Alanna

Buying "Used Games" Disguised as "New"

There's a real irritating trend that's emerged recently, and that is stores that try to sell used games as new. With the holiday season, the practice was running rampant.

A friend went to Toys R Us to buy Prince of Persia and Lord of the Rings for the Gamecube. When he got the games home he noticed they didn't look "factory sealed" with the nice folds on the tops of the plastic. POP was covered in fingerprints and minor scratches and has locked up on him a couple of times. Lord of the Rings had a minor scratch. My boyfriend tried buying a couple of games for me at EB, but when they started removing discs from the paper slips to put into the case he told them he didn't want them - and bought them at Target instead.

Once a game has been removed from the original plastic and handled by someone - whether it be a store employee or a previous owner, the game is no longer NEW. I believe it should be sold as USED and at a marked discount. At EB atleast you can SEE them "getting the game for you" but Toys R Us's practice of selling the games re-shrink wrapped is just downright awful I think. The Gamecube is especially easy to do this with because there are no stickers on the cases like the PS2 has (on the top) or Xbox (on the side). These have to be slit to get the game out and then its totally noticeable that the game has been previously tampered with. The Gamecube with no sticker is easy to reshrink and sell as NEW without the store employees batting an eye. I don't think this practice is acceptable because if I'm paying $50 for a game I want it untouched by all human hands, in pristine condition...

What does everyone else think about this?

Kyle McKnight

The stores don't hide the fact. If you don't want it, don't buy it.

*full disclosure - I work at GameStop

Having said that, I still don't buy games unless they're factory sealed.

Kyle McKnight

Alanna

I've never had a problem with Gamestop, which is where I buy games almost exclusively now and my bi monthly Chobits purchase. Toys R Us does hide the fact. They pretend the games are new. They pulled them out of the case like they were new. EB you can see them doing it... even if they don't mention it.

Steve Y

You'll find this is a highly controversial topic here on the HTF. Although we do have several members who work in establishments that regularly price technically "pre-owned" or "used" games as brand-new, there are also large pockets of users who strongly support this practice because it keeps return policies somewhat liberal. (many of the members here are gamers who like to utilize the return systems to the full extent)

You will find there are "collector" camps who want their games never-before-opened ("new" is "new"), and there are those who simply want the games to work, whether they've been previously owned or not. These conversations generally degrade into philosophical "tree falling in the forest" discussions about what constitutes "new" -- if you don't know someone owned it (if you hadn't seen that pesky thumbprint) and the game works, have you in fact been the victim of bad business? And isn't it morally questionable on some level, even if it isn't illegal? (and that is a whole OTHER discussion)..

I've found most of the population here, or at least the most 'vocal' population on this topic, tends to support pre-owned games being sold for a new price.

Good luck, heh!

~s

Jeff Adkins

If the game and packaging are in mint condition then I don't really care one way or the other. What I object to is having price tags on the case or there are scratches on the disc. Once you take the shrinkwrap and those annoying stickers off the case it's the same thing to me as long as the end result is a game and packaging in mint condition. I refuse however to buy a game with price tags on the case. They never look new even after the tags come off.

Jeff

Leo_P

I see it this way: Let's say you just bought a "new" car. What you don't know is that it was driven for 1,000 miles but then the odometer was reset. The car looks great, runs great but it is NOT new. But you don't know that. Is that alright?
For me, when I open up a NEW game, the last person to have touched it BETTER be the person at the printing press or wherever they make games. If that game was opened AFTER it left the manufacturer's and BEFORE I get it, it's USED. No two ways about it, sorry.

\"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.\"
-- Patrick Henry

Shawn Perron

I feel that the retailer should be held to the same standard as the customer. Most retailers consider software that has been opened by the customer differently then unopened software. If the retailer will not give you a full refund for opened software, then they should not be able to sell you opened software as new. Seems fair enough.

MattBu

Oh don't they? Unless they are telling you FLAT out "This game has been returned" they are hiding the fact. I bought a game from your establishment, and it was sold to me as new, yet it locks up all the time and when I got it, I knew it had OBVIOUSLY been reshrinkwrapped. The fact that it locks up let me know why it'd been returned there previously. I have since boiled this game twice in an attempt to stop the lockups, but I will be returning it to Gamestop tomorrow. Do you think that they should resell this game as new, knowing that it's been returned as twice?

Kyle McKnight

Matt, where is a GameStop that allows you to return opened software?

Kyle McKnight

Alanna

If your game doesn't have the nice "factory sealed folds" then its most likely been reshrink wrapped.

MattBu: Did the case still have the stickers intact? (no slitting) or were you the unfortunate victim of Gamecube games which have no stickers even when brand new?