The 4th Annual Cheapy Awards - Awards Ceremony

[CheapyD]

Welcome to The 4th Annual Cheapy Awards, the only awards that recognize the best (and worst) in video game retail, voted on by the Cheap Ass Gamers, the most knowledgeable video game shoppers in the world! The CAGs voted in 10 different retail related categories and 3 CAG community categories. Congratulations to dmes65, GF_Eric, flybrione, SDMeslow, who have each won $100 for participating in the Cheapy Awards voting. Read on for the results!



Note: Pay no attention to the italicized words in the graphics below.

Best Online Game Retailer: Amazon.com (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125719)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../images/awards/4/bestonline.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125719)
Best Online Customer Service: Amazon.com (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125716)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../images/awards/4/service.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125716)
Best Retailer Website Design: Amazon.com (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125708)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../images/awards/4/bestdesign.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125708)
The EBgames.com dynasty is officially over. After wearing the crown for the last 3 years, their acquisition by GameStop was just too much to overcome. After the acquisition was complete, EBgames.com was reduced to being merely a mirror of GameStop.com. Luckily for the CAGs, Amazon was able to take over where EB left off, offering lots of great deals, an easy to navigate website, and great customer service. There were many concerns when Amazon and Toys R Us (their primary seller of video games) parted ways, but clearly Amazon did not disappoint. Amazon started selling video games directly and the deals continued to blossom. Congratulations to Amazon on your three prestigous Cheapy Awards!


Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer: Best Buy (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125715)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../images/awards/4/bestbm.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125715)
Despite many people's dislike of Best Buy, the strength of their Gamer Gift Card coupon is probably the reason they were able to pick up the Cheapy for Best Brick & Mortar Retailer. It was a fairly close race, but $5 off any $19.99+ video game (or accessory) is tough to beat.


Best Independent Online Game Retailer: Play-Asia.com (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125709)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../images/awards/4/bestindy.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125709)
The biggest landslide in this year's Cheapy Awards is Play-Asia's 71% victory for Best Independent Online Game Retailer. Considering their weekly deals, seasonal sales/contests, cheap region free Xbox 360 games, CAG friendly coupons, and great web design, their runaway victory shouldn't be much of a suprise. Play-Asia also was the runner-up for Best Online Game Retailer and Best Retailers Website Design, losing out to Amazon both times. Congratulations to Play-Asia for a great year!


Online Deal/Sale of the Year: Google Checkout Discounts (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125711)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../images/awards/4/onlinedeal.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125711)
It's always satisfying to take a good deal and make it great, and that is exactly how the CAGs were able to make use of Google Checkout's $10 off $30 promotions. Many deals from multiple retailers (especially Buy.com), were born from this promotion.


Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year: Circuit City $8.97 Summer Sale (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125717)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../images/awards/4/bestbmdeal.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125717)
The list (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98253)was long and the games were cheap. Many CAGs were able to eliminate the usual Summer game drought by picking up lots of games on the cheap during this sale.


Biggest CAG Shopping News: Death of EBgames.com (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125707)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/images/awards/4/news.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125707)
Worst Online Game Retailer: EB Games.com / GameStop.com (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125713)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/images/awards/4/worstonline.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125713)
Worst B&M Game Retailer: EB Games / GameStop (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125710)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/../images/awards/4/worstbm.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125710)
2006 was a year of big changes in the world of video game shopping, but, as the above voting indicates, GameStop's acquisition of EB Games, and the subsequent death of EBgames.com was the Biggest CAG Shopping News that affected CAGs the most. EBgames.com is still alive, but it now merely acts as a mirror for GameStop.com. All the great deals, inlcuding the daily morning update of used game inventory, now seem to be a thing of the past. After winning Best Online Game Retailer for 3 years in a row, it is very sad to see EBgames.com in such a sorry state. Apparently, the CAGs don't hold their Brick & Mortar stores in such high regard either. Better luck next year, EB Games / GameStop!


CAG Hero of the Year: speedy1961 (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125718)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/images/awards/4/hero.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125718)
Congratulations to speedy1961, aka, the bringer of the Weekly Ads! We know you didn't do it for the glory of the Cheapy Award, but for the benefit of CAGs everywhere. An honorable mention goes to runner-up marten, who donated lots of prizes to our Child's Play Charity Raffle.


Most Memorable CAG Villain: JuanDDixon (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125714)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/images/awards/4/villian.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125714)
JimmieMac is starting to become the Susan Lucci (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Lucci) of the Most Memorabile CAG Villian award as he loses his 3rd consecutive nomination. It's just hard to compete with scum like JuanDDixon, who rip off CAGs and other video game traders all across the Internet.


Best CAG Forum Thread (non-deal): The Official "PS3 Ebay Scalpers Wall of Shame" (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125706)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/images/awards/4/bestthread.gif (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125706)
It's a known fact that CAGs hate hoarders and scalpers. So what better way to show their disdain than to create a thread (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115796) filled with pictures of eBay PS3 scalpers and lots of comments making fun of them. Hopefully they lost money on their auctions too. Don't feel bad for them, they deserved it!

Well, thanks for joining us for The 4th Annual Cheapy Awards, the better late than never edition. Thanks to all the retailers who provided us with great deals and service in 2006. We look forward to an even better 2007.

Previous winners:
1st Annual Cheapy Awards
(http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/1st_Cheapy_Awards)2nd Annual Cheapy Awards
(http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/2nd_Cheapy_Awards)3rd Annual Cheapy Awards (http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/3rd_Cheapy_Awards)

[RelentlessRolento]

once again, well put together. Bravo to all winners (and top losers)!

let's hope for a similarly good year.

[Z-Saber]

I'm still laughing about my spitefully created cat thread being a very very distant second.

[Ugamer_X]

It's a sad day on CAG when Best Buy wins an award for best retailer.

Other than that I agree with all the other choices. Much more satisfying than the Oscar or Grammy winners.

[crazytalkx]

Sweet, everything I voted for. And only 3 months late!

[guyver2077]

this will be the start of gamestops fall....

seriously fuck them... there is rarely any reason to pick up new releases there.. and there sales usually suck ass..

atleast bb and cc have decent sales

[dmes65]

Thanks chaepy d. I am as giddy as a school girl.

[carpwrist]

thats crazy, i just read it 2 secs before you put this on the main page.

sorta disappointed with the results

Best Buy??? WTF?

[jollydwarf]

The bad news about the 'PS3-eBay' thread winning is that it reminds me that the next one is probably a good five years away, if ever again. It's a lot easier to fork over the ransom to your tormentor when you can't see them, it would appear.

[xmrblondex]

the italicized ones are the ones cheapy picked, right?

[RAMSTORIA]

best buy best retailer? if theyre the best then nobody is good.

[lordwow]

I voted for BB, so sue me.

The fact of the matter is, they don't screw things up in store, and more often than not I've been able to sweet talk them without much of a hassle. Plus, other than games, they're great in-store deals on DVDs and stuff especially at release. Also, their locations are extremely convenient to me, and the free Rewards Zone is better than any of the other places.

Congrats to Speedy, he deserved it.

Finally, I agree 100% with the Amazon is Best and EB/GS sucks that these polls dragged out. Amazon is just a superb site, and other than the prices that are mistakes and then they end up charging you for, I ALWAYS feel confident ordering from them that there won't be a problem. Bravo to Amazon for setting the standard. Also, why is it sites like Bestbuy.com don't allow you to combine or even change or cancel orders online? It's ridiculous. Everyone should take a cue from Amazon on how to run a business website.

That's all for me.

[CheapyD]

the italicized ones are the ones cheapy picked, right?Yeah, but keep in mind that some of them I just voted as a test to make sure permissions were working properly...pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

[MaskedPlague]

I liked the podcast presentation last year. Still the awards are pretty good across the board.

[CheapyD]

I liked the podcast presentation last year. Still the awards are pretty good across the board. For this year, I figured I would write up the awards, and then we can talk about them on the CAGcast too, but not dedicate an entire show to them.

[Salmonday]

Funny -- I don't see anyone from EBgames here to make an acceptance speech this time around. I hope those bastards sit up and take notice, but I know they won't. There is only one thing they are tunnel-visioned in on, and that's profit margins on used game sales.

[Santurio]

Well done!! I agree with every outcome. Even BB as the best, since they do make it easier for me to get the best prices all the time.

[MSI Magus]

So sad that ebgames managed to go from the most popular site to most hated in such a short period of time. Amazon is a good site....but I dont think it or anyone else will ever manage to compete with ebgames old 26% off plus free S&H.

[flybrione]

I just wanted to say thanks to CheapyD for selecting me as one of the winners for participating in the Cheapy Awards voting. I really appreciate it and love being part of this community!

Thanks again.

[bobthecat23]

the cheapy awards the only award show in.................

[Snake2715]

Nice to see the results.. Well put together.

[RedvsBlue]

Booo for the chipped tooth thread not winning. I blame its loss on it getting deleted preventing everyone from going back and reading it.

[katzd2007]

Good awards can't wait till next year, Gamecrazy for best store next year

[Graystone]

It's a sad day on CAG when Best Buy wins an award for best retailer.

Other than that I agree with all the other choices. Much more satisfying than the Oscar or Grammy winners.

Yes it is, I blame all the noobs for skewing the voting results. EBgames being the worst retailer gtfo at least they have deals, and sells.

Oh thats right wal-mart does that to :roll:

Walmart never has any deals. All sales are YMMV and everything is always MSRP. For some reason they didn't win worst retailer. People just thought "well I hate EB cause they try to sell me stuff." and then they voted for EB. Listen we've got to shut the giant American evil walmart corporation down, and calling them worst retailer in the CAG awards is a start.

[sinewav]

ALL Brick and Mortar shops suck these days and the reality is any of the top three could have won the award on a given day. This is merely a reflection of the sad state of game retailers.

I can imagine the look of the former executives of EBGames faces in seeing their company's image (and sales) falling.

Who am I kidding, they probably got paid in $$$$ and carribean islands for the acquisition and don't give a shite :)

[KaneRobot]

Best Buy wins best retailer. On CAG. Get the hell out of here with that nonsense, really. How embarassing.

Word around the campfire is due to the results, EB/GS has cooked up another promo code for us. Just enter "fukUcag" at checkout and you'll get an extra 10% of your total (after shipping) added to your order.

[MSI Magus]

Yes it is, I blame all the noobs for skewing the voting results. EBgames being the worst retailer gtfo at least they have deals, and sells.

Oh thats right wal-mart does that to :roll:

Walmart never has any deals. All sales are YMMV and everything is always MSRP. For some reason they didn't win worst retailer. People just thought "well I hate EB cause they try to sell me stuff." and then they voted for EB. Listen we've got to shut the giant American evil walmart corporation down, and calling them worst retailer in the CAG awards is a start.

When games are sold new there is little to no profit, one anaylst stated that games that are sold for $50 in a store like Walmart only $5 profit goes to the store itself. You cant blame them for selling games without sales with statistics like that. Meanwhile a store like gamestop buys a game from someone for $20 and sells it for $40 meaning LOTS of profit. You should expect them to be having deals. Given again that Walmart cant afford to run deals and ebgames/gamestop can, that ebgames/gamestop have the worst service, that they are the ones buying up smaller companies and that they sell games incomplete and in general piss on their costumers.....ya id say its not a bunch of "noobs" skewing the results. Its alot of people pissed off by the way they have been treated and the loss of 25% off/free shipping and some people like myself who just realize the facts and that gamestop IS the worst company around.

[bobthecat23]

wow ppl if u dont like the results thers nothing u can do about it stop ur bitching and moaning

[Zenithian Legend]

I was starting to wonder if the awards were going to ever be announced!

I started thinking perhaps they were incorporated into the podcasts, with winners discussed there.

[I AM WILLIAM H. MACY]

Thank you very much to the other 49 people that voted for my Regal Sin thread.

No thank you to the 621 people who did not :-x

[level1online]

I'm wondering, was the result the Worst B&M being awarded to EB/GS, have to due with their lack of good deals, or crappy customer service?

Was there even a category for Worst Customer Service?

[MSI Magus]

I'm wondering, was the result the Worst B&M being awarded to EB/GS, have to due with their lack of good deals, or crappy customer service?

Was there even a category for Worst Customer Service?

I voted for them for both of those reasons but also others like the crappy employees and that they are swallowing up every company they can.

[Graystone]

When games are sold new there is little to no profit, one anaylst stated that games that are sold for $50 in a store like Walmart only $5 profit goes to the store itself. You cant blame them for selling games without sales with statistics like that. Meanwhile a store like gamestop buys a game from someone for $20 and sells it for $40 meaning LOTS of profit. You should expect them to be having deals. Given again that Walmart cant afford to run deals and ebgames/gamestop can, that ebgames/gamestop have the worst service, that they are the ones buying up smaller companies and that they sell games incomplete and in general piss on their costumers.....ya id say its not a bunch of "noobs" skewing the results. Its alot of people pissed off by the way they have been treated and the loss of 25% off/free shipping and some people like myself who just realize the facts and that gamestop IS the worst company around.

Its fucking walmart. I worked their once. They have huge margins on on stuff even with low price. An example is a cell phone case. They sale it for $8.98 they pay $.89 for it. Madden for xbox they were paying $33 for. Since its walmart they're the number one retailer of games.

I think they didn't win because people though "well walmarts alright with me. I get my clothes, and other stuff cheap. But EB, damn them for trying to push games, and preorders on me."

[CheapyD]

ALL Brick and Mortar shops suck these days and the reality is any of the top three could have won the award on a given day. This is merely a reflection of the sad state of game retailers. Yeah, I agree the B&M award really was a crapshoot, but Best Buy's GGC put them over the top.

[MSI Magus]

Its fucking walmart. I worked their once. They have huge margins on on stuff even with low price. An example is a cell phone case. They sale it for $8.98 they pay $.89 for it. Madden for xbox they were paying $33 for. Since its walmart they're the number one retailer of games.

I think they didn't win because people though "well walmarts alright with me. I get my clothes, and other stuff cheap. But EB, damn them for trying to push games, and preorders on me."

First off I loathe wallmart they are a horrible corporation who openly break the law and get away with it they treat their costumers like shit and are pretty evil in genernal. But besides that I just disagree on profit margins, on other items yes but again recently its been reported that new games there isnt much profit to be made, in fact one store recently stopped selling them for this reason. Regardless when you go to Wallmart you know what your getting, a bit of everything with deals on this and that. A game store only sells games thus they should be running sales more often...its a specialty store.

I agree with CheapyD and the other guy too though that B&M is kinda a crapshoot. Every company's offline sales are just decent for the most part, most of the employees are morons and most of their policies are bad. Again I just picked gamestop because I feel as one of the few stores that is selling ONLY video games they should be held to a higher standard.

[oasisboy]

I won an award for the "Ebay Scalping Thread"... thank you all for voting for my thread :)...

[Graystone]

First off I loathe wallmart they are a horrible corporation who openly break the law and get away with it they treat their costumers like shit and are pretty evil in genernal. But besides that I just disagree on profit margins, on other items yes but again recently its been reported that new games there isnt much profit to be made, in fact one store recently stopped selling them for this reason. Regardless when you go to Wallmart you know what your getting, a bit of everything with deals on this and that. A game store only sells games thus they should be running sales more often...its a specialty store.

I agree with CheapyD and the other guy too though that B&M is kinda a crapshoot. Every company's offline sales are just decent for the most part, most of the employees are morons and most of their policies are bad. Again I just picked gamestop because I feel as one of the few stores that is selling ONLY video games they should be held to a higher standard.

very good, however I demand a recount. :)

[Monsta Mack]

Its fucking walmart. I worked their once. They have huge margins on on stuff even with low price. An example is a cell phone case. They sale it for $8.98 they pay $.89 for it. Madden for xbox they were paying $33 for. Since its walmart they're the number one retailer of games.

I think they didn't win because people though "well walmarts alright with me. I get my clothes, and other stuff cheap. But EB, damn them for trying to push games, and preorders on me."


I can vouch for the cell phone cases, as they have about a 84%+ markup on the items! Everything in the store, shoes, cell phone cases, housewares, etc. especially toys have HUGE markups.

But...

However, videogames aren't that huge of a markup as you would think. Atleast at my store, because we have "overstock" of about 5+ breakpacks of XBox games that have been SITTING in the back of our store for over two years. Do you think Wal-Mart makes any profit on those? No. I also heard MANY other stores have the same situation because Wal-Mart was stupid enough to get every new video game release and then over the years cut their modular space for the XBox, along with GBA. We also have tons of GBA overstock in the back. The fact is Wal-Mart isn't making shit off of most of their video games, they want you to buy accessories as usual. Wal-Mart does not get price protection on their video games, so when PGR3 went to $30 as a Platnium Hit and Wal-Mart was left with a few of the non-ph copies, they were losing a good $20 or so on their old copies.

Either way Wal-Mart is not the greatest place to work, but It's no better at Target or any other retailer. Wal-Mart just gets the evil glare because they are huge and made it big as a retailer. Your local mom and pops store would be just as evil if it ever became as big as Wal-Mart has.

Best Buy clearly deserves the award with It's GGC. But that's the only reason, because honestly theres not one single B&M game store worth my time unless it has a sale, and Best Buy has had tons of them. I laugh at everyone that says Gamecrazy is a great store, because from my recent visits It's just as bad as EB and Gamestop.

[Ass Guy]

http://www.officialassawards.com/remote/cheapass.jpg (http://www.officialassawards.com/)

[Ass Guy]

You all get free ass awards Cheapasses!
www.OfficialAssAwards.com (http://www.OfficialAssAwards.com)

Official Ass Awards

http://www.officialassawards.com/

[CheapyD]

I let the Amazon guys know about their victories:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/discussionboard/discussion.html/ref=cm_blog_db/002-4612678-8880057?ie=UTF8&pt=personalBlog&aid=PlogMyCustomersAgent&ot=customer&pd=1174322309.382&pid=PMCA10MM9OMJWEBP3at1174321480&store=yourstore&cdThread=Tx1534T2VSJ6NNS&iid=A10MM9OMJWEBP3&displayType=AmazonConnect

[rywateska]

Most voted on poll?
Online Deal/Sale of the Year: Google Checkout Discounts with 823 votes. Goes to show getting the lowest price is always what a CAG is after!

[davidjinfla]

I wonder if you could get a comment from Gamestop/EB on the result of these polls. Do they even care?

[io]

I won an award for the "Ebay Scalping Thread"... thank you all for voting for my thread :)...

Hey, give the rest of us credit for keeping it afloat with all the picture posts. It wasn't just you, you know ;).

As for best retailer, I don't really remember but I think I voted Best Buy also. Is it a GREAT place? No, but they had that nearly continuous $5 off coupon (and I don't mean the GGC, I mean the $5 off with no minimum one). That allowed me to get lots of cheap games super-cheap. But CC had some nice clearances last year so I may have voted for them. I forget... ;).

However, after going on a Best Buy run tonight and finding penny guides and lots of cheap games made even cheaper with a fistful of $5 off coupons they are my leader for this year, followed closely by Gamecrazy just because it is a bit more personal and game-focused.

I'm pretty sure I voted Walmart worst B&M because I hate the place in general but more so in CAG terms because their "sales" and "clearances" are so utterly local and YMMV, which makes them useless, pretty much.

[Apossum]

whoa...talk about an upset in the B+M category. Best Buy is neither the cheapest, nor do they have the best selection.

Still EB/GS or gamecrazy for me. I like to buy used when I can and all in all, it's the cheapest for me (since a lot of the big box clearance sales are busts.)

[GunstarRed]

I definitely think Amazon.com rightfully deserved the award for "Best Online Customer Service" now. One of my orders got lost and the tracking number they provided never updated, so I contacted customer service and they had my order replaced within a week! I was both shocked and delighted! They won me over. Great customer service does lead to repeat customers!

[daroga]

Cheapy, any chance the EB/GS guys are going to approach you about clearing up the problems our community has with them?

I long for the days of CAG15/SAVER/Edge Card again. I'm sure your bank account does too. :(