Game X Change

[ko1ru]

I was looking at Game X Change's site yesterday, specifically at store locations, and I was amazed at how many there were in Arkansas!  A lot in Oklahoma and Texas, too.  Let me just state how lucky some of you guys are to have such a concentration of stores in each state! 

I've made it a point to stop at all Game X Changes on my way when traveling through Indiana, but didn't realize how many there were south of me (I never go any further south than Springfield, MO).  There used to be one in a town about 20 miles up I-44 from where I live, but it closed before I moved to this part of Missouri.  I believe there's one left in the state in St. Joseph, but it's a good 4-5 hours away.  The "flagship" store in Bentonville, Arkansas is roughly about the same distance from here as the St. Joe location. 

I wonder, if already in Springfield, MO doing some game hunting, would it be worth it to drive another couple of hours and hit up the Bentonville Game X Change?  Has anyone been there, and if so, would it be worth the roadtrip?

PS - If I had the scratch to become a franchisee, I'd totally open a store here in Missouri in a heartbeat.

[soera]

There are 2 Game Xchange stores left in the OKC area. They are a double edged sword. I like going in there cause most of the time the employees are pretty cool. The bad thing is they have a weird system in place. If the game has any value at all, it automatically gets priced as high as possible to stop resellers from flipping them. Yet it also stops anyone interested in the game from buying it also. And since our area has a lot of Vintage stock locations (5 in the OKC/metro area) they dont seem to get the traffic that they used to so the inventory is pretty stale. Sales are never offered, they refuse to sell the boxes/manuals with most older games.

[ko1ru]

That is true, OK has VStocks as well.  I suppose it is because there's so much competition from other stores (as well as overpriced harder-to-find items) that they end up sitting on a lot of their stock.  Shame.   

[turf]

Game Xchange has been one of my favorites for years.  I've found some awesome deals in there too. (Caltron and Panic Restaurant for $5 each)  However, receintly they changed their pricing on a lot of the "hard to find" stuff. I saw Bucky O'Hare in one for $35.  They used to have a $19.95 cap on NES games and a $29.95 cap on SNES and N64 games.  Now they've changed that.  Thanks to those two Game Chasers baffoons finding famously finding Flintstones 2 in there, they have changed a ton of pricing.  A 32x that was $19.95 is now $39.95. 

I talked to the manager in Jonesboro, AR about it.  Little Samson and Flintstones are both to be priced at $400 if they come in that store.  ( I don't know if the whole operation is like that, but this store is) What are the chances of a Flintstone or Little Samson walking in this store?  Slim, right?  Well, a ton of people come in here with the hopes of finding a gem like that and leave with $20 worth of used games.  Now if someone does find a gem, you'll have a ton of free advertising; but you missed out on a $500 game.  If you price it a $400 and people know it, there's no reason for them to hunt for gems in your store.  You're going to miss out on hundereds of $20 sales with the hope that you make one big $400 sale.  It just doesn't make sense. 
Give it a minute.  You'll see a ton of these stores close in the near future.  They don't understand their retro customers at all. 

Vintage Stock is awesome.  I wish we had one closer.

[soera]

Well, cause of some local reseller douchebags around here, Vintage stock did a complete price system upgrade too. I have all given up on shopping at local retro stores now. Its spreading everywhere. Even Goodwill. They used to charge $2.99 for "video games". Now, its done on an item by item basis according to Ebay/Amazon prices. About 6 months ago, I got a call from one of the managers I know. They got in a bunch of boxed NES games (including DW 1-4, Dragon fighter, Lolo 1-3, etc). I told her I would come up there and pick them up. Well, when I got there, she told me the store manager made the person pricing them go research every one of them online and price them according to that. The DW games were $50 each, Dragon fighter was $75, and Lolo games were like $25 each. There were a bunch of other games too and each one was priced differently. Was sad to see a thrift store asking prices like that.

[disgaeniac]

Well, cause of some local reseller douchebags around here...

Ya know - I really don't get what it is with all of the *Hate* for "resellers" (presumably -and- by definition, people who sell their games while comitting the *SIN* of *GASP* possibly selling it for more $ than they bought it for) 

What else I don't get is the way that "reseller" is used synonymously with "douchebag"; as if, by default, selling a game that you've bought for a profit = "You're a Douchebag".

A third thing that confounds me is that this seems to be the abundant attitude *HERE* - of all places.

By that, I mean...wouldn't all of us here - if, say, at a garage sale - we found a box full of games selling for $1.00/each (that we knew to be worth more/*MUCH* more than that price) - even if we already had a copy or 2 of that game...purchase them with the hopes & intent of selling them for more than we bought them for?!

I know that *I* would -and- I've yet to feel like and/or call myself a "douchebag" for doing so...maybe I need to start doing so?

I guess that I'm just pissed at the *generalization* (read: everybody who "Resells" games being painted with the same derogatory brush)...I mean - I would guess that just about all of us here (if not *ALL* of us here) have sold a game/games at some point = We're ALL Resellers.

TL;DR =

I think that it's only fair -and- that it should be pointed-out that...much like just about *EVERYTHING* else in this world...there's probably hundreds (no inflation of numbers necessary) of different people (and -more importantly- *KINDS* of people) who buy, sell, and/or resell games...w/ just as many different motivations & intentions for doing so.

/mini-rant/nitpicking

[turf]

Store Owner =/= Reseller
Guy who buys up all the deals with no love for the games just to make a quick buck == Reseller douchebag

Have I bought up games for trade bait?  You bet.  An instance involving Panic Restaurant comes to mind.  Have I sold anything to raise more cash to reinvest in my hobby?  I don't think so, but I would.  Nothing wrong with that. 

There are, however, thoes  who cruise around looking for good deals on games just to flip them for a fast dollar.  Jack Hole Reseller Douchebag.

[disgaeniac]

Store Owner =/= Reseller
Guy who buys up all the deals with no love for the games just to make a quick buck == Reseller douchebag

Have I bought up games for trade bait?  You bet.  An instance involving Panic Restaurant comes to mind.  Have I sold anything to raise more cash to reinvest in my hobby?  I don't think so, but I would.  Nothing wrong with that. 

There are, however, thoes  who cruise around looking for good deals on games just to flip them for a fast dollar.  Jack Hole Reseller Douchebag.

Totally agree - that's what I'm saying...there's a lot of different ways that people can resell games -and- not all of them make the person a douchebag...some certainly do, though

[sin2beta]

There are a lot of local retro stores in this area. Game X Change used to be an absolute favorite of mine. When I was a kid, my family used to go to the main store in Springdale AR every once in a while. I would always have a special place to slowly save money for those trips. Then in Tulsa there was a Game X Change right around where Thrillhouse games is. It was just across 71st behind the Chuck E Cheese. I used to always go in there during the summer of 99 and play their Japanese Dreamcast demo unit.

But Game X Change is not anything like it used to be. Every one I've been to looks forever picked over. They do not get new stuff in anymore. Vintage Stock is pretty good. But as I've said before, not for Nintendo. That stuff costs way too much.

I have had fantastic luck at flea markets and such in the area. This area does seem to be a good place for retro game hunting.

[grahf16]

I bought the following games at Game XChange:

Secret Of Mana (Cart) - $20
Breath of Fire (Cart) - $20
Final Fantasy II (Complete) - $35
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 (Dreamcast) - $15
Powerstone 2 - $10
Shen Mue - $8
Metroid Prime Trilogy - $50
Tales of Symponia (Gamecube) - $30
.hack Quarantine - $33
Breath of Fire IV - $20

I have bought plenty of games there, sure I wouldn't find the ultra rare games, but there prices are a HELL of a lot better than the rest of the retro game stores.

[ko1ru]

I found some really great deals at both of the Indiana Game X Changes that I stopped at.  I had a discussion with a manager at one of the locations about the very thing that's being discussed in this thread (inflated game prices).  He explained that all Game X Changes are franchisee-owned, and that all stores have the ability to set their prices differently than other stores.  It's entirely up to the manager/owner of just that store whether they want to be a dick about pricing or not.  Lucky for me, this guy happened to not be one, and I got some pretty sweet deals on all of the stuff I walked out of there with. 

Obviously a store like GameStop or Vintage Stock is going to have standard, set pricing no matter what location you go to.  And don't get me started on thrift stores - especially Goodwill - that mirror Ebay/Amazon prices...   

Store Owner =/= Reseller
Guy who buys up all the deals with no love for the games just to make a quick buck == Reseller douchebag

Agreed.

[sin2beta]

I have to say one thing about retro game stores. It can be worth it if you go in a fair amount. I can't tell you how many time the people at Game X Change would just reduce the price on a game. There were several times that I took a game up, the clerk looked at it and said, why are we charging that? And lowered the price considerably.

Also, if they notice you coming in for particular stuff, they will sometimes just hold stuff and let you pick it first.

I have never asked for perks. But sometimes, if you're not a jerk to the clerks, they will help you out. I've noticed this about local game stores a lot.

EDIT: And I'm sure it helps if you're hot.

[turf]

I ask for the "Cool Guy Discount" at most game stores. Works about half the time. And, yes, I'm super hot.

[theflea]

I know I bad mouth resellers all the time, but I don't mind the people that run stores, or even collectors who buy games and sell off their extras to fund their own collection. The ones I talk about are those guys who haunt garage sales, flea markets and even local game stores buying up everything that they think they can make a buck off of it. Using those phone scanners of theirs.

I see them at sales and stores and most are rude, they will snatch games out of your hand. Try and outbid you while making a purchase, Tell seller that the idem is worth more while your trying to buy it. I get to a sale first and I wait in line waiting for the sale to open then as soon as they open they run in ahead of you, surround a table and scan everything. Place fake craigslist ads. They make crappy comments to me when they see me. This is just to name a few. I swear they will knock down an old lady to get to a game, movie or book.

I've seen them drive up prices at ridiculous amounts. Best example of this is Waynes World on NES. About a year ago it was going for $40-$60 on ebay and amazon, then it disappeared and no one was selling it, so some douchebag put one up for $250 on amazon (cart only) and guess what? everyone started listing the game at over $200!
Then the internet was flooded with overpriced Waynes World carts. Now the price has come back down to under $80. 
They even buy up new limited collectors edition games/systems to sell on ebay/amazon, remember Ni No Kuni?

Resellers are only in it for the money and are the ones that jack up prices on amazon and ebay, then it spreads to local game stores and other people selling games who look up amazon or ebay and think people will pay these prices.
And the sad part, some people do. 

This is the reason collectors and gamers hate the amazon/ebay resellers.

Okay enough of my rant, I'm getting down from my soapbox. 

[ko1ru]

I see them at sales and stores and most are rude, they will snatch games out of your hand.

That is when you apply your fist to their face.  Hard.  Seriously.  It's people like that that take the enjoyment out of game hunting. 

I ask for the "Cool Guy Discount" at most game stores. Works about half the time. And, yes, I'm super hot.

This made me LOL!