Rant: Console store employees!

[Nesh]

I meant 5 Euros

Why would they have to buy your crap for more than it is worth?

They want to buy the crap. They have a sign "Used Games Wanted"

And secondly why would I want to buy someone else's "used crap" for 30-45 Euros from them, when they value them 5 Euros a piece to take them in? Either its crap worth only little, or it is not and its worth 30-45 Euros!

 

[Squilliam]

On top of that, the people that work there have attitude too.

Sometimes when people do it for the love and not the money it isn't exactly for the best from the perspective of the buyer!

 

[Jedi2016]

My favorite still is when I went to get Killzone 2. The store had done a "midnight release" the night before and it was still all decorated up and the clerk went on and on about the festivities. So finally after 5 minutes of raving he asks me, "You want that for the 360 right?..................................."

I would have tried my damndest to straight-face it and say "Yep" and watch him flail around for ten minutes trying to find it.

I haven't been to my local Gamestop in quite a while. The last time I was there was to pick up Heavy Rain because I literally could not find it anywhere else, even online. I may go back some day to sell off my current stock when next-gen comes around, but probably not before then.

 

[tuna]

I meant 5 Euros

They want to buy the crap. They have a sign "Used Games Wanted"

And secondly why would I want to buy someone else's "used crap" for 30-45 Euros from them, when they value them 5 Euros a piece to take them in? Either its crap worth only little, or it is not and its worth 30-45 Euros!

They want to buy your crap for what they think it is worth. You do not have to buy the crap they sell either. If you two can not agree on a price you do not have to do business with each other. You know, the free market and all that

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I meant 5 Euros

They want to buy the crap. They have a sign "Used Games Wanted"

And secondly why would I want to buy someone else's "used crap" for 30-45 Euros from them, when they value them 5 Euros a piece to take them in? Either its crap worth only little, or it is not and its worth 30-45 Euros!

do you not have ebay? Seems the ideal choice where everyone could buy/sell used games for €20, making it cheaper for the buyers and more profitable for the sellers. That's why I don't understand these companies' trade in offers.

 

[Nesh]

do you not have ebay? Seems the ideal choice where everyone could buy/sell used games for €20, making it cheaper for the buyers and more profitable for the sellers. That's why I don't understand these companies' trade in offers.

Well thats why I didnt go with them. Thats why I do go with Ebay

They want to buy your crap for what they think it is worth. You do not have to buy the crap they sell either. If you two can not agree on a price you do not have to do business with each other. You know, the free market and all that

Yeah I know. Just pointing out how much of a rip off they are and how absurd it is that they value a used item so low when they buy it from you but when they sell your item its value jumps so high
Either they think its worth pennies or its worth gold. It cant be both. They are basically "stealing" by downplaying the value for you and overpricing the items when you want to buy them.

 

[tuna]

Well thats why I didnt go with them. Thats why I do go with Ebay

Yeah I know. Just pointing out how much of a rip off they are and how absurd it is that they value a used item so low when they buy it from you but when they sell your item its value jumps so high
Either they think its worth pennies or its worth gold. It cant be both. They are basically "stealing" by downplaying the value for you and overpricing the items when you want to buy them.

It is the store's right to set the prices they want. Calling that "stealing" is incredibly idiotic.

 

[Jedi2016]

It is the store's right to set the prices they want. Calling that "stealing" is incredibly idiotic.

Just because it's not illegal doesn't make it right.

Gamers are better off removing the store from the equation entirely. If you use the store as the go-between, a person who wants to sell a used game, and a person who wants to buy a used game, both parties get screwed and only the store makes out like a bandit. The seller gets maybe $10 for the game, the buyer has to pay $50, the store makes $40, not a penny of which makes it back to the developer or publisher (if they're "stealing", it's from them, not us). If the seller just puts the game on Craigslist for $30, both he and the buyer make out better than going through some place like Gamestop.

I wouldn't shed a tear if all those places up and disappeared tomorrow.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Just because it's not illegal doesn't make it right.

But it's not stealing. And free market economics means it is right to set whatever price you want. Consumers should just not sell to nor buy from those businesses if their deals aren't worth it. As long as they pay and charge what they do and people still come, than that's good business. Dumb consumers, but good business. If there was no other alternative then we could complain, but there are, so it's the buyer's own stupid fault for supporting these poor second-hand deals.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Just because it's not illegal doesn't make it right.

Right or wrong varies greatly with the individual. Just because you or I don't feel it's right doesn't mean others don't feel it's right.

If enough people don't feel it's right and stop participating then the policy will change or the business will go bankrupt. In this case, enough people feel it's OK that they continue to do business.

I also don't think it's "right" that most of Ferrari's cars are priced above 100k USD. Somehow I don't think Ferrari is going to change their pricing policy due to that. But neither does that mean I have to pay them that much for one of their cars. I can opt to just not give them any of my business. Same as people can and do (as Nesh points out) decide not to give any of their business to that store/chain.

Regards,
SB

 

[Nesh]

It is the store's right to set the prices they want. Calling that "stealing" is incredibly idiotic.

Sorry but ts my right as a consumer to judge prices, serviceability and store policies and I will not accept such characterizations for my right to evaluate them and I shall not accept the slightest notion that the store's interests should be above mine. If they give less value to me than what I give to them, yes I will express it in that way. And I will express it because I am a more conscious and informed consumer and I dislike any sort of business that tries to gain from the less knowledgeable and uninformed consumer free or not-free economy. This is my right, whether anyone likes it or not. I as a consumer called the store's "right" to set prices too high "stealing" and you called my right to express my opinion as a consumer "idiotic". Is the store's rights above my rights? Thats an oxymoron. Its a shit unbalanced failed economy when the consumer has less saying. and hence one side of the economy has more power than the other.

 

[tuna]

Sorry but ts my right as a consumer to judge prices, serviceability and store policies and I will not accept such characterizations for my right to evaluate them and I shall not accept the slightest notion that the store's interests should be above mine. If they give less value to me than what I give to them, yes I will express it in that way. And I will express it because I am a more conscious and informed consumer and I dislike any sort of business that tries to gain from the less knowledgeable and uninformed consumer free or not-free economy. This is my right, whether anyone likes it or not. I as a consumer called the store's "right" to set prices too high "stealing" and you called my right to express my opinion as a consumer "idiotic". Is the store's rights above my rights? Thats an oxymoron. Its a shit unbalanced failed economy when the consumer has less saying. and hence one side of the economy has more power than the other.

I did not call your right to express your opinion "idiotic". I called the notion that equaling a shops (in your opinion) high prices to "stealing" idiotic. And when did I ever claim that the store has rights that you do not have?

As consumers today we have an incredible amount of outlets to shop electronic entertainment from. If we do not like one it is very easy to choose another. If people choose to not spend time to shop around that is their choice as well.

 

[Nesh]

I did not call your right to express your opinion "idiotic". I called the notion that equaling a shops (in your opinion) high prices to "stealing" idiotic. And when did I ever claim that the store has rights that you do not have?

You dont seem to be aware of the actual situation I described in my initial post. What I called stealing is how much they downplay the value of consumer's used item compared to how much they value consumer's used item when they sell it back to the consumer. It becomes more absurd when its almost at the price of the new. Its a completely unequal exchange of value.

I didnt just see a price and said "oh look thats high, thats stealing!".

As consumers today we have an incredible amount of outlets to shop electronic entertainment from. If we do not like one it is very easy to choose another. If people choose to not spend time to shop around that is their choice as well.

And that is completely irrelevant. Not all consumers can be equally knowledgeable, many will fall to the wrong shops and do transactions that dont reach their pareto efficiency. Even under the assumption that everyone is equally and highly knowledgeable, perfectly rational that use their choice to avoid every bad shop in existence, it does not mean that those avoided bad shops that overprice products in hope of gaining at the consumer's expense will not be judged as such. And yes even if that means acknowledging their failed effort as trying to "steal". Now if the wording annoys you that much it doesnt matter. Its pointless.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It's your choice of word that's causing a ruckus. Stealing is taking something from someone without their permission. The actions you (rightly, IMO) criticise are more of a con-artist, snake-oil salesman. Probably not even that, as everyone knows what they are getting. They're just greasy middlemen, the same as all other greasy middlemen. My prefered name is for such characters is 'scum'.

 

[Jedi2016]

And, just do what I do.. don't shop there.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

My prefered name is for such characters is 'scum'.

Or used car salemen. It's pretty much the same story with any sort of used store sales, however. Pawn shops, used car lots, etc. The difference between what they buy something for and what they sell something for will vary greatly from store to store and region to region.

Buy for 5 and sell for 35 is on the more extreme end of the scale, especially if it's a newly released product which will sell quickly but certainly not uncommon.

It's relatively rare that say, a pawnshop, will buy something for more than 50% of what they plan to sell it for. On average they'll try to get it for 20-25% of what they will try to sell it for. But if the customer is willing to haggle they can get much closer to the 50% mark.

Likewise, when actually selling the product, a customer willing to haggle can often get an item for under the used shops asking price.

Used console (console, games, accessories) sales are the odd one, IMO. Pretty much all other used product sales I'm used to seeing people haggle over both the selling price and buying price (not everyone but enough that it's fairly common). Use console stores are the only place I can think of with a buy it or leave mentality with the vast majority of its customer base.

Most of this I got because I once went out with a girl who's father owned a pawnshop.

Regards,
SB

 

[Shifty Geezer]

And even then, if you go independent and sell your stuff on eBay, you may be unlucky and audtion it off for a fiver. Value is relativge, and everyone's trying to get as much as possible at the lowest cost. I'm sure pretty much everyone who complains about getting only five bucks for their used games would happily buy someone else's game for five bucks and wouldn't haggle the price up to give them a fairer deal!

 

[Nesh]

It's your choice of word that's causing a ruckus. Stealing is taking something from someone without their permission. The actions you (rightly, IMO) criticise are more of a con-artist, snake-oil salesman. Probably not even that, as everyone knows what they are getting. They're just greasy middlemen, the same as all other greasy middlemen. My prefered name is for such characters is 'scum'.

Well you get my point though. But lets not get stuck on one "blade of grass" and ignore the "forest".
I am a little harsh on the subject as I generally disagree with the notion that everyone knows what he is getting since the market isnt truly that efficient. The general impression is that by the time that everyone has a choice, the market adjusts to the point that the optimal benefit for everyone is achieved, but information availability is not uniform, negotiating power is uneven and not all participants in a market always know which is the optimum choice and choices are limited to context.
i.e some markets adjust their prices high based on observation forming some form of cartel without necessarily having to meet in person (anti-trust measures fail to spot and address this in such cases because a cartel doesnt necessarily exist but the actions are the same as if there was a cartel), in other markets they compete each other to the point that prices are at the lowest possible. In other markets there are less suppliers of products and services, in others there are more giving more choice.
A free market works efficiently and at everyone's benefit only under many many socioeconomic assumptions that suggest an ideal environment and behavior but it doesnt. In an alternative universe perhaps yes :smile:

Anyways I think this went off topic

 

[fearsomepirate]

Sorry but ts my right as a consumer to judge prices, serviceability and store policies

Yes, and that's the other side of the free market. Gamestop can offer you a crappy price, and you are free to reject it and try to find another buyer.

Back on topic...I don't go to Gamestop because 90% of the time, I end up feeling like I need to help some poor, confused customer that the idiots behind the counter can't help. The last time I was there, there was someone who needed better cables, and the Gamestop mouth-breather literally had no idea what the differences between composite, S-video, component, and HDMI were. I don't remember what the person ended up needing (I think he ended up with component cables), but explaining the basics of video cables to an employee was infuriating. I wasn't so much angry at the 17-year-old girl who didn't know anything as I was at Gamestop for being completely disinterested in training their employees on the basics of the products they sell.

I'm not expecting them to know how the USA in the Xbox allows for slightly fancier shaders than the PS3. I do expect them to know what a goddamned component cable is.

 

[Nesh]

Yes, and that's the other side of the free market. Gamestop can offer you a crappy price, and you are free to reject it and try to find another buyer.

Did you really have to state the obvious?
As if anybody has challenged this or argued to the contrary?