EB Games, the far reaching game store which lets you “Trade ‘n’ $ave” by bringing in your old games and consoles in exchange for credit towards brand new products. Sounds fair enough to me, I get rid of a few unwanted games and save on new titles. That was until I saw one of their more recent trade in deals. With the release of the new 80GB PS3, EB Games have decided to take advantage of current PS3 owners by enticing them to pick up the new 80GB for only NZ $250! A bargain until you read the fine print and realise that you also have to part with your current model PS3 and four games.
To cut to the chase, this deal is outrageous and something seriously needs to be done before the uneducated gamer falls victim to this scam. Who in their right mind would part with their 60GB PS3 and four PS3 games just for an extra 20GB storage space. Particularly when you consider just how much EB are going to sell those games for; and the fact Sony actually support users upgrading their HDD’s. At current prices you could install your own 80GB HDD for only NZ $59.95. If you’re feeling a little frisky, you could even double what EB Games are offering and throw a 160GB HDD is your PS3 for as little as NZ $83.51.
First of all, lets consider exactly how much EB Games are planning on stealing from you making from this trade in deal. Lets pretend I have a 60GB PS3 I would like to trade in. I found out about this deal and immediately started saving my paper run money to afford the $249. After getting half way there, mum and dad decided to meet me half way. All thats left is to round up four PS3 games to trade. I decided to part with Skate, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, Army of Two and Tiger Woods 07. At the current re-sell rate at EB Games (according to http://www.ebgames.co.nz/preowned.cfm) EB Games are set to make a NZ $905 profit. Yes, you heard right – $905!
As you can see in the chart above, there is no way EB Games can justify making this much off a simple upgrade. Granted I don’t see them moving many 60GB units at $1099, but even if you knocked that price in half that is still an exorbitant profit to be making off your so called loyal customers. It’s not just people like myself who are sick of this behaviour by video game retailers either. Late last month GamesIndustry.biz published an interview with Jens Uwe Intat, senior VP and general manager for European publishing at EA. Because second hand retailers reap the benefits of selling the same product multiple times while the publishers and developers don’t see a cent, the Publishing giant is currently trying multiple new business models to help battle the critical problem of second-hand video game sales.
I’d actually make the point that for us second-hand sales is a very critical situation, because people are selling multiple times intellectual property. What we’re trying to do is build business models that are more and more online-supported with additional services and additional content that you get online. So people will see the value in not just getting that physical disc to play at home alone, but actually playing those games online and paying for them.
Eventually the abuse of second hand sales by retailers like EB Games will have a negative effect on us. First of all there is the possibility that developers start taking features out of the game and charging for online content that should have originally been in the game. In the long term you risk seeing developers shift towards digital distribution of their games. With our poor broadband speeds and low data caps, that is something I would never like to see in New Zealand. Will we ever see second hand sales of video games cease to exist in this country? No and I wouldn’t want them to either. Should EB Games be allowed to market so called ‘deals’ such as the one above? Definitely not. What can we do about it? Show your frustration by boycotting the retailer. Avoid the store at all costs, use websites like Trademe and eBay to trade your games and make sure you tell all of your friends about their questionable tactics when it comes to second hand games.
Now that is what I call a rip off.
Im going to say “ouch”….for EB, nice reporting hops
that pisses me right off! i want to do more than a boycott! Buttonmasher, good job on reporting on this, I just hope EB goes down for crap like this.
Even funnier was what I found while browsing the EB website. They are promoting a modern day ‘canned goods drive’, it’s called ‘EB Games for Brains’.
“Your students or members donate any unwanted video games to your school, club or organisation. You then sell those games to EB Games for cash to be invested back into your school, club or organisation and your students or members.”
First of all I am sure no student would be stupid enough to fall for a deal like that. Secondly, I hear so many people complain about the EB in-store signage that I would love to see them pull this off:
“In addition to this excellent offer, we can also provide a kit to your school, club or organisation, which will include information for parents and members, posters, fliers and signage to display around your school/club/organization, all free of charge.”
Good work!! Maybe someone should hit up EB for a reply?? Make for some good press…..
^ email sent to EB Games. Hopefully we will get a response from them.
We have the same deal going here in Australia (give or take a few dollars here and there), it’s absolutely crazy. Like you said, the fact that the PS3 hard drive is replaceable makes this seem really criminal, they really are trading on people’s ignorance of the system. Giving people a crappy price for traded games is one thing (I’ve sold games to EB in the past for crappy prices just because EB was the most hassle-free way of offloading them) but charging so much more than the price of a BIG hard disk (plus 4 games!) just so uninformed consumers trade up is genuinely cynical and mean.
Also, when you consider that they’re not going to be paying anywhere near the sale price for the 80gig ps3 their profits are even greater than you stated. Absolutely frickin’ crazy.
(btw: replacing the HD on the ps3 is so easy! I put a 250 gig in mine and it was a cinch, usually computer-fiddling stuff scares the shit out of me but the ps3HD operation was an absolute doddle. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of switching up.)
EB is definitely a shocker. How can trading “up” to an 80Gig PS3 with your 60Gig PS3, the only model to support PS2 compatiblity, plus 4 games and $249 be a great deal. I feel sorry for anyone tha has fallen for this. I have the 60Gig PS3 upgraded to 320Gig and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Have tried avoiding EB and used to go to The Gamesman, they had better service and would price match anybody, so you can imagine how disappointed I was when they were bought out by our “favourite” company.
What? The gamesman never price matched, at least not in palmy anyway
Lol, now that I think about it I went into the gamesman here and asked if they price match, the reply was “No, we aren’t EB”. Looks whos EB now sucka
NO DEAL.
same deals happening here in australia, a bloody ripoff!!
I work at Eb games.
lol.
Any one in their right mind in the gaming area would obviously not take the deal.
Unfortunately, it’s not the workers fault about all this, or the regionals.
I was just reading about how staff treat their customers in America. It’s so outrageous.
Jimbo – They didn’t price match in palmy??
or.. well didn’t?
isn’t that because they would take 10% off the price to seal the sale?
Anyway, carrying on.
It’s not our fault that the Company is run like this :c
At least it’s not as bad as GamesPlus turned out.
In other news, will be working in the old gamesman store soon.
Old dream half coming true D: