So, here’s what probably happened.
Physical GameStop stores will usually open a handful of new games that they receive, so that they can put the boxes on the shelves. But the boxes are empty. You take the box from the shelf for the game you want to buy, bring it to the counter, and they go into a locked drawer that has their stock of games, and they put the game into the box, and then sell it to you. This is assuming that they don’t have any unopened copies available; usually they will, but if you’re unlucky and happen to catch them at the end of their stock for a particular title, you might get one that’s been opened so that the box can be used on display.
Unfortunately, a lot of would-be thieves don’t realize that the boxes on the shelves are empty, and steal them. So if you’re really unlucky, you’ll get a generic box that they print out like this if they don’t have any originals left. Usually these boxes are only used for used games (where they bought the game without the box), but sometimes they use them with new copies if they absolutely have to. Depending on the store and the cashier, you can sometimes get them to give you a small discount for the missing box, but I’m not sure if that’s a corporate policy or not.
I believe that they can technically still sell these as “new” product, as opposed to “unused”, because the product never left the store’s possession during this opening/storing process, and isn’t the same as a returned product being resold. So what likely went down here is that when OP ordered this game, due to availability or logistics or whatever, they sent a copy that was being held at a physical GameStop store, instead of from some warehouse.
If you’re really worried about it, OP, you can probably contact GameStop and request a return or replacement for an unopened copy. In my experience, they’re usually pretty understanding about that. It’s an annoying extra hoop to jump through, but unfortunately that’s just always been a risk one takes when buying from GameStop.
Sounds like what should be called an “open box” product to me
Employees can also take “new” games home and play them for a few days, the being back and sell as new for full price.
Absolute shit business, hilarious that they were chosen for stock shenanigans.
Quiet, buy GME best company. The shirts are controlling them. The low stock price has nothing to do with them being a bad business pissing away millions of dollars. Their NFT wallet that was a huge waste of money is the wave of the future.
Yeah, once they break that shrink wrap, regardless of the reason, its open box and used.
I hate that they do this. You opened it, you touched the disc, the disc was run in a system. That’s not new, that’s not unused. GameStop should have never done this in the first place, and I can’t believe they still do it.
What system? “The system” is to put it in a plastic sleeve in a glorified filing cabinet. The game is never played, the box is just used for display. What’s asinine is that the video game manufacturers never realized they could sell cover boxes to gamestop and the like and probably make extra profit… which would stop the entire need for them to do this at all.
Try returning an open game to GameStop under the same rationale and see if they agree.
Twenty Years ago they let employees “check out” brand new games that were opened like this so it was all bullshit.
My mistake about your post. But they will sometimes use a disc in the in store kiosk and then sell that as used if it’s the last disc available. At least they used to.
No you were right. Employees can take games home to sample, and they’re still sold as new
Why do you assume the game was ran?
My mistake I thought they had used it in the kiosk. My point still stands though that someone else opened it, touched it, and I have no way of verifying it’s integrity until I get home. That’s used.
We have very different definitions of used
As soon as the case is removed from the shrink wrap it is used. GameStop won’t pay you full price to trade in an open copy of a game just because you say you never put it in your console.
When. I buy a NEW game, the entire thing should be in mint condition, case included. When I pay full price, I’m paying for everything that comes inside the shrink wrap, and it should be unadulterated.
If anything has been adulterated in any way compared to how it came from the factory, then I shouldn’t have to pay full price.
That wouldn’t be used, that would be open box which is very different. GameStop doesn’t trust consumers when they say something is new, but realistically if they’re selling a "used* item as new then that’s false advertising and they’d get in huge trouble. They’re selling an open box item as new, which is fine, because it is unused.
A new car that has yet to be sold to anyone but that has also been on numerous test drives is still a new car.
Dude employees can take games home to play them, and they sell them full price as “new”
That’s fucking used.
Source: two friends worked at that shit company.
Go try selling an open copy of a game on eBay or Craigslist as “new”. You won’t get people paying “new” prices for it. You will get people paying “used” prices. And your prices will be even lower if the case is all grubby and covered in stickers, as GameStop tends to do.
If they want to sell these as “open box”, fine, but selling them as new for new prices is downright shitty and that is what people have a problem with.
This is not a tough concept to grasp. No other retailer is shitty enough to open all their products, sell them at full price, then tell their customers to fuck off when they complain.
Fuck GameStop.
Yes we do. New to me is unopened…if you took the plastic off I’m not paying.new. GameStop wouldn’t take this game back as new either.
GameStop wouldn’t take it back because they can’t take your word for it, where they themselves know that it’s effectively “new” even if it’s open box for display reasons. Consumers can somewhat reasonably assume that they aren’t selling you a used product as new due to potential false advertising claims.
An item that is open but never used is still new. A new car that has yet to be sold to anyone but that has been on numerous test drives is still new.
As a consumer I can verify the car is running, the interior still looks fresh, there are no dings, the engine isn’t missing hoses, etc. I can’t verify the disc hasn’t been scratched lightly until I know the disc reads.
Because this thread is just a circlejerk
Yet, other stores don’t do this. Avoid GameStop and you avoid this, and all that comes with it. It’s fine to learn what happened. It’s not OK to do this or have this happen to you.
Who gives a shit?? If the game is new that’s all that’s important. It’s not like studios put anything interesting on the box let alone inside the box these days.
Maybe I’m biased because I hate physical clutter and refuse to stack plastic trash in my house tho (home RAID server ftw)
What a hilarious comment. I don’t like shit on my shelves but that didn’t mean I’d pay full price for a piece of shit
This is so unbelievably shitty, and they’ve been doing it for decades now. The number of times I went in, asked for a new copy of a game, and was told to pay full price for something that came in a grubby open box covered in stickers was infuriating. It’s a big reason I stopped shopping there over 10 years ago.
Other stores figured out how to put games on their shelves without opening the boxes and taking the discs out. In fact, it’s actually less work to not be shitty. Just put the fucking game on the shelf LIKE EVERY OTHER GODDAMN STORE ON THE PLANET.
Fuck GameStop. I hope their CEO gets hemorrhoids regularly.
That’s a fuckload of words to explain why they sent OP an open box product as new. Like a super shitty company.
Return that immediately. I worked for gamestop for about 6 years from 11-16. It was a horribly run company that should be a relic of the past like circuit city and blockbuster. Executive management would rather make tiny profits than make pro-consumer changes that would draw in gamers (things like tournaments were actively discouraged).
I really hated that gamestop became a meme stock. It meant executive made a lot of money from no effort on their own. I would have much rather seen their shares go to zero and then get bought for pennies on the dollar, leaving the top brass on their ass.
Yeah, people forget that Gamestop basically ran all of their favorite local game and card shops out of business. They should not be celebrated.
Fuck now I want to invent a game hangout space that has indie game tournaments, sells games, cards and comics and regularly holds tournaments. Online gambling is legal now, right as long as its base off a skilled game? Stream that shit and take bets…
As a casual yugioh enjoyer that went to Barnes and noble every few Saturdays to play and trade, I never saw GameStop even try to compete. I can’t imagine it had any impact on running game/card shops out of business.
I may be older than you. But there used to be a lot of those combo game stores when I was a kid I used to call them “the fun shop” as a child. Only the stores that had enough card volume survived, everyone else lost their business to Gamestop or another store that Gamestop ended up buying. So yeah, there are a few card places that do tourneys, Gamestop never really got into that business so if your sales were heavily card/comic based you had a chance to survive.
deleted by creator
I try to patronize my local game shops as much as I can. I’m not into card or board games which limits where I go but I’m lucky enough to have a few local game stores that sell a lot of retro games for fair prices.
Of course with new games (I still like to buy physical quite often) I generally have to buy from the big stores but I make it a point to avoid gamestop.
Management have been replaced, they are not the same company they once were. Ryan Cohen has taken the reigns and is currently driving the company with a focus on the customer. The guy from Chewy
They raised the cost of their Pro membership from $15 to $25. They fill most of their stores up with collectibles, have very little stock of anything. Have absolutely abysmal phone support for any problems (hour+ hold times, no call back options, needing faceless escalations you just have to trust will be resolved in weeks). Have misleading pricing online including advertising prices incorrectly by subtracting available $5 rewards or percentage off deals on certain but not all pages. Oversell products online, wait 6 weeks to cancel and actual refund people.
They treat their employees like commission based sales people but pay them terribly with no commission. Managers often have to manage two stores.
They’ve tried changing the terms of their pro membership mid-subscription.
They are Blockbuster circa 2004.
But their CEO posts funny things on twitter that gets reposted to reddit, that must mean they’re a good company!
GameStop exists to swindle WSB and crypto bros out of their investments. It’s not a real game retailer anymore or at least that portion of the business is still as shitty as it ever has been
Recently went into a gamestop for the first time in a while. Immediately wondered what happened. $25 dropship shirts, OLD (5, 6 year +) titles for $30+, just kinda barebones over all. Sorry that happened to you bud, hopefully you don’t get bullshitted if you try to fix it.
They were basically a failing company before the whole WSB stock manipulation. Now they have money again, but no useful business model.
What, you don’t like Pop! figurines of decade-old niche franchises?
deleted by creator
Ew is GameStop doing that too?
All the comic book stores are becoming Funko pops, board games, and some graphic novels in the back stores.
If they’re selling them at a retail location, it’s not a dropship
I’m so confused, this seems like a string of really weird decisions
- Why would you buy from gamestop of all places online when they’re so ubiquitous that you could walk into one anywhere and buy it new with the box instead?
- Why buy it from gamestop online for full price when you could buy it digitally for full price or other online places with a discount.
- Of all things to buy new, a pokemon game is one that buying used for cheaper is a better option all around, and gamestop specializes in used games.
- I’m still stuck on this but why gamestop? Amazon and ebay have the game much cheaper new, and with the box guaranteed too
Op get a refund and save like 20-30 bucks buying the game from elsewhere with better quality control.
Edit: To make it perfectly clear since people can’t differentiate, I ain’t blaming OP at all. Gs is a shitty company who I wouldn’t trust to provide free air. OP needs to get a refund and buy elsewhere from a company that will treat him better. My questions are just me personally being curious about what lead to picking gs in the first place given their reputation. It’s not victim blaming and I dislike that I even have to make this disclaimer instead of being able to trust people to understand nuance
deleted by creator
I ain’t victim blaming, I’m not saying it is ops fault for what happened. I even made that clear with my last sentence that OP needs to get a refund and buy it elsewhere cause gs is a shitty company that’s also charging more for a new older game than other places. I honestly was just more personally curious of what lead OP to trusting gs in the first place in the manner they did. Not to blame but genuinely just wondering why from a personal standpoint.
Also gs is selling the game used for about half the cost of new so they essentially scammed him out of 30 bucks. Even when they get a refund OP shouldn’t trust gs with any of that money
Asking “Why would you do X?” implies heavily that had they not done X, the situation wouldn’t have happened. It is victim blaming.
Well you don’t need to imply my comments because I made it very clear Im not blaming… If someone bought cough syrup online from a shady dealer for the same price or more than getting it online from a reputable dealer. I wouldn’t blame the person at all if the cough syrup came pre-opened. They paid for something and got bait and switched. But I am personally curious as to why they bought from them because it is different than what I would do. Again not to blame but more out of curiosity.
Victim blaming would be me saying it’s their fault for buying from them and that they deserve it. Neither of which I advocate or condone at all
deleted by creator
Maybe they had a gift card?
That makes sense. Either way OP needs to get a full refund then take that gift card (if that is the case) to a converter/sell it to get the money off of it so he can use the money elsewhere with a better company that will actually keep up their end of the deal in full
If you have multiple Nintendo switches in your household (read- kids) and everyone has their own account then buying digital doesn’t make sense. I don’t buy from GameStop as a rule because my local game shop is better in every way but I wouldn’t blame someone who bought from them as not every city has a thriving local game scene
I didn’t think of having multiple kids and sharing the game since iirc pokemon only has one save file per cartridge, so you’d still need multiple copies, unless they finally changed that. But I do know lots of people like just having physical media anyways so I considered that. I ain’t blaming the guy for what happened. He bought something with a clearly advertised expectation and gs bait and switched/scammed him and he needs to get a refund.
I’m just curious why they picked gs when there are other cheaper online alternatives and other brick and mortar stores offering it as well. Gs wouldn’t be my first pick so Im just curious to get another persons perspective on why it was for them
Saves aren’t on the cart on switch.
Oh that’s pretty cool then. I didn’t know it had changed and thought they still did it the old way with only 1 save per cart.
Wait does that mean you can make other profiles with their own save on the same switch? I would prefer if pokemon had their own multiple save feature implemented by now, but if that also works then it’s still pretty cool to finally have multiple saves for the same device/cart
Yeah, one save file per profile. Which is kinda neat because you can have multiple profiles and receive event items on each save.
Victim blaming is cool and fun
I ain’t victim blaming. I made that perfectly clear with my last sentence saying OP should get a refund and go buy it from a better dealer for cheaper since gs is a shitty company. My questions are entirely coming from curiosity of what lead to using gs in the first place given their reputation
The popularity of ebay and Amazon kinda proves how many people would rather shop online, doesn’t it? Since basically any retailer still around has added a competitive online store. You can also easily go hundreds of miles between gamestops so they’re not truly ubiquitous to most of America’s land mass
Yeah I get that, but then I’m still curious as to why picking gs when Amazon, ebay, and other brick and mortar retailers like walmart, target, and best buy. All also sell the game online for new for a cheaper price. One other person mentioned maybe OP had a gift card which would then make sense.
Either way OP needs to get a full refund, if it’s on a gift card then they need to take it to a converter to get the money to spend it with a different company that will actually treat them well and won’t pull a shady bait and switch.
On digital vs physical:
-
Digital versions are locked into the whim of Nintendo. For instance, you can’t play the game on another switch if the user who brought it is playing another game on their account. In fact, the second Switch can’t even play it without having an internet connection.
-
You can’t sell a digital copy second hand, meaning the value is way lower for digital copies. They still have the same retail price though…
-
Removed by mod
If I return it, I’m afraid they’ll claim I pulled some shady shit, since it’s clearly not a new product.
Try it if they complain pull a Karen and speak with the manager. If they refuse escalate to corporate complain. This should not happen.
This happens all the time. They tried to pull it on me in store like a decade ago, and then just last week I was in a store where they tried to pull it on some dad that was there buying a console for his kids.
If you complain, they WILL fight it and say that it’s still new.
Threaten a charge back. They did not provide the correct product.
Worse case scenario - they ban you from buying online.
But boo hoo they’ll pull another one.
Then ask for a refund.
Demand a refund.
This is normally good advice, but usually “the manager” is the only person in the store at a gamestop. The best way to get a refund is to waste their time and don’t let any other customers check out. Eventually they will give in, but you need patience and possibly to deal with angry people behind you.
If you want to be a real d-bag you down sell every game another customer picks up, as well…
Gotta admit I remember seeing teenagers do this to extreme effectiveness.
Escalated it and nothing really came of it. Nobody could help, really.
So they wouldn’t let you return it? Call your local press. Make not serving you more annoying than giving you a refund.
Charge back. Stop bending over.
You know you have more power than they do, right?
Don’t let a company walk over you.
You’re not being a Karen for calling out their bad practices. Some company tried to rip you off by selling a used game new. They WANT you to give up.
Bruh, stand up for yourself. If they claim that, you point at the box you just posted a picture of and go “No, this is what you sent me, and it isn’t new. I ordered a NEW game, not a Gamestop open box special.”
If they really won’t budge THEN you do a chargeback as others are advising, but that shouldn’t be your first response.
They will 100% budge, OP just doesn’t actually care enough to solve the problem lmao
Not sure why you’re all over this thread insulting me? As I said elsewhere, I already tried to call and return it and they didn’t buy my story over the phone
Look man. If you ever work customer service, you’re getting paid pennies and you just want whoever is taking to you to hang up.
That’s what this person was doing to you.
Don’t be rude… they’re just doing their job, only at a bare minimum.
I’ve worked customer service jobs, not sure what your comment means. Ofc I’m not gonna be rude to the random GameStop employee on the phone?
Sounds like you’re spending more time arguing in the comments about why you are getting ripped off than actually doing anything
Just do a charge back worst case, you won’t be able to buy anything from them again. Not really a loss and generally doesn’t happen anyway.
A charge back just means he can’t use his cads to buy from them. He can always just use cash anyways. Not a big lose.
Yes, I know. In this case though it appears to be an online transaction not in store so no cash isn’t an option. That said, as I pointed out, generally even that won’t be the case most of the time. It’s just the worst case.
“oh no I can’t buy anything from the company that just tried to rip me off! Which of the 10 other companies can I now go to to buy video games?”
It doesn’t even necessarily mean that. I have had to charge back 5 times, and only one of them refuse credit card now.
Removed by mod
Like what? It’s in their box, with their sticker that says the games name, “new”, and has a barcode. What do you think they’re going to accuse you of?
If that’s the case then just do a chargeback with your credit card.
I’ll probably be downvoted for not joining the GS hate train, but just reach out to them, their CS is usually pretty decent. Hell, tag Ryan Cohen on Twitter and you’re half likely to get a response from the CEO himself offering to correct the mistake.
Yeah that’s actually pretty impressive if the CEO gets involved with stuff like that
He has multiple times responded directly to customers and helped them get what they needed. I like everything I’m aware of from the guy, except the hoarding of billions of dollars.
Was he the same guy that
forcedstrongly encouraged GS employees to tell cops to fuck off during the 2020 quarantines? Link for those interestedCohen didn’t invest in GS until August of 2020, joined the board of directors January 2021 and became chairman of the board in April 2021.
Previous management were dogshit.
Hmmm doesn’t sound like a swell guy
See and now there’s something I don’t like.
BUY GME BEST COMPANY. SO GREAT APES STRONG. Please, realize this is a joke and fuck off back to reddit if you didn’t immediately get that.
Dude…
He has people who answer those messages. The fucking CEO isn’t personally responding to twitter @s. What is he, the POTUS?
Shhhh, buy GME. Best company ever. They only lose millions of dollars a quarter. Such a great company.
From an old Reddit post of mine:
If you buy an item and the seller sends one that differs significantly from the description or is defective, you have the right to reject the item and require the seller to retrieve it at their expense - no matter what the seller’s return policy says. You also have the right to a full refund. Rightful Rejection is part of state law and based on the Uniform Commercial Code. It is also written into Visa International’s rules. Don’t believe Citibank representatives or anyone else who tells you otherwise.
If you don’t want to pay new prices for a used item, it’s 100% up to GameStop to make it right. They have to pay to retrieve it and for return shipping. They have to give you a full refund on everything, including shipping charges.
How does that work when Amazon forces me to travel to a whole foods, kohls, or UPS to return items. Since the item was brought to my doorstep can I force Amazon or other retailers to come to my doorstep to get the item? Honest question since the process of going to those locations costs fuel.
State law always trumps seller policies. The seller can force you to check a box agreeing to their terms of sale but those terms are not enforceable if state law gives you other rights. Unenforceable clauses have been in literally every contract or terms of sale I’ve ever read.
Rightful rejection laws make sense too, especially when you start looking at large purchases. Let’s say you ordered a black car from a dealer 500 miles away and the dealer delivered a pink one. The terms of sale say that you have to return the car to the dealer and pay a restocking fee for a refund. Those terms mean that the dealer has no obligation to deliver what you ordered or paid for and will make a profit (from you) even if they deliver something you didn’t order. That’s where Rightful Rejection laws become indispensable. All you have to do by law is make the product available for retrieval by the seller.
Funny you should mention Amazon - I’m literally dealing with this issue this week. They sent me a DOA item that has to be sent back. Amazon suddenly wants to charge me a fee to return a defective item that they have the legal obligation to retrieve. While I don’t mind dropping things off at a UPS store because I’m regularly a block away, they want me to make a special trip to a Staples or Whole Foods which is not convenient or reasonable. I was just going to order a replacement from them, but because of their new return fee I won’t be buying the replacement from Amazon, or much else going forward. My Amazon purchases will easily decrease by 90%.
Here’s the rub - a retailer does not have to continue to do business with you. If you force Amazon to retrieve an item they can close your account and refuse to sell to you again.
This is not what you paid for. You should demand either the item you paid for or your money back. Anything less is fraud.
They said I could mail it back, but I’m not really in a “trust GameStop” kinda mood
You’re literally trying to make an issue out of this at this point. No shot there isn’t a GS near you, you just don’t care to actually solve this so-called problem. You just wanna yell
deleted by creator
If you have a local store near you you could take it there for an exchange.
deleted by creator
If you mail it back, make sure they agree, in writing, to waive the $8.99 return fee and to cover your shipping costs. Keep all the records from shipping it. Then, if they don’t refund you in a timely manner, chargeback.
Alternatively, if you tried to return it in store and they refused to accept it, inform Gamestop that they’re in violation of their own return policy and ask whether they are able to give you a refund, mail you a replacement copy, or if they would prefer you to pursue compensation through your bank. If they don’t do either of the first two then that should be sufficient to justify a chargeback, too.
I recommend email for your communications with them since that creates a paper trail. Their customer support email is care@gamestop.com
Good luck!
GameStop is still in business??? I haven’t seen one in years lol! I thought they went bankrupt because of this exact kind of bullshit they always used to pull
They almost did, but then there was the whole thing with people getting stock and holding, and that actually ended up on helping GS. How long they will hold out is still debatable though. Mostly because of things like this post and the other comments. They used to be great, but because of stuff like that, i refuse to order from them at this point. And there’s a retro game store near me that actually has a ton of switch games. More than any GS I’ve been to. So I don’t see a reason to go into one in person. Not to mention the rise in digital games.
By the time the last of four (!) Gamestops in my town finally closed, I am certain it had more square footage devoted to Rick and Morty shit than it did to video games.
Don’t gloss over the stock issues. That was straight up Q-Anon shit with the CEO sending them secret messages because of the SEC or some absolute insane bullshit.
It was a giant “fuck you” to greedy hedge funds. Pretty diverse crowd got in on it.
Just fucking return it. If I made a post for everytime Amazon did something like this to me, it would get really annoying really quick.
There’s going to be a new movie out about GME and Reddit called “Dumb Money” out soon, directed by the same guy who directed “I, Tonya” (Could have won that Oscar if they named it “It’s Hardin’ Time” like I asked)
Don’t watch it. Both GameStop and reddit are terrible companies.
How you gonna put GameStop, who have turned their business around, namely by working on restoring value to customers, next to Reddit who has been on an anti-user tirade for years now?
You don’t need to be involved in the bullshit stock market to realize that it’s a different company now than it was just a few years ago. GameStop most certainly was a terrible company and has a lot of things they still need to work on but a LOT has changed.
Also, that movie you mention is just propaganda by other elites that smell blood in the water. In my opinion I see funding as a more important metric than what dumbass directed it but go off I guess
What does the movie have anything to do with this?
Removed by mod
This for 60 bucks!?
priced like new
Bought a smartwatch from Amazon while I was out of town, my brother recived it a few days ago. Got home yesterday and opened the package to find inside a freaking cheap microphone, I’m guessing for influencers, or YouTubers, I know the feeling.
On a little more positive note, yeah, reach out to them, customer service agreed to send me the correct item by tomorrow. (Fingers crossed they get it right this time)
