Gamestop's In-Store Locator

Roufuss

Roufuss

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Here's the thing:

The in-store locator is a great tool for finding rare games, or checking a stores stock. I'm curious if anyone really knows how it works though?

I went in to grab Super Mario Advance 2 from a GS the yesterday... website said they had 4 + copies. At the same time, I was buying Magna Carta (it popped up on the website about a day or two ago)... ask the guy if it's complete, he says yea, I just took it in yesterday or the day before. I ask him about SMA 2, nope it's out of stock, I say "wow, store locator said you had 4 +" to which he replies "Oh, the store locator is ALWAYS wrong, it's like 4 days behind".

I explain to him how Magna Carta wasn't on there until about 2 days ago, which is coincidentally around the time he took it in. He really had nothing to say, just "Oh, well I don't know, they never update it ever".

The funny thing is, I go home and check it that night, to see that the Magna Carta and Wild Arms 3 I bought now say 0 in that store, instead of 1 - 3 they did that morning.

Are the GS employees just bullshitting us about the store locator? In my experience, if the store locator says a store has it, 95% of the time they do.... says the local store here has had a copy of Magna Carta for about a week, surpringsly it never hit the shelf (but I know which one of the employees would be holding it for himself). I remember when Gitaroo-Man was still a rare used game, it was in-stock at one GS for over two weeks... when I went and asked them, the girl admitted to me it's been on hold but that he had more then enough time to buy it and sold it to me.

Just wondering if anyone really knows when they update it, because it seems like its alot more frequent then 3 to 4 days behind. Wondering what other peoples experiences have been with it, as well.
 
The store locator for the Gamestop nearest to me is always up to date.

Once I went to get Vampire Night and the guy said they dont have it, I then told him the store locator said they had one so he goes and looks and finds it, still in the drawer, never put out.

Then, yesterday and the day before for DMC3: SE they had 0 in stock, which was correct since I called and they said they didnt have any. This morning though, I checked and they had 4+....I didnt believe it so I called, and sure enough they had just gotten some in.
 
I think the employees were BSing you. When I ask for games to be shipped into my local GS, it's updated that morning. After I buy it, the stock changes within a day or two.
 
[quote name='Ecofreak']I think the employees were BSing you. When I ask for games to be shipped into my local GS, it's updated that morning. After I buy it, the stock changes within a day or two.[/QUOTE]

Oh, I know they were BS'ing me... I just didn't feel like fighting it, since I got what I came for (Magna Carta) and the g/f went to EB and got SMA 2 no problem.

It's just no matter what GS I go to, the employees always have the same shitty excuse, that the store locator never gets updated, you can't trust it, "trust me we don't have that game", etc etc.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Oh, I know they were BS'ing me... I just didn't feel like fighting it, since I got what I came for (Magna Carta) and the g/f went to EB and got SMA 2 no problem.

It's just no matter what GS I go to, the employees always have the same shitty excuse, that the store locator never gets updated, you can't trust it, "trust me we don't have that game", etc etc.[/QUOTE]
I had the guy say that to me about Metroid Fusion today. It was there, complete, so not in alphabetical order with the rest of them. I mentioned it was on the store locator (before he kept looking and found it) and he said that was updated like once a week. I have a feeling its probably just the simplest (correct or incorrect) explanation if they can't find the game.
 
The store inventory locator updates every night. It will be accurate as of yesterday at close.

That said, the employees DO NOT have access to their inventory. That copy of Suikoden II at your local store may be on hold for someone, defective or refurbish bound, traded in as something else, or simply stolen. This is why you may occassionally be met with a blank stare or surprised tone.

Always better to go to the store and have a look BEFORE alerting some employee to that uber-rare game's presence.

It IS possible for them to print a list of what was traded-in on a given day (in fact, it prints up yesterday's list automatically every morning). So if an employee feigns ignorance about a copy of Valkerie Profile that didn't show up on the locator yesterday, but is there now, ask him to check the trade-in report.
 
Updates every night after 12am. Although it does count stuff that is defective. We once had a copy of MvC 2 for Xbox. We got called about it everyday, people were like but your locator says you have it. We said we do but it's defective.
 
[quote name='Darkside Hazuki']
That said, the employees DO NOT have access to their inventory. That copy of Suikoden II at your local store may be on hold for someone, defective or refurbish bound, traded in as something else, or simply stolen. This is why you may occassionally be met with a blank stare or surprised tone.
.[/QUOTE]

See, I'd rather they just say that then outright lie. "Oh it's behind by three or four days, those copies are probably gone, someone probably bought them" and making me seem like an idiot for relying on it.

When I did catch him on the Magna Carta thing, and how it must not be behind three or four days, he admitted to me that "those copies must have been sent to the new store that's opening, so that's why they must still show up"

Why couldn't he say that in the beginning?
 
Funny thing is, the website has the in-store locator but the actual store itself has no internal inventory system that the employee can check (or so I was told). For example, a few months ago I noticed one of the local stores had one of those GC Disney Sports titles in stock, according to the website in-store locator. The next day, I go in and look for it. After not finding it on the shelves I asked the employee if they had it in stock. He looks through the drawers and says "no." Next, I ask him to check the computer system to see if they still had it in stock and he said that would be impossible because they don't have a system that keeps track of current store inventory. So there was no way to tell if it had been purchased, or just misplaced somewhere.

Is this true or was I being BS'd?
 
[quote name='Josef']Funny thing is, the website has the in-store locator but the actual store itself has no internal inventory system that the employee can check (or so I was told). For example, a few months ago I noticed one of the local stores had one of those GC Disney Sports titles in stock, according to the website in-store locator. The next day, I go in and look for it. After not finding it on the shelves I asked the employee if they had it in stock. He looks through the drawers and says "no." Next, I ask him to check the computer system to see if they still had it in stock and he said that would be impossible because they don't have a system that keeps track of current store inventory. So there was no way to tell if it had been purchased, or just misplaced somewhere.

Is this true or was I being BS'd?[/QUOTE]

No, it's really true... Gamestop has the most shitty POS (point of sale) system I've ever seen in my life. Ever seen their preorder system? It is archaic!!

I have heard that they are going to be adopting EB's system in the near future, though.
 
That thing is probably updated instantaneoulsy or very close. They are a fortune 500 company. The would have a an advanced point of sale system. Everything is done by computer. So when a game is sold that 1 copy would come out of a database somewhere. That is where the store locator would be getting that info. from. There is no possible way it takes 3 to 4 days.


I bought a copy of a game one time and by that afternoon the store locator had changed. Probably did it that same morning i just didn't check.
 
[quote name='Darkside Hazuki']The store inventory locator updates every night. It will be accurate as of yesterday at close.

That said, the employees DO NOT have access to their inventory. That copy of Suikoden II at your local store may be on hold for someone, defective or refurbish bound, traded in as something else, or simply stolen. This is why you may occassionally be met with a blank stare or surprised tone.

Always better to go to the store and have a look BEFORE alerting some employee to that uber-rare game's presence.

It IS possible for them to print a list of what was traded-in on a given day (in fact, it prints up yesterday's list automatically every morning). So if an employee feigns ignorance about a copy of Valkerie Profile that didn't show up on the locator yesterday, but is there now, ask him to check the trade-in report.[/QUOTE]
This man speak'ith the truth. Stop busting on the GS employee's chops. His/her day is bad enough without people correcting them on thier inventory.
 
[quote name='CappyCobra']This man speak'ith the truth. Stop busting on the GS employee's chops. His/her day is bad enough without people correcting them on thier inventory.[/QUOTE]
If we didn't correct them, we probably wouldn't purchase the game that was there that they didn't know about, which isn't good for either party. I don't bust chops, I just make sure they look hard enough to be sure.
 
I was wondering about this too. I've been looking to see if I could find a used copy of Phoenix Wright at Gamestop via their online inventory system for the last week or so and much to my surprise I saw one was available at one of the stores around here. I figure I'd go during my lunch break so I head out and look at their used DS titles and can't find it. I ask if they have any DS titles behind the desk or anything and they said all they have is out on the floor. I finally find the game, but it's marked as new even though the locator said it was pre-owned.

Normally I would have bought the game, but it wasn't sealed and buying it new would've cost me almost twice as much as used($16 vs $30). Anybody(GS employees?) have any insight into this? Was it just a glitch in the online inventory system? Could it have just been mistagged as new somehow? thanks.
 
EB's system does the same thing, it counts all pieces including stuff that is defective or display as others have mentioned. I know one time I checked the EB inventory online and it said an EB 30-40 minutes away said they had Guitar Hero, so I went and checked it out. The girl working there said they were out, and I was looking around wondering why the inventory said they had it in stock. Then I saw the copy of Guitar Hero they opened up and hooked up to their PS2 display.

Lesson learned. Gotta call first :)
 
Its pretty damn accurate

I got a copy of complete copy of Valkryie Profile on Saturday night out of town. It was shown as in stock got there and it was there bought it. Sunday morning it was OOS online ;)
 
[quote name='sanjuro']Could it have just been mistagged as new somehow? [/QUOTE]

Yes. Their little label printer will spit out a tag for it upon completion of the transaction. If they're busy, said label might not make it on said game. Then they have to guess if it's new or used (obviously, harder to do with carts than disks), and it's better for their shrink #'s to guess new.
 
thank you. would you happen to know of any way to rectify this aside from explaining to them the scenario which could have led to this(i.e., paraphrasing your post) and hoping they see what I'm talking about?
 
Personally I think they BS the crap out of us too. I personally have seen what had been 1 change to zero many times after I've gone to the stores and picked up the copy.

Conversely, I've had my eye on a Marvel vs Capcom 2 for the PS2 that has shown at a store for a WEEK - every time I call they say they sold it. I say BS someone there is holding it or playing it or both.


Edit....

You know, I gave up looking at that Marvel vs Capcom 2 on the store locator and figured what the hell do I have to loose, let's just go to the damn store.

Keep in mind I was there once last week and did not see the game, they told me it sold. I then called twice afterwards on various days and again each time was told it was sold. Through it all it still showed on the store inventory. I go in tonite and what do I see? Yep, Marvel vs Capcom 2 right there on the store shelf pretty as can be (funny it pops up after the b2g1f week huh?). Anyways the thing has a stone cold mint disc, not one scratch, mint case. Some bozo lost (or "borrowed")the manual though. I should have thought to see if they would discount without a manual but I was too happy to find it. With the 10% discount from the card, and some store credit I don't have much in it so am happy.

Short version of the story - the store locator and inventory listings allways appear to be spot on to me. It's the stores themselves that may not be totally forthcoming. More than one store I've seen rare copies of games stuck in a drawer or behind the cabinet. In the better stores they'll pull them out when asked but in others - they seem to disappear from all but the store locator inventories as was the case with this game.

TexTuna

TexTuna
 
So im guessing most stores lack a pos item locator? CC, Staples, Kmart, Walmart, GS, what else? Jeez, even a simple single store one would suffice. Radioshack will tell you the location of an item in its whole district, some can tell even two different districts.
 
So last night I was looking for another copy of Phoenix Wright to no avail but on a whim I figured I might see if any stores in the region had any guitars(mostly for S&G) and t turns it shows "1-3" instock at the nearest GS. I figure it's a glitch or something so I check before I leave for class today and it's still there so I decide to stop by after class. Turns out someone had traded in the set just yesterday and it was still in the back. The employee was surprisingly really cool about the whole thing too, I was afraid it would be on employee hold or the store gutted copy was accidently registered or the B&M price wouldn't match up with GS.com's price.

900641 PS2 Controller - Gui (x 1) 9.00
10% Discount: $.99 was taken off.
Reason: Extra 10% Off Used G

$9.00 Merchandise
$-.90 Value Card#: XXXXXXX
-------
$8.10 Adjusted Sub Total
$+.65 Sales Tax @ 8%
-------
$8.75 Total​

3d1cb7dc.jpg


It's actually in pretty nice condition as far as the buttons and stuff goes but it is a little dirty on the strum bar(which happened to my original new guitar too a little). Not a big deal though, I'm going to go over it with a blow dryer and maybe alcohol to clean it up. If I can find another one I'm going to look into some physical mods, which I actually want to do to this one but I won't because I'm afraid of fucking it up.

Moral of the Story: GS's In-Store Locator kicks ass.
 
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