I can't trade in SEALED stuff? Why not?!

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

This exchange happens all the time....

Customer comes to trade in games and one or more of them is sealed.

Me: I'm sorry we don't take sealed games for trade.
SC: Why not?
Me: It's a standard policy, meant to help make sure we don't take in stolen items. Therefore, we can't accept it if it's sealed.
SC: Ok then... *grabs game and proceeds to open it*
Me: It doesn't count if you open it in front of me.

OR

SC: Ok then, I'll just go to my car and open it there.
Me: Sorry that doesn't count.
SC: Why not? It unseals it.
Me: Yes but it doesn't change the fact we don't know where the game came from. Opening it in front of me does not prove that it's not stolen.
SC: But that's such bullshit, why can't you take them??

Ok, dumbass let's do this one more time!

Me: Because they could be stolen.
SC: I'm not a thief.
Me: I am not saying you are, I am simply saying I do not know where the game came from.
SC: My sister gave it to me.
Me: That's nice, but since I have no way to prove that, I still can't take the game.
SC: What's stopping me from taking it to another of your stores?
Me: If you want to do that, it's your choice.

(Obviously I am not going to suggest or recommend that she do this as instructing customers how to circumvent policy is a no no)

I had one woman decide she was never shopping with us again because of our "absurd and ridiculous" policy of not taking sealed product for trade.

Sorry, corporate has been driving this point at us HARD for quite awhile now, I'm not about to risk my job so you can trade in your precious game.

I run into this several times a week and most times the customer just can't wrap their head around why this policy exists and yet it seems so easy to grasp.

[persephone]

Those people are definitely sucky if they refuse to accept the policy once you tell them, but can you explain this policy to me? How does it being sealed make it any more likely to be stolen or being unseal make it less likely to be a stolen video game?

[TeaHouseLackey]

I am not saying you are, I am simply saying I do not know where the game came from.

The problem I have with this is that you can use this same logic on any game that any customer brings in. A 'used' game stolen out of some one's house is just as stolen, and it's not shrink-wrapped.

[bainsidhe]

I'd like to point out that shrink-wrapped games have the added bonus of being unable to tell what's inside. Unless you open them, that is. My old store used to crack the games open (we'd still take them) just to make sure there was a disc inside that belonged to the game. We had some scammers reseal and return/trade-in movies & games with the discs removed. It's a hassle and time consuming to open unseal games, so not every employee did it and we got burned a few times.

I'm guessing this policy was put in place because there was a LOT of theft and dubious trade-ins.

[Fox One]

The problem I have with this is that you can use this same logic on any game that any customer brings in. A 'used' game stolen out of some one's house is just as stolen, and it's not shrink-wrapped.

I'm guessing it's more to protect stealing from a store and then turning around and hocking it right back to them.

[Midnight_Angel]

Still, it won't stop me from stealing the game, ripping it ooen... and then turning right back t osell it to the store, will it?

[Red_Dazes]

I totally get that rules are rules... but I do think it's kinda a lame policy. My cousin got a game for Christmas once... didn't want it, never opened it, and brought it back. It would have sucked if he couldn't return it... But I doubt he would have been rude about it.

[TechCreep]

My wife won a couple copies of the Lego Indiana Jones game for the Wii in some online contest. We kept one, but the other we didn't need or want and it was still sealed. When we brought it to the local GameStop, they gave us the regular trade in value. I can understand a policy is a policy, but it doesn't mean it makes sense.

The guy in your story could have simply taken it back from you, and brought it in opened another day, instead of griping about it.

-tc

[EricKei]

Aye. It applies to *trades*, not real returns.

A gamestore I worked at in my early days -- it shared a parking lot with a wally-world -- had this one customer who would bring in (non-sealed) DVD sets all the time to trade. Often 3 or 4 sets of the SAME THING over a week or two's time. We knew d*** well they were stolen (sets are worth more, they were in pristine condition, she always wanted cash, etc), probably from WW, but we couldn't prove it, so our DM made us take them anyway >_<

Her fave ones to bring in were Sopranos sets.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'm guessing it's more to protect stealing from a store and then turning around and hocking it right back to them.

Which is exactly what a former co-worker of mine did.

After a while, returning pristine, un-opened video games for cash set off alarm bells with LP. When co-worker got busted, the district LP guy came down to assist with the bust, so you knew something big was going down.

Of course, this policy doesn't mean shit when all one has to do to get around is take the game back, unseal it, wait a few days, and then try to trade it in again, hopefully with a different employee behind the counter.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

We also used to take in sealed games but since around the start of the year, corporate's been reminding us CONSTANTLY to not take in sealed copies or multiple copies of the same title in on trades.

I fully realize it doesn't prevent sealed product from being traded in, but they seem to think it's a small deterrent.

[Arm]

It may also simply be a means of covering their own ass.

For one, it's a nice, showy policy that they can point to, to say "See, we're trying to do something about it!"

For another, it dilutes the supply of stolen items and makes it hard to track.

It's not in GameStore's interest *not* to buy stolen merch *if* they can get away with it. They pay less for trades (we assume) than they do for new copies, and then re-sell them for a ruinous markup. That's money in the bank for them. So the best possible thing that they can do is to appear to be attempting to discourage the purchase of stolen goods, while in actuality not doing anything effective.

Depending on their insurance policies, they may actually be able to make money on the above process even if the product is stolen from their *own* store by reporting the resulting shrinkage/loss appropriately.

It's even better than committing insurance fraud, because in this case, the theft actually happens.

Remember- business isn't actually about selling a product. It's about churning the dollars *enough* that, at the end of the day, you have more dollars in your hands than when you started.

[EricKei]

It's not in GameStore's interest *not* to buy stolen merch *if* they can get away with it. They pay less for trades (we assume) than they do for new copies, and then re-sell them for a ruinous markup. That's money in the bank for them.

I guess they gotta make it somewhere ^_^ Last time I checked:

Gross profit/markup on a new $50/60 title was $5

On a console, it's $0~10 on most

On used, it's $2-5 for el cheapo games (on most of those, chances are they're LOSING money because of price drops due to it being there long enough to hit the discount rack), and upwards of $15-20 on titles that still sell for $50+ new.

[Stig]

I did

I spotted a store here in the UK selling stupidly cheap pc games a few years ago (Nothing dodgy, it was a big national chain begining with D and ending in ixons). I bought all the copies they had, I think it was only about 6 or 7 and went stright into Game a few doors away to trade them in and was met with exactly this policy. They eventually relented though when I proved they weren't stolen by producing the receipt.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I spotted a store here in the UK selling stupidly cheap pc games a few years ago (Nothing dodgy, it was a big national chain begining with D and ending in ixons). I bought all the copies they had, I think it was only about 6 or 7 and went stright into Game a few doors away to trade them in and was met with exactly this policy. They eventually relented though when I proved they weren't stolen by producing the receipt.

Which is the one exception to our "no sealed stuff" policy.