Did EB and Gamestop's trade in policy change?

[Roufuss]

what a freaking hassle they put you through to rip you off.

In this case I ripped them off, as I've stated before.

And yea, I decided to call two other Gamestop's today, and this is the new policy.

They can either modify the prices to make sure you use up all the credit, or you can take the credit and spend it on something else right now, but both gamestops agreed that they can no longer put it on a card and let you spend it for later.

What bullshit, one guy told me it was a "new company policy". So basacially now, if you trade in 55 dollars worth of credit, and have nothing to use the extra 5 on, that 50 dollar game you get magically becomes 55.

[Jeremy]

That's just incredibly wrong.

[Integrity]

Blockbuster with Game Crazy is the place to go for trade-ins. Right now Blockbuster has a special "Trade in DVDs and get AT LEAST 8 dollars". They took DVDs I paid 5.00 for at Walmart and gave me 8 dollars for them. They also give you a lot of store credit for used games. I only shop at EB now for used games.

Gamerush is good for trade ins, especially if you can find a game in their system that they're giving good credit for (at one time, Space Channel 5 SE for PS2 was fetching $25 in store credit). However, stay far away from any prebooks. They do not get every title in stock, so if you're preordering 'niche' titles, you're left holding the bag. I had to transfer 4 prebooks in the last month in a half for various situations (2 games they did place on the side for my preorder and sold them, 2 never came in at all).

Just stick with the games in stock and you'll be fine.

[Drewbacca]

It's actually happening all over. Many stores and malls have started charging monthly "service charges" on gift certificates if they're not used within a certain amount of time after you purchase them...if enough time goes by, they're worth nothing. It's great for them, but bullshit to you and I.

I don't get gift certificates anyway since the people who receive them feel jipped out of a thoughtful gift. But couldn't somebody call the better business bureau on these people? I mean, you payed and gave money for the coupon and they're not honouring their part of the bargain.

the Best Buys around me don't give deadlines for their gift cards.

[Jeremy]

Well, if the deadlines are mentioned on the gift card, then this is probably legal, if not, then yeah, it isn't, and would definitely be primed for BBB reporting.

[James]

For the giftcard slowly becoming valueless thing, EB doesn't do that any more. They used to and then got their asses sued pretty hard in CA, so now a card is good forever. As, of course, it should be. I realize it's a pain in the ass to keep track of them all in some central server or whatever it is they do, but that's not exactly our problem.

As for "30 cents on a gift card", we just give out cash. Anything under a dollar just isn't worth the effort, corporate doesn't care, and it makes the customer happier.

James

[Dolemite]

What bullshit, one guy told me it was a "new company policy". So basacially now, if you trade in 55 dollars worth of credit, and have nothing to use the extra 5 on, that 50 dollar game you get magically becomes 55.

So, they make shitloads of cash off used games to begin with, and as a way of saying 'thank you' they reserve the right to overcharge you when you trade in those very games? Wow.

Good thing I don't trade in $50-$100 worth of games at a time like a lot of you guys seem to.

[FX]

Good thing I don't trade in $50-$100 worth of games at a time like a lot of you guys seem to.

Yah.

[Dolemite]

Yah.

The actual amount of cash those people must spend on shit like games and DVDs scares me if they have that much to trade in at any given time. I mean, even $50 worth of credit on games is a lot of fucking games, considering the pittance that EB and GS normally offer you for trade-in value, promotions aside.

[Jeremy]

Well, I would have been able to get $43 in credit the other day for Dragon's Lair 3D, Rocky Legends, and Fable, so it isn't always a rip-off, "just" 99% of the time.