Octopus Overlords

1) A gutted box is not used, so it must be new. As long as you get everything in the box it doesn't matter if it's opened. This is similiar to saying that all new cars aren't new because they may have 5-30 miles on the odometer. (I have never seen a 0 mile odometer on a new car). Heck in this case it is actually more acurrate to say the car is used.

Except there is a very explicit line on your reciept for the game stating that only returns of "unopened" game are allowed for 30 days. So if actually as soon as you buy the game they can refuse to let you return it.

So basically they are making so it is impossible for you to follow their policies!

Now that just seems stupid.

farley2k wrote:

1) A gutted box is not used, so it must be new. As long as you get everything in the box it doesn't matter if it's opened. This is similiar to saying that all new cars aren't new because they may have 5-30 miles on the odometer. (I have never seen a 0 mile odometer on a new car). Heck in this case it is actually more acurrate to say the car is used.

Except there is a very explicit line on your reciept for the game stating that only returns of "unopened" game are allowed for 30 days. So if actually as soon as you buy the game they can refuse to let you return it.

So basically they are making so it is impossible for you to follow their policies!

Now that just seems stupid.

Excellent point, and one that I have brought up many times at the store in the past. The answers I get vary, and never satisfy me. This is why I don't shop there anymore.

Punisher wrote:1) A gutted box is not used, so it must be new. As long as you get everything in the box it doesn't matter if it's opened. This is similiar to saying that all new cars aren't new because they may have 5-30 miles on the odometer. (I have never seen a 0 mile odometer on a new car). Heck in this case it is actually more acurrate to say the car is used.

Based on past practice, this is not always true. There have been many stories of people getting home with games that have obviously been played by someone, be it an employee or a return that was toted as new. I have heard that EB has stopped it's policy of letting employees play the store's games...but honestly, who's to say they haven't at least borrowed your serial # for pirated play? I have also seen them (albeit years ago)shrink wrap games themselves, calling them new when they are not. This may not be true of every location, but I don't take chances. My money goes elsewhere.

I think from seeing them in action that EBgames store policy on what constitutes an "opened box" is defined by them putting a clear round sticker over the box top thus calling it a "closed" or "sealed" box.

Personally I don't buy PC games from them because I don't like anyone opening the box, removing the cd-rom and then putting all the contents back in and charging full price for it. It's bullshit.

When I shop at other stores, let's pick Target or Wal-Mart I don't see this kind of activity happening. It happens at EBgames because we let them get away with it. By buying their opened gutted pc games and paying full price we let them continue to do it.

I'd like to see a shitload of gamers get together and sue their asses for selling opened product as "new".

I still don't see how anyone can say it's not new. Yes there may be cases where the employees take them home (whether against or with store policy) and cases where employees steal cdkeys and such, but I doubt it is as widespread as people are making it out to be. All the majority do is open the box and take out the stuff so that it doesn't get stolen. Believe me it does happen regularly that stuff gets stolen out of the display boxes if they are full.

As for not being able to return opened items...Most stores can shrinkwrap the items before you leave if you want or many of them can mark the receipt saying that it was opened by the store.

As an aside, I recently had to return an unopened camcorder at BB. The person at the counter opened it in front of me to check it out. They then had to call someone from the department to check it out. They then both started arguing with me that I had to pay a 15% restocking fee because it was opened! The box didn't have any seals to break or anything, but it wasn't opened by me...

The EB I rarely frequent only has one empty box, the rest are all in the back sealed up. It's weird that no one else does this, maybe because it makes too much sense.

JSHAW wrote:When I shop at other stores, let's pick Target or Wal-Mart I don't see this kind of activity happening. It happens at EBgames because we let them get away with it. By buying their opened gutted pc games and paying full price we let them continue to do it.

I'd like to see a shitload of gamers get together and sue their asses for selling opened product as "new".

You really shouldn't try to compare EB & GS with Wal-Mart & Target. EB & GS rely completely on the revenue generated by the sale of games whereas Target & Wal-Mart do not.

Like I said we only gut one box for PC Games for display purposes and gut one or more copies of big console titles for display. For some reason there's just something about a consumer getting to hold the case/box... Otherwise it's design a store with all locked cases where you just point to what you want. Not that cost effective nor is it efficient use of the real estate they have (depending on the store size of course).

Lawsuit? Already happened. Why do you think the return policy for GS & EB changed about 2 years ago? People abused the return policy, the companies didn't want to take massive losses so they sealed the games up and resold them as new, and some people sued and won. Now when we take returns it is only in exchange for the same game or it's processed as a trade-in.

wankerjr wrote: People abused the return policy, the companies didn't want to take massive losses so they sealed the games up and resold them as new, and some people sued and won.

Good for those people. "Returned and resealed because we don't want to lose money" is not "factory sealed new" Imagine if condom manufacturers did the same thing. Eew,

Punisher wrote: As for not being able to return opened items...Most stores can shrinkwrap the items before you leave if you want or many of them can mark the receipt saying that it was opened by the store.

I suppose they could.
Point is, I don't want to be the one worried about what's in the box or what happened to it when it was outside the box.

Not my problem anymore. It's theirs. I go elsewhere.

And at what point does the previously mentioned 'new' car become a 'used' car? Only when it's sold? The customer has to decide that. I suppose there are people who will not buy a 'new' car with over 50 miles on the odometer. Others are more lenient and will still call it new with up to 200 miles on it. Why not 500 miles? Or 1,000? The salesmen could make a lot of coffee runs and still call it new.

My point is that the CUSTOMER decides if it is new. Well, actually the store can create it's own definition too. But they ain't gonna get money from people whose definition of 'new' does not match theirs.

killbot737 wrote:

wankerjr wrote: People abused the return policy, the companies didn't want to take massive losses so they sealed the games up and resold them as new, and some people sued and won.

Good for those people. "Returned and resealed because we don't want to lose money" is not "factory sealed new" Imagine if condom manufacturers did the same thing. Eew,

True to an extent but remember that a condom would be considered a consumable product while games would not.

I didn't agree with that policy (which was years before I even started working there). I remember seeing boxes resealed in the PC section that annoyed me to no end so I understand the issue both from the consumer and business viewpoint.

Punisher wrote:
As an aside, I recently had to return an unopened camcorder at BB. The person at the counter opened it in front of me to check it out. They then had to call someone from the department to check it out. They then both started arguing with me that I had to pay a 15% restocking fee because it was opened! The box didn't have any seals to break or anything, but it wasn't opened by me...

Well, that's BestBuy for you. If you shop there, you pretty much deserve whatever happens. They are one of the worst companies in the United States.

Gamestop has started to put PC games in plastic shells. This prevents viewing the inner flap of a game box (if it has one) but you are getting an unopened game and box in nice condition. Yet another reason why I shop there instead of EB.

Wankerjr, I appreciate your responses. I only wish every other EB employee was as considerate for our point of view as you are.

Benhur wrote:Gamestop has started to put PC games in plastic shells. This prevents viewing the inner flap of a game box (if it has one) but you are getting an unopened game and box in nice condition. Yet another reason why I shop there instead of EB.

Wankerjr, I appreciate your responses. I only wish every other EB employee was as considerate for our point of view as you are.

I try to be reasonable since I like my games unopened

Hmm..I wonder how much something like that would cost?

But the point of opening the box is for loss prevention. If it saves them hundreds of dollars per store each year in stolen games, then I say power to them.

Larraque wrote:But the point of opening the box is for loss prevention. If it saves them hundreds of dollars per store each year in stolen games, then I say power to them.

Loss prevention is all well and good, but it should be achieved by means other than harming the customer. It wouldn't be that hard to have use an alternative - open a single box, keep the rest in the back, have a single 'display' box with a paper slip you hand to the cashier for the real game (Toys R Us uses this), create a plastic box-holder similar to what you find on CDs, arrange the store properly to prevent losses (EB is horrible about this - every one I've been in is full of blind areas), and so on.

I bought a "refurbished" xbox at EB this past weekend. I bought it there because I could only get it by trading in pc and gamecube games - I was not allowed to spend money on it (we're saving for a house).

So I picked up Halo2 with it, got home and booted it up. Turns out there are saved profiles for H2 on the system, and upon further inspection, there are other files on the HD.

I guess I'm confused. They told me it was sent back to microsoft, fixed up like new, and sent back for sale. If this is the case, would ms have erased the hard drive? Maybe not, but this is why I was confused. Was this xbox merely used -traded in at the store, or was it refurished? The system works fine, but the saved files made me wonder.

I've posted this before about the open game policy at EB.

The ones near me gut 80% on their pc inventory I'd guess. I always make them right "Opened, sold as new" on the reciept if they don't have any unopened in the back. I refuse to let them reshrink it or place obnoxious yellow used game stickers on my 'new' game box. Then If I find the game to be extra crappy I'll return it and get full trade value to something else. This is exactlly how their policy used to be when I started shopping there 15 years ago. I dont do this often as I tend to like most of my purchases, but it is nice to use their own stupid policy against them. Only once has an employee refused to write it on my receipt and insisted on placing a big used game sticker on it. I let him place it on the box then told him actully I didn't want the game...opps good luck selling that one as new.

/gets in the way-back machine and takes a long, long ride...

Back in my days of retail at Computer City - the biggest shrinkage was from the store employees. They stole everything and routinely made copies of games. The re-wrapping thing ran rampant.

We lost a GM due to theft - I guess video of him loading laptops into his trunk kinda vindicated all of the employees he had been threatening with their jobs if the thieves weren't found. Hehe - I remember him routinely getting called back into the store because somebody would put a bag of popcorn in the microwave with a 30-minute delay and about a 30-minute cook time. The fire department would call him right about the time he got home. Didn't happen every night - but at least once a week for a cople of months. They finally just closed the break room. That sucked.

He wasn't the only one stealing, though. I remember they found a lot of empty Upgrades/Peripherals boxes in the void space under the elevator (The store had a basement with offices and warehouse space) - people had figured out that there was no camera in the elevator car, so they'd open boxes and stash the contents, then they'd flatten the boxes and somehow stuff them in the crack between the car and the shaft. Nobody else knew until the elevator got routine maintenance.