GameStop Policy Requires Fingerprints On Trade-Ins

[dlevere]

By GaryOPA

Confirmed in Philadelphia and other major U.S. cities depending on local police pawn-broker laws

The big video game retailer, GameStop, is now requiring its customers in Philadelphia, but not in the suburbs, to provide a fingerprint scan on certain transactions.

Each week there seems to be crazy story involving the big GameStop retailer chain, and this week it been on the news in Philadelphia that now GameStop's are asking for their customer fingerprints when they are trading-in games and consoles, and its been confirmed to be happening because of tougher police by-laws in major U.S. cities, there is even reports that Best Buy is doing it also on trade-ins.

When GameStop buys used video games from customers, the chain says it is following a local law that allows the store to collect thumb prints, which go into a database to help law enforcement track down thieves who fence stolen goods.

City Solicitor Shelley Smith says, however, the city is not requiring GameStop to abide by the pawnbroker's ordinance:

"What GameStop does doesn't meet any of the elements of the definition in the code, so the pawnbreaker ordinance doesn't apply to GameStop."

Folks outside a GameStop in Center City tell KYW Newsradio they were not thrilled with the company policy for anyone selling used games to the store:

"I really don't appreciate it. You fingerprinted me like I'm in a police district. No, I'm at a game store."
"That is a little absurd, it's just a video game."
"I think it's an overreach. It's going too far."
"I know that it only happens to people who go to jail, they get fingerprinted."
"When I went, I got my finger scanned when he broke it out and said ‘I need your fingerprint,' I said, ‘for what'?"

The Philadelphia Police Department says the company is being proactive by storing fingerprints in a secure database - LeadsOnline - which is the nation's largest online investigation system.

Source

[Sly Hedgehog]

if we still have dislike button then i would dislike it..

i don't want my fingers to be dirty if i press on that so i decided to not trade and/or sell my games anymore

[47iscool]

Ridiculous. You go to trade a game in and they treat you like a criminal.

Won't be getting anymore business from me.

[bungholio]

Fingerprinting would give the employees a slight bit of relief, it relieves them of some of the pressure of wondering if the person selling the games is a known theif. I never go to GameStop for games, but as long as they did the fingerprinting strictly for checking for helping catch theives and not to sell to a high bidder to see who buys what and building a profile on you like asses, I'd survive. Things already feel like they are moving towards the Futurama joke where they blast advertisements into your brain while you sleep. If it catches one asshole who breaks into other peoples' places and grabs a bunch of things to sell in various places, then it's done some good in the world. It would make more sense for pawnshops to do this though than GameStop first. I hate wondering if the guy trying to sell me something is some asshole robbing places to get whatever money he can to afford more meth/crack/cocaine/heroine/whatever crap is out there. All this would be doing is making it more difficult for crooks. The less I need to worry about somebody selling me stolen goods the more relieved I am and the less stress keeps me down.

[dlevere]

The only print that they are going to get from this Philadelphian is my footprint that they retrieve from the ass of the employee who asked for my fingerprint, especially that cocksucker that works at the store on 24th and Oregon.

[Demonic722]

The big video game retailer, GameStop, is now requiring its customers in Philadelphia, but not in the suburbs, to provide a fingerprint scan on certain transactions.

That's some ol' bullshit, but I rarely trade-in games nowadays anyway...

[dlevere]

GameStop Will Give More For Trade-Ins Starting in August

By Stew Shearer

On August 18th GameStop plans to give gamers 20 percent more for their trade-ins.

There is a kind of rage that's particular to gamers. It's the rage of walking into a GameStop with a bag full of games you spent hundreds of cumulative dollars on and walking out of the store with a gift card worth a mere fraction of that value. Granted, there are some situations where you legitimately shouldn't expect much for your games. That Madden title from 2009 probably isn't even worth the dollar they give you for it. When it comes to pretty much every other trade-in though, we can understand if you feel a strong urge to burn the store down. You shouldn't because, you know, laws and stuff, but we still understand how you feel.

GameStop isn't oblivious to these feelings however, and recent reports have indicated that it hopes to mitigate them with a new initiative that will see gamers getting more cash and credit for their trade-ins. The program, which is set to launch on August 18th, will push trade-in values up by 20 percent of their current rate. In other words, a game that's worth 10 dollars today would be worth 12 dollars after August 18th.

In addition to this trade-in rate hike, anonymous sources have also indicated that the retail chain will be ditching its variable trade-in rates for a flat fee system. What this means is that you'll no longer receive bonus credit when you trade something in toward an upcoming release. The only extra bonus after the 18th will be for Power Up Rewards subscribers who will receive 10 percent extra on their trades. It's the company's hope that this simplified system will make it easier "for the customer to understand what they are getting for their games." This new initiative will apparently also phase out the phrase "trade-in" and gradually replace it with "buy" and "sell."

All in all, it doesn't sound like the worst case of corporate rejiggering we've even seen. Granted, it's all geared toward getting customers to spend more money at GameStop, but you'd it's still hard to complain when the company's method for this is giving people more money. What do you think of the proposed changes? Does an extra 20 percent sound like enough to entice you or does GameStop need to go further in its efforts to bring in new business?

[bungholio]

There is a kind of rage that's particular to gamers. It's the rage of walking into a GameStop with a bag full of games you spent hundreds of cumulative dollars on and walking out of the store with a gift card worth a mere fraction of that value. Granted, there are some situations where you legitimately shouldn't expect much for your games. That Madden title from 2009 probably isn't even worth the dollar they give you for it. When it comes to pretty much every other trade-in though, we can understand if you feel a strong urge to burn the store down. You shouldn't because, you know, laws and stuff, but we still understand how you feel.

That is an understatement. There's nothing quite like the feeling of trading in 20 or more games and coming out with around $4 from it. You just pause in astonishment and think "I'm going to kill every human being that works in that place even though I know they are nothing more than corporate human body shields and they are not involved in rules but are forced to enforce them! And then I'm going to burn it down and hunt down any other GameStops I can for this criminal behavior!" Might as well be a donate for free thrift store, walk in with stuff you spent hundreds on and it goes through a machine that determines nothing has any worth yet sells it for 20x more. If it has no worth then why are you even selling it? That's worth $0.12 and you resell it for over $20!? Really!? Somebody needs to be hanged because they apparently don't care about making you feel anything but rage and leave their nice and precious corporate human body shield employees in the crosshair instead of their deserving selves pointing out they genuinely sound like they care only about themselves and nobody else. I thought "If I need to sell games, I'll do it anywhere else, and if it is the only option I will gladly deprive the world of 1 less copy of many games by snapping them into bits and pieces because I will never trade anything in like that ever again." I do it for my love of you GameFlop. Eat shit and die.

[Pyriel]

Do they really only give you $0.12 for some trade-ins? I never use GameStop for that, because I know the price I get will be disgusting, and I'd rather hold onto the game or maybe give it to a nephew or something.

[bungholio]

Whatever it was, it was less than a quarter. That was a decade ago during the PS2 era. I was genuinely blown away, then I look on their used games shelf and the same game they are reselling for over $20. That was a crime.

[Hacc]

I'm sure this fingerprint system will be beaten in some fashion. Never underestimate a determined individual, who will stop at nothing to get their way. Their actions can be countered, if you pay attention, and catch the flaw(s) in their ways.

Accepting a game and seeing it's worth less than a dollar is just being greedy. That's an addict move. The last time I traded with GameStop was back in '04. I remember one of my games being $0.50 (had to be an error, so I kept it), as it was still a popular game over the years. I think those low values are given for an "other" group or something. It would be a good idea to ask the Game-Rave guy, as I think he worked at one before.

[bungholio]

I was a kid and the nearest GameFlop or anything was over 100 miles away. Lived out in the middle of nowhere with very low income. Going to a GameFlop was once every 2 years at the time and that was the first time I had ever been there. It was exciting and I had no idea of what to expect of gameFlop, just had those 15 or so games that I no longer cared to have and wanted to sell them. It was about 10 years ago or longer. I was blown away but accepted the deal. After that I looked on their shelves at the same games. They averaged about $20 each. I get less than 25 cents a game and they sell them for $20? That was less than 1% paid for some of them to sell again. That sort of greed should unconditionally be considered criminal and penalized just for offering the less than 1% deal. They were child robbing criminals, and probably still are I'm guessing unless you just bought, played, and traded in a latest "big" game released less than a month ago.