My problem with Gamestop

So today, I said to myself, "Wow, I really want Gears 2."  So I rounded up most of my old Gamecube Games as well as a few 360 games.  This is what games I brought in and how much I recived for each one.  I had a total of 18 games, 5 360 games, 15 Gamecube games.  The grand total ended up being $64.93. just enough to get gears.  After I made my purchase he handed me a receipt which had all the games I traded in and how much I got for each one.  Let's just say I was a little pissed after I saw this receipt.  I know it's old, but 2.60 for Kameo? And I only got 3.90 for Mass Effect, yet I get 9.10 for NFS: Most Wanted?

So today, I said to myself, "Wow, I really want Gears 2."  So I rounded up most of my old Gamecube Games as well as a few 360 games.  This is what games I brought in and how much I recived for each one.  I had a total of 18 games, 5 360 games, 15 Gamecube games.  The grand total ended up being $64.93. just enough to get gears.  After I made my purchase he handed me a receipt which had all the games I traded in and how much I got for each one.  Let's just say I was a little pissed after I saw this receipt.  I know it's old, but 2.60 for Kameo? And I only got 3.90 for Mass Effect, yet I get 9.10 for NFS: Most Wanted?

Mass Effect for 3.90. That sir, is a complete and utter waste of anyones time. Ebay is the way to go, no way would you suffer that. I bet if you go in there in a week you will see your copy of mass effect up there for something close to 20. The whole system is screwed and aimed towards making serious money.

I usually hand down my old completed game to my 11 year old brother so dont suffer greatly from this but iut pains me to see!

Well, where else are you going to trade in your games?

That aside, each game's trade-in price fluctuates with the demand for used copies and the game's rarity. Better games are priced higher because people don't trade in good games as often. Now, with a game like Kameo that was released at the 360's launch, most people probably tired of it after a couple of months and traded it in, thus the surplus of used copies and the low price. Also, I don't know if you knew this, but stores can request copies of games from other stores so if a used copy of Mass Effect (a singleplayer-only game [probably the reason people trade it in]) shows up at a store that has 20 used copies, they can ship it to another location so it all balances out. It's all a massive series of balances so more people can enjoy a wider variety of games at a lower price.

Oh, and GameStop makes all their money from used games.

Well....

"Never underestimate the power of shitty games."

Are Gamestop and Electronics Boutique the same thing? Because here in Aus we are dominated by EB and they are arseholes who from all reports operate exactly the same as Gamestop. GAME has now invaded taking over the once noble Gameswizards. The Gamesmen are the only decent ones left, but they are slowly mutating. Other non game specific shops are the way to go. Never Trade In. It is not worth it with one exception

Buying an Xbox 360 was like $200 cheaper if you traded in a PS2 and 20 games (this was like 3 years ago) so a mate and myself went to the nearby cash converters. Bought a second hand PS2 and 20 games for about $100 and promptly walked down to the EB and traded it in. The accepted it even though it was in the cash converters bag.

Yeah, they merged.

I'm surprised you didn't get at least 50 bucks for the five Xbox games you gave them. I traded in five PS3 games a few weeks ago and I got around 70 dollars.

"Yeah, they merged."

Well I know  Gamestop's policy may  not be fair But  business is business and that is how it works

The prices are based on the market. GC games are near worthless as trade ins, and Kameo never stood a chance. There is no demand for that game.

They offered me 99 cents for Metroid a few years back.... I just kept it.

Well Gamestop workers are just drones. They just scan or enter in the name of the game and the database tells them how much store credit its worth. Just like, its mostly a better idea to sell your old car privately instead of trading it in. Use this as a lesson to never trade again. I'm sure you could have at least gotten 5 bucks instead of 3.90 for Mass effect if you had peddled it in the store parking lot.

This btw is the reason why you see so many auctions on ebay that just lumps together a bunch of games and sells it all off at one time. Evene after ebay fees and shit, its still usually better than what Gamestop would have given you (cuts out the middleman too.).

The moral of this story: Don't sell back your games. Their gaming value is worth a lot more than their monetary value. This is the one reason I could never work at Gamespot. Well, and because it makes me sick going into those kind of gamer stores and being surrounded by nerdy gamers who like to abbreviate every freaking game series in speech. "Oh boy I can't wait for the new Eff-Eff coming to Xbox 360 and PS3!" "Yowzers! El-Bee-Pee is sooo innovative and cool!" "Heya, ya wanna preorder Gee-Tee-A-4 or Pee-Oh-Pee while your here?!" Seriously, that makes me insane.

"The moral of this story: Don't sell back your games. Their gaming value is worth a lot more than their monetary value. This is the one reason I could never work at Gamespot. ...."

Totally overlooked typo, I swear. I  know the difference. Actually, it used to bother me when people would mistake the two, but that's when the GB staff still worked at Gamespot and I was obsessed with the place.

Does gamestop even care if the manual and any other extras are included, or do they just care about the disc on a trade in?
I've never liked gamestop or electronics boutique for used games, because they don't seem to care about the manuals.  This should be less of a problem now with CD & DVD cases, but you can pretty much forget it if the game is a cartridge (GBA and earlier Nintendo games.)

well they dont care if the item trade in works or not. i traded them a busted ass halo 3 headset i got for free. snagged me $16 credit.

the thing I have noticed with EB/Gamestop is that if you go to BUY a pre-owned game, it will usually only be $5 - $10 less than the brand new version anyway and so really isn't worth the bother. I'm sure you could easily sell a game like Mass Effect for $10 and people would consider that a bargain...don't trade in at those stores...and don't buy from them unless absolutely necessary. The only time I buy from EB is if I'm given a gift card or if it is to abuse their no questions asked 7 day return policy and I want to try a game I know I will finish quickly (a la Call of Duty: World at War) or, to irritate TheGreatGuero CoD:WaW.

Gamestops in this area are filled w/ smelly children with  no respect for personal space, over priced poor condition used software, and filthy looking staff working the registers.  I choose to avoid shopping there when and if possible.

Its been kinda common sense for a while now not to trade your games into gamestop dude, they of course rip you off majorly. Gamestop is terrible.

Lets see, I just traded in a bunch of games to get Prince of Persia for PS3:

Soul Calibur IV (PS3): $19.20
Guitar Hero WT Disc Only (Wii): $24.00
Valkrie Profile (PSP): $9.60
The World Ends With You (DS): $12.00

Total = $64.80

Pretty much just enough to get Prince of Persia.  Just like how you got just enough to get Gears 2.  Seems like they plan it that way, haha.
I'm happy though, I was done with all those games and really wanted POP.

"Lets see, I just traded in a bunch of games to get Prince of Persia for PS3:

Soul Calibur IV (PS3): $19.20
Guitar Hero WT Disc Only (Wii): $24.00
Valkrie Profile (PSP): $9.60
The World Ends With You (DS): $12.00

Total = $64.80

Pretty much just enough to get Prince of Persia.  Just like how you got just enough to get Gears 2.  Seems like they plan it that way, haha.
I'm happy though, I was done with all those games and really wanted POP.
"

If you trade in games to Gamestop, you're part of the problem.

"SpinCookie said:

"Lets see, I just traded in a bunch of games to get Prince of Persia for PS3:

Soul Calibur IV (PS3): $19.20
Guitar Hero WT Disc Only (Wii): $24.00
Valkrie Profile (PSP): $9.60
The World Ends With You (DS): $12.00

Total = $64.80

Pretty much just enough to get Prince of Persia.  Just like how you got just enough to get Gears 2.  Seems like they plan it that way, haha.
I'm happy though, I was done with all those games and really wanted POP.
"

If you had rented instead of bought you would have saved yourself $50"

"If you trade in games to Gamestop, you're part of the problem."

You seem to be complaining but you accepted the deal I know I'd never give up that many games for one new one. Also what did you expect from games like Kameo and Tak and the power of Juju (was that even desirable when it first came out?) if it were my store I proberly wouldn't of taken them off you.

Yep, eBay is the way to go here.

I sold my copy of Fallout 3 2 weeks after it came out and i got $33 for it. And I also sold my xbox 360 networking adapter and got about the same.( I needed money for world at war) I hope that company burns to the ground.

I go to my local Game N Trade. They give me me a few dollars more on everything, which really adds up in the long run.

Dude. You got owned on that Mass Effect trade. That sucks and I feel for you because I know how crappy GameStop is when they are doing everything they can to make a huge profit.

I have already swore never to buy a game from Gamestop ever again. It's a shitty store. Probably more than 1/2 of their inventory consists of used games. I don't care how cheap they are. FUCK YOU GAMESTOP.

I hope Gamestop goes bankrupt because of the recession,i hate those motherfuckers.That's why I don't go there anymore,i go to another local retailer called Game-On,they are awesome!The only thing is they don't sell PC games,but whatever I use steam for my PC gaming needs anyway,or if i must, sigh....Futureshop:( But that doesn't happen very often.

As others have said, you should have sold them on Ebay, probably could have at least gotten 1/3 more then what you did if not more.

i know what youve been through, and i would have gotten ripped off if it weren't for the friendly workers and the deals at the gamestop they had back then. The workers were pretty much friends with everyone and would play the demos with us, help us pay if we were short a few, "cheat" the system so we would get more money in trade ins, they let us buy rated m games when it wasnt a big deal, helped us look for good games, tons of cool stuff
Other thing is yeah, sell your games to your friends or wait a while in your local gamestop and sell your game to one of the gamestop customers. That way you dont get ripped off and neither does the other person

But yeah you got ripped of, they have a list of hot trade ins at my gamestop, and mass effect has been on there for a long time now and they buy it for 20 bucks  

when i first got my 360 i traded in an xbox with 30 games and i got a 360, GRAW and an extra controller and had 40 bucks left. although when i traded in my ds with 19 games i got a measly 170 bucks. Now your saying oh 170 bucks thats alot. But no, it was a white ds lite, (my third, i had the hinge shit happen twice even though i took excelent care of them, and i was fed up). but ya a couple months after they launch i got 120bucks for a ds lite. BULL

Gamestop rips people off.  Period.  That's how the franchise makes money.  Whether or not it's right or wrong is neither here nor there - it's just the way they run business, and you don't have to sell them your games.  Still, it sucks and I hate Gamestop for reasons including but not limited to this one.

Honestly next time try Craigslist for a few quick sales, and then ebay the rest of your game.  Think about it.  If Gamestop will pay you $4.00 for Mass Effect, but will sell it to other gamers for $20-$25, you can easily pawn it off for $10-$15 which is decent for a game of Mass Effect's age and quality.

And this is why I never trade games into game stop.  If you want to get rid of a game, sell it on Amazon.  You just input the UPC, a one sentence description, price under the lowest current seller, and bam you'll sell that thing for 3 to 6 times what gamestop will give you.  It's not hard to take it to the post office, and it's certainly worth it.  Either that or go to cheap ass gamer and sell them to the users there.  I would have bought some of those games off of you for more than twice what they gave you.

"Hexpane said:

"SpinCookie said:

"Lets see, I just traded in a bunch of games to get Prince of Persia for PS3:

Soul Calibur IV (PS3): $19.20
Guitar Hero WT Disc Only (Wii): $24.00
Valkrie Profile (PSP): $9.60
The World Ends With You (DS): $12.00

Total = $64.80

Pretty much just enough to get Prince of Persia.  Just like how you got just enough to get Gears 2.  Seems like they plan it that way, haha.
I'm happy though, I was done with all those games and really wanted POP.
"

If you had rented instead of bought you would have saved yourself $50"

I know that, but there are certain games that I want to own and have in my collection, such as this."