GameStop Policy Change - Bye Bye Pro Membership

[Unlucky_Thir13en]

Not trophy-related, but this particular policy change definitely affects a lot of trophy hunters. I went to GameStop yesterday and, as I nearly always do, used my monthly Gamestop Pro Membership $5/off coupon on a $10 PSN credit code. Or at least I tried to. Apparently, as of December 1st, 2023, GameStop is no longer allowing these coupons to be used for digital storefront credit. 

 

I could justify the Pro Membership because if there was nothing else, I could always fall back on that cheap credit as a worthwhile justification for the membership. But if that's not an option, it's no longer worth the cost for me personally as I just don't buy my physical games from GS on a regular basis. If you like to use this coupon on physical games every month, more power to you. But if you're in the same camp as I am, make sure you turn auto-renew off for your membership so you don't get charged for a year with that main benefit now stripped from the subscription.

 

 

[Rebourne07]

Reason #9,758 to never shop at GameStop 

[MidnightDragon]

I buy most of my codes on Amazon, so it’s whatever.

[BIOHAZARD-R-US]

As cynical and cliche as it sounds, I’m surprised GameStop is still in business. With the massive amount of horror stories from former employees, terrible policies, abysmal trade credit values, bankruptcy, the whole Cricket thing (whatever that was), and their in-store inventory never seeming to change, it’s surprising there’s so many locations around. While they don’t have any direct competition in terms of dedicated game stores, it’s still super easy to shop elsewhere for new and used games. The push for digital doesn’t help them either, as I can walk to the Walmart around the corner for a PSN card rather than drive to a GameStop for one. 

[Doodlebawp]

"Hey guys this corporation that's been scamming gamers for decades just scammed me in the present day please send help" 😂

[POEman553]

I found their $5 coupon to be pitiful and I had about 35,000 points left. I used all the points to buy Sonic Superstars & Super Mario Bros. Wonder, turned off auto-renewal and unsubscribed from their email. The guy working at GameStop understood what I was doing and was able to find the coupons to use for me.

 

I'm glad I'm no longer buying games there. That's even more pathetic is their free shipping purchases keep creeping up and up (pre-Covid, it was $25 or more for free shipping, then $35, then $50, then $60 and now over $80). I used to buy a few PS3 games that their stores didn't have from their site and got really cheap shipping from them.

[Electric_Ebola]

I work at a GameStop and ever since the new CEO took the reigns a few months ago, a number of VERY unpopular decisions have been implemented with no warning.  We are still expected to sling PRO memberships, but on top of the price hike for far less (dear lord, I miss the days of the Elite Pro), one of the few things that let us get a few new subscribers was the fact that they could use their coupon on POSA cards.  Now....  damn if I know!  Granted, I hear this is more due to GameStop falling in line the financial regulations regarding currency maniuplation and money laundering, but if that's true why did it take over a decade to do so?

 

Don't even get me started on the changes to PRP (hardware warrenties, consoles, controllers, etc...)  Now if you buy a warrenty, you get a preowned no matter what, despite what it previouly was.  This sucks for the people who bought their warranties back when we had the SANE and LOGICAL process of if you buy new, you get new; buy preowned, get preowned.  No, even though that was the case at the time all those people bought their warrenties and were told such, it is no longer the case.  And heaven help you if you need a PS5 replacement, chances are very likely you're getting one that came from our refurbishing center, and lately, those have been shit and broken.

 

Oh, and just an FYI, if you ordered online or did a Buy Online, Pick Up in Store, even though you picked it up in that store, we cannot return it for you.  You have to contact customer service (and, no, despite what the dipshit on customer support will tell you, to just return it at the store, after waiting 45 minutes on hold, we CANNOT return it.)  It's not that we don't want to, we CANNOT--they changed the register software to flat-out not process the return.  How do you return an online order?  Good question, because hell if we store-level employees know!

 

Looking forward to the days after Christmas, with all the nieces, nephews, grandchildren, etc. who we told to just buy a GameStop giftcard and then they can just chose the POSA of their choice to come in and be pissed at us for Lord Dog Food's profit-driven choice.

[LukeTheGooner]

Gaming shops in the UK are dying so I'm surprised Gamestop is even around anymore, when it comes to buying games online is defo the way to go, even the ps store

[Unlucky_Thir13en]

15 minutes ago, Electric_Ebola said:

I work at a GameStop and ever since the new CEO took the reigns a few months ago, a number of VERY unpopular decisions have been implemented with no warning.  We are still expected to sling PRO memberships, but on top of the price hike for far less (dear lord, I miss the days of the Elite Pro), one of the few things that let us get a few new subscribers was the fact that they could use their coupon on POSA cards.  Now....  damn if I know!  Granted, I hear this is more due to GameStop falling in line the financial regulations regarding currency maniuplation and money laundering, but if that's true why did it take over a decade to do so?

 

Don't even get me started on the changes to PRP (hardware warrenties, consoles, controllers, etc...)  Now if you buy a warrenty, you get a preowned no matter what, despite what it previouly was.  This sucks for the people who bought their warranties back when we had the SANE and LOGICAL process of if you buy new, you get new; buy preowned, get preowned.  No, even though that was the case at the time all those people bought their warrenties and were told such, it is no longer the case.  And heaven help you if you need a PS5 replacement, chances are very likely you're getting one that came from our refurbishing center, and lately, those have been shit and broken.

 

Oh, and just an FYI, if you ordered online or did a Buy Online, Pick Up in Store, even though you picked it up in that store, we cannot return it for you.  You have to contact customer service (and, no, despite what the dipshit on customer support will tell you, to just return it at the store, after waiting 45 minutes on hold, we CANNOT return it.)  It's not that we don't want to, we CANNOT--they changed the register software to flat-out not process the return.  How do you return an online order?  Good question, because hell if we store-level employees know!

 

Looking forward to the days after Christmas, with all the nieces, nephews, grandchildren, etc. who we told to just buy a GameStop giftcard and then they can just chose the POSA of their choice to come in and be pissed at us for Lord Dog Food's profit-driven choice.

That's wild but unsurprising. I've always adored GameStop employees, but GS corporate has been among the most egregious I've ever seen from a customer perspective. Even the girl who checked me out didn't realize this policy had taken effect until I tried to make the purchase, and had to check Reddit because corporate hadn't properly prepped their employees. Sincere best wishes for you and your team this holiday season. 

[PHIL_DADDY1]

29 minutes ago, LukeTheGooner said:

Gaming shops in the UK are dying so I'm surprised Gamestop is even around anymore, when it comes to buying games online is defo the way to go, even the ps store

 

How does CEX go in the UK? Seems to be doing a great trade in Australia....

[LukeTheGooner]

13 minutes ago, PHIL_DADDY1 said:

 

How does CEX go in the UK? Seems to be doing a great trade in Australia....

 

they are such a rip off tbh, you hardly get anything for games/dvds

[EightBitArtist]

i absolutely love gamestop. ive bought literally over 100 used games since the ps3 days and returned them within 7 days for a full refund "because i didnt like it". thanks gamestop!

[PHIL_DADDY1]

1 hour ago, LukeTheGooner said:

 

they are such a rip off tbh, you hardly get anything for games/dvds

 

Same in Australia on some games, but a good deal on others... Quite inconsistent, but I have made it work for me on quite a few occasions. 

[jgm4789]

I literally only go to gamestop these days if they have buy 2 get 1 free sales. Gamestop has just gone downhill hard with thier pitiful selection, not getting niche Games in anymore even if you preorder, thier knicknack and funko pop section outright dwarfs the games, and an online store that sends you generic cases when you buy new. Thankfully i now live in an area with 3 gameXchange stores, a retro store that gaves almost double trade in then what gamestop offers if i feel the need to offload games and even carries imports(picked up gundam breaker 3 and gintama rumble for 30 here), and tons of other hole in the wall used book stores that also sell games id rather go to.

[Fish613]

I like to buy physical if I can. Gamestop is great for their Buy 2 get 1 Free. I usually pick up 6 games (sometimes just 3). I remember one time (and this is usually the case), I got 6 games... all less than 2 years old (full price Triple A games at launch), for $86 total (each game about $14). That's insane! And just now I bought Returnal, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2 copies (1 for me, 1 for my wife)) for a total of $44. The membership saved several dollars off of that.

 

For me personally, the membership is 100% worth it. But I usually only buy games 1-3 times a year, and ONLY during their Buy 2 get 1 sale. Plus, getting Gameinformer is just icing on the cake, for me.

 

Outside of everything I wrote above.... Gamestop is a p.o.s., imo. I use them for their Buy 2 get 1 free, and I'm good. Someone made an error at gamestop, because my last order (Returnal and 2 Tiny Tina's), they sent me twice. So ended up with 2 Returnal's and 4 Tiny Tina's. I plan on selling the extra copies on ebay. I didn't mention that part above, because it was just a 1 off fluke.

[MidnightDragon]

Trading at GameStop is a ripoff anyway. If you want to unload your games, sell them on Facebook, eBay, Craigslist or something like that. 

[Jelly Soup]

I forgot Pro was a thing, it's been so long since I was last in a GameStop. All I remember from it is getting a crappy magazine that was two months out of date when it was delivered, all the point were always auto redeemed for some shooter-game points without me doing anything.

[PHIL_DADDY1]

I just realised that EB Games in Australia, is an Australian subsidiary company of GameStop.

 

EB Games Australia

 

Consoles, Collectibles, Video Games, and More – Buy, Sell or Trade | GameStop

 

Very similar format of sales & website.

[Dry]

2 hours ago, PHIL_DADDY1 said:

I just realised that EB Games in Australia, is an Australian subsidiary company of GameStop.

 

EB Games Australia

 

Consoles, Collectibles, Video Games, and More – Buy, Sell or Trade | GameStop

 

Very similar format of sales & website.

EB Games = Australia, Canada and New Zealand

 

GameStop = everywhere else

[DavySuicide]

i usually never set foot in this rotten store. I actually bought my VR2 last week as they ( surprisingly ) had the best price around here. But this was a one time thing, they are just super expensive here and not worth at all. I rather support smaller gaming stores when i travel around.

 

 

[PalaceOfLove706]

1 hour ago, Dry said:

EB Games = Australia, Canada and New Zealand

 

GameStop = everywhere else

They got rid of EB Games in Canada. It’s just GameStop now. 

[Dry]

1 hour ago, PalaceOfLove706 said:

They got rid of EB Games in Canada. It’s just GameStop now. 

Copy that.

 

[Don_Chipotle]

With how big its still is in usa and canada, i wonder why it never went to other countries when it was at its peak.

 

That being said, yeah it sucks they remove those kind of rewards

[MidnightDragon]

17 hours ago, PHIL_DADDY1 said:

I just realised that EB Games in Australia, is an Australian subsidiary company of GameStop.

 

EB Games Australia

 

Consoles, Collectibles, Video Games, and More – Buy, Sell or Trade | GameStop

 

Very similar format of sales & website.

There used to be EB Games and GameStop in the US when the latter first bought out Electronics Boutique, but eventually they changed them all to GameStop.

Edited December 4, 2023 by MidnightDragon

[majob]

14 hours ago, Dry said:

EB Games = Australia, Canada and New Zealand

 

GameStop = everywhere else

Loooooooong Loooong time ago EB Games were in the US as well until Gamestop acquired them and turned the remaining stores in the US into Gamestops. That said, I only shop there during the buy 2 get one free for Switch games and that's about it. They exist in a dying market and they know it which is why they're trying to transition to a merch store.