The Gamestop Thread

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Current Ad is 8/22 - 8/28/18
Weekly Ad:
https://www.gamestop.com/weeklyad
 
PDF version:
https://www.gamestop.com/gs/pages/weeklyad/current/082218/pdf/OLFSI_082218.pdf
 
Current Trade in Promos:
 

GS FAQ
 
How many copies of a game can I trade in?
​You are allowed to trade in 4 copies of the same game (same system) within a rolling 30 day period.
 
What do I need to trade in an older console?
The console, power cable, av cable, and controller. Sometimes they don't care about USB charge cable but ymmv. 3DS XL trade would be console, charger, and stylus. Some have reported being charged a refurb fee for missing the stylus, but again ymmv (answer stolen from anarchyburger)
 
FAQ will be entered when those questions get asked frequently.
 
Does the Pro Membership B2G1 coupon apply to only games, or accessories as well?
The coupon applies to both games and accessories, per the wording on the coupon.
 
I have a $XX.xx pre-owned reward certificate, and I want to use it on a B2G1 transaction. Should I?
It depends. If the three games are equal value, do not use your certificate. The value of the certificate would be applied to the free game, which would not benefit you. If one game is more expensive, you can use the certificate to make it the same value as the other two games ($5 reward certificate applied to transaction with two $10 games and one $15 game would make all three games $10).
 
 
TERMINOLOGY AND LINGO:
ASL/SL: Assistant Store Leader, Store Leader; manager positions at GS.
B2G1: Buy two, get one free. Typically refers to the coupon you receive when becoming Pro.
GCU/BB: Gamer’s Club Unlocked, Best Buy
GS: GameStop
JD: Junior detective, an employee who is out to get someone
LP: Loss Prevention; this is the department that actually bans accounts after being flagged.
TC/TiC: Trade credit.
TIV/TV: Trade in value, or what a game currently trades for. When posting a TV for a game, always use the base value.

 
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I just noticed a banner on the websites front page towards the bottom "Get up to 40% Extra Credit when you trade towards select games"... In true Gamestop fashion, it leads to the trade page with nothing in sight of this deal :/

 
I just noticed a banner on the websites front page towards the bottom "Get up to 40% Extra Credit when you trade towards select games"... In true Gamestop fashion, it leads to the trade page with nothing in sight of this deal :/
I think that's a phantom banner that shows up every now and then.

 
Does anyone know if Denver takes IDs for trades?

Also, does Colorado tax on trade credit?

 
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Got my $70 rebate for the Xbox 360 promo during Black Friday.

Submitted Nov 27th. Shipped Jan 25th, and I received it 28th

Make sure to use it quickly, as it has a "monthly maintenance" fee of $3

 
I saw this earlier. Not a good sign for the future of Gamestop and it's honestly a shame to see the company continue to run into the ground. Gamestop was doing pretty well right before they merged with EB Games and then things slowly started to go downhill. The Gamestop brand name is still very valuable, but I imagine it's a hard pill for most investors to swallow when they look into the companies track record from poor sales year over year and the bad press for things like the recent KH3 Pro System pre-order debacle can't help.

 
I saw this earlier. Not a good sign for the future of Gamestop and it's honestly a shame to see the company continue to run into the ground. Gamestop was doing pretty well right before they merged with EB Games and then things slowly started to go downhill. The Gamestop brand name is still very valuable, but I imagine it's a hard pill for most investors to swallow when they look into the companies track record from poor sales year over year and the bad press for things like the recent KH3 Pro System pre-order debacle can't help.
not a great brand name when "game" is in the brand and physical game sales are a dying market. anyone who purchased it would have to re-brand the game out of the title.

Same issue Radio-Shack had. Everyone perceived it as a store from the 80's because... who the hell needs a radio?

 
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Does anyone have any idea on what the profit margin would be on a new vs used game sales? Would they not turn a profit on memberships and used game sales?
Maybe units sold in used is much lower than new?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Got my $70 rebate for the Xbox 360 promo during Black Friday.

Submitted Nov 27th. Shipped Jan 25th, and I received it 28th

Make sure to use it quickly, as it has a "monthly maintenance" fee of $3
Are you sure that fee is charged immediately? They usually only apply after a year or so or after a certain period of inactivity.

 
Does anyone have any idea on what the profit margin would be on a new vs used game sales? Would they not turn a profit on memberships and used game sales?
Maybe units sold in used is much lower than new?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
You also have customers, like many of us here I think, that use their membership and coupons and can get newer release used games for not much more than Gamestop buys them for. I know that I haven't paid over $40 for a used game in a couple of years.

 
We'll see what happens to the retro market when they either liquidate all their stock or trash them...
The same thing that happened to the toy market when Toys r us went under. Not a damn thing.

Gamestops games are for sale... meaning they are already part of the supply. Its not like thousands of games would be dumped on the market if gamestop went under because they are already part of the market.

Prices for retro games would go up if they "trashed" them, but why the hell would anyone trash millions of dollars worth of inventory?

 
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Toys R Us sold retro toys?
... the point was the market toys r us was in wasn't effected by its closure because the inventory was already part of the market. Doesn't matter if its new toys market, old toys market, retro games market, or dog turds market.

 
The same thing that happened to the toy market when Toys r us went under. Not a damn thing.

Gamestops games are for sale... meaning they are already part of the supply. Its not like thousands of games would be dumped on the market if gamestop went under because they are already part of the market.

Prices for retro games would go up if they "trashed" them, but why the hell would anyone trash millions of dollars worth of inventory?
Ughhh... flooding the market with clearance/going-out-of-business price retro games is definitely going to affect the retro market. And yes, GameStop does have a history of trashing inventory.

 
not a great brand name when "game" is in the brand and physical game sales are a dying market. anyone who purchased it would have to re-brand the game out of the title.

Same issue Radio-Shack had. Everyone perceived it as a store from the 80's because... who the hell needs a radio?
Uh oh, what are they called now?

I am still calling the things I download and play "games" like I'm some kind of Baby Boomer firmly asserting adolescents vacate my verdant yard!

 
Very bad. Basically worst possible news. They have 1, maybe 2 more quarters left in them without a buyer.
Get out of here with this armchair theorying. You really think GS could be gone by winter of this year? You make the cliched Toys R Us comparison, but this is a company with 4000 stores worldwide and little to no debt. If they closed down half their stores and took on debt, they'd easily last another decade.
 
OH NO! A 7% drop! The sky is falling! The price of Smash Melee will go from $50 to $53 temporarily to compensate!

Uh oh, what are they called now?

I am still calling the things I download and play "games" like I'm some kind of Baby Boomer firmly asserting adolescents vacate my verdant yard!
You don't buy mobile games from gamestop... If you are buying 4,000 retail locations you need to be pushing a product you can actually sell in store.

Get out of here with this armchair theorying. You really think GS could be gone by winter of this year? You make the cliched Toys R Us comparison, but this is a company with 4000 stores worldwide and little to no debt. If they closed down half their stores and took on debt, they'd easily last another decade.
True... IF they were a private company. Share holders demand growth, not a slow decade long malingering loss of their money.

 
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Just received an email from Gamestop that i have unused trade credit. I remember a whole thing going on about this awhile back how it locked some accounts and everything. Wasn't it just a website that had that missing trade credit? I haven't entered any information yet, anyone else get one?

 
Just received an email from Gamestop that i have unused trade credit. I remember a whole thing going on about this awhile back how it locked some accounts and everything. Wasn't it just a website that had that missing trade credit? I haven't entered any information yet, anyone else get one?
I think general consensus is to avoid that site at all costs.

 
Ughhh... flooding the market with clearance/going-out-of-business price retro games is definitely going to affect the retro market. And yes, GameStop does have a history of trashing inventory.
like i said... its not flooding the market. its already for sale. meaning its already part of the market. If gamestop had been hoarding games for years without them being available to the public the whole time, then opened the flood gates, THEN it would effect market value. Gamestops games are being traded in and sold out every day. They are part of the current market, not an addition to it.

Supply is not affected.

Demand is not affected.

They will do a graduated liquidation sale with the mindless masses coming in and picking off anything good while its only 10% off like they did at toys r us. By the time everything is 50% off there will be just junk noone wants left, so its not like mario and pokemon games will lose half their value. Prices might go down a smidge temporarily as the people that purchased 20 copies of mariokart wii sell off their inventory for a quick buck under market value on ebay, but once their 20 copies are sold, they are gone. End of cheap supply and return to market value.

 
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GameStop exiting the retro market (or games market for that matter) would indeed make all the prices sky rocket.

GameStop actually normalized a lot of retro games value when it began dealing retro titles again.
 
like i said... its not flooding the market. its already for sale. meaning its already part of the market. If gamestop had been hoarding games for years without them being available to the public the whole time, then opened the flood gates, THEN it would effect market value. Gamestops games are being traded in and sold out every day. They are part of the current market, not an addition to it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_elasticity_of_demand

Yes, they are in the market, but clearance pricing will have a drastic effect on pricing and demand on the market as a whole.

Let's say you and I are selling oranges for $5 each. I decide I no longer want to sell these. So I come to the neighborhood one day selling my truck full of oranges for $2 to just break even or take a small loss.

You will have to lower prices

A) to remain competitive with me for the short term

B) because so many people are buying oranges that their demand for your product is lowered.

 
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GameStop exiting the retro market (or games market for that matter) would indeed make all the prices sky rocket.

GameStop actually normalized a lot of retro games value when it began dealing retro titles again.
I'm not sure if they will skyrocket, a lot of their retro stock was bringing old games back into the retro market that were sitting in closets and attics, not actively being sold/traded. If anything the prices will remain down as the stock goes back into the hands of individual sellers.

 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_elasticity_of_demand

Yes, they are in the market, but clearance pricing will have a drastic effect on pricing and demand on the market as a whole.

Let's say you and I are selling oranges for $5 each. I decide I no longer want to sell these. So I come to the neighborhood one day selling my truck full of oranges for $2 to just break even or take a small loss.

You will have to lower prices

A) to remain competitive with me for the short term

B) because so many people are buying oranges that their demand for you product is lowered.
*points to previous comment*

Supply is not affected.

Demand is not affected.

They will do a graduated liquidation sale with the mindless masses coming in and picking off anything good while its only 10% off like they did at toys r us. By the time everything is 50% off there will be just junk noone wants left, so its not like mario and pokemon games will lose half their value. Prices might go down a smidge temporarily as the people that purchased 20 copies of mariokart wii sell off their inventory for a quick buck under market value on ebay, but once their 20 copies are sold, they are gone. End of cheap supply and return to market value.
the total number of people that want oranges has not changed and the total number of oranges for sale has not changed, therefor, you will quickly sell through your cheap oranges, no longer have a supply, and the price of oranges will return to its natural state of $5.

edit: and if you had any sense, you wouldn't sell your oranges for $2, you would sell them for $4.99 :p

edit edit: *drops mic

 
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not a great brand name when "game" is in the brand and physical game sales are a dying market. anyone who purchased it would have to re-brand the game out of the title.

Same issue Radio-Shack had. Everyone perceived it as a store from the 80's because... who the hell needs a radio?
That doesn't make any sense. Physical video games aren't going to disappear nearly as quickly as you seem to think and even if they disappeared tomorrow digital games are still games, are they not?

Gamestop is a brand name that people know and that is synonymous with the sale of video games and video game merchandise in the United States.

 
That doesn't make any sense. Physical video games aren't going to disappear nearly as quickly as you seem to think and even if they disappeared tomorrow digital games are still games, are they not?

Gamestop is a brand name that people know and that is synonymous with the sale of video games and video game merchandise in the United States.
Newzoo_Global_Games_Market_Ft_Image.png


Physical games are dying faster than you think. 51% of the games market is now mobile (which gamestop doesn't sell) and another 24% are pc games, vast majority of which are through steam (which gamestop also doesn't sell). So that leaves gamestop able to cater to 25% of the market, a percentage that's shrinking all the time.

Hard to sell a brick and morter brand with "game" in it when "game" is rabidly becoming synonymous with "instant gratification downloads" which aren't sold in store.

edit: also ask the average joe shmoe what the gamestop "brand" is, and they will say something along the lines of "gamestop are the guys that give you $3 for a game you paid $50 for". There's not exactly a lot of good will attached to the brand.

Toys r us had a crap ton of good will attached to the brand and also, the toy market is dying way slower then the physical video game market. Wasn't enough to save them and attract a brand buyer now was it?

 
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Seriously guys, I'm running out of mics to drop here. The writing is on the wall, plain for anyone to see. Gamestop posted a 500 million dollar loss last quarter! That's AFTER they sold their mobile phone division for 700 million. Otherwise they would have posted a 1.2 billion loss.

They are circling the drain, which is evident by the fact that they are looking for a buyer in the first place! The fact that they can't find a buyer suggests that buyers don't see value in the brand.

1 or 2 more quarters. IF they beat the odds and manage to hobble it out until holiday season 2019, 100% chance of chapter 11 Q1 2020. That's my prediction. 

Bookmark this so you can say "haha told you so" if I'm wrong :p

Look... I get it. I remember when I was in high school, waiting outside my local gamestop with what must have been 300 other people, partying before the Halo 2 release. I have a lot of good memories of gamestop and I don't want to see it go.

But as Flannery O'Conner said "The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it"

 
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all i know is after the lawyers and accountants get done with quarterly earnings, no companies ever make money. those earnings reports are all about reducing tax liabilities.

 
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Newzoo_Global_Games_Market_Ft_Image.png


Physical games are dying faster than you think. 51% of the games market is now mobile (which gamestop doesn't sell) and another 24% are pc games, vast majority of which are through steam (which gamestop also doesn't sell). So that leaves gamestop able to cater to 25% of the market, a percentage that's shrinking all the time.

Hard to sell a brick and morter brand with "game" in it when "game" is rabidly becoming synonymous with "instant gratification downloads" which aren't sold in store.

edit: also ask the average joe shmoe what the gamestop "brand" is, and they will say something along the lines of "gamestop are the guys that give you $3 for a game you paid $50 for". There's not exactly a lot of good will attached to the brand.

Toys r us had a crap ton of good will attached to the brand and also, the toy market is dying way slower then the physical video game market. Wasn't enough to save them and attract a brand buyer now was it?
You literally just proved my point with your little graph. Games are games regardless of physical, digital, mobile, etc.

I never said that physical games aren't eventually going to be a thing of the past. You just seem to assume that the future is going to be here in the next two years. Physical games will stop existing when consoles no longer support a physical medium, which probably isn't going to be happening next generation.

There are a lot of areas of the world that do not have the bandwidth to support only digital downloads for console games. The number of people jumping on digital will obviously continue to increase as well as internet speeds and access across the world, but it isn't going to happen overnight.

I also don't understand why you seem to want to see Gamestop die so badly.

Oh yeah, again you proved my point that "games" are "games".

*Drops several mics*

 
they either stay open or close move on
No crap. I think this is a topic every month. Been hearing for years that GameStop is in danger of closing. Not saying it isn't in trouble but until they have a "store closing" sign outside their store no one officially knows.

 
Seriously guys, I'm running out of mics to drop here. The writing is on the wall, plain for anyone to see. Gamestop posted a 500 million dollar loss last quarter! That's AFTER they sold their mobile phone division for 700 million. Otherwise they would have posted a 1.2 billion loss.

They are circling the drain, which is evident by the fact that they are looking for a buyer in the first place! The fact that they can't find a buyer suggests that buyers don't see value in the brand.

1 or 2 more quarters. IF they beat the odds and manage to hobble it out until holiday season 2019, 100% chance of chapter 11 Q1 2020. That's my prediction.

Bookmark this so you can say "haha told you so" if I'm wrong :p

Look... I get it. I remember when I was in high school, waiting outside my local gamestop with what must have been 300 other people, partying before the Halo 2 release. I have a lot of good memories of gamestop and I don't want to see it go.

But as Flannery O'Conner said "The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it"
That loss was on a goodwill impairment. Did you just read the headlines? And that was for the qtr ending in October. They havent announced prior qtr/4th qtr becaus ethey end in Jan. They literally said the 587 million non-operating noncash intangible asset impairment due to goodwill.

Look the future isnt great for them, they maybe have fivish years before real trouble.

They need to close stores and reduce overhead now and reorg in to a smaller and leaner business. Keep shedding. Even then they aren’t going to be around for very long.

To run around acting like they aren’t cash positive or earning is silly. The problems are the market is shrinking and changing for them and they clearly didn’t present a good enough ROI for any bank to backstop their business. Hence why they couldnt find a buyer who could get financed.

They need to do something to change

They have almost 4000 US stores and 2000 international stores and while SG&A is in line they have too much tied in to leases and inventory to stay this course.
 
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GameStop exiting the retro market (or games market for that matter) would indeed make all the prices sky rocket.

GameStop actually normalized a lot of retro games value when it began dealing retro titles again.
I was actually typing up a post like this in response to things on the last couple of pages, but basically this exactly.

You can pretty much trace the gradual upswing of retro game prices steadily, predictably increasing until gamestop started ramping up retro trade-ins and the like; I know I DEFINITELY noticed a lot of prices suddenly becoming anemic around ~5 years ago especially.

My personal theory was always that it was a mix of stock influx and fairly static gamestop-set prices.

-Allowing retro trade-ins let grown, non-gamer adults an easy means of entering their childhood stock back into the market (removing the age-old "What do you mean you can't take this box of NES games from me???" that was present for years prior); before this, they just languished in basements, only occasionally popping up in yard sales or when someone got enterprising on ebay, which was usually only worth it if they had a lot/something decently pricey

-Just the act of putting it on the storefront seemed to cap prices; Gamestop's large enough where, rather than entirely following pricing trends from ebay (like a lot of local used shops do), they kinda seem to help set the trend themselves, at least to a certain extent?

Like, availability on the site's definitely an issue for major price undercuts on REALLY famously pricey games - you can't order a copy of fire emblem: path of radiance whenever you want for $90 base, plus 10% Pro, plus 16% CAG16, plus 20% retro sale for ~$55 dollars just whenever you want - but, at the same time, those discounts DO exist, and the type of people who buy lots of the "valuable" retro titles ARE the kinds of people who know about them. And gamestop doesn't tend to creep those prices up either, from what I've seen; while the latest youtuber or smash addition or what have you might make prices spike on Ebay, Gamestop's prices stay the same so long as they're able to keep the game in stock. I remember myself seeing Bayonetta 1+2 on Wii U on shelves at gamestops for like $25 while twice that on Ebay for a good week or so before stock got depleted, which only really happened because it was a niche release for an unpopular system; they aren't exactly a reactive market like ebay is. So long as the supply's coming in to keep items in stock, their price is an easy counter to prices that might otherwise continue to balloon on the secondary market.

 
You literally just proved my point with your little graph. Games are games regardless of physical, digital, mobile, etc.

I never said that physical games aren't eventually going to be a thing of the past. You just seem to assume that the future is going to be here in the next two years. Physical games will stop existing when consoles no longer support a physical medium, which probably isn't going to be happening next generation.

There are a lot of areas of the world that do not have the bandwidth to support only digital downloads for console games. The number of people jumping on digital will obviously continue to increase as well as internet speeds and access across the world, but it isn't going to happen overnight.

I also don't understand why you seem to want to see Gamestop die so badly.

Oh yeah, again you proved my point that "games" are "games".

*Drops several mics*
But gamestop is a PHYSICAL brand that sells PHYSICAL goods. Are you really suggesting that someone would buy the gamestop brand, with all its dying physical overhead, and pivot it into a digital game platform?! Sorry to tell you buddy, there are already monopolies in that space called Steam, IOS App Store, and Android Google Play. It would be WAY more financially viable to start a new brand then buy gamestop for that purpose anyway.

 
That loss was on a goodwill impairment. Did you just read the headlines? And that was for the qtr ending in October. They havent announced prior qtr/4th qtr becaus ethey end in Jan. They literally said the 587 million non-operating noncash intangible asset impairment due to goodwill.

Look the future isnt great for them, they maybe have fivish years before real trouble.

They need to close stores and reduce overhead now and reorg in to a smaller and leaner business. Keep shedding. Even then they aren’t going to be around for very long.

To run around acting like they aren’t cash positive or earning is silly. The problems are the market is shrinking and changing for them and they clearly didn’t present a good enough ROI for any bank to backstop their business. Hence why they couldnt find a buyer who could get financed.

They need to do something to change

They have almost 4000 US stores and 2000 international stores and while SG&A is in line they have too much tied in to leases and inventory to stay this course.
I did read about it and I did know it was from the loss of good will. At the end of the day, in the business world, a loss is a loss is a loss. Doesn't matter if the company's value dropped 500 million because of a loss in intangibles like good will or because an exec decided to buy a 500 million dollar solid gold hotdog for his desk. Losses are losses.

edit: and by last quarter I meant last reported quarter. I thought that was implied...

edit edit: Also, doesn't it say something for the companies health that your conjecture, the most intelligent, thought out rebuttal so far to my 1 or 2 quarter forecast, is that they have maybe 5 years left? :p I don't 2 quarters is terribly pessimistic if the most optimistic projection is 5 years.

 
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Seriously guys, I'm running out of mics to drop here. The writing is on the wall, plain for anyone to see. Gamestop posted a 500 million dollar loss last quarter! That's AFTER they sold their mobile phone division for 700 million. Otherwise they would have posted a 1.2 billion loss.
I know you feel strongly about your opinion, but I just want to make sure you understand how financial statements work.

They reported $485.3M loss for fiscal year to date (2018), of which $557.3M was goodwill impairment (essentially they overpaid for something intangible such as a brand name).

They reported pro forma earnings in an 8-k filed on 1/23/19 that shows what their earnings would be if you excluded the spring mobile sale. For the fiscal year to date (2018) their earnings would be -$526.3M (again $557.3M of which is goodwill impairment), which is nowhere near the $1.2BN number you just made up because you don't understand corporate finance.

Edit: one more thing to add. I don't disagree that this company is in trouble. They owe $350M on October 1, 2019. If they can't find a buyer due to a difficult time finding financing options for the buyer, then they probably won't be able to finance at attractive rates. If the credit markets worsen then they will be in a difficult place soon. But they do have $1BN in cash, so they could find their way out.
 
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I know you feel strongly about your opinion, but I just want to make sure you understand how financial statements work.

They reported $485.3M loss for fiscal year to date (2018), of which $557.3M was goodwill impairment (essentially they overpaid for something intangible such as a brand name).

They reported pro forma earnings in an 8-k filed on 1/23/19 that shows what their earnings would be if you excluded the spring mobile sale. For the fiscal year to date (2018) their earnings would be -$526.3M (again $557.3M of which is goodwill impairment), which is nowhere near the $1.2BN number you just made up because you don't understand corporate finance.
*points to my previous post directly above yours as proof that I understand what goodwill and intangibles are* I'm a serial entrepreneur that has gone through the due diligence process while purchasing businesses in the past. Trust me... I understand. Also, married to a CPA specializing in auditing...

 
*points to my previous post directly above yours as proof that I understand what goodwill and intangibles are* I'm a serial entrepreneur that has gone through the due diligence process while purchasing businesses in the past. Trust me... I understand. Also, married to a CPA specializing in auditing...
I understand you much better now. I don't trust entrepreneurs and non-finance executives to understand corporate finance. I have worked with many.
 
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