Why does everybody hate Gamestop? (OLD)

Gamestop is vilified for being the evil empire of games, controlling pricing and availability with an iron fist. Many think their top priority is to rip off the customer and see the management team as greedy beyond measure. I want to suggest that this is far from the case, and Gamestop is merely another corporation in the industry we all love.

I will analyze many of the criticisms leveled against the company and explain why they’re not fair. I will argue that you can criticize the game industry in general, but singling out Gamestop is unfair and unwarranted. (I realize I’m going to take a lot of crap for this one)

Does Gamestop really rip us off?

The chief complaint I hear from the gaming community is that Gamestop is ripping off customers with their pricing.

“They buy a game from the consumer for pennies on the dollar and then turn around and resell it for only $5 less than a new game. Gamestop isn’t like any normal company looking out for their customers and building goodwill, they just want to use you and lose you. They’re screwing both the developers and us, the consumer!” Sound familiar?

When we get into real financial statistics, however, it quickly becomes apparent this isn’t accurate. Let’s compare Gamestop to a company like Apple which has huge customer loyalty and is generally thought of as a company that does ‘the right thing,’ and has a target demographic that overlaps with Gamestop. Apple’s operating margins are 21%. Gamestop? 8%. Apple is making over 2.5x the profit as a percentage of sales in comparison with Gamestop.

[The pictures start here and I couldn’t really get them to transfer correctly – so if you’re at all interested check out the rest … I go into how Gamestop adds value, how they help out consumers in a couple ways and how there are better targets for us to hate. I just didn’t want to spam you guys with a wall of text if you didn’t care and just wanted to respond to the headline.] Thoughts?

i have never been to a gamestop, but im guessing its basically the same as EB games

I hate Game Stop. 
I recently tried to purchase Demon's Souls on Saturday and here is what I encountered:
 
 -Game Stop employee told me "We are sold out.......this is what you get for not reserving it when we have been advertising it for pre-order for the past 6 months".   My side note: Funny thing is I did not even know this game existed until two days ago (after it already hit the streets) so how in the hell was I suppose to pre-order it.  Game Stop employees are really getting on my nerves lately

Well, I don't hate Gamespot, I just don't trust them to take and hold a pre-order, but that's an entirely different story.  Second, I don't think they set prices.  In fact, I'd wager that Wal-Mart has more influence in that matter since Wal-Mart is a much, much bigger retailer of games.  One of the reasons that people have some negative feelings for Gamespot is their tactics.  The constant pitches to join their service, to reserve a pre-order, to sell back the new game you are buying, etc...  Hell, they were calling people at home to remind them that they can trade in their games.  It's just too intrusive.  Finally, even though your figures maybe right, the sense that a game I paid $60 will sell back for less than $10 is disheartening.  Especially, when Gamespot sells it used for about $5 off the cost of new.   Consumers feel like they are being "nickle and dimed" by them and so resentment builds.

I get more annoyed with the employees than the actual store. Every store except for one in my city has terrible workers... they emit pride from their pores. They think they know everything and won't leave me alone about stupid pre-orders. I remember over hearing one girl say that the 360 had no internal fan. *facepalm*

I've never been to GameStop, there aren't any in the UK.

The problem is more with the type of employee this kind of job draws. While there are many decent people who work at these stores there is also a high percentage of these guys... 
 
-the guy who figures working at a video game store is a cake job and has no knowledge of games beyond playing Madden at his buddy's house 
 
-the guy who eats sleeps and breathes games as opposed to having any social interaction and treats the store as his private kingdom where he rules over the ignorant masses (think comic book guy from The Simpsons)

I'm shocked that someone could be this naive.
 
Just a few quick items for why Gamestop sucks:
 
+ They open brand new video games. Sometimes they even let employees take them home. Then they sell them as NEW. Even if they have scratches on them. Once it's opened, it is USED.
 
+ They bought second-run "classic" and "rare" games from Games Quest Direct who paid for a huge run. Then they OPENED THE GAMES and sold them for very high prices as if they were authentic, used, rare classic games.
 
+ They sell used games for as little as $3.00 off ($57.00 used versus $60.00 new) which is ridiculous.
 
+ They force their employees to harass customers to sell pre-orders.
 
+ They often sell those pre-orders and then when you come in to pick up your pre-order that you reserved with actual cash, the games will be out of stock.
 
+ They fore their employees to harass customers to sell their "club card" crap.
 
+ They often staff their stores with morons. The last time I was at a Gamestop ages ago, the girl behind the counter actually said the following: "Def Jam Icon is probably my favorite game, ever or at least pretty close to it".
 
+ Their quality assurance process for buying and selling used hardware (PS2s, etc) is abysmal.
 
I do buy used games from their website, when I can't find it anywhere else for a reasonable price. I do not ever go into their store. And whenever possible, I buy new games from Amazon (because I can buy a new game for about $56 or $57, pay zero shipping, and get it delivered to my door the Tuesday the game is released). Oh - and no taxes.

Apple doesn't hinder the market from making it's own products, if that makes sense. You stated that one of the reasons people hate Gamestop is because of the whole "used games cause new game sales to drop" argument. And it is just plain true. But your defense was that Gamestop isn't making more money than Apple, so they are free from blame? There's a perfectly good reason why people don't like Gamestop, and I think it's justified.. whether or not you agree.
 
While it's the truth, it isn't necessarily the way I feel. I will buy used games if i can and they're in good condition, because not everyone is rich enough to buy everything new. Though I'm against trading anything in. I always regret it a year later, wanting whatever it was back.

I agree with what @Branthog says for the most part.  The other reason I dislike GS is that my local game store sells used games for about 10-20 bucks less than what they're selling new games for.  I got Resident Evil 5 for 40 bucks used the week of release from my local game shop.  Also, they give more money back for new games as well.  I sold back NFS:Shift a few days after release for 37 dollars.  Not sure how Gamestop's prices are, but I know that the only games I've ever gotten more than 10 dollars for were GTA4 and Halo 3.

2 weeks after E3 this year, I was in a gamestop and I overheard one of the workers trying to convince a customer to preorder Halo 3 ODST. I wouldn't have minded if he hadn't then continued to say "This will also get you into the Halo Reach beta and from the footage they've already shown of that, it looks amazing." Never knew a 30 second clip of a planet was considered amazing game footage.

Who sent you?

" Who sent you? "

Here is how GameStop operates in Germany:
 
Gamestop will sell you a "new" copy Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 for 70€ ($105)
Gamestop will sell you a used copy of NGS2 for 65€ ($99)
Walmart (and likes) will sell you a new copy of NGS2 for 60€ ($90)
Amazon.de will sell you a new copy of NGS2 for 50€ ($75); including all taxes and shipping!
The independent video game store at the corner will sell an UK Import of NGS2 (full German version included) for 36€ ($54)
 
Ever since those independent shops started selling on Amazon too, there is no reason to EVER go to Gamestop again. Still, far too many uninformed people will run into Gamestop.

Fact of the matter is, GameStop is a corporation. Yeah, it sells video games, and we all love video games, but it's still a corporation at the heart of things. If you want to be a child and bitch and moan about how corporations are so evil, I'd suggest closing this tab and never coming back, as this site would collapse without the support of corporations. As great as mom and pop stores are, they aren't big enough to support the entire video game industry, and if they were, they then would be a corporation and we'd be talking about how much we hate Mom and her corrupt cookie selling practices.

I hate that guy's voice in the commercials. Drives me insane.

Branthog's on the money. The only times I've actually liked shopping at Gamestop (or really, EB games here) was when I found a game for Aus $7 second hand, cheaper than it sold on Ebay which I ended up really liking, and when I traded in my sister's DS for a Nintendo DS Lite deal. The latter would normally be a rip off and totally not worth it, but in this case the DS's touchscreen was busted and couldn't be recalibrated properly, yet the store never bothered to check it before selling the DS Lite. And I'm pretty sure they don't check all the other consoles traded into them, either.

"    

Gamestop is vilified for being the evil empire of games, controlling pricing and availability with an iron fist. Many think their top priority is to rip off the customer and see the management team as greedy beyond measure. I want to suggest that this is far from the case, and Gamestop is merely another corporation in the industry we all love.
 
I will analyze many of the criticisms leveled against the company and explain why they’re not fair. I will argue that you can criticize the game industry in general, but singling out Gamestop is unfair and unwarranted. (I realize I’m going to take a lot of crap for this one)

Does Gamestop really rip us off?
 
The chief complaint I hear from the gaming community is that Gamestop is ripping off customers with their pricing.
 
“They buy a game from the consumer for pennies on the dollar and then turn around and resell it for only $5 less than a new game. Gamestop isn’t like any normal company looking out for their customers and building goodwill, they just want to use you and lose you. They’re screwing both the developers and us, the consumer!” Sound familiar?
 
When we get into real financial statistics, however, it quickly becomes apparent this isn’t accurate. Let’s compare Gamestop to a company like Apple which has huge customer loyalty and is generally thought of as a company that does ‘the right thing,’ and has a target demographic that overlaps with Gamestop. Apple’s operating margins are 21%. Gamestop? 8%. Apple is making over 2.5x the profit as a percentage of sales in comparison with Gamestop.

[The pictures start here and I couldn’t really get them to transfer correctly – so if you’re at all interested check out the rest … I go into how Gamestop adds value, how they help out consumers in a couple ways and how there are better targets for us to hate.  I just didn’t want to spam you guys with a wall of text if you didn’t care and just wanted to respond to the headline.] Thoughts?

"

I remember back in the day when Gamestop was called Funcoland and it was the greatest store in the world to me. Now it stinks of corporate America.

Until you buy a "new" DS game that has someone's saved data on it, you won't understand the hatred for Gamestop.

Theres been like 500 threads of this topic I want to say...

Several years ago I took some PS2 games in that I was trying to get rid of. One I remember was Fatal Frame 2, a horror game, which had come out only a couple weeks before. I had beaten it and had no intention of playing again, I was also trying to ditch all my PS2 stuff before I went to college. They offered 5 dollars. 5 bucks. Stupidly I sold it too them, only to come back about a week later and see it on their shelves for 60. I dont think its bad that buy your used games for so cheap, I just find it ignorant that they turn around it sell it for what may aswell be the price of a new game. That is taking advantage of your customers. Not only that, they push those fucking club cards that are fucking useless, push preorders, and for some reason push these fucking 3rd party shit controllers and accessories you dont care about. 
 
They just remind me of those prick types that'd own their own 'hobby' shop, act like complete cocksuckers too you when you walk in the door, then try to be your buddy when your ready to check out.

" Until you buy a "new" DS game that has someone's saved data on it, you won't understand the hatred for Gamestop. "

A good list of arguments can be found in these videos
 
 
http://www.dailymotion.com/related/x6wx7h/video/x6wnow_zero-originality-episode-1_videogames

I was a former employee at Gamestop and I must say that was the worst working experience I've ever had. The hours were horrible. And I mean very horrible. 0 - 12 hours a week, with weeks not even working at all. While I was there I had 3 different managers in 2 months, and the first two managers were gamers like you or me, so they knew where the employees were coming from. The last manager I had was this annoying bitch, which gave herself 42 hours a week. 42 HOURS! She made sure she got her overtime, while I constantly got brushed to the side again week after week. But what really put me over the edge was their philosophy on sales. They don't care that you recommend quality games to customers, but they want to you get the most sales as possible. So they say to be a Gamer second, and a Salesperson first. For one, why can't I recommend games in my opinion that are high quality games rated by the majority of the hardcore gamers to a person who is about to buy a potentially bad game? Just doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe GameStops are different in other states, but I know where I worked, that the Managers are all about the money and sales, and not the customers.

 They just remind me of those prick types that'd own their own 'hobby' shop, act like complete cocksuckers too you when you walk in the door, then try to be your buddy when your ready to check out. "

I only go to one Gamestop because the managers there are really good, they know their stuff and they hook me up from time to time. As a whole, Gamestop's are fail. There are some gem stores out there though. As standard, the Gamestop I go to, they still ask me if I want to get pre-orders but it's a more genuine question than a sales question. I've heard them talk to other customers and they're like "Are you going to pre-order MW2? No? Okay?" And that's that. Whereas with me it becomes a conversation.  
 
Frankly, there's nothing the store employees can do about trade-in values. They suck, yes but still, when you trade-in a game, it's their property. They can sell it back as high as they want. It'd be no different that us buying something at the 99 cent store and selling it for $5 more. It's profit and this is how the retail world is. With all the online stuff, there is some stiff financial competition. 

The guy that works at the one close to my house is a real jerk.

  The  question was: "Why does everybody hate gamestop?" And from what I see as the overwhelming opinion, its for all the reasons posted previously, so no need to reiterate.  
 
@Jacy At the heart of this topic is the whole "corporate america" debate and I can see and respect where you fall on this.  This also reminds me of the whole "the marketplace will set the precedent, therefore it is perfect" debate, i.e.  the prices are set for an item and the marketplace, a.k.a. the consumer will vote with thier money and thus we live in a utopia whereupon all may look and see no flaw in it.  The problem, which some people tend to overlook I'm afraid, is that we don't have a perfect system and this is why games/movies that are considered terrible by the public in general do well financially, such as Transformers 2 (which I refuse to see) and some things that are considered "good" don't do so well (such as Deadspace).  I guess what I'm trying to accentuate is that just because something is "stupid" or drivin by greed and are common practices in society, doesn't mean we, the people have to like them.  Which finally brings me to my answer  to the question:  All the previous reasons people posted about gamestop, are for the most part true.  You, in an earlier post conceded that "They have stupid employees. Welcome to retail. They have stupid policies. Welcome to retail. They have stupid prices."  Does this mean I or anyone else must accept and like this?   Ask yourself this question:  When you walk out of gamestop, most of the time, do you feel you've gotten a good deal?   
 
Now for what it's worth, my opinion:  Gamestop seems to be in the business of exploiting people or kids who don't have the knowledge of where to buy games cheaper, (ebay) or the priveledge of the internet.  Have I bought games from gamestop?  Sure, a few, but they were older and almost as cheap to buy new at other stores. Even though I wasn't ripped off, somehow, I still feel dirty when I think about it.  I myself prefer to buy my games from Best buy, (reward points have earned me 8 free games alone) and I know my money is going to the developers of the games I like, and supporting good games is very important in days where they are often times lost in a sea of mediocrity. 

I don't hate Gamestop at all. 
They're kinda weird, I was pre-ordering Brutal Legend (Comes out on the 15th here) since they didn't wanna give it to me on the 13th. 
So I handed in two old games and then had to pay like.. really, nothing, for the game when it comes out.  
So I was standing there, paying the 1 dkr (about 0.20$ I think, including the two games) and I said 
"So basically, I've paid money, real money, for this game. And you won't give MY game to me? I have paid for it" 
Chick got all confused and gave me the game :D 
 
Payback... bitch

I dislike Gamestop for their lack of enthusiasm for PC games, they don't check used games for scratches (a friend of mine sent at least 15 used games back before) and  the fact that they pay jack-shit for old games. Apart from that I don't have any beef with them. The staff are fine, in this country anyway. I prefer GAME or even HMV.

Gamestop does suck. Most of their used game prices are higher than ordering new ones off Amazon. Being a specialized retailer they could carry a wider variety of games but they basically sell the same shit every other store sells (all sold out of Demon's Souls). They give you jack shit return on your games unless you roll your games together for some pre-order offer. If you ever actually decide to buy something there you are given a litany of games in which "you need" to pre-order.
 
Now that game trading online is easier than ever they will either have to step up their trade ins or just slowly die.

" A good list of arguments can be found in these videos    http://www.dailymotion.com/related/x6wx7h/video/x6wnow_zero-originality-episode-1_videogames "

 
The truth is that they are there to take advantage of people.
1) sell used games as new.  Oh, its the last one?  What, why the fuck did you open it then? Hey, I see you in the back using the shrink wrap machine to hide you shame asshole!!!
2)  Sure, i understand there is some risk to taking in a used game and trying to sell it, but come on, only 5 bucks off?
3)  The fact that they cant keep games in stock when this is their one purpose in life is what pisses people off.  I should not have to give you 5 dollars, and get nothing in return but a guarantee, a shaky one at that, that I will get the game.  As it works, 5 dollars given to a gamestop a couple of months before the game is out can generate money for them, like a bank.  You let them have 5 bucks for nothing and they get to count is as taking in money, generate interest off of it if you will. I think I will walk down to the best buy and grab a copy since there are plenty there.  And they sell fridges and microwaves there too so i can eat as well.
4)  The reason their operating margin is low is because they dont sell their own made products, like apple does.  Unless you buy used games and their crappy accessory packs which are also a rip off.  Their operating margin would be a lot higher if all they did was sell used game, but they cant and sell new ones to get you in to buy a used one or preorder.
5)  This has pretty much gone away with the internet being around, but their pricing was horrible.  I remember the Gameboy advance came out at a price of 89.99 when it launched.  Gamestop had the balls to sell it for 10 bucks more. And Greatest hits games or the like would not be priced down.
6)  They sell your preorder and wont give you your money if you want to cancel.   This has happened to jeff many a time.
 
So perhaps they would make more money if they werent such douchebags.  But instead they justify their douchebagginess because they think its the best way to make money.

I worked at a Gamestop for 5 years and here is why they suck:
 
Employee relations: There is none. 3 People on my staff were fired for doing what the DM instructed them to do and when the Regional Manager found out all 3 were let go. The Regional Manager found out about the rule violation from the Manager sending him an email to try to cover his ass if he would do said instructions.
 
 Customers: Holy hell if you are a regular Gamestop customer may God have pity on your soul. My job description was "feeling better about myself each day" If anybody has ever been a Gamestop employee they will understand that.
 
Other Employees: My Gamestop went from a bunch of cool dudes working at a game store (we were still called Babbages when I started) to a bunch of dudes living in their mothers basements in their late 30s who play D&D and Yu-Gi-Oh at the local RPG store with 9 and 10 year old kids. (AKA the old creepy guys that are the reason a little kids mother doesn't allow him to play something like Magic)
 
Used Sales: It is a policy to shove used games down customers throats. Our registers pop up to remind us we have a used copy in and to offer the customer a used copy. Used games is where they make their money, and you do get ripped off.
 
Subs/Reserves: Another policy was subscriptions and reserves. It was supposed to be a company policy to fire an employee for not offering a sub and reserve with every sell. It was annoying.
 
 Amazon.com: I was able to buy a new game from amazon.com for the same price as I could at Gamestop with my employee discount 90% of the time.
 
There's actually a lot more to it then that, that is just a short abbreviated version of what is wrong with Gamestop. I actually kept a notebook of "Why Gamestop sucks" with another employee during my employment there that was filled with customer quotes, DM quotes, retarded policies, retarded policy changes, etc... It was entertaining.

I never buy from a Gamestop store, but on occasion (usually when I pre-order a game) I'll order from their website. I don't think I've ever bought anything from within a Gamestop store.