GameStop Digitals

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by MOONPHASE

If you couldn’t tell by my post, I used to work for Gamestop many years ago so I know all of the dark secrets with them including things I was not proud of doing despite working there for quite a bit of time until I was laid off(about 5 and a half years).

But the whole trying out a game thing on a New copy, yeah my boss would have never allowed me or any of the employees at my location to do that with a New copy. The rule at least at my location was could only do that on a Used copy if there is more than 1 copy available otherwise my boss would have sent me packing. So there was no doing that with a New copy only if at least 2 people traded the game in. I personally only did it with a few titles since I was already getting 25% used games between the Employee Discount and the GameStop Pro Membership which gives you the 10% off discount on Used games and Extra Credit on Trade-Ins.

GameStop will only do a discount on a damaged copy. Places like Wal-Mart do the putting the games in a glass case that only an employee can unlock which many people hate for not being able to really look at the game while deciding to purchase it or not which makes it frustrating to the Employee as well. Some places like Best Buy do the putting each copy of a game in an individual security case which is mostly more annoying for the employees. It’s hard to please people on this besides just having the game on the shelf with no protection and hope for the best that someone isn’t dumb enough to steal it.

I didn't know, thanks MOONPHASE for letting me know you used to work there. I felt that you liked Gamestop, but wasn't aware that you were an employee. That's cool your store didn't allow playing of new games like that store I was at where the employees were talking about it quietly but not quiet enough. I think because their boss was part of that is why they allowed it there.

Here's an interesting video on the history of GameStop, formerly Babbages years earlier and Software Etc. At 11:30 or so, it even talks about how some employees played the game first, then sold it as new at the full price.
But that's good you had good experiences there and thanks for those details.

The Story of Gamestop - YouTube

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

I didn't know, thanks MOONPHASE for letting me know you used to work there. I felt that you liked Gamestop, but wasn't aware that you were an employee. That's cool your store didn't allow playing of new games like that store I was at where the employees were talking about it quietly but not quiet enough. I think because their boss was part of that is why they allowed it there.

Here's an interesting video on the history of GameStop, formerly Babbages years earlier and Software Etc. At 11:30 or so, it even talks about how some employees played the game first, then sold it as new at the full price.
But that's good you had good experiences there and thanks for those details.

The Story of Gamestop - YouTube

As with all retail store companies, it all depends on who is managing the store since each store is a different experience. While it is true that Corporations always do have some questionable policies but sometimes people find loopholes to a different Policy to take advantage of while others play by the book.

My Manager for instance didn’t allow it because not only would it mess up the system in the Computer like if it is the last copy and I have it borrowed then can’t sell a copy that the system says is available. Also if I borrow a disc there is really nothing stopping me from just keeping it for myself or trading it in to another Gamestop, eBay or some other retailer that sells Used videogames except for well my job.

Though in my final couple of years or so my pay was getting worse and worse because of being reduced down to 1 day a week for 4 hours but made it so that I would be the 1st person they call if someone else couldn’t do their shift or a nearby location needs an available person to help out for a day. So yeah in those final years I was practically sitting next to the phone everyday waiting for that phone call. Then in the final few months I had weeks without being scheduled at all.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

I didn't know, thanks MOONPHASE for letting me know you used to work there. I felt that you liked Gamestop, but wasn't aware that you were an employee. That's cool your store didn't allow playing of new games like that store I was at where the employees were talking about it quietly but not quiet enough. I think because their boss was part of that is why they allowed it there.

Here's an interesting video on the history of GameStop, formerly Babbages years earlier and Software Etc. At 11:30 or so, it even talks about how some employees played the game first, then sold it as new at the full price.
But that's good you had good experiences there and thanks for those details.

The Story of Gamestop - YouTube

I used to be a store manager for Electronics Boutique years ago before they were bought by Babbages. When the company was family owned, they were amazing to work for. Every individual store was like it's own "mom and pop" shop. We all knew our customers. We all knew what they liked. And they loved shopping with us! The customer/employee relationship was very symbiotic and it was a lot of fun and we were successful! However once the company went public, all that changed and it became this oppressive, draconian company that only cared about numbers and meeting specific goals that forced employees into high pressure sales tactics that we really didn't want to practice. It went from being a place where the #1 goal was to make the customer happy to the goal being to make the shareholder happy. It got so stressful, it really started affecting my health. I gained a lot of weight. I was depressed and dreaded going to work every day. The day I left there was one of the happiest of my life! It was like a huge anvil had been lifted off of me! However the experience was so negative on me, I didn't want touch, look at, talk about, or even think about videogames. It took about 2-3 years before I got back into gaming after that. I also vowed after that to never work for a publicly traded company ever again and to this day I've managed to keep that vow.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I used to be a store manager for Electronics Boutique years ago before they were bought by Babbages. When the company was family owned, they were amazing to work for. Every individual store was like it's own "mom and pop" shop. We all knew our customers. We all knew what they liked. And they loved shopping with us! The customer/employee relationship was very symbiotic and it was a lot of fun and we were successful! However once the company went public, all that changed and it became this oppressive, draconian company that only cared about numbers and meeting specific goals that forced employees into high pressure sales tactics that we really didn't want to practice. It went from being a place where the #1 goal was to make the customer happy to the goal being to make the shareholder happy. It got so stressful, it really started affecting my health. I gained a lot of weight. I was depressed and dreaded going to work every day. The day I left there was one of the happiest of my life! It was like a huge anvil had been lifted off of me! However the experience was so negative on me, I didn't want touch, look at, talk about, or even think about videogames. It took about 2-3 years before I got back into gaming after that. I also vowed after that to never work for a publicly traded company ever again and to this day I've managed to keep that vow.

Thanks for the details on that situation after Gamestop became public for trading on the stock market, which I agree, is not good news for a place that I used to go to all the time for my games when it was Babbages, Electronics Boutique and Software Etc. Those were great stores IMO. That's cool you were a manager there too.

And I hear what you're saying about them forcing employees to practice those upsell tactics. I'm personally very difficult to convince when I'm shopping so they almost never had luck getting me to upgrade to anything, but I can imagine as an employee, having to repeat the same lines over and over could get aggravating and frustrating after enough days of doing it.

But yes, I remember the days I'd go into EB Games and they'd ask what games I like to play. That was an awesome question! Not only did it show they cared but it was always fun to talk about my favorite types of games and why I enjoyed them. It made me glad to shop there, I agree. That's cool you and your employees had that same positive attitude towards your customers back then.

I'm sorry to hear it eventually all went downhill with the corporate mood taking over the stores. I agree, those were not good changes for those stores compared to the Mom & Pop Shop set up before. Glad you were able to feel tremendous relief after leaving there for good. I can imagine you helped a lot of gamers as a manager in your day, making a positive difference for a good while there. Nice work, Steelmaker. Thanks for sharing that story.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Thanks for the details on that situation after Gamestop became public for trading on the stock market, which I agree, is not good news for a place that I used to go to all the time for my games when it was Babbages, Electronics Boutique and Software Etc. Those were great stores IMO. That's cool you were a manager there too.

And I hear what you're saying about them forcing employees to practice those upsell tactics. I'm personally very difficult to convince when I'm shopping so they almost never had luck getting me to upgrade to anything, but I can imagine as an employee, having to repeat the same lines over and over could get aggravating and frustrating after enough days of doing it.

But yes, I remember the days I'd go into EB Games and they'd ask what games I like to play. That was an awesome question! Not only did it show they cared but it was always fun to talk about my favorite types of games and why I enjoyed them. It made me glad to shop there, I agree. That's cool you and your employees had that same positive attitude towards your customers back then.

I'm sorry to hear it eventually all went downhill with the corporate mood taking over the stores. I agree, those were not good changes for those stores compared to the Mom & Pop Shop set up before. Glad you were able to feel tremendous relief after leaving there for good. I can imagine you helped a lot of gamers as a manager in your day, making a positive difference for a good while there. Nice work, Steelmaker. Thanks for sharing that story.

Thanks. It actually felt good to talk about it again. I haven't really spoken about that time in my life in a very long time.

I want to weigh in on the issue of selling open box games as new. Looking back on it now, I can see that it probably wasn't a great idea and was a bit deceitful. However at the time, I honestly didn't really see it that way. It's not like we tried to hide it either. We kept our shrink wrap machine right there at the counter and if a customer happened to be buying the last copy of a game, we'd simply pull the case from the shelf, grab the disk from the drawer behind the counter, snap it into the jewel case and then re-shrink wrap it for the customer. What's funny is I can't recall a single customer complaining about it. Every once in a while a customer would ask what we were doing and we'd just explain "this is the last copy in the store and it's box is the one we use for shelf display (at the time we had no other choice, as companies did not send us display boxes for our shelves)." Nobody to my memory ever complained about that. Once it was explained to the customer, it was always met with "oh ok, cool." It really wasn't until the advent of social media when this became such a widely complained about topic.

Regarding employee game check outs, yes that practice went on in my store as well. It was a company approved policy that employees could check out a game and play it at home for 48 hours, so long as we had plenty of copies in stock and they made SURE it was kept in pristine condition. We also cleaned the disks and re shrink-wrapped them when they were returned. At the time, this was justified by the rationalization that it was important that employees familiarized themselves with as many games as possible in order to pass that knowledge on to the customer if asked.

Also, nobody at the time had a more fair return policy than we did on games. At that time we had a 10 day return policy on opened games (yes, opened). As long as you had your receipt, the game and case were still in "like new" condition, and it was within that 10 day window, you could get a full refund. We thought that was a fair trade-off for possibly buying a copy that had been opened and returned or checked out by an employee, in that such a generous return policy was extended to the customer. Again, looking back now I acknowledge that it wasn't a good policy to sell games at new prices that weren't in fact new. But at the time, we just didn't see it that way. The disks were kept in pristine condition, the cases were re shrink-wrapped, and nobody ever could tell the difference. No harm/no foul. But yes, this was WRONG and should've never been done! In hindsight, the right thing to do would've been to mark those games as "demo" copies or "Employee Played" and discounted them by 10% or something to that effect. However once we became a publicly traded company, that policy completely changed and we were no longer allowed to give refunds on opened games. Once the game was opened, it was yours unless you traded it in for pre-owned credit.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Thanks. It actually felt good to talk about it again. I haven't really spoken about that time in my life in a very long time.

I want to weigh in on the issue of selling open box games as new. Looking back on it now, I can see that it probably wasn't a great idea and was a bit deceitful. However at the time, I honestly didn't really see it that way. It's not like we tried to hide it either. We kept our shrink wrap machine right there at the counter and if a customer happened to be buying the last copy of a game, we'd simply pull the case from the shelf, grab the disk from the drawer behind the counter, snap it into the jewel case and then re-shrink wrap it for the customer. What's funny is I can't recall a single customer complaining about it. Every once in a while a customer would ask what we were doing and we'd just explain "this is the last copy in the store and it's box is the one we use for shelf display (at the time we had no other choice, as companies did not send us display boxes for our shelves)." Nobody to my memory ever complained about that. Once it was explained to the customer, it was always met with "oh ok, cool." It really wasn't until the advent of social media when this became such a widely complained about topic.

Regarding employee game check outs, yes that practice went on in my store as well. It was a company approved policy that employees could check out a game and play it at home for 48 hours, so long as we had plenty of copies in stock and they made SURE it was kept in pristine condition. We also cleaned the disks and re shrink-wrapped them when they were returned. At the time, this was justified by the rationalization that it was important that employees familiarized themselves with as many games as possible in order to pass that knowledge on to the customer if asked.

Also, nobody at the time had a more fair return policy than we did on games. At that time we had a 10 day return policy on opened games (yes, opened). As long as you had your receipt, the game and case were still in "like new" condition, and it was within that 10 day window, you could get a full refund. We thought that was a fair trade-off for possibly buying a copy that had been opened and returned or checked out by an employee, in that such a generous return policy was extended to the customer. Again, looking back now I acknowledge that it wasn't a good policy to sell games at new prices that weren't in fact new. But at the time, we just didn't see it that way. The disks were kept in pristine condition, the cases were re shrink-wrapped, and nobody ever could tell the difference. No harm/no foul. But yes, this was WRONG and should've never been done! In hindsight, the right thing to do would've been to mark those games as "demo" copies or "Employee Played" and discounted them by 10% or something to that effect. However once we became a publicly traded company, that policy completely changed and we were no longer allowed to give refunds on opened games. Once the game was opened, it was yours unless you traded it in for pre-owned credit.

Thanks for those extra details on opened games. I see your point of view and can understand it. That's pretty good they had that 10 day return policy on new games. That's true, almost nobody allows that these days for a full refund. That would be like playing a game, completing it and then getting your money back if you said you didn't like the game. That was probably smart they stopped doing that.

When they were offering me the display case with lots of fingerprints all over it, I asked for a discount for an opened game case but they said it's a new game. I said it's going to be a gift, and had to walk next door to the other game store to buy it brand new and sealed. The guy didn't offer to shrink wrap it even. That could've made the difference, yes.

Sounds like your store definitely had better customer service than the Gamestop stores I visited.

But yeah, Electroniques Boutique I remember seeing for the first time in the mall way back in the 1980s as a tiny kid. Back then, it was just a walk up counter, with no interior to walk into the store. It was so unusual but kind of cool. You'd ask to see a game and they'd have to keep a careful eye on people so they didn't walk off I can imagine when it got busier. All the games were stacked on the shelves behind them, but stacked like book ends so you couldn't see the cover art. That's how many games they had so you sort of had to ask "What game is that? Can I see that one?"

I bought BC's Quest for Tires for the Colecovision. That was the only store that ever had that game and it was great. That was the first game I ever bought at an EB store, of many more games bought there after that.

Soon they became an interior, full games store which was better since you could go in and look at the games sealed in the boxes back then. Eventually they started the display copies and I remember thinking "That's weird, but I guess people were stealing them so that makes sense".

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Thanks for those extra details on opened games. I see your point of view and can understand it. That's pretty good they had that 10 day return policy on new games. That's true, almost nobody allows that these days for a full refund. That would be like playing a game, completing it and then getting your money back if you said you didn't like the game. That was probably smart they stopped doing that.

When they were offering me the display case with lots of fingerprints all over it, I asked for a discount for an opened game case but they said it's a new game. I said it's going to be a gift, and had to walk next door to the other game store to buy it brand new and sealed. The guy didn't offer to shrink wrap it even. That could've made the difference, yes.

Sounds like your store definitely had better customer service than the Gamestop stores I visited.

But yeah, Electroniques Boutique I remember seeing for the first time in the mall way back in the 1980s as a tiny kid. Back then, it was just a walk up counter, with no interior to walk into the store. It was so unusual but kind of cool. You'd ask to see a game and they'd have to keep a careful eye on people so they didn't walk off I can imagine when it got busier. All the games were stacked on the shelves behind them, but stacked like book ends so you couldn't see the cover art. That's how many games they had so you sort of had to ask "What game is that? Can I see that one?"

I bought BC's Quest for Tires for the Colecovision. That was the only store that ever had that game and it was great. That was the first game I ever bought at an EB store, of many more games bought there after that.

Soon they became an interior, full games store which was better since you could go in and look at the games sealed in the boxes back then. Eventually they started the display copies and I remember thinking "That's weird, but I guess people were stealing them so that makes sense".

Oh that absolutely went on! We had customers that abused the policy for sure. But EB's philosophy at the time was the vast majority of customers were actually honest and respected the policy and didn't abuse it. It was more important to keep them happy and just tolerate the knuckleheads that wanted to treat us like a free rental store. It was looked at as a necessary "loss leader" to continue to gain more loyal repeat customers who DIDN'T abuse the policy. I happened to agree with that philosophy and honestly, it was way less stressful as you didn't have to deal with nearly as many tense situations where you had to tell a customer no. Once the company went public and new upper management took over, all that changed!

Wow that's really cool that you got to see EB at that early stage. I always knew they started out with kiosks in the middle of the mall but we didn't have EB at our mall until they had already converted to a full fledged walk in store. I started working part time for them in the early 90's when I was in college at the peak of the 16 bit, Genesis/SNES era. In the 80's during the Atari/Coleco/Commodore 64 era I usually had to get my games at places like Sears, K-Mart, or Hills Department Store. Man, that was a long time ago! LOL!

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Oh that absolutely went on! We had customers that abused the policy for sure. But EB's philosophy at the time was the vast majority of customers were actually honest and respected the policy and didn't abuse it. It was more important to keep them happy and just tolerate the knuckleheads that wanted to treat us like a free rental store. It was looked at as a necessary "loss leader" to continue to gain more loyal repeat customers who DIDN'T abuse the policy. I happened to agree with that philosophy and honestly, it was way less stressful as you didn't have to deal with nearly as many tense situations where you had to tell a customer no. Once the company went public and new upper management took over, all that changed!

Wow that's really cool that you got to see EB at that early stage. I always knew they started out with kiosks in the middle of the mall but we didn't have EB at our mall until they had already converted to a full fledged walk in store. I started working part time for them in the early 90's when I was in college at the peak of the 16 bit, Genesis/SNES era. In the 80's during the Atari/Coleco/Commodore 64 era I usually had to get my games at places like Sears, K-Mart, or Hills Department Store. Man, that was a long time ago! LOL!

Thanks.

Sorry to hear there were a number of customers who would abuse that generous policy to return games for a full refund in 10 days. With the eventual option to resell games, that at least helped out with things down the road. Customer confrontations are not fun to deal with, so that's cool for awhile there EB didn't have an issue with it.

I can imagine the repeaters walking back in with the next game and saying something like, "Yeah, this one I didn't like either, but I'd like to try that new game and test that one out too."

Every now and then I'll buy a game that seems promising, but might not be what I was hoping for, yet keep it anyway, knowing the trade in value isn't worth selling it for.

I can still visualize that first Electronics Boutique. It was on the first floor of the mall on the right side when I first saw it.

I pieced together a quick Photoshop image of how I remember it back in the early 80s as a small kid, that image imprinted into my memory all these years. This is close to what it looked like with some exceptions like the games especially being 80s games instead of modern games. But PC games yes, Atari, Colecovision, Intellivision, etc. Mostly PC games though back then. But that would be built inside the wall of the mall, so you'd just walk up to the counter and that was it. No interior or anything.

ElectronicsBoutique1980sMall.jpg