Mynameisnotchris

In all honesty, no. Mainly because they ARE a business, and in the ever-changing gaming industry, I've seen the way they scrounge around to try and make things more fair for customers. Yes, there are really crappy prices on things at time, and sometimes they make no sense, but they are based on algorithms and profit and loss reports throughout the company. Sometimes Gamestop pays for so many games that they will never sell back and lose a lot of money off of it, but to counter-act that, they sell some games that are way more popular close to the price of new. Nothing was ever more frustrating to me than someone coming in with a copy of Duke Nukem and yelling throughout the store about how mad they were at the <$1 trade credit they were getting. Yes, you're getting nothing for the game, but look at the reviews and how long it's been out, and you'll realize why we can't make a profit off of it. Thousands of games every day are traded in (Because we don't refuse games based on whether we resell them well) that never get resold. It's a waste for everyone involved, and the company loses more than it gains from it. Think of it this way too: more and more people are buying games to be directly downloaded to their consoles (Me included) and that is Gamestop's biggest revenue stream. If people aren't coming into stores to buy games anymore, what profit will they make? They need the used sales profits to stay afloat for much longer.

This is actually not wholly uncommon. I've seen it a lot XD

Best experience would have to be the conference I posted for my proof. I went to Las Vegas (paid for by the company) and was briefed and tested new games set to release sometimes 2 years into the future before anyone had even seen screenshots or videos. It lasted five days, and every store manager who was healthy enough to make the trip was there. There were auditoriums of over 5,000 or more store managers watching gameplay of new games, new consoles, and great ideas for the industry. On top of getting that experience, my coworkers were my life. We hung out every day we weren't working and were basically a family. I stay in contact with them even from across the country. The worst experiences were unfortunately some of the customers. I loved my regular customers, and some were so awesome that I would play games with them on my days off, but there were always customers every day that would come in already pissed about things out of my control. I think the worst one was a woman who started tearing up the store and screaming at me that I was racist because we couldn't accept checks and that's what she wanted to pay with.

For the new games, the company sells them at $59.99, but they are purchased at bulk at around $45-$55, so each game can be from $5-$15 profit. When there are sales like when they drop a new game to $40 for the week, Gamestop loses profit on those purchases, but gains more from other purchases in store. For used games, it depends on each game. A brand new game traded in with a membership will give the customer $33 store credit, and the company resells it for $49.50 to pro members ($54.99 to non-members) at a $16.50 profit.

For sports games, Gamestop make little to no money on them after a year has past, so when you see the $1 trade in credit on NBA 2k14, it's because we'd have over 100 copies per store at times that we pay for but never resell. They get sent to a warehouse and never get sold unless ordered.

All of my walls back at my apartment were plastered with free posters after marketing gave us new ones. I had countless standees of the best quality with nowhere to put them. Games were sometimes given to managers, especially at conference time, and I probably accrued a few thousand dollars worth of merchandise over my time there. It was a great perk.