Local game store and lack of competition.

[Tanooki | 4,934]

@Fryer64 I agree entirely.  If I were in your town, in your very shoes I've been in them a decade ago.  Back between 1995-2002 I made friends with a retro game/current second hand game shop owner out west were I grew up/lived.  I moved away for 7 years and came back almost yearly still talked with him, visited, bought a couple items to return with to support.  In that time and in the visits too he was always friendly, fair, in time becoming a friend I got a better rate on stuff too within margin mind you (not family.)  When I had to move back there for a small stretch things changed a lot over a period of about a year or two.  He wanted like 2-4x ebay rates on anything in the store.  He would part out stuff and charge for every piece...game, manual, maps, boxes, even other inserts which had just started with some and grew online.  His attitude was crap, was more rude, was still friendly to me to a point but not as much.  He even would warn me not to buy from him as his was high, then he'd joke he raised rates and I quote "because I have constant stream of tired moms with screaming kids and stupid jarheads in boot bored with nothing to do when stuck on base with lots of income" so he turned into preying on moms/single moms and future marine soldiers!  Collectors and other friends dropped away, his paranoia increased, he started to lash out if you did stuff or he assumed you did and just permanently would ban from the shop, not even hearing an argument or rebuttal threatening police escort.

I even got in his crosshairs before I left for he last time, some ass stole an image of mine from the internet of some games I bought, used it to attack his practices, and he assumed it was me so I got the boot, even when I got him not to hang up and listen he said he didn't know if he could believe me and ban stays... and I don't care who I piss off or if he reads it, he tried to argue his shit on NA years ago and got stepped on for it as I wasn't the only one in the area to confirm his tactics.  Store is Game Adx off the 78fwy in Oceanside CA.  Basically don't go there, sadly it's a museum to greed, paranoia, and stupidity because the stuff he has both imported from Japan an domestic is amazing both in quality and quantity, but you could do better anywhere else.

So if your friend with his shitty rates is acting like a scumbag, don't support him, visit, but until he wises up, don't buy.  If you act that way, you don't deserve to get rewarded.

[Fryer64 | 68]

8 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

@Fryer64 I agree entirely.  If I were in your town, in your very shoes I've been in them a decade ago.  Back between 1995-2002 I made friends with a retro game/current second hand game shop owner out west were I grew up/lived.  I moved away for 7 years and came back almost yearly still talked with him, visited, bought a couple items to return with to support.  In that time and in the visits too he was always friendly, fair, in time becoming a friend I got a better rate on stuff too within margin mind you (not family.)  When I had to move back there for a small stretch things changed a lot over a period of about a year or two.  He wanted like 2-4x ebay rates on anything in the store.  He would part out stuff and charge for every piece...game, manual, maps, boxes, even other inserts which had just started with some and grew online.  His attitude was crap, was more rude, was still friendly to me to a point but not as much.  He even would warn me not to buy from him as his was high, then he'd joke he raised rates and I quote "because I have constant stream of tired moms with screaming kids and stupid jarheads in boot bored with nothing to do when stuck on base with lots of income" so he turned into preying on moms/single moms and future marine soldiers!  Collectors and other friends dropped away, his paranoia increased, he started to lash out if you did stuff or he assumed you did and just permanently would ban from the shop, not even hearing an argument or rebuttal threatening police escort.

I even got in his crosshairs before I left for he last time, some ass stole an image of mine from the internet of some games I bought, used it to attack his practices, and he assumed it was me so I got the boot, even when I got him not to hang up and listen he said he didn't know if he could believe me and ban stays... and I don't care who I piss off or if he reads it, he tried to argue his shit on NA years ago and got stepped on for it as I wasn't the only one in the area to confirm his tactics.  Store is Game Adx off the 78fwy in Oceanside CA.  Basically don't go there, sadly it's a museum to greed, paranoia, and stupidity because the stuff he has both imported from Japan an domestic is amazing both in quality and quantity, but you could do better anywhere else.

So if your friend with his shitty rates is acting like a scumbag, don't support him, visit, but until he wises up, don't buy.  If you act that way, you don't deserve to get rewarded.

 I just wish we could do more locally. Because four years ago we  could do that.  And sadly you literally just explained a lot of what has happened. It's like a loss of Passion. 

[Kguillemette | 1,545]

If I like the owner of a local store, I'll usually support them over the random on eBay. Plus, sometimes a game purchase is meant to be an impulse, meaning I want that game that day. In that sense, I can justify paying 10-15% above eBay prices. Most of the time, this is not the case and things like first party Nintendo titles are priced 50-100% above market value. I usually wind up buying random PS2/PS3 games that are more reasonably priced or the oddball collectible they may have like plushies or statues. 

Honestly though, local game stores aren't worth the hassle of going in there most of the time unless I'm looking for ideas for new games to play.

[Hammerfestus | 3,852]

How are you gonna tease me with criminal activity?  

[The Count | 527]

Ya gotta open your own spite store.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

24 minutes ago, The Count said:

Ya gotta open your own spite store.

And Im sure nobody would take advantage of all your bro prices to flip on eBay

[Tanooki | 4,934]

16 hours ago, Fryer64 said:

 I just wish we could do more locally. Because four years ago we  could do that.  And sadly you literally just explained a lot of what has happened. It's like a loss of Passion. 

That may be it, but I also think another is just traditional greed.  When they find for the last 15 years they basically were having these fair rates and when you bought it didn't matter if it was game, or total game in box, it was A price (or reasonably maybe like +10 if it's complete, something very minor) and now they can getaway with more, they do it.  That's how it was at that shop for me, when he realized people would pay another $10 for a book, $5 for a poster, $1 for a dust sleeve, another $20 for a box -- dude did it.  And when he was at first the only doing it, he got mad when it was called out, so then the saltiness magnified.  In the end it's strange.  I miss the store, miss the hang out time, miss the original person who was there for a very long time, but I don't miss where it went and the person he turned into as it's disgusting and a loss.  That's the kind of person who ends up harmed eventually or ends up dying with a hoarders pile because a-hole can't let go of their "precious" like golem no matter what.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

@TDIRunner

@captmorgandrinker

I have no idea where you guys saw this as an issue. Thats the default in a b2g1. The cheapest things in the transaction are always the free things including at Gamestop. If you had games that cost $55, $55, $55, $45, $40,$35

the two free games would be the $35 and $40. The only way around that is separate transactions, thats always how its been

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

2 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

@TDIRunner

@captmorgandrinker

I have no idea where you guys saw this as an issue. Thats the default in a b2g1. The cheapest things in the transaction are always the free things including at Gamestop. If you had games that cost $55, $55, $55, $45, $40,$35

the two free games would be the $35 and $40. The only way around that is separate transactions, thats always how its been

Definitely not true at GameStop.  I've been buying from their B2G1 deals for years and they always go with the cheapest in a set of three.  No separate transactions needed.  The computer automatically calculates the free game.  I have plenty of receipts to back this up.  

Outside of the local game store that I mentioned in my story, I have NEVER seen any store of any kind go with that type of B2G1 deal, so no, it is not default.  If the stores in your area are doing this, that is unfortunate for you, but it's still uncommon and shouldn't be encouraged by shopping at those types of businesses.  

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

4 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

Definitely not true at GameStop.  I've been buying from their B2G1 deals for years and they always go with the cheapest in a set of three.  No separate transactions needed.  The computer automatically calculates the free game.  I have plenty of receipts to back this up.  

Outside of the local game store that I mentioned in my story, I have NEVER seen any store of any kind go with that type of B2G1 deal, so no, it is not default.  If the stores in your area are doing this, that is unfortunate for you, but it's still uncommon and shouldn't be encouraged by shopping at those types of businesses.  

No, GameStop wouldn't, not any one that I've ever been to been to on the East Coast ranging from Pittsburgh at the most northern point to Atlanta at the most southern point.  B2G1 means whatever the two highest priced games in the transaction are, you'll pay for those, then get the third free.  When you end up with different pricing tiers, unless you're doing multiple transactions (or your clerk is manually manipulating the system, which never happened to me), the lowest priced games on the transaction are going to be the free ones--period.

Having a receipt that shows what you paid for each one doesn't necessarily mean that someone on the other side of the register wasn't matching the stuff up manually, putting it into some "mode" or menu selection that changed how the selection was done, etc.

When buying things in that type of sale at Toys R Us, it went the exact same way as I've described, unless I purposefully did multiple transactions.  And while that was an annoyance, it certainly wasn't enough to lose my business simply because I couldn't get that same deal anywhere else.  While you might not have the patience to sit through multiple transactions in order to get the deal that everyone is baited in by before the switch at the register, plenty of other folks do, and it's enough to keep those types of transactions/sales going.

If you and @captmorgandrinker are both in the same state/region, you might take a look and see if there's some sort of state laws protecting you guys from the sorts of shenanigans you're complaining about.  That's my only guess as to why you're seeing a different sort of default/"normal" than everyone else seems to be.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

26 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said:

No, GameStop wouldn't, not any one that I've ever been to been to on the East Coast ranging from Pittsburgh at the most northern point to Atlanta at the most southern point.  B2G1 means whatever the two highest priced games in the transaction are, you'll pay for those, then get the third free.  When you end up with different pricing tiers, unless you're doing multiple transactions (or your clerk is manually manipulating the system, which never happened to me), the lowest priced games on the transaction are going to be the free ones--period.

Having a receipt that shows what you paid for each one doesn't necessarily mean that someone on the other side of the register wasn't matching the stuff up manually, putting it into some "mode" or menu selection that changed how the selection was done, etc.

When buying things in that type of sale at Toys R Us, it went the exact same way as I've described, unless I purposefully did multiple transactions.  And while that was an annoyance, it certainly wasn't enough to lose my business simply because I couldn't get that same deal anywhere else.  While you might not have the patience to sit through multiple transactions in order to get the deal that everyone is baited in by before the switch at the register, plenty of other folks do, and it's enough to keep those types of transactions/sales going.

If you and @captmorgandrinker are both in the same state/region, you might take a look and see if there's some sort of state laws protecting you guys from the sorts of shenanigans you're complaining about.  That's my only guess as to why you're seeing a different sort of default/"normal" than everyone else seems to be.

Agreed Ive never seen it any other way. Ive seen plenty of threads on the Gamestop subreddit talking about people wanting to get a higher priced game within the transaction as the free one and them being like “uh thats not how that works.”

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

22 hours ago, Fryer64 said:

Omaha has two really amazing game store owners. Absolutely class acts.

Omahaian here. Can attest to Ben's and Pop Culture Exchange both being great stores. But you'll notice neither are dedicated to just games. Like someone else said here, they are staying viable by yes, being good owners with good prices and policies, but also, selling more than games. 

Gamers on the other hand.... sigh....

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

I'll see if I can find some of my older receipts, because Gamestop definitely used to do it that way.  I only remember because I had things stacked to do separate transactions and the clerk mentioned the computer would do it the way I wanted in one shot.

So my 20-20-20-10-10-10 single transaction did indeed net me a free 20 thing and a free 10 thing.   

Perhaps it doesn't work that way any more.   I know online it never did work that way, just in store.

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I can assure you that the GS associate was not changing anything on their end.  Any prices changes made at the register show up on the receipt.  I've had GS reduce prices on lots of stuff if the box or case has some damage to it, and those price adjustments always show up on the receipt.  

Again, I suppose it's not the same everywhere, but making the cheapest items from the entire lot the free items simply isn't logical.  Otherwise, you have to ring up each set of three games as separate transactions which wastes the buyers time along with the store associate's time which cost the company money.  I have never and will never give my money to businesses who use this strategy.  Apparently I'm lucky in that I've only ran into it one time, and I'm not just talking about game stores.  

[Tabonga | 2,322]

This is all kind of scary given my memories of videogame stores when I first got into video games in 1989 or so.  The stores back them were a much different and much more enjoyable experience than they later became.  This of course was long before the "collectible" market really existed - that really didn't become a big issue until the internet* became more established.  I really miss that time period.

*Which likely can be largely blamed for the present state of affairs vis a vis brick and mortar stores' faults.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Tabonga

[Fryer64 | 68]

1 hour ago, CodysGameRoom said:

Omahaian here. Can attest to Ben's and Pop Culture Exchange both being great stores. But you'll notice neither are dedicated to just games. Like someone else said here, they are staying viable by yes, being good owners with good prices and policies, but also, selling more than games. 

Gamers on the other hand.... sigh....

Bingo on your two good owners. 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

1 hour ago, TDIRunner said:

Again, I suppose it's not the same everywhere, but making the cheapest items from the entire lot the free items simply isn't logical.

It is absolutely logical for the cheapest items in a multiple price tiered transaction on a B2G1 sale to be the free ones versus more expensive, price-tier-matching ones.  Why?  Because businesses operate in such a way as to maximize their profits and in their own best interests.  Is this practice in the best interest of customers?  No, but most often, folks don't pay any attention to this sort of thing, so the practice continues unabated.  You can try to tell me I'm wrong, and all sorts of people notice this and complain, but then I can point out to you the vast hordes of people who trade their games into places like GameStop who don't ask for price breakdowns by game and basically give away half or more of what they're trading in ($0.01-$0.25 trade in values on modern games is giving them away in my mind) without caring because the total they were told is enough to get whatever new game it is they're after.

Again, if that's the way it is and always has been in your state, most likely there are some sort of consumer protection laws on the books that prevent the sort of matching issues we're debating to be skipped in your area but happen on the regular everywhere else.  I can tell you with certainty that B2G1 means the cheapest games of the bunch on the east coast in any chain store you're going to shop in and many mom 'n pop stores as well unless you ask ahead of time to verify how they're handling things.

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

14 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said:

...

Separating 30 items into 10 separate transactions costs time and money and therefore isn't logical.  If you want to encourage that I won't try to stop you, but my time is too valuable for that shit and nearly all business owners in my area agree.   

[DefaultGen | 5,410]

4 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

Definitely not true at GameStop.  I've been buying from their B2G1 deals for years and they always go with the cheapest in a set of three.  No separate transactions needed.  The computer automatically calculates the free game.  I have plenty of receipts to back this up.  

Outside of the local game store that I mentioned in my story, I have NEVER seen any store of any kind go with that type of B2G1 deal, so no, it is not default.  If the stores in your area are doing this, that is unfortunate for you, but it's still uncommon and shouldn't be encouraged by shopping at those types of businesses.  

My local store did a "screw the customer" B2G1 sale once when I was buying a bunch of stuff at various prices (Like $1 to $60). So I said ok... can I ring it up in multiple transactions. They said no because that would be gaming the system. So I put all the cheapest stuff back and didn't buy it 

[LastCat | 246]

I can confirm that GS stores here before closing down entirely gave you the cheapest game out of the 3 for free as part of the B2G1 promos.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

1 hour ago, TDIRunner said:

Separating 30 items into 10 separate transactions costs time and money and therefore isn't logical.  If you want to encourage that I won't try to stop you, but my time is too valuable for that shit and nearly all business owners in my area agree.   

I'm not sure why you think those of us working with stores that don't do the deal in the customer's favor are going out specifically to waste more time than we need to.  If I'm in a store offering that promotion and I happen to find multiple "sets" of things I'd like to get with that deal, and (here's the important part) it's still a better deal than buying the stuff individually anywhere else, I'm perfectly fine with spending the extra minute, maybe two max, for each additional transaction.  If someone is buying such bulk that the extra transactions would keep them there for 30-60 minutes, ok, sure, argue with the clerk and maybe walk, as at that point the deal (going in the store's favor, again, mind you) is less and less worth the time spent.  But if it's the typical 2-5 minutes maximum that I've ever had to spend doing 2-3 transactions instead of 1? Absolutely worth staying versus spending even more time, gas, and additional money to buy the same stuff somewhere else.

And again, while it's not in the customer's best interests for a B2G1 free sale stacked multiple times to only give away the cheapest items out of the whole lot, it absolutely is logical for the stores to do it that way, hence why it's a mainstay, even if somehow you're only just now being exposed to it for the first time in your life.  In the cases I presented, it absolutely is logical for a customer to go ahead and accept having to do 2 or 3 transactions to get the best possible deal from a store doing B2G1 simply because the additional time and money spent looking elsewhere (plus most likely not getting as good a discount elsewhere) will far exceed the handful of minutes max that they'll spend at the first location going through the register 2-3 times.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

1 hour ago, LastCat said:

I can confirm that GS stores here before closing down entirely gave you the cheapest game out of the 3 for free as part of the B2G1 promos.

What were they giving you for free across multiple stacks of that promo?  If you got 3 $10 titles, 3 $15 titles and 3 $20 titles, were they giving you 1 of each tier for free or, as it is everywhere I've ever shopped, the 3 $10 titles?  That's the issue of contention at the moment.

[LastCat | 246]

I'm unsure how it would work for bigger quantities but I kept it simple and just grabbed 3 games. Out of those 3 games they gave me the cheapest for free during the duration of the promo. I would assume that maybe if it was more than 3 games they would give you the cheaper titles for free but I'm unsure on that particular situation.

[fcgamer | 4,727]

35 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said:

I'm perfectly fine with spending the extra minute, maybe two max, for each additional transaction.  

The real question is, are the people waiting in line behind you okay with it?

One guy, multiple transactions is a much bigger offence in my book than paying with pennies.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

3 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

The real question is, are the people waiting in line behind you okay with it?

One guy, multiple transactions is a much bigger offence in my book than paying with pennies.

Hey, at GameStop, I regularly have to wait 10-15 minutes to actually get the privilege of checking out thanks to the vast number of people who don't know what's coming out and actually bite when the clerk asks them about preordering upcoming titles, then goes over the width and breadth of every system they own, what's coming out for those, what the minimum amount to put down for a preorder is, etc.  Virtually everyone who's ever shopped at one of those places knows what they're in for, so me rapid fire telling the clerk no half a dozen times, paying for one transaction, then having another transaction immediately after (sans all the required questions) isn't breaking anyone's back.

I empathize with folks who are behind me in line, but I've done my time waiting and get to pester the clerk with any/all inanities just like any other customer.  If the person ringing stuff up should tell me I can't make multiple, individual purchases (because hey, they don't know for sure I'm not buying for me, for my brother, and for my friend as well and keeping separate receipts to make things simpler), they can keep everything after the first transaction (or heck, perhaps everything depending on how they break that news), making things that much quicker for the folks behind me.

I don't have anything against anyone counting out pennies for a transaction, so long as it's not an excessive amount (like over $1 and they're going to count it all out in loose pennies), there's not a huge line behind them when attempting to count out over $1 in loose pennies, etc.  And at that point, even if I did, it doesn't help me any, as it's that person's turn to check out and their time with the clerk.  If I'm going to make "trouble" at checkout somewhere due to trying to game the system for a deal, I'll generally let folks go ahead of me,  But again, if I've waited in a long line to get up there, it's now my turn/time and I'm under no obligation to worry about everybody else at that point.

I've been self aware of the fact that I can be (quite) an asshole for many years now, so others being upset because I've got to go through more than one transaction to buy what I've selected doesn't terribly bother me--everybody who had individual purchases or looks like they were in a hurry most likely already got told to go ahead of me as it was.