Reduced Price Guide Thread-Lucky Number XIII(FAQ in 2nd post)

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IAmTheCheapestGamer

IAmTheCheapestGamer

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The Reduced Price Guide FAQ/OP has been moved to the SECOND post.

Below is SIX MONTHS or so(counting January 2010) of guide drop info. If you want to see the full list, please refer to the second post of the Reduced Price Guide Thread X that can be found HERE .

CE/SE/LE=HARDCOVER GUIDE
Red=Gamestop drop
Blue=Best Buy drop

Recent Drops(listed newest to oldest):

>>>Dropped on 3.07.12
Gamestop 1¢

Battlefield 3 CE

>>>Dropped on 1.25.12>>Dropped on 10.19.11Dropped on 10.13.11Dropped on 10.13.11Dropped on 10.6.11Dropped on 10.6.11Dropped on 9.15.11Dropped on 9.15.11Dropped on 9.7.11Dropped on 9.7.11Dropped on 8.17.11Dropped on 8.17.11Dropped on 8.8.11>>Dropped on 4.27.11Dropped on 4.13.11Dropped on 4.13.11Dropped on 3.30.11>>Dropped on 2.21.11Dropped on 1.26.11>>Dropped on 06.25.10Dropped on 06.07.10>>Dropped on 03.18.10Dropped on 03.04.10Dropped on 03.04.10Dropped on 02.22.10Dropped on 02.22.10Dropped on 01.27.10Dropped on 01.27.10
 
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I just got a your order is ready for pick up email. I printed out the page showing the in store price as a penny. It's about a 15 minute drive but I may go attempt to pick this up. I figure the worst that can happen is that they can say no and I waste a little gas. A local manager told me yesterday about how a customer gave his store a poor survey review and it really jammed him up because it brought the store down. If they don't want to give me the guide, then I'll just let them know that will be reflected in a survey that I'll complete when I get home. If they are uncertain, I'll just offer to place a preorder (or two to make it worth their while).
 
That GS stock locator worked for me (YMMV though). I've had luck and success with the same GS female employee, which is the same one who allowed me to pick-up a FF XIII C.E. just a 1/2 hr ago :D Thank you very much Vigilante :applause:

I have a closer GS to me but it seems I've found my new GS; it's only 5-10 minutes away :D I did make a pre-order though since she did that for me.
 
When I grabbed a bundle of guides last week, I just told the guy that I was looking for a different guide when I noticed all of the other guides marked as 1 cent. I explained that for that price, I figured I might as well pick up a bunch. He seemed to accept my word and reasoning. I did not, however, have luck at Gamestop.
 
[quote name='Zippon']Sorry, but you can't have your cake and eat it, too. My take is that you are going in there, every time, to rip them off. Let's not sugar coat it. You've found a loophole and are exploiting it to it's fullest extent. If they catch on, expect to be treated appropriately.

I'm not one of the majority that thinks we can pull every dirty trick and think the other guy has to play like a consummate professional. ;)

You've admitted yourself that you are pure poison to most of these retail chains (never buying anything unless free or hugely discounted). Yet you want to be treated like a valued customer?[/QUOTE]
You never know when/if a devil customer may become a truly valued customer, like when they get their tax return money and wanna go nuts buying some shit.;)

Don't get me wrong, as the most I've ever spent at BB at one time was $300 for a PS2 in 2001 or so, with a $150 original Xbox 4 years later. But you just never know. I could win the lottery tomorrow and decide I wanna splurge on a ginormous HDtv since money would be no object then.

But if a store treats me like crap for trying to buy merchandise from their store because they don't like my buying/selling habits(see: Gamestop), then I'm less likely to recommend them to anyone in the future and give negative reviews to the store.

Some may say those negative reviews don't do anything, but the one I did for Sears certainly proved otherwise, since I received a call from the store manager regarding the survey asking how he could improve his store. The next time I was in that store the employees were diligently rearranging electronics with him watching their every move instead of them standing there watching ESPN while customers were walking around and waiting for someone to help them.
 
Well I gave one store a shot that showed the AC:B CE in stock, but of course it wasn't there. I did not, however, ask the employee about it. No biggie.
 
I don't see how buying 1 cent game guides is an ethical issue. If they sell it, bravo. Better that someone who wants it gets it than it being destroyed or sent back to sit in some warehouse.
 
[quote name='Achilles00']I don't see how buying 1 cent game guides is an ethical issue. If they sell it, bravo. Better that someone who wants it gets it than it being destroyed or sent back to sit in some warehouse.[/QUOTE]

If BB sells it to you for 1 penny, they make 1 penny.

If they send it back to the warehouse or destroy it, they get compensated (much more than a penny) from the publisher.

It's not an ethical issue. But it's not like they're not losing money on it when it happens.

I think the more people understand this, the more they realize it's not just cashiers or managers being assholes.
 
[quote name='bgame2']I just got a your order is ready for pick up email. I printed out the page showing the in store price as a penny. It's about a 15 minute drive but I may go attempt to pick this up. I figure the worst that can happen is that they can say no and I waste a little gas. A local manager told me yesterday about how a customer gave his store a poor survey review and it really jammed him up because it brought the store down. If they don't want to give me the guide, then I'll just let them know that will be reflected in a survey that I'll complete when I get home. If they are uncertain, I'll just offer to place a preorder (or two to make it worth their while).[/QUOTE]

I don't think you should threaten them about the survey thing. That's not really cool and pretty F'd up actually the more I think about it. They're not obligated to sell to you. This is a find and any free guides are out of pure luck.
 
[quote name='Achilles00']I don't see how buying 1 cent game guides is an ethical issue. If they sell it, bravo. Better that someone who wants it gets it than it being destroyed or sent back to sit in some warehouse.[/QUOTE]

I dunno, ethical is what you definie it to be I suppose. A glitch isn't meant to be sold to you and just an accident in itself yet we'll still take advantage of it knowing that it isn't supposed to be like that.... Is that ethical then?
 
[quote name='Donut2922']I dunno, ethical is what you definie it to be I suppose. A glitch isn't meant to be sold to you and just an accident in itself yet we'll still take advantage of it knowing that it isn't supposed to be like that.... Is that ethical then?[/QUOTE]

I don't want to have an extended discussion, but in the simplest terms I see it as follows:

Someone who wants a guide gets it for a penny. They're happy, the guide is used, and the suns shine a little brighter.

OR

The guides don't sell, or shipped off or destroyed, and no one is happy.

It's like when I used to work at a grocery store many years ago. Just after (or on) a holiday they'd literally dump all of the seasonal flowers into the dumpster. I used to take them, probably illegally, and give them to my mom, girlfriend, etc. I figured it was better that than let it go to waste. I feel the same about the guides. If a manager argues that he doesn't want to sell, I won't argue back. That's fine. But I don't see, in a greater sense, the real harm that we're doing by pursuing penny guides.
 
[quote name='Donut2922']I don't think you should threaten them about the survey thing. That's not really cool and pretty F'd up actually the more I think about it. They're not obligated to sell to you. This is a find and any free guides are out of pure luck.[/QUOTE]



Donut, if you'd like to argue the legalities of what they're obligated to do with me, we're not going to agree:

They voluntarily make in store pick up available. You select that, they then have the opportunity to tell you that the item is available at the in-store price, or that it is not. Once they send the email and tell you that it is ready for pick up and that they are holding it for you, Gamestop makes a statement that you rely on to your detriment if you expend your time, effort, energy and expense to go pick it up. Do they have to sell me the guide at that point, no. On that point you are correct. Would they legally speaking be on the hook for whatever I incurred in reliance upon their voluntary statement that the guide was being held for me at the in-store price? Yes. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm really not, and I respect your opinion but there are two parties with money invested, not just one. If you knew me, you'd know that I am an extremely polite guy. I'm one of the only people who routinely does surveys (according to the local GS guys) and I know the guys (all of them) at my local store by name. However the reality is that gamestop shouldn't make assurances if they don't want people to rely on them.


***** Donut, I also should have pointed out that I completely agree with you that it would be F'ed up to threaten to do a negative survey outside of the situation where someone got a "ready for pick up" email. Just making that comment to get what you want would be completely unwarranted. I wouldn't want anyone to do that, nor would I want any CAG to think that I would do that!
 
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[quote name='Achilles00']I don't want to have an extended discussion, but in the simplest terms I see it as follows:

Someone who wants a guide gets it for a penny. They're happy, the guide is used, and the suns shine a little brighter.

OR

The guides don't sell, or shipped off or destroyed, and no one is happy.

It's like when I used to work at a grocery store many years ago. Just after (or on) a holiday they'd literally dump all of the seasonal flowers into the dumpster. I used to take them, probably illegally, and give them to my mom, girlfriend, etc. I figured it was better that than let it go to waste. I feel the same about the guides. If a manager argues that he doesn't want to sell, I won't argue back. That's fine. But I don't see, in a greater sense, the real harm that we're doing by pursuing penny guides.[/QUOTE]

I agree that we can go back and forth so I'll just keep my point brief and leave it as is:

I think we all know what's questionable/shady and what not. I think it's fairly black and white when it comes to thinking what deals we fine as ethical. It's a matter of to what degree we are willing to live with it. I'm fine with picking up penny guides myself. Us picking up guides and getting flowers (in your example) isn't supposed to happen but it's not egregious either.
 
[quote name='bgame2']Donut, if you'd like to argue the legalities of what they're obligated to do with me, we're not going to agree:

They voluntarily make in store pick up available. You select that, they then have the opportunity to tell you that the item is available at the in-store price, or that it is not. Once they send the email and tell you that it is ready for pick up and that they are holding it for you, Gamestop makes a statement that you rely on to your detriment if you expend your time, effort, energy and expense to go pick it up. Do they have to sell me the guide at that point, no. On that point you are correct. Would they legally speaking be on the hook for whatever I incurred in reliance upon their voluntary statement that the guide was being held for me at the in-store price? Yes. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm really not, and I respect your opinion but there are two parties with money invested, not just one. If you knew me, you'd know that I am an extremely polite guy. I'm one of the only people who routinely does surveys (according to the local GS guys) and I know the guys (all of them) at my local store by name. However the reality is that gamestop shouldn't make assurances if they don't want people to rely on them.[/QUOTE]

Well I totally respect your candor and as you've pointed out I think we both just don't agree on it so it's fine I don't wanna push the topic but I only came from the standpoint that I wouldn't wanna get any employee or store cracked down based on by our ability to retaliate through corporate. But I see where you're going that if they told me they had it on hold, I'd be upset should they decide to not honor the sale to me after going through all the trouble. I'm with you there.
 
[quote name='Achilles00']I don't want to have an extended discussion, but in the simplest terms I see it as follows:

Someone who wants a guide gets it for a penny. They're happy, the guide is used, and the suns shine a little brighter.

OR

The guides don't sell, or shipped off or destroyed, and no one is happy.
.[/QUOTE]

You're ignoring the credit that BB gets for returning guides.

Now I'm happy to exploit a loophole for 1 cent but don't act like this is a difference of a penny. Best Buy loses money on every guide we pick up for a penny. So yeah, if I'm managing a Best Buy, I'd worry about those guides and my bottom line. It's not a "win win situation" at all. It's a lose a few bucks situation for Best Buy.
 
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It was a No go for me. They scan FF13, gave a odd look, and said that it was defective.
The funny thing is that I found another one on the rack and they said they couldn't sell it to me without explaining why. (It was sealed)
He gave his coworker a odd look and seem that he was interested in the guide:roll:

Oh well. No more Gamestop. I will stick to Best Buy guides. And no, i don't jump in dumpsters.:)

The day wasn't a waste, at least I got a nice pair of Polo Ralph Lauren Jeans :D
 
Staying on topic with regard to the in store pick up option for the penny guides:

The store I went to had the guide ready. The guy who rang me up knew it was a penny but I mentioned how I thought preordering something was customary given that the guide was a penny. He appreciated that and was very polite. So for me, the inventory was correct, the in-store pick up option worked out well, and I left with my guide. Hopefully it works for others also.
 
[quote name='bgame2']Staying on topic with regard to the in store pick up option for the penny guides:

The store I went to had the guide ready. The guy who rang me up knew it was a penny but I mentioned how I thought preordering something was customary given that the guide was a penny. He appreciated that and was very polite. So for me, the inventory was correct, the in-store pick up option worked out well, and I left with my guide. Hopefully it works for others also.[/QUOTE]

When u do in store pick up, do they have to ring u up again? Didnt the online charge it already? Sorry, never did a store pick up at Gamestop before.
 
[quote name='The Punisher']When u do in store pick up, do they have to ring u up again? Didnt the online charge it already? Sorry, never did a store pick up at Gamestop before.[/QUOTE]


No they ring you up at the time of pick up. I printed the page out (with the price of the guide) but I didn't actually need it in my experience.
 
[quote name='bgame2']No they ring you up at the time of pick up. I printed the page out (with the price of the guide) but I didn't actually need it in my experience.[/QUOTE]

Thanks.
 
[quote name='bgame2']Staying on topic with regard to the in store pick up option for the penny guides:

The store I went to had the guide ready. The guy who rang me up knew it was a penny but I mentioned how I thought preordering something was customary given that the guide was a penny. He appreciated that and was very polite. So for me, the inventory was correct, the in-store pick up option worked out well, and I left with my guide. Hopefully it works for others also.[/QUOTE]

Don't forget to cancel it later :D
 
I asked this guy if they had anymore reach legendary guides and the douche said he took all three home and pretty much laughed in my face.

Should I tellgamestop.com ?
 
[quote name='steve nash']i asked this guy if they had anymore reach legendary guides and the douche said he took all three home and pretty much laughed in my face.

Should i tellgamestop.com ?[/quote]
no
 
[quote name='steve nash']I asked this guy if they had anymore reach legendary guides and the douche said he took all three home and pretty much laughed in my face.

Should I tellgamestop.com ?[/QUOTE]

no
 
[quote name='steve nash']I asked this guy if they had anymore reach legendary guides and the douche said he took all three home and pretty much laughed in my face.

Should I tellgamestop.com ?[/QUOTE]

[quote name='PapaSmerf']Get It?[/QUOTE]


Just in case he didn't, no.
 
This guy shouldn't be telling customers that guides were pennied and that he took them home instead of field destroying them.
 
I know a mod is gonna delete this but you are a goddamn moron. And completely useless to anyone on here.

If you're gonna tellgamestop.com anyway, why did you bother asking us?

Just felt like trolling on a Sat night?

The one simple rule of penny guides is to not draw attention to the penny guides. And now you want to draw attention to the penny guides.
 
[quote name='confoosious']I know a mod is gonna delete this but you are a goddamn moron. And completely useless to anyone on here.

If you're gonna tellgamestop.com anyway, why did you bother asking us?

Just felt like trolling on a Sat night?[/QUOTE]

Whoa dude calm down.
 
I've had employee's tell me they took guides home before, I have yet to be bothered by it. I don't get what you think it going to happen to your benefit, if anything they will make the district manager more strict and then not only is that gamestop a dead zone but all them around it as well that have the same DM. So you would be hurting yourself.
 
[quote name='Ultragamer']I've had employee's tell me they took guides home before, I have yet to be bothered by it. I don't get what you think it going to happen to your benefit, if anything they will make the district manager more strict and then not only is that gamestop a dead zone but all them around it as well that have the same DM. So you would be hurting yourself.[/QUOTE]

It already happen in my area. Always see the DM in different stores
 
[quote name='The Punisher']Here comes the end of penny guides:bomb:[/QUOTE]
This.


To he who did NOT think and got upset that an employee took the penny guides and laughed about it, asked if he should report it, was told by multiple informed CAGs not to and then proceeded to anyway... Hope that felt good, because the chances of you or anyone else getting ANY penny guides in your district for a good long time has now dropped to ZERO. Way to ruin a good thing.

Yeah, it sucks to miss out. Yeah, it sucks that they laughed about it. Life sucks at times and you just added to your own misery (as far as not being able to get penny guides at your local GameStops) for months, if not years to come.


EPISODE OVER.
Everyone shut up about it, or you're gonna be silenced for a week.
 
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So did he really already informed Gamestop?
Gamestop will update there policy and Loss Prevention will crack down on this.

This won't just effect his hometown, but everyone else.
This is going to be a bummer...

To the guy upset- So what if they laughed at you. Yeah, it isn't fair, but **** happens. You just need to brush it off your shoulder and move on.

Remember these are just book/guides. Not really a big deal.
 
I don't know. We'll certainly see the ramifications shortly if he did.


But seriously, drop it for now. There is NO use in theorizing until we know one way or another.
 
[quote name='bgame2']***** Donut, I also should have pointed out that I completely agree with you that it would be F'ed up to threaten to do a negative survey outside of the situation where someone got a "ready for pick up" email. Just making that comment to get what you want would be completely unwarranted. I wouldn't want anyone to do that, nor would I want any CAG to think that I would do that![/QUOTE]
[quote name='Donut2922']Well I totally respect your candor and as you've pointed out I think we both just don't agree on it so it's fine I don't wanna push the topic but I only came from the standpoint that I wouldn't wanna get any employee or store cracked down based on by our ability to retaliate through corporate. But I see where you're going that if they told me they had it on hold, I'd be upset should they decide to not honor the sale to me after going through all the trouble. I'm with you there.[/QUOTE]
Aside from the Sears survey I did after having 4/5's of their electronics employees ignore me to watch some crappy press conference on ESPN, I've given employees at various Gamestop stores all 1's on surveys before.

It depends on how I'm treated as a customer. If they are a jerk to me or hassle me for the usual pre-orders and expect me to do one JUST to get them to shut up about it, then I'll buy something just so I could get a receipt to be able to do the survey from it to give them all 1's. Believe it or not Gamestop corporate values those surveys as much as Sears apparently.

Same applies with pre-orders. Cancelling a pre-order on an employee 'hurts their numbers'. Too many cancellations and the employee faces potential reprimands up to and including being fired.

So the bigger the jackoff the employee was to me, the more likely I was to do 4-5 pre-orders with one of their co-workers and then wait and come in when they're working a register and cancel every last one with them.:evil:;)

But the thing is I managed to glean this information over the last couple of years from various employees just by their reactions to seemingly innocent questions I asked them. It's amazing what kind of info employees will give you if you spend inordinate amounts of time coming in to trade stuff and hang out n bs for a while afterward.
 
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[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']

But I suppose that this may be part of the reason why I was banned from there, since I knew a tad too much about the inner workings of their company and I used that to my advantage as much as I used it to the detriment of some employees.:lol:[/QUOTE]


just curious, how would they know if you're banned when you walk into a store? do they have a picture of you? :p is it just a local ban?
 
He's corporate banned iirc.

I believe it came from a corporate vice president.

Anyways, back on topic, I picked up 3x Reach LE, 1x FF 4 HoL, 3x Tron Evolution, and 1x Dead Rising LE among several BBs and GS stores today.
 
[quote name='david12795']just curious, how would they know if you're banned when you walk into a store? do they have a picture of you? :p is it just a local ban?[/QUOTE]
It's a corporate ban. I'm banned from the stores completely(though that hasn't stopped me yet from buying shit w/o my EDGE/PUR card:D;)).

And after my shenanigans during that 2save15 code glitch a while back(10 games all shipped free for $0 to me;)) I'm likely banned from the website now too.:lol:
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']
Same applies with pre-orders. Cancelling a pre-order on an employee 'hurts their numbers'. Too many cancellations and the employee faces potential reprimands up to and including being fired.
.[/QUOTE]

I knew preorders made them look good but I also didn't know cancellations of preorders actually got them in trouble to that degree.

Just to clarify, if i were to preorder with Gamestop employee A and cancelled with Gamestop employee B, the negative mark would be applied against Gamestop employee B? Sounds weird to me since Gamestop employee B would only be doing just what the customer asked for.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']It's a corporate ban. I'm banned from the stores completely(though that hasn't stopped me yet from buying shit w/o my EDGE/PUR card:D;)).

And after my shenanigans during that 2save15 code glitch a while back(10 games all shipped free for $0 to me;)) I'm likely banned from the website now too.:lol:[/QUOTE]


but still, say you walk to a gamestop in a random state, its not like theyre going to automatically know its you unless they have some sort of id, right?


ah i remember that glitch...good times. that was around in april '10-may'10 i think
 
[quote name='Donut2922']I knew preorders made them look good but I also didn't know cancellations of preorders actually got them in trouble to that degree.

Just to clarify, if i were to preorder with Gamestop employee A and cancelled with Gamestop employee B, the negative mark would be applied against Gamestop employee B? Sounds weird to me since Gamestop employee B would only be doing just what the customer asked for.[/QUOTE]
That's the way it works. I don't question it, I just used it to their detriment. I think I personally got rid of like 4-5 clerks I disliked that way cuz I was always doing pre-orders for $5 down when I still had like $700-800 in credit a few years ago.
[quote name='david12795']but still, say you walk to a gamestop in a random state, its not like theyre going to automatically know its you unless they have some sort of id, right?


ah i remember that glitch...good times. that was around in april '10-may'10 i think[/QUOTE]
Yeah. Pretty much. Unless I tried using my PUR card(which is valid until either 2012 or 2013, I forget which) I could still buy stuff from GS stores out of the area w/o a hassle.

As for the glitch, that was the recent code that was supposed to give $15 off 2 $40 games. But it was working with games of ANY price.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']It's a corporate ban. I'm banned from the stores completely(though that hasn't stopped me yet from buying shit w/o my EDGE/PUR card:D;)).

And after my shenanigans during that 2save15 code glitch a while back(10 games all shipped free for $0 to me;)) I'm likely banned from the website now too.:lol:[/QUOTE]

Wait, they ship it? Got lucky.
I like hearing stories of sticking it to Gamestop. :applause::applause::applause::applause:
 
[quote name='dabamus']

fuck yeah i'm a genius![/QUOTE]

Sweeeeet. I'm gonna try this out. I just asked for in-store pick-up...but the GS I went to pick up at NEVER gives me anything. They always leave the guides out and I've attempted to get some penny guides from them 3 times with no success. They take 'em away...so I don't have high hopes, but it's worth a shot.
 
[quote name='dabamus']http://www.gamestop.com/browse/storesearch.aspx?sku=830038

fuck yeah i'm a genius!

EDIT:
http://www.gamestop.com/browse/storesearch.aspx?sku=830040

^^Lunar Silver Star guide in the second link. I'll let you all revel in my geniousness with the first one. :D

EDIT2: did anyone know there was to be a Lost Planet 2 CE guide? I never heard about it but there's a sku for it at GS.[/QUOTE]

Has the CE pennied? :) If so, what's the SKU?

On a different note, I went into a Gamestop tonight and found Nostalgia, Operation Flashpoint and Ghostbusters guides. Drops from over a year ago?! :eek:
 
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