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Ben Kuchera over at Opposable Thumbs has an article about how many add-ons retailers try to push on gamers. Discount cards, pre-orders, and extended warranties are the norm, but six pitches for one game that is annoying.
At Gamestop it’s even more ridiculous. At my last visit I didn’t want to pre-order anything, I didn’t want to sign up for the Madden tournament, I didn’t want to subscribe to their magazines, I didn’t want to look through the prerelease binder while I waited just in case I changed my mind about the pre-order thing, I didn’t want the used copy, and I didn’t want to hear the pitch about how the card and the used copy worked together to save me even more money. That’s six pitches I had to sit through. Even better? I was buying a memory card. At that point, I would have been willing to just give the guy five bucks just to shut up, and I think the customer behind me was getting freaked out knowing that he was going to hear each and every one of those pitches again. You never know who might be a secret shopper, so the hands of the clerk really are tied. It’s either annoy every customer that comes in the door or risk a write up.
It is true that video game profit margins are slim, but is there a better way to raise cash than pushing strategy guides? Maybe before each pitch customers can challenge the staff to a match of Soul Calibur III. If they win they can buy a game pitch free.
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8 Responses to “Just sell me my game already!”
August 31st, 2006 at 4:27 pm
I like the guy at my local Gamecrazy. I walk in yesterday, he recognizes me immediately and says ‘Disgaea 2?’ And I say ‘Yeah.’ And he gives me the game.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:07 pm
People might b$%&h about Wal-Mart, but at lease the people over there don’t care about making cash on extra warranties, they’ll just give you what you want as long as you pay for it.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Yeah, this is getting pretty bad. I only pre-order and go in store if there is a free art book or something, otherwise I order online. I don’t know if it’s just me but the ones in malls seem a lot worse. I might actually buy that used game if it wasn’t only five dollers cheaper, missing the manual, and scratched to hell.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:50 pm
***People might b$%&h about Wal-Mart, but at lease the people over there dont care about making cash on extra warranties, theyll just give you what you want as long as you pay for it.***
GS employees no longer receive extra money on warranties, their prize? They get to keep their jobs. I worked for GS for a few years, its not BS, you WILL be written up if your caught not saying that stuff.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:39 pm
game co rocks, they know me, know which game i want, everything. they never bug me with shit! game co ftw!
September 1st, 2006 at 7:01 am
//EvilHero Said: GS employees no longer receive extra money on warranties, their prize? They get to keep their jobs. I worked for GS for a few years, its not BS, you WILL be written up if your caught not saying that stuff.//
I was not talking about the employees, of course they don’t make d!@* of warranties, hell, they don’t make money out of sales period, it’s a regular pay for a low profitable business. Game Stores are one of the worst ideas ever because the only way to turn out a decent profit is to sale used games & hardware and 3rd party hardware. I’ve also worked at a store that sold computers and games, so I also knows how it works. I could sale 1 computer and the profit would be higher than selling 100 new games.
December 6th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
My card ran out a few month’s ago. When I went back to buy some more games, they showed me how I would only have to pay X amount of dollars more for the card, but I’m saving on the games. They usually give me the pitch about selling their magazine, but i was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t
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August 31st, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Thats what you get for not ordering online…