Oddly sensation of guilt (Game Rush + game store = many free Xbox games)

[Archaic]

Here was my process, which -for whatever strange reason- I'm actually feeling kind of guilty about, though I cannot find anything in it that was explicitly dishonest...

I bought several PSX games at a game store for about $1 to $2 apiece, which I then took to Game Rush and used to get five new-ish games for $9.99 each (i.e. Psi Ops, Red Dead Revolver, Ninja Gaiden, Chronicles of Riddick, and Full Spectrum Warrior).

This was certainly cool, but I'd just spent about $65 (if you include the initial PSX purchases) which -while a great deal- was still $65 out of pocket. At this point I became greedy.

I then went and repeated the deal, except instead of getting games I wanted, I got games that I knew would fetch a fine price in cash at a local trade in store. I traded in enough of them to eventually recoup my $65 dollar investment, and got an extra controller to boot.

Needless to say, this took quite a bit of time, and by the end I expect that the Game Rush employees were getting kind of tired of seeing me. I'm usually cheap as can be, with absolutely no regrets, but this felt dishonest, and I'm not sure why.

Anyway, I decided to go ahead and stop now, though I expect I could continue this into perpetuity.

When I think about Blockbuster, EB, Gamestop, etc., I envision companies that will sell used games to the consumer for twice what they paid, so part of me just says, "F-ck 'em". But the feeling still lingers.

Anyway, I didn't intend to bitch about my good fortune, and it's not like I'm overwhelmed or anything. I was just wondering if any of you ever felt any guilt over your deals, as it seems strange that it would happen to me.

[organicow]

this is gonna be one of those threads that will probably get strong opinions from both sides...

[Jaket]

nice deal fuck anyone who thinks different..... this is something we call "beating the system" dont feel dishonest, feel special XD

[biggestinuyashafan]

i agree,if they rip you off,you should be able to do the same to them.

[Storamin]

Stick it to the man!

[jshorr]

As long as you work legally through the system, it's fine. They can also choose to stop letting you trade if they wish, but unless you keep trading back into them the same games you get from them I see no reason why you can't continue. It says 2 offers per day, not 2 per week or month, so they must know that there's a chance someone will do it twice per day.

[Archaic]

Heh...This is a pretty funny group...

Though I'm surprised nobody has condemned me yet for taking all the good deals out of someone else's hands yet. After trying to figure it out, that seemed to be the only thing that was potentially wrong with what I did.

So none of you have ever felt bad about taking extreme advantage of a deal? I think it's the idea of abusing a good thing (i.e. taking a good book to a buffet restarurant, staying 5 hours, and getting both lunch and dinner! :wink:

[xspeedracerx]

I got 2 games from them, went to wendys across the street for a frosty whent back traded the back in and got $50 credit.

[Archaic]

It says "Two offers per day"? :shock:

I never saw that. I carried this out over the course of about three days, and certainly did more than two on some days. They never objected.

[Archaic]

Xspeedracerx,

That cracked me up, man. Were the same employees there both times?

[JSweeney]

You know, keep abusing it and they'll kill the deal.
Most of the gamerush stores around me will no longer accept PS1 games as part of the trade for the Buy 2 get 1 for 9.99 promo.

A lot of this will come down to reason, as you can see in the the gamerush thread that a great number of the people that outright abused the deal have been banned from doing trade ins with thier local gamerush.

So long as you don't break the rules laid down for this promo by Blockbuster, you're in the good.

[shawagg]

I say doing it once is cool, but doing it over and over is like abusing a good policy. You do it too much and eventully the companies will get fed up and start changing policy.

Also, they aren't really screwing us. They only make about $10 on every new game sold (factor in the cost of doing bussiness and it's not much). Making a little on the side with used games sounds fair to me.

[JSweeney]

Heh...This is a pretty funny group...

Though I'm surprised nobody has condemned me yet for taking all the good deals out of someone else's hands yet. After trying to figure it out, that seemed to be the only thing that was potentially wrong with what I did.

So none of you have ever felt bad about taking extreme advantage of a deal? I think it's the idea of abusing a good thing (i.e. taking a good book to a buffet restarurant, staying 5 hours, and getting both lunch and dinner! :wink:

The threshhold for what some people think is reasonable varies radically.
I'm only trading them in every so often and following the rules exactly... because I'd like them to keep the promo on for as long as possible. I'm much happier getting a good deal every so often than trying to create them by creating an insane multistep process to get a minimal gain.

[mmn]

You know, keep abusing it and they'll kill the deal.
Most of the gamerush stores around me will no longer accept PS1 games as part of the trade for the Buy 2 get 1 for 9.99 promo.

He isn't abusing it, he's keeping within the rules of Gamerush.

Too bad if they decide to kill the deal. He isn't doing anything wrong.

[Archaic]

I wonder what motivated Game Rush to initiate this deal in the first place. It seems ludicrous from the perspective of the current trade-in model. For instance, any exec looking at the deal's stipulations must have known that people would choose to trade PSX games over the next generation if they could do so.

Also, I wonder if me walking out of the store with three copies of Chronicles of Riddick is worse (from Game Rush's perspective) than three different individuals walking out with one each.

Thoughts?

[Blustrk98]

I think it's like a Gamerush employee told me, Blockbuster didn't setup the Gamerush stores to make money, they're there to get us in the door. The more often we're there, and the longer we spend there, the more likely we are to spend money on their real money makers: RENTALS.

[Archaic]

Also, they aren't really screwing us. They only make about $10 on every new game sold (factor in the cost of doing bussiness and it's not much). Making a little on the side with used games sounds fair to me.


Shawagg,


Not to change the original purpose of the post, but just some info I gleaned when I worked at EB:

More than 50% of a normal games store's (read: not Blockbuster) profit is made off of used game sales and strategy guides, because they have virtually no overhead. A substantial chunk is also made from generic peripheral sales.

Blustrk98,

Interesting. So you heard Game Rush is more PR/marketing than an actual profit enterprise? Seems expensive.

[cag1000]

ok this deal needs clarification
how did a few psx games get you those new games that are 50 each everywhere, for 9.99 each?
should be around 250 worth of games, maybe 200 if at 40 a piece.
which store did u get the psx games from?
i could tell u didnt mention your source so as not to tap out your supply by other gamers, wise choice. but i gotta see the math of $65 for 5 $50 dolla games.

[JSweeney]

You know, keep abusing it and they'll kill the deal.
Most of the gamerush stores around me will no longer accept PS1 games as part of the trade for the Buy 2 get 1 for 9.99 promo.

He isn't abusing it, he's keeping within the rules of Gamerush.

Too bad if they decide to kill the deal. He isn't doing anything wrong.

I know he wasn't. That was just a general sanction and warning. From his wording, he's followed the rules... the other thread suggests that some people aren't. Some of them have even already killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

[JSweeney]

ok this deal needs clarification
how did a few psx games get you those new games that are 50 each everywhere, for 9.99 each?
should be around 250 worth of games, maybe 200 if at 40 a piece.
which store did u get the psx games from?
i could tell u didnt mention your source so as not to tap out your supply by other gamers, wise choice. but i gotta see the math of $65 for 5 $50 dolla games.

20 at most- 10 PS1 games that are 1-2 dollars.
50 at most-5 New games (due to the trade two get one for 9.99 promo)

The highest his total would be is 70... and they take the trade in value of the games you trade in off of the price. even if they only give him 50 cents for each game, the most he would pay would still be 65 dollars.

[xspeedracerx]

Xspeedracerx,

That cracked me up, man. Were the same employees there both times?

Yep, the same guy was there.
It went kinda like this

Me: I changed my mind(knowing he could only let me trade it back in)
Him: the best I can do is let you trade it back in
Me: Thats ok
He scans them for the trade
Him: oh? you actually making money off of this.
Me: hmm

[Archaic]

Cag1000,

Jsweeny is correct: I got the PSX titles for 1-2 dollars each, like I said. I'm not worried about my "source" being tapped out, so you can feel free to go to the only major game store chains around (Gamestop and EB) and duplicate what I did. Game Rush will take sports titles, hence the (usually) $1.50 price tag.

Yes, those games that I got are normally $50, but they were all pre-owned and thus subject to the $9.99 deal. But let's say that the PSX games got me crap credit...here is an example of the math...

$3.00 for the 2 PSX games
+$9.99 for the preowned game
=$12.99

To make my money back, I would sell the excess games to a major retail chain (take your pick) for an average of about $21. It took a few trips, but it worked.

I'm still wanting thoughts on what I brought up above:

I wonder what motivated Game Rush to initiate this deal in the first place. It seems ludicrous from the perspective of the current trade-in model. For instance, any exec looking at the deal's stipulations must have known that people would choose to trade PSX games over the next generation if they could do so.

Also, I wonder if me walking out of the store with three copies of Chronicles of Riddick is worse (from Game Rush's perspective) than three different individuals walking out with one each.

Thoughts?

[rly723]

hey there
where is game rush and how long is this trade in deal for? thanks

[skittlez jr.]

Guys. This is not someone trying to post a deal.

Go to www.gamerush.com for info.

[shawagg]

Also, they aren't really screwing us. They only make about $10 on every new game sold (factor in the cost of doing bussiness and it's not much). Making a little on the side with used games sounds fair to me.


Shawagg,


Not to change the original purpose of the post, but just some info I gleaned when I worked at EB:

More than 50% of a normal games store's (read: not Blockbuster) profit is made off of used game sales and strategy guides, because they have virtually no overhead. A substantial chunk is also made from generic peripheral sales.

Blustrk98,

Interesting. So you heard Game Rush is more PR/marketing than an actual profit enterprise? Seems expensive.


...And that's different from what I said how exactly?

[Archaic]

Also, they aren't really screwing us. They only make about $10 on every new game sold (factor in the cost of doing bussiness and it's not much). Making a little on the side with used games sounds fair to me.

Not to change the original purpose of the post, but just some info I gleaned when I worked at EB:

More than 50% of a normal games store's (read: not Blockbuster) profit is made off of used game sales and strategy guides, because they have virtually no overhead. A substantial chunk is also made from generic peripheral sales.


...And that's different from what I said how exactly?

How exactly? Well, hmmm...first of all, the style was different, as it was written by a different person. Secondly, my sentences varied in length and composition from your own, because I used 58 words compared to your 40. Oh, and I used a colon. Gotta love those colons...*waits for someone to take the bait* :?

Seriously, man, my statement wasn't a contetntion. I was just embellishing what you'd said. Don't be so defensive.