Hole punch thru UPC in "new..sealed" game? Est. Value?

munkyballz

munkyballz

CAGiversary!
Feedback
13 (100%)
Hey all, was wondering if anybody could help me out on this. I just recently bought a couple games off ebay that were described as "New and Factory Sealed, authentic" etc... But after just taking them out of the mail package now, I noticed that even though they are new and sealed, with the sticker thing attached even, that the UPCs have a hole punched through them. What's the deal with that?

Plus being a collector, it's a bit of a turn off for me, even though technically I guess the games are "new". But besides my aesthetic preference, anybody know what it does to the game's value? I mean, one of the games was MGS2:Substance for PS2, which goes for quite a bit on ebay, so how much does this hammer its market value?

Definitely a bit bummed, correspondances w/ the seller were pretty much were positive and from their auction description and messages, it all pointed to a true factory sealed/new copy, should I ask for a refund?

Thanks for any inputs guys/gals, much appreciated.
 
[quote name='munkyballz']Hey all, was wondering if anybody could help me out on this. I just recently bought a couple games off ebay that were described as "New and Factory Sealed, authentic" etc... But after just taking them out of the mail package now, I noticed that even though they are new and sealed, with the sticker thing attached even, that the UPCs have a hole punched through them. What's the deal with that?

Plus being a collector, it's a bit of a turn off for me, even though technically I guess the games are "new". But besides my aesthetic preference, anybody know what it does to the game's value? I mean, one of the games was MGS2:Substance for PS2, which goes for quite a bit on ebay, so how much does this hammer its market value?

Definitely a bit bummed, correspondances w/ the seller were pretty much were positive and from their auction description and messages, it all pointed to a true factory sealed/new copy, should I ask for a refund?

Thanks for any inputs guys/gals, much appreciated.[/QUOTE]

From my experience, that means they were promo - give-away games. Whenever I win a game or a dvd from a company, the UPC is always punched through. My guess is so you can't return it any where, because you didn't buy it from anywhere...you won it. I could be wrong though, that's just my guess.

I probably would personally be a bit turned off by it. You could mention it to him/her and see what he/she says. Maybe he'll/she'll be up front with you about it or maybe he'll/she'll be an ass. But if he didn't lie in the auction, then their isn't much that you can do about it.
 
[quote name='The Successful Dropout']From my experience, that means they were promo - give-away games. Whenever I win a game or a dvd from a company, the UPC is always punched through. My guess is so you can't return it any where, because you didn't buy it from anywhere...you won it. I could be wrong though, that's just my guess.

I probably would personally be a bit turned off by it. You could mention it to him/her and see what he/she says. Maybe he'll/she'll be up front with you about it or maybe he'll/she'll be an ass. But if he didn't lie in the auction, then their isn't much that you can do about it.[/QUOTE]

You're exactly right TSD. They do this with promo CDs too (and probably DVDs). I got a couple of these off eBay too a while back, but I didn't care cause they were pretty cheap. Sucks about SUbstance though...I'll bet that drives down the value of it significantly.
 
According to eBay's policy it shouldn't list as New if it has a hole punced in the UPC.

"Item should not have holes, cuts or markings on the bar code or packaging" (You can get that screen by clicking the 'Condition' link on any game that set New for the prefill details.)

If they didn't actually set it to 'New' in the Details and just put 'New' in the title, etc. it might be iffy. But an honest seller would definitely mention this. Care to link to the auction?

As far as if you should ask for a refund, not sure. The seller will probably insist you pay return shipping costs and may not refund your original S+H costs to boot. I'd push for him/her to at least refund the full amount you paid and probably the return cost as well since it was not as described. But remember if you need to go through a PP chargeback you won't get your return shipping, so there really is no way to force that on the seller. And if they did list as 'New' with the prefill details I think you'd win a PayPal SNAD chargeback.

Best bet is to contact the seller first, of course. (If you decide you want a refund.) There is the chance they'll be more than nice about it and offer up a partial refund, or some other concession.
 
That's the way to flag games/movies as "not for resale" - most of the review copies we get are punched like that, just so people don't try to resell them. CDs also have a notch cut into the jewel case if they're not supposed to be resold (LPs in the condition used to be called "cutouts").

Sure, technically they are "new", but they're also "not for resale" - so it's a fine line. If you were buying them to play, no big deal, but you won't be able to trade them in anywhere. As a collector, if you're big into absolute 100% mint condition, it's an issue...but when I collected LPs I bought many cutouts, because sometimes that was the only copy available.

If the person won them in a contest, that's one thing, but if they're a big reseller on ebay that is making profit off of products that a company sent them to review or giveaway, that's a whole different issue, especially if the company went out of their way to send them a Not For Resale copy to begin with.
 
yup, sounds like contest prizes. I have a ATV Offroad Fury for PSP with a hole punched out of the UPC, and an Eyetoy Play 2 with No barcode at all that I won from that house of blues contest.
 
Sometimes bundled games also have them. I bought a 2 pack of Star Wars games from the 90% TRU greentag sale last year and they were bundled together and had holes in the UPC.

I think if a seller is selling them, it should be clearly listed. I once sold a game I won in a contest a few years ago and it had the hole punched in the UPC. I made sure that I mentioned it in the description (this was on Half.com)
 
Yeah, the seller had quite a big lot of games, they told me earlier that they bought them off a friend who was a "wholesaler"...so that's up to intrepretation I suppose. Any ways, I agree that if I was just playing them then it wouldn't be such a big issue, however, collecting wise, it's a huge eyesore having that UPC hole in it, especially when it's stated and confirmed to be "New, Factory Sealed and Authentic"..., plus it seems VGs are becoming more and more like the new sports cards (back in the day) these days, collectable and tradable, so that in effect ruins a big part of the novelty of the items as well. I mean I've never heard of sealed copies with holepunches in them before, so it's all new to me.

Not a huge loss, since I only paid about 25 each w/ shipping but still, kind of irks me.

To Wubb, thanks for the location of the ebay "new" definition, that's the definition I assumed to be existing when buying it, and yes it was marked as New in the Muze description as well as the seller's personal description area. As requested, here's a link to one of the games I bought:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8251529537

Going to contact the seller tonight probably and ask for a refund, somehow I still feel that it was kind of a shady deal on their part, as they seem to go out of their way to present the feeling that it was an error-free, new/sealed item. Thanks all for the inputs, I'll update later on the progress for any interested or dealing with the same type of problems present or future.
 
I wouldn't fool with it. That MGS 2: Substance still has to be worth more than you paid. True sealed copies go for $100+. Although used ones go for a lot less. I'd think it'd still be worth a good bit more than an opened copy.

Although, if you would have passed on the auction had you known about the hole punch, then I could see asking for the refund. Personally I'd just flip it back on eBay with a note about the punch, you'll almost certainly make more than you paid.
 
I guess what's done is done, plus it's not like a dropped a buttload of cash on the games, technically I probably can't really complain too much b/c they are new. The seller was nice though, and I'm pretty sure I could have worked something out if it came to that, but probably not worth the trouble. Thanks everybody for all the info/advice/replies, helped me a bunch...CAGers rock.

Any ways, thinking about it now, I suppose I'll just shelve them for now and decide their fate later on after finishing my backlot of games (lol..yeeah, riiight), heck I might even open them up and play them later or worst case, I guess I could just sell them back on ebay as mentioned or trade them to a fellow CAGer.

Well thanks again everybody for your help, you guys rock (again).
 
Are you telling me that MGS2 Substance, a game which just a year ago was struggling to sell for $15 at my local shops, is worth a hojillion dollars now? I don't get it.
 
Yep. They punch them so you can't return them for credit, or resell them.
I don't mind contest winnings being punched, but I would definitely not call a punched game 'new/factory sealed'. Especially since technically it's not supposed to be sold [although the secondary sellers market is different].

If they were review copies, I'm pretty sure selling them unopened is against whatever agreement the reviewer/publisher made.
 
[quote name='Zing']Are you telling me that MGS2 Substance, a game which just a year ago was struggling to sell for $15 at my local shops, is worth a hojillion dollars now? I don't get it.[/QUOTE]

It's been worth a lot for a while now but the XBox version for some reason isn't worth nearly as much (a sealed XBox one sells for maybe $12 - $15)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top