EB/GS Store Locator-- Inaccurate b/c it sucks or b/c employees are holding games?

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Apossum

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Title says it.


We all know how bad the EB/GS store locator is. sometimes it does take a day or two to update to the right quantity of a game. but I'm sure you all have seen that it says there's a copy of a game at a store that says they don't have it, yet it says it's in stock forever and won't go away. Do you guys think that means they're holding the game? maybe an employee could help out...

the reason I ask is because I've talked with employees several times who say they've been holding this game or that game for months at a time and still haven't bought it and I'm just curious.
 
There are those two reasons, and don't forget that when a game is returned as defective it still counts under the store locater as well. Granted it shouldn't be there for long periods of time, but just another possible reason.
 
Defective returns definitely stay in there longer than they should. But it's never really inaccurate, in my experience. It updates overnight, and what's in stock at that time is in stock.
 
The locator is accurate nearly 100% of the time in my experience. If you look up a game and it ends up "not being there", I would guess that it's being held for someone, with defectives being a distant second. Just last week I found an EB that had 2 of the 3 G.I. Joe DVD sets, but when I got there they weren't on the shelf. Luckily, I noticed them as a worker opened a cabinet behind the counter, which turned out to be that store's "employee drawer."
 
[quote name='onikage']The locator is accurate nearly 100% of the time in my experience. [/quote]

Not if they're scanning it as the wrong item. Went to one that supposedly had a G.I. Joe the movie DVD. Got there and couldn't find it. Ask and found out it was G.I. Joe Spy Troops DVD under the wrong SKU.
 
employees hold stuff b/c its the only perk of that crappy ass job, ive learned to deal with it. calling ahead sucks b/c u are basically tipping off the monkey to something good in the store that may have been skipped over. just show up, if its not on the shelf, your pretty much screwed. throw a few preorders his way and maybe he'll hook you up, but he will probabaly just try and get you to preorder more crap the next time b/c he knows you put out
 
[quote name='monkeydeew']throw a few preorders his way and maybe he'll hook you up, but he will probabaly just try and get you to preorder more crap the next time b/c he knows you put out[/quote] I've never felt so much like a whore in my life. I need to go take a shower.
 
[quote name='unicron129']You would think the employee would atleast take you out to dinner first. yeesh.[/quote]

On their minimum wage salary? You'd be lucky to get McDonalds. Nah the best is veiled threats against those clowns. Threaten to contact the district manager/corporate how they wouldn't sell you an item you found on the shelves. You can quite easily put the fear of God in these jokers.
 
there are a few reasons why, they could be defective, the could be mislabeled, they could be misplaced (hey it happens), they could be being help, or it could have been sold before you got there. but the bottom line is the store locater is as accurate as the stores inventory from the night before. so unless youre there right when they open dont rule out that someone else didnt beat you to it. if you see something on there for several days then try and talk to the store manager, if that doesnt work talk to the district manager. theyll side with you.
 
Insider here going beyond the pale to bring to light some issues here.
First off, consider the following: During a basic store inventory, most well run stores will have a shrink percentage of around .2-.5 percent, with stores that are not doing very well with inv. control being closer to the 1-3 percent range. What does this mean exactly? If we're talking raw game numbers: A Store that has 10k games (a relatively easy feat) will have 20-50 of those games missing if they control their inventory well. A poorly run store, in comparison, has somewhere between 100-300 of these missing. Now, this is an overly simplified version of the actual system, but it does showcase very well how things can be misplaced. Stores have their inventories reset dependent on the inventory cycle, which may be every 6 months for stores with poor shrink, to 1 annual check for stores with acceptable shrink. Misused SKU's are also a big item. The inventory control mechanism only counts SKU's, not physical product. So, employee A makes a mistake processing a trade, and suddenly a Marvel Vs. CCG game is taken in as Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. Big mistake, and one that will be widely posted on the internet, causing havoc in our purchasing. And as far as employee hold drawers are concerned, the basic guidelines dictate that this drawer must be purged a few days after each payday. This ensures the healthy movement of porduct as well as allowing the product replenishment system to work effectively. This guideline is supposed to be enforced by store managers. Most of these guys and gals are pretty on the level, so if you know something you want is being held, just ask them to see if the item is going to be purchased, and if not, if you can get it instead. This does work reasonably well.

Hope this was some decent, albeit longwinded insight.
 
This sort of stuff stopped bothering me a while ago. The workers there aren't the morally upstanding brigade. They call customers thieves, are visibly jealous when someone finds out how to cheat the system, and most are inept when it comes to people skills in general. I don't doubt that they hold stuff for themselves or just don't know where it is.
 
The few times I've used to find games, it's been correct, and the games in question were at the store and not hiding in the hold drawer.

Then again, said games weren't uber-rare games like Suikoden II, so that may have something to do with it.
 
[quote name='onikage']The locator is accurate nearly 100% of the time in my experience. If you look up a game and it ends up "not being there", I would guess that it's being held for someone, with defectives being a distant second. Just last week I found an EB that had 2 of the 3 G.I. Joe DVD sets, but when I got there they weren't on the shelf. Luckily, I noticed them as a worker opened a cabinet behind the counter, which turned out to be that store's "employee drawer."[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's been my experience too. Usually it works perfectly... I've always found the game in store whenever it showed up in the in store locator now that I think about it expect for cases where the store was heavily disorganized.

One thing to think about might be lazy employees... they might not bother to try and find it if it's too difficult for them to find.
 
The times I have used the store locator the games have always been in store. It was how I found my copies of DDS and Nocturne on the same day. Though the first time I asked about them, an employee "couldn't" find them. I came back later that day when I knew the manager would be in. He found them very quickly. ^_^
 
I know when I worked there for a seasonal position I held things for the employee appreciation weekend (extra ten percent off). There was a huge shelf with all the items being held for employees. So it is quite possible.
 
The last few times I've used the store locator, it's been pretty accurate.

I used it to find Crush during the last PSP coupon. It showed up at two stores, both of which had it. One had generic packaging, but it was there.

I used it to find Ninja-Five-O. Again, two stores showed up in the locator. One had it, the other didn't. However, this store was probably the messiest GS I've ever been in. I didn't even ask if they had it. Even if they thought they might have, it could have taken hours to find.

I also used it to find Puzzle Quest after it first came out and was hard to find. The locator said it was in three stores. The first two were "out". The last had it and was willing to hold the copy for me. (It was 20+ minutes away).

Did the call I made tip off employees who were looking for Puzzle Quest? Maybe. It was in high enough demand at the time, though, that it could have sold that morning.

I've been in EB/GS stores that had games lying around -- one was in a supposedly gutted display copy. One was just lying on top of the Gameboy case.
 
It's been accurate for me. There was one GS that had a copy of Guilty Gear X2 for a long time. It was in the store but in someone's hold drawer. I had to wait several long months for the guy to get fired and his hold drawer to get released back to the shelves.
 
It kind of helps to give a general idea on availability, but the whole crappy "1-3" range makes it a hugely frustrating YMMV when you get there.

Finding out the last/only copy is gutted is even worse than it not being there at all.
 
[quote name='Hibiwa']It kind of helps to give a general idea on availability, but the whole crappy "1-3" range makes it a hugely frustrating YMMV when you get there.

Finding out the last/only copy is gutted is even worse than it not being there at all.[/quote]
I agree about the "1-3", last time I used the store locator it said "4+" and then when I go there the employee tells me that the game I want is the only copy, which is also missing the manual! :cry:
 
[quote name='depascal22']It's been accurate for me. There was one GS that had a copy of Guilty Gear X2 for a long time. It was in the store but in someone's hold drawer. I had to wait several long months for the guy to get fired and his hold drawer get released back to the shelves.[/QUOTE]
that happend with me and my copy of Fatal Frame 3....luckly a newby employee took it out of the drawer and sold it to me ;)

on the mislabled note: my GS says they have a SMT Nocturne used but it is actually a disc only Digitial Devil Saga:bomb:
 
2 for 2 more.

Used the store locator for games from this thread. It said that the nearest copy of Banjo Kazooie was in a new store I hadn't been to. It was indeed there. (They also had 2 copies of The Guy Game and 2 of Jedi Outcast.)

Used it again today to get the only River City Ransom within 50 miles.

The crap store (mentioned in my previous post in this thread) also listed it as a hit, but I'm sure they don't have it. So far, they're the only monkey wrench for the store locator in this area.
 
the eb i worked at the manager actually held a lot of items in the hold drawer, and this was back in january. she had a copy of suikoden complete for ps1 and electroplankton complete for ds. x_o
 
The website recently showed that a GS a fair distance away had 4+ copies of Rhapsody in stock. When I got there and searched the store shelves I found nothing. So I inquired about it and the employee said they were kept in the back room. He proceeded to bring out 8 (!) copies of Rhapsody from the back room (along with a bunch of other good PS1 stuff).

I also used the locator to find a copy of the DS Monopoly 4 game compilation. It wasn't on the store shelves but when I asked the employee about it he proceeded to take it out of a drawer near the cash registers. He said that it had been on hold "for a while" for somebody but decided to sell it to me since that person waited way too long to buy it (not sure if he was talking about an employee or another customer).

So yeah, the store locator usually works like a charm. You just need to deal with honest employees.
 
They need to implement a more accurate system with exact numbers...:lol: Honestly, how hard would it be to link it DIRECTLY to the inventory database with exact numbers?...Once a copy is sold it would update instantly.

Most of the 1-3 copies are guts anyways, from my experience.
 
Seems very hit and miss for me. I wouldn't trust the system AT ALL when it comes to original PS1 games. Several times I've seen desirable PSX titles show up on the store locator, only to be told that that particular store hasn't sold Playstation games for a while. But for newer games, its usually 75% accurate, i.e. 3 out of 4 times you'll find what you're looking for.
 
Another two for two.

The store locator said there were two copies of RAD: Robotic Alchemic Drive within 50 miles of me. It was dead on -- both of the stores listed had it.

It was pretty funny, too -- while I was waiting in line at the first, the guy in front of me and the GS employee were talking about the store locator, and how it's sort of but not terribly reliable, and how you can only guarantee something if it lists 4 or more in stock.

Mine listed 1-3 for each store, and each store had one copy.
 
And the adventures continue.

Yesterday, I was all over the place, at 3 different GS.

1st had Urban Yeti (only one within 30 miles)
2nd had Tactics Ogre (closest in 30 miles)
3rd had Kirby Squeak Squad (for my son, who just bought his own DS)

The last one isn't hard to find, but it wasn't at the first two. All were listed as "1-3" and all had exactly one copy. Tactics Ogre is a real, non-bootleg cartridge, too.
 
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