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Is my local EB committing fraud?

D

Dr_Cogent

Banned
The last couple of times I've been in there, it appeared some shady things were going on.

The first time:

I came into EB knowing I wanted to buy the Hulk game for the Xbox. I asked for a new copy. They asked me if I wanted a used copy for 44.99. I said no, I don't buy used. They kept bugging me and bugging me. Then I found out that the only new copy was a display model. I said that was fine, but they kept pushing the used crap. Finally, the manager said he had to sell used (with another employee right there) and asked if it was ok for him to sell me a used copy with the "new" disc in it. I said fine, it saved me 5 bucks, but I wasn't sure if what he was doing was against policy or not - but hey, it wasn't my ass.

The second time:

I came in knowing I wanted Burnout Revenge. I asked for a new copy. The guy (who was the other employee present from the last encounter) asked me if I wanted it used. I said no. He kept up with trying to push the used on me. My uncle was with me, and he asked about buying a used copy, so I had the guy behind the counter show me the discs for the used. I looked at them all, and one was damn near perfect (had some minor scratches on it). The guy at EB said how about he trade a "new" display model disc in order to get me to buy used but with a new disc. Then he looked at the CD and said - wow - that looks worse than the used ones. So basically, they had already swapped out a used disc in place of that new one. I asked him how they could possibly do this sort of thing and he said that they are being told to sell used no matter what. He then confessed, maybe unknowingly, that they will just mark them as defective and ship them back to the anyway to be refurbished and sold later. I don't know if that was the truth or not though.

All this sounded underhanded and illegal to me. Am I full of it? Is this no big deal?

It certainly doesn't seem like it.

[edit] dammit! I misspelled "committing" in the title.
 
Sounds like a manager with shit numbers trying to do his best to keep his job....

little does he know that the huge number of defective guts will eventually get caught as well.
 
sounds like it to me. because now the "new" display copy will need to be replaced with a used copy. so now it isn't really a "new" display copy, is it?

you cant just switch discs around and sell them used as you wish
 
Did you pee in their mouths and push over their magazine racks?
 
after I say "no", I just don't say anything else at all when they keep trying to push the used one on me.

I think it makes them feel stupid cause then they're just talking at me and i'm just looking at them coldly without responding. Most of em don't even ask me about taking a used copy anymore.

I do the same thing at most places really, like when they try to push a extended plan on you that you dont want and they ask over and over. When I say no once, thats all I need to say.
 
bitwise said:
after I say "no", I just don't say anything else at all when they keep trying to push the used one on me.

I think it makes them feel stupid cause then they're just talking at me and i'm just looking at them coldly without responding. Most of em don't even ask me about taking a used copy anymore.
Click to expand...

This is why I am stoked if Best Buy does this. I can't imagine seeing their employees pressure me to buy used. But maybe I am full of it.
 
Dr_Cogent said:
This is why I am stoked if Best Buy does this. I can't imagine seeing their employees pressure me to buy used. But maybe I am full of it.
Click to expand...

haha you gotta be kidding. best buy are persistent in selling replacement plans and shit. i have no doubt they'll make some kind of guarantee plan for used games if they don't push for used games
 
Wario64 said:
haha you gotta be kidding. best buy are persistent in selling replacement plans and shit. i have no doubt they'll make some kind of guarantee plan for used games if they don't push for used games
Click to expand...

Yeah, but once I say no - they don't keep badgering me. At least thats been my experience at my BB.
 
Honestly though, just start buying your games online or at another retailer.
I'd rather support one of the upstart videogame etailers then Gamestop or EB :)
 
Suikoguy said:
Honestly though, just start buying your games online or at another retailer.
I'd rather support one of the upstart videogame etailers then Gamestop or EB :)
Click to expand...

But the problem is, it's so convenient for me to sell my used at EB.
 
Dr_Cogent said:
But the problem is, it's so convenient for me to sell my used at EB.
Click to expand...

Convient, yes, but is is honestly worth getting about 60% of what you could get selling it online?

I sell most of my stuff at half.com and just ship the stuff Priority from home (and make sure I advertise it in the listing).

Even with the 3.85 shipping to send the item, your still getting much more then you would trading it in.
 
Suikoguy said:
Convient, yes, but is is honestly worth getting about 60% of what you could get selling it online?

I sell most of my stuff at half.com and just ship the stuff Priority from home (and make sure I advertise it in the listing).

Even with the 3.85 shipping to send the item, your still getting much more then you would trading it in.
Click to expand...

How do you decide how much you're going to sell your games for at half.com?

I'm looking at Mercenaries PS2 as an example and it looks like you still get about $22 for it at EB/Gamestop where as on ebay it looks to be selling usually for about $5-$6 less than that.

EDIT:

OTOH Ace Combat 5 is doing better on Ebay than it is as a trade in... guess it varies depending on the title... maybe a mix of trading in vs. selling on ebay is better?
 
DarienA said:
How do you decide how much you're going to sell your games for at half.com?
Click to expand...

Look at all the listing, typically undercut by 50 cents or a dollar.

Take for example Radiata Stories
http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/prod.cgi?cpid=1338353959&pr=47662893

Cheapest Like new is 38.99
I'd probably sell it for 37.99

Far greater then the $20/$25 that Gamestop/EB gives.

However, there are some rare cases where if you do your math you can, with tradein deals, get a better offer at Gamestop/EB. (or as you mentioned some titles like Mercenaries)
 
Dr_Cogent said:
Mercenaries is at BB for 20 bucks. Brand spankin new.

Just bought it this week.
Click to expand...

That would explain the rapid drop on half.com :lol
 
EB tried to sell me a new game last week...it was a floor model, and it no longer had the original case. It was a case with the copied insert in it, and I wasn't allowed to have the insert. I told them to go to hell but that seems a bit shady. Quit opening new fucking games.
 
If you're this concerned about opened copies, just pre-order. Then they have to, by company policy, hold an unopened copy for you behind the counter.
 
The EBs here in NYC (maybe elsewhere too?) have started this bullshit sales push where they're including a $3.99 warantee (or something) on games right off the bat. It's happened to me twice, where I ask for a game and they add on this $3.99 thing without me asking. I'm sure they'll get some suckers, namely parents, but it's pretty ridiculous.
 
but the thing is that his ebgames is switching new display discs with a used disc, and selling it as used. FRAUD SEEMS SO
 
Matlock said:
WE JUST HAD THIS RETARDED THREAD
Click to expand...

When? I don't remember seeing said thead.

keeblerdrow said:
If you're this concerned about opened copies, just pre-order. Then they have to, by company policy, hold an unopened copy for you behind the counter.
Click to expand...

Nah. I want to read the reviews now and decide if I want the game.

Wario64 said:
but the thing is that his ebgames is switching new display discs with a used disc, and selling it as used. FRAUD SEEMS SO
Click to expand...

Yes, this is what is happening. It's BS.
 
I had the same thing happen when I picked up Wind Waker. I tore off the shrink and popped the disk out and found out the damn thing was scratched to shit. I had to argue with the EB dude to get a replacement like I was the one trying to rip them off.

Bastards.
 
When we get very recently released games traded in, they often will still look brand new. It really sounds like he's just selling you a used one and saying it's a new one to make you happy.

"No, it's new. See, uh.. we just have to sell it as used. yeah."

This seems the most likely explanation. I don't think there's any actual switching around of discs, I think they're just telling you a used one is new.

As far as fraud goes, I think it's bad enough that EB can even get away with selling display copies as brand new. That has never seemed right to me, since before I started working there even.
 
Leo said:
When we get very recently released games traded in, they often will still look brand new. It really sounds like he's just selling you a used one and saying it's a new one to make you happy.

"No, it's new. See, uh.. we just have to sell it as used. yeah."

This seems the most likely explanation. As far as fraud goes, I think it's bad enough that EB can even get away with selling display copies as brand new. That has never seemed right to me, since before I started working there even.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but I dunno. I saw the disc. It was flawless. I'm a total stickler about that sort of shit.

Regardless, like you said, they shouldn't even be selling display copies as new. It's not new, they opened it.
 
Doc Savage said:
It happens all the time. This is what happens when high sales goals get imposed upon the stores, it breeds dishonesty.
Click to expand...

I'm really curious as to where the level of dishonesty is breeding from. Is it a district manager or just a local manager or what? I have no idea.
 
Dr_Cogent said:
I'm really curious as to where the level of dishonesty is breeding from. Is it a district manager or just a local manager or what? I have no idea.
Click to expand...


I've been at Gamestops where they will rip open sealed games traded in, they're under more pressure to keep inventory correct than they are to sell a particular game as new or used. But the culture is horrid for everyone involved...the DM are assholes to the managers who really feel the heat. You can be a really young manager at these stores, but I don't know why you would be for the awful pay and tremendous pressure over sales, reservations and theft. The turnover is insane.
 
Musashi Wins! said:
I've been at Gamestops where they will rip open sealed games traded in, they're under more pressure to keep inventory correct than they are to sell a particular game as new or used. But the culture is horrid for everyone involved...the DM are assholes to the managers who really feel the heat. You can be a really young manager at these stores, but I don't know why you would be for the awful pay and tremendous pressure over sales, reservations and theft. The turnover is insane.
Click to expand...

See, that's the thing - can these specialty shops even survive? I wonder. If they have to be so damn underhanded as they appear to be, it just seems like its a matter of time before it all blows up in their faces. I have no idea though if my feelings about it are even close to being correct.
 
Dr_Cogent said:
See, that's the thing - can these specialty shops even survive? I wonder. If they have to be so damn underhanded as they appear to be, it just seems like its a matter of time before it all blows up in their faces. I have no idea though if my feelings about it are even close to being correct.
Click to expand...

They are doing very good business. Cheap labor....pay little for stock, sell it at a premium, etc.
 
Musashi Wins! said:
They are doing very good business. Cheap labor....pay little for stock, sell it at a premium, etc.
Click to expand...

True, but if Best Buy jumps in like in the other thread, that could all go way of the dodo - maybe.
 
The way I see it, as soon as a game is a "display copy", whether its been played before or not, ITS USED.

If I go into EB and they tell me to buy used. I say "I don't buy used games, ever"

If they say ok and grab anything that isn't factory sealed tight, I say "I don't buy opened games either"

"Well this is the last one we have"

*walks out of store*

I encourage everyone to demand factory sealed merchandise. Whenever profitablility is the motive they will try and SCREW YOU. Besides, those damn stickers they put on the "opened, new copies" are like impossible to get off without ruining the game case.
 
Dr_Cogent said:
True, but if Best Buy jumps in like in the other thread, that could all go way of the dodo - maybe.
Click to expand...

used retail is very hard to get right. I'm pretty sure some of these retailers have tried it with music and failed. It's a different sort of program to get down and profitable. My own experience in this happened with bookstores, I used to manage used ones. Barnes and Noble launched some satellite centers that were going to start used book centers inside the store. Even though they had the money, employees, etc. it just didn't jive with their new retail mindset and they were too big to implement needed changes in a store by store basis to deal with the differences. A couple survive as oddities, but not as profitable additions and not as a plan adopted by the industry as a whole.
 
Dr_Cogent said:
I'm really curious as to where the level of dishonesty is breeding from. Is it a district manager or just a local manager or what? I have no idea.
Click to expand...

It starts with a company CEO comparing numbers to a competitor. Wow so an so did $500 million in pre-played sales last year what did we do..... $300 million. Damn! Well we will beat them this year we are going to do $500+ million in pre-played sales.

So the shit starts to roll down hill. Pressure is applied to every level of management until it reaches it's final destination the Store Manager and below him/her the store associates. You have to realize that stores have goals to achieve but they are also competeing against one another so there are grudge and pissing matches based on regional and district rankings. Your bonus is effected by your overall rankings in the district and region and to top it off your new pre-played sales ranking.

Some districts have a daily pre-played goal of 50%. Now that school is back in the weekdays are slow and you have customers come in and by a brand new PSP for $250. That store now has to come up with $125 in pre-played sales to stay at their goal. But that is hard when newer titles that are being sold for pre-played are only $5 difference in price and lots of customers opt for the new one. That is how you get a situation that this thread is describing. New release days are even worse imagine a day where three big titles are released and all you are selling is new release after new release. The easiest way to get pre-played sales is to sell pre-played hardware but you need to have customers that are looking to buy systems and hope that the pre-played systems that are in stock aren't full or roaches and covered in some sticky substance and dust. So there are system switches just like the game switch that was mentioned earlier.

No one wants to be mentioned on a conference call for not making their goals or hear how poorly they are doing compared to "manager x". So lots of shady stuff happens to keep stores close to their numbers and most upper management pleads ignorance until something happens and goes above their heads and then again the shit rolls downhill.

I am sure this is not exclusive to just Eb Games but most of retail and it seems to be a byproduct of publicly traded companies trying to keep the profit numbers up and sharehoders happy because in the end isn't that whats most important?
 
Musashi Wins! said:
I've been at Gamestops where they will rip open sealed games traded in, they're under more pressure to keep inventory correct than they are to sell a particular game as new or used. But the culture is horrid for everyone involved...the DM are assholes to the managers who really feel the heat. You can be a really young manager at these stores, but I don't know why you would be for the awful pay and tremendous pressure over sales, reservations and theft. The turnover is insane.
Click to expand...

The ripping open sealed games thing is standard. They don't give you any more for the trade if it's sealed, either - they only dock you if you don't have the box or manual. (And then they'll charge the same amount for it on the shelf.)
 
Dr_Cogent said:
The last couple of times I've been in there, it appeared some shady things were going on.

The first time:

I came into EB knowing I wanted to buy the Hulk game for the Xbox. I asked for a new copy. They asked me if I wanted a used copy for 44.99. I said no, I don't buy used. They kept bugging me and bugging me. Then I found out that the only new copy was a display model. I said that was fine, but they kept pushing the used crap. Finally, the manager said he had to sell used (with another employee right there) and asked if it was ok for him to sell me a used copy with the "new" disc in it. I said fine, it saved me 5 bucks, but I wasn't sure if what he was doing was against policy or not - but hey, it wasn't my ass.

The second time:

I came in knowing I wanted Burnout Revenge. I asked for a new copy. The guy (who was the other employee present from the last encounter) asked me if I wanted it used. I said no. He kept up with trying to push the used on me. My uncle was with me, and he asked about buying a used copy, so I had the guy behind the counter show me the discs for the used. I looked at them all, and one was damn near perfect (had some minor scratches on it). The guy at EB said how about he trade a "new" display model disc in order to get me to buy used but with a new disc. Then he looked at the CD and said - wow - that looks worse than the used ones. So basically, they had already swapped out a used disc in place of that new one. I asked him how they could possibly do this sort of thing and he said that they are being told to sell used no matter what. He then confessed, maybe unknowingly, that they will just mark them as defective and ship them back to the anyway to be refurbished and sold later. I don't know if that was the truth or not though.

All this sounded underhanded and illegal to me. Am I full of it? Is this no big deal?

It certainly doesn't seem like it.

[edit] dammit! I misspelled "committing" in the title.
Click to expand...


what store are you shopping in? they shouldn't be giving you a new copy of the game in the used box for the used price, that's a firing right there.
 
sonarrat said:
The ripping open sealed games thing is standard. They don't give you any more for the trade if it's sealed, either - they only dock you if you don't have the box or manual. (And then they'll charge the same amount for it on the shelf.)
Click to expand...

The Gamestops here don't care if you have the box or manual.
 
Yeah it is isn't it. But the truth of the matter is that it is going on and oviously it is not unique to only one area. There is lots of other stuff that happens that would shock people and employees of other EB's. Like I said retail is hard and can be very demanding when it concerns high profit margin sales.
 
snatches said:
If I go into EB and they tell me to buy used. I say "I don't buy used games, ever"

If they say ok and grab anything that isn't factory sealed tight, I say "I don't buy opened games either"

"Well this is the last one we have"

*walks out of store*
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I've started to do since EB twice sold me used games claiming that they were new.
 
Another thing...I don't know if this works the same at EB...but at Gamestop employees could check out new games as long as there was at least 2 copies or so in the store. When they came back, they were sold as new floor copies. This was company policy and something that could be revoked if the store had problems of some sort. How can it be legal to sell those items as new? That must be a very big gray area in the law.
 
Dr_Cogent said:
I hate those damn stickers.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I stopped shopping at EB awhile ago due to all this crap that's been mentioned recently, like the stickers on "new" games. It's not just that I don't want an opened game, it's that I don't want to spend time arguing with people over what I want at a store. I said I want a new game, I want a new game, I don't want to discuss. It drives me crazy when they keep trying to sell you and won't shut up. I understand it's their job but I can't imagine they don't lose business because of it.

Ebgames.com is still fine and if I want something as fast as possible I'll just get it there with overnight shipping. Otherwise I'll go to Target or TRU where I can just buy the game w/o hassle.
 
Drensch said:
Use the website, you avoid the tards they hire. It's hard to shop at any store now because they all suck.
Click to expand...
the people that work at the warehouse are bigger tards than whats in the field
 
EB Guy said:
the people that work at the warehouse are bigger tards than whats in the field
Click to expand...

Yeah, but you don't have to talk to them....I've never had a problem with ebgames.com getting new games shrinkwrapped.
 
they're a problem when you work in the stores and they steal all the shit that's supposed to be in the return shipments
 
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