Fuck that noise. If you're not sure you're gonna be able to deliver on something, then don't promise it. That's what pre-ordering is all about.

 

[DrEvil]

I know how retail works. You don't pre-book a product unless you know for sure you are getting the product. To do anything else risks alienating customers , big time. To complicate matters, eb is taking in trade in product that can't be reversed, and they know it.

I don 't buy the arguement that EB didn't know there was a chance they wouldn't get 50 units for my store. They could have at least informed me of the risk that I might not get a launch unit, instead they steadfastly assured me of a launch unit.

Call it a lie, call it a mistake, call it incompetance, it still screwed me, thru no fault of my own.

I did pre-order a lot sooner, at futureshop. But when EB games offered me a unit at launch I traded in all my games towards one at thier store, so I would not have to shell out $600 in cash.

So before you pass judgement on me, perhaps you should understand the whole situation.

Dude, the way it worked in my store, and I KID YOU NOT was this:

When we first started taking 360 pre-orders, we were told 13 units is what we'd be getting for the premium bundle, so we pre-ordered up to 13 units and then stopped (this is early september)

Microsoft then sent an email to EB head office, which in turn was relayed to us / our buyer saying that we'd get enough units to cover all our preorders and more, so we should start selling preorders again - we did this, and we were confident we'd get our allocation, because microsoft said so ("80% of all of Canada's units will be for EB!".

So here we were, sitting at 30 preordered premium bundles (no cores ironically), and we get an email saying microsoft is falling short of their shipments so we should stop preselling immediately - but all the 30 people that preordered would be getting their unit at launch.

So, we were relieved considering we woulda had people angry with us, right? Sure; until we got the email from HO that our store allocation for launch would only be 22 units. So we've got eight people not getting systems at launch.

Last week in our EB lines / District specific email, we were told that second shipment may not be until the new year (BS i bet..), so we had to call those eight people who fell below the 22 mark and tell them the bad news.

I called them all yesterday, EVERY single one of them were kind, nice, and didn't have a problem waiting; I didn't get reamed out, I didnt get yelled at - so it seems like you're overreacting, dvdvideo.

It's a 360, what difference does it make to have it on Nov 22nd, or Nov 29th? (we were told early on that replenishment was approximately each week). It's not like you're any less cool for not having a system the OMGSECONDITCOMESOUT! Grow up a little.

And as for your stuff, You should have gone ebay or pawn shop - shit like a PSP in a pawn shop gets ya close to new price for it.

So don't say we lied and we magically knew the number of systems all along, if anyone is to blame, it's microsoft for throwing our allocation around.. And with recent news of it dropping even further, who knows if we even get those 22.

 

[THE DUCK]

Thanks for the info Dr. Evil.

I don't feel I am overreacting, and no I didn't ream out the guys who told me I would be waiting. I don't mind a week of waiting, but till January is not acceptable to me (if this were to happen). And by the way, just because other buyers are willing to roll over and take something doesn't mean it's a good thing to do.

And as for your stuff, You should have gone ebay or pawn shop - shit like a PSP in a pawn shop gets ya close to new price for it.

Errr....I got good trade in value. Seems odd that you would be telling me to go to other places.

As to blaming Microsoft, it's hard to blame them, they didn't take in my product or make me any promises, EB did.
In the future, wouldn't it be smart for EB to tell people that pre-order allocations can change? At least then it would give customers a better understanding of the risk they are taking pre-ordering with EB. You admitted they changed the allocation on you once already in the past and yet eb was still telling people launch units for sure.

 

[DrEvil]

They changed the allocation to a higher number, because we were smart enough to stop - and then our buyer said 'yes we're going to have enough to cover your launch and much more, so lets sell those systems'

I personally expected it to drop again, just cuz I was following the updates through GAF (the microsoft orchestrated shortages etc); but in terms of the store, and probably EB as a whole, they weren't forseeing the whole DROP in allocation.

Every store in my district fell under the same trap, so it's hard to say "hey, we're going to have enough systems at launch, so why dont you preorder? But you know,we might not,so you might not get it at launch" -- do you think that person would preorder, when at that point in time, we all 'knew' we'd be getting enough units to cover that person's preorder?

And what'd you get, $175 for the unit, $7 for the mem card, $1 for the headphones?

I always tell people to trade in at other places, especially like blockbuster that give minimum of 5 or 7 bucks now, for games like madden 03 that give only a dollar at eb, it's well worth it for me as a person not to cheat the customer, who cares if it drives a potential tradein away ? Less work for me in the long run

d

 

[Shinobi]

Errr....I got good trade in value. Seems odd that you would be telling me to go to other places.

Heh, it's a strange paradox with him...he says he hates EB, yet defends the company in a situation where in our view they basically fucked up (not intentionally mind you, but that's the reality). If they're courteous about it most reasonable people will understand it, and you seemed to do that as well. I certainly don't see how you're overreacting...hell, you're not the one who said "fuck EB". :lol

 

[THE DUCK]

I understand why they didn't tell people....goes against selling machines. It still doesn't make my situation any better though, nor does it work well in terms of long term customer care. Chances of me pre-ordering my PS3 with eb are next to none now.

I got 225 or so for the psp.....they gave me the 30% bonus.

 

[DrEvil]

I understand why they didn't tell people....goes against selling machines. It still doesn't make my situation any better though, nor does it work well in terms of long term customer care. Chances of me pre-ordering my PS3 with eb are next to none now.

I got 225 or so for the psp.....they gave me the 30% bonus.

I wholeheardetly agree, but we dont have magic 8-balls to tell us each customer's future and their reaction to the possibility of not getting a unit at launch... I mean if that were so, we'd be liable for your likely massacre of whatever store you preordered at

To be fair though, I'd be a little upset if I took the time to preorder and didn't get it, but still, it's just a system, doesn't have to be a day one type thing.


On a brighter note (for me) - this kid won on the befirsttoplay contest, doesnt want his system - he's going to trade it in, unopened to our store, and we're not going to part out the HDD and other accessories, So I get the premium system at the core's tradein price (likely $379, it's not set yet) - and I have close to 400$ on my edge card, so i'm set, lol.

 

[Hellraizah]

No.

 

[DrEvil]

Anyways, dvdvideo, if it can bring you some recomfort, I'm a EB manager, and I pre-ordered like.... one month ago....

I'm not getting it on launch day either

You're not, but you could if you wanted to be a dick, lol.

 

[Hellraizah]

Heh.

 

[EB Guy]

So, we were relieved considering we woulda had people angry with us, right? Sure; until we got the email from HO that our store allocation for launch would only be 22 units. So we've got eight people not getting systems at launch.

Dude in my store I have 181 pre-orders and we are only getting 70 through the end of December. (only geting 34 at launch, it was supposed to be 70 at launch)

We had to call those eight people who fell below the 22 mark and tell them the bad news.
I called them all yesterday, EVERY single one of them were kind, nice, and didn't have a problem waiting; I didn't get reamed out, I didnt get yelled at.

I have yet to do this, I'm dreading it. That's over 100 people not getting it. This is microsoft's fault, they told EB that they would ship us X amount, and no less than 2 weeks ago they were all like, " Uh, yeah, about that..........." so now it's just a horrible situation and I think I'm gonna pick up some riot gear for myself and my staff. GAF pray for me.

 

[DrEvil]

Dude in my store I have 181 pre-orders and we are only getting 70 through the end of December. (only geting 34 at launch, it was supposed to be 70 at launch)

I have yet to do this, I'm dreading it. That's over 100 people not getting it. This is microsoft's fault, they told EB that they would ship us X amount, and no less than 2 weeks ago they were all like, " Uh, yeah, about that..........." so now it's just a horrible situation and I think I'm gonna pick up some riot gear for myself and my staff. GAF pray for me.

Hey, I get to work that stupid retarded 6:30am opening on the 22nd - I can only imagine if there's a lineup of 'regular' customers that arent part of the special early opening.

I believe it's all accross ontario at least, the first 20 preorders come in in 10 minute intervals, they get 'specialized' buying time to help them get accessories etc with their system; but we've been having a LOT of people ask if we're doing a midnight opening or early opening, and I could only imagine some people waiting outside of the store to buy their 360 and not be able to, except for teh core system! lol.

Ah well, should be fun, free coffee and donuts for us, mmm.

 

[THE DUCK]

If it's anything like the Halo 2 lineup it will be brutal. It took forever to process each customer. The reason why? The sales pitch that you are forced to go into with each customer to try to upsell.

Did you want this strategy guide? Did you want insurance on those disks? Did you know you get 20% off halo gear today only? Join our edge program? Want to look around?
It took me about 10 minutes to pick up my halo 2, lol. (not including any waiting time)

The 360 lauch will be much slower I imagine.....

 

[snatches]

Thanks Dr. Evil, I still have $1100 on my card....time to preorder some PS3's.

 

[dammitmattt]

DrEvil,

I hope you don't have your real name attached anywhere to this account or you will be fired. Just a friendly warning.

 

[Truelize]

Blockbuster gives a minimum of 7 I believe - Blockbuster gives ridiculous amounts of credit, in the long run it could hurt them, but eb is fucking itself in the foot, and it'll catch up, considering our sales ahve been steadily dropping, at least in our district.

Blockbuster got rid of their minimums just last week. Games used to get me $8 minimum. NBA2k3 for the xbox = $8. :lol It was so nice.
They still gave me $5 for Spiderman, Enter the Matrix, Pro Race Driver and Onimusha2 got me $6.

Blockbuster is by far the best place to trade games into in Canada.


And about the EB stuff.... I'll take a subscription to Gameinformer anyday. GMR mag was brutal.

 

[DrEvil]

DrEvil,

I hope you don't have your real name attached anywhere to this account or you will be fired. Just a friendly warning.

I'm not that stupid

d

 

[dammitmattt]

I'm not that stupid

d

Good...cause I was when I was 18...and I got written up!

 

[Lhadatt]

Also, there's been rumours that used gpg and esa spiff will be dissapearing as well, thus removing ANY bonuses we get, save the 15% discount -and if that goes, I'm going to burn the building down.

 

[DrEvil]

I'm glad someone caught the reference

 

[Magnus]

EBGames Head office has people smart enough to check boards like this for their employees? LMAO There isn't a brain in that goddamned office, I'm really surprised that happened dude.

This is terrible news. I haven't been into work in a week or so, so I haven't seen this list of changes for myself. I suppose it was all expected; merger means practically zero competition (at least in the pre-owned department). Oh well. I've done my four years. $8/h with no commission and a horrible 15% discount ain't gonna cut it anymore, I already have two better jobs waiting for me. If all this shit sticks for more than just the Christmas period, I'm done.