GameStop Hammered in YouTube Series

For those who have trouble understanding, here's a quick synopsis.

The person who did this feels that Gamestop is ripping people off... here's how.

1. Open product sold as new.

2. Used mark-up.  It's one thing to sell used games for profit... it's another to have them almost the same price as new... or higher due to demand.

3. Trade-in prices very low in relation to re-sell price.

4. Employee pay through a relative no-name bank card, makes it impossible to withdraw funds without being hit with ATM fees.

5. Any attempts by employees to switch to Direct Deposit are often ignored.

6. No employee breaks, though state laws often require them.

7. Evaluation criteria: number of subscriptions and number of pre-orders.  Later became # of complaints.

8. Pre-order funds being kept despite records being kept of who ordered what, employees told to lie about records being there.

9. Magazine value is not as high as the price.

10. Must spend at least $150 to break even on a 1 year subscription on card.

11. Non-disclosure on card only working on used games, not new games or consoles.

12. "General Managers" (I put in quotation marks since they're not really managers.  Though the videos don't say so, I've been told that the GMs don't actually have much managereal duty.  It's up to District Managers to hire and fire) will always work after hours, but not get paid for those extra hours.

13. Quality of used games and systems isn't really checked.

14. Stolen games find their ways into stores.

15. Ethics violations that aren't profit related are often ignored.

16. Two trade in prices: lower for cash, higher for store credit.  This does not stop people from selling stolen games, it just means they sell more stolen games back.

There's a few other points that the guy mentioned, but that's a short list of what he's complaining about.  As for those who complain that he got fired, he didn't.  He quit... and he's probably one of few who wasn't forcibly quit.

The reason they're called "The best game in town" is usually because they're the ONLY game in town... but some regions get other good stores, especially the mom & pop stores.

Zen: to answer your question about games being treated differently, companies have started getting behind unfair EULAs that customers don't really have a choice with.  Basically, instead of purchasing a game, you're really purcasing a license allowing you to play the game... and many of these gaming companies put unfair conditions in said games.  I agree with you that it shouldn't be any different than other media, but I'm sure even the RIAA is taking heed going "why didn't we think of that!"

Inkscribe: he's complaining about their reviews and the amount of ad space on the magazines.  Mediocre games get a 7-ish rating in Game Informer rather than a 5-ish that would show in other magazines... people are often hard pressed to find anything in Game Informer below a 6... and "exclusives" are often not really exclusives.

I agree that this guy should have slowed down, and I get the feeling that if he slowed down, it'd be another year before he got the videos out... and he probably would have lost interest by then.

I'm an American, Yahtzee enunciates well and is easy to understand, and this guy is a mumbling, unintelligible mess.  I gave up at the point where this guy takes a shot at Yahtzee for being hard to understand.  What gall...

The guy needs to slow the $#@% down.

Me? I think the whole "subscription" is worth it for the magazine, and that I do buy as many used games as new. And I almost never sell back games because I know I won't get jack squat for them.

After listening to his half-unintelligible rambling for a few minutes, I'm really wondering how the hell he turned this into a 9-part expose.

Ican'tunderstandhalfofwhathe'ssayingHespeakstoofastandit'sallgarbledupNotgoingtowastemytimeonthisbutifyou'redumbenoughtobuyagamefor$60anddidn'tbotheringlookingatthereviewsbeforehandthencomplainaboutonlygetting$40backforitthentoughluck.

Ok I saw the whole thing and I have a couple of thngs to say.

1. If you do not understand what he is saying you definately have a hearing problem.

2. The claim that GB is literaly a glorified Pawn Shop is very well known and I have seen this first hand.

3. Althou selling the games at the store is ok a 150% price markup is not exactly "ethical" business or not.

4. The treatment they give to employees is right down criminal.

5. Most GameStop stores will make you understand why human cloning should not be attempted.

Honestly some of his claims are kinda stupid but most of things he say will make you nod your head in agreement. Like he said there are better ways to get a god deal on a video game but GameStop is not one of them.

This is not news.  Anyone who shops at GameStop (or EB or the others) is a fool.  Sell your used games on eBay, and buy your used games on eBay.  Way better.  Even GameCrazy isn't that great.

But an experienced gamer knows you will want to play that game again in 10 years for nostalgic reasons anyways, so you should probably just hang onto it.  If it wasn't worth keeping, then why did you buy it?  You should have rented it.

Nobody is FORCING anybody to sell games back to gamestop.  They may not give you a good deal, but someone above this post made a good point.  THEY ARE A BUSINESS.  I don't sell my games there, but I do enjoy buying used.  I can make sure the box is in good condition, make sure there is an instruction manual, and pay a little less.  Sell your used games through craigslist or just through local want ads.

Yeah... Not really much to see here, honestly. Repetition, while a good way to make people remember things, is bad if it's just saying the same thing over and over without any variety.

Likewise, I understand why people don't like the fact that gamestop gives you 20 bucks for a game they turn around and sell for 40, but they are a business. They need to make a profit, even on used games. Gamestop could offer 1:1 trading on their games, but only for about a month before they went out of business. They do have to pay rent, shipping, upkeep, salaries... IF people worked there for free and donated money to keep the place open, I'm sure they can manage that. So, who's taking first shift?

I watched this series, all he does is mumble 90% of the time, doesn't really tell you why Gamestop is bad except that you loose money if you want to trade a game in, and he repeats everything over and over again. He basically dribbles on about how everyone is afraid of identity theft and Gamestop is taking your money. He's just angry cause he got fired.