Rumor: EB/Gamestop workers fired if PS3/Wii listed on eBay

by Zack Stern { Oct 24th 2006 at 4:00AM }

One of our moles reports that EB/Gamestop corporate overlords are tracking eBay PS3 and Wii sales, with the promise of termination if an employee-bought system is listed. Our own digging corroborated the story, but we think this plan is a threat at best.

Retailers scan game hardware serial numbers into their databases when making a sale; the receipt may even list the ever-so-unique number. But you shouldn't need to list the serial number on eBay to make a sale, so why do it? The EB/Gamestop bosses could buy specific listings and hope to catch employees, but that seems like a lot of costly work. Even then, the odds will be in favor of the EB/Gamestop worker-turned-profiteer.

People will make money reselling scarce launch hardware; that's a fact of gaming. We like the idea of EB/Gamestop trying to get consoles into the hands of gamers, but this plan may have little impact.

See also: eBay's PS3/Wii auction cancellations are a good move

Tags: EB Games, eBay, EbGames, Gamestop

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

vrf @ Oct 24th 2006 4:14AM

seems like it'd be easy to get around this. In fact, will this cause more employees to try?

Hmmm... the profit you make should cover your Mountain Dew and pizza expenses until you find another minimum wage job.

ElChino @ Oct 24th 2006 4:28AM

Oh please like any Gamestop employee is going to cry over getting fired over a $7.00/HR job. If the employee makes a 1k profit that would take him about 143 hours of work to make that 1k BEFORE TAXES. Please 7/hr jobs are a dime a dozen make your 1k profit and tell Gamestop and Dick Fontain to suck your.........

kildjean @ Oct 24th 2006 4:59AM

Some of us are Managers and ASM or DM's. We dont want to risk our cool jobs although the money would come in handy.

Not everyone that works in EB/Gamestop earns a $7/hr salary.

K

NamelessTed @ Oct 24th 2006 5:23AM

this is absolute bollocks. There is no way EB/Gamestop can fire an employee for selling a system on eBay. I don't even think they have the right to threaten to fire you for doing something like this. Selling the system is something done completely outside of work. It is not illegal to sell a system on eBay therefor the company has no right saying they will fire anybody for doing so.

David @ Oct 24th 2006 5:30AM

If your boss tells you to do something (not sell the system in this case) and you ignore his command and do it anyways that is grounds for termination. You can be fired for basically anything besides racial/sexual discrimination and even that is hard to prove.

Hunterprime @ Oct 24th 2006 5:37AM

whats funny is that not enough info is being blocked from that receipt. You still have the store number, time of day, and receipt number on that slip. I am certain that eb/gamestop can look up transactions just based off this info if they cared

Eric @ Oct 24th 2006 6:45AM

Why does Gamestop even bother? Why not put some more work into getting more systems at your store on launch day? Then people won't need to buy online.

Jef @ Oct 24th 2006 6:51AM

I've got a better question: why is anyone paying the exorbitant eBay prices? Let these greedy jerks get stuck with their purchases and maybe this will stop happening with each console launch.

Insomnia Bob @ Oct 24th 2006 6:53AM

This plan is moot. No one working for Gamestop could afford a PS3 anyway.

Masaki @ Oct 24th 2006 8:18AM

I don't think the problem is that people can't afford it.

I think the problem is that buying a PS3 at that price is like buying a $20 chocolate bar.

You catch my drift? :p

David @ Oct 24th 2006 8:25AM

Yeah this is lame. The PS3 might go for $2,000+, so I'm sure the people working there are really scared. But if you buy it and sell it and they don't know wouldn't be odd if you never buy any games with it.

clo1_2000 @ Oct 24th 2006 8:56AM

Actually, eBay is requring proof of receipt for all PS3 pre-sales (along with a slew of other requirements). Some people are just scanning the pre-order receipt to fulfill that requirement and voila, that is how you can be tracked.

Rishard Chapoteau @ Oct 24th 2006 9:08AM

@6
"There is no way EB/Gamestop can fire an employee for selling a system on eBay."

Wow, your speaking out of your ass. From knowing multiple gamestop managers and living right now with an assistant manager I can tell you that they WILL get fired for doign it. This has been there policy for YEARS its nothing new. I have a friend that was a manager during the PS2 launch and was fired for selling them on ebay (though he did make quite a bit of money at the time).

Greg @ Oct 24th 2006 9:21AM

@14- where are you getting your 75% figure?

Lion @ Oct 24th 2006 9:30AM

Crazy idea here gents: How 'bout they don't allow employees to purchase units in the first round of sales?

"Let the merchandise go to the customers," you say? "But how will the employees be able to recommend things to the customers if they can't play the games themselves," you ask? I know, I know; just stay with me here.

How about each store gets its own PS3 (other than the demo unit) for employees to "educate themselves" with until the second round of consoles come in. They could and would sell the used unit later for just a $50 markdown anyway.

Turken @ Oct 24th 2006 9:37AM

Looks to me like EB's policy is a pretty good one. No, they won't keep PS3's from getting sold on Ebay, but by having this policy, they have a convenient way to fire all the retards too stupid to cover their own tracks decently.

I know that if I was running a business, and I had a way of easily determining which employees were both dishonest and dumb, I'd be firing them as quickly as possible too.

Darko @ Oct 24th 2006 9:48AM

Lawl guys, it's illegal Scare Tactic! I work there its all Eb does is try to scare you.

Scott Krueger @ Oct 24th 2006 10:06AM

The employees will just Split the profits with their Friend who sells it for them.
It's BS, but it is Reality.
I'm not sure if my PS3 will come on Nov 17, but when I get mine it will not be for sale.

We need a law against "Scalping" Game Systems.

Shad Genki @ Oct 24th 2006 10:15AM

I really don't see how you could be stupid enough to get caught selling PS3 on ebay. This only means that you'll see a lot of new user accounts on ebay selling PS3s because they won't want anything on the account that might hint at their identity.

With that said, this is just another reason why employees should not be allowed to preorder systems from their own company. It would at least make it more difficult to flood the market with overpriced auctions. The first half-dozen PS3 and Wii systems were preordered at my local store before anyone got there, and half of those will probably be on ebay too.

crono141 @ Oct 24th 2006 10:27AM

The difference in PS3 and Wii pre-orders is this: People pre-ordered the PS3 en masse to resell (evidence: low attach rate for PS3 games); People pre-ordered Wii to own and play (evidence: high attach rate for games and accessories, high launch numbers make selling it at a profit unlikely).

Greg @ Oct 24th 2006 10:42AM

@20- A law against reselling what you own?

@21- I'm sure you'll find that the majority of "scalped" systems on ebay weren't reserved by employees. In my experience as a GS employee, most employees who reserve systems reserve them to play them.

If you're pissed about "scalping"- don't blame GameStop employees- blame Sony for limiting the supply, and the ebay shoppers who create the demand.

Pencil $havings @ Oct 24th 2006 10:42AM

It was the same with the PSP, and interviewing people in the district out here made you sign something that you wouldn't put stuff on eBay from the store. Sort of a theft deterrent, they called it.

Fox News Reader @ Oct 24th 2006 10:42AM

@#10 -- You hit the nail on the head. Most electronic retail companies (GameStop, Best Buy, Fry's, etc) have the same policy: Employees cannot resell items purchased from the store.

Typically this is due to the significant discounts offered to employees -- Employees can be terminated if they are profiting by taking business away from their employer.

Employee discounts are meant as an incentive for retention, not as a dollarized benefit. Granted, there is no discount on the PS3 but it still falls under the same handbook policy employees sign of 'no reselling product or else terminiation.

Cameron @ Oct 24th 2006 10:46AM

Back in the day when i worked at EB we had a guy that was selling some of the free swag we got (posters, limited edition art...), and sure enough he got caught and got a big spanking. So yes, they really do watch these things.

John Lucas @ Oct 24th 2006 11:02AM

Who says you gotta go on eBay to resell this stuff?
They just stopped one channel. The resellers can easily markup the price at another makeshift venue.

As long as a man can think, that man has the potential to break the rules.
John Lucas

Firegirl @ Oct 24th 2006 11:03AM

Hmmm, I don't really think I would care if I worked at EB or Gamestop. The ones down here pay so poorly that employess could live off of their PS3 profit for a couple of months to look for another job. And I seriously doubt they really want to put the consoles into the hands of real gamers. They are out to make a profit just like everyone else.

HardScores @ Oct 24th 2006 11:48AM

They do this anyway. When we got pre-order swag and there was extras, like Shadow the Hedgehog's beanie offer, we were allow to take them as long as "they didn't show up online." It wasn't particularly a fireable offense, but it certainly would guarantee that you wouldn't get anymore freebies.

TickedOffEB @ Oct 24th 2006 11:53AM

See, heres the thing.

I work there currently. When you sign up to work at EB/GS they do give you this sheet, now booklet, with all the rules and regulations.

IMO, not being able to sell ANYTHING is a load of bull.
Because thats what it says. I fully agree with the restricting/firing at selling Wii/PS3 systems at the moment. But after the hype dies down and you don't want it anymore, you cannot sell it or anything period. Not games, not accessories, not anything.

Now, unless I'm mistaken...once you buy something it is yours. You can do anything with it with no-one to stop you. You can destroy it, You can sell it, You can give it as a gift, You can do whatever. As it stands right now with the systems you need a receipt to sell it, which they can track down, fine. But also, they are gonna be able to track the employee down for selling a used/new game or accessory?? I think not. In fact I challenge them to do so, if for example "I" sell a game.

I'm sure its all a scare tactic, but they do make it pointly clear and ticks me off because it's taking away personal rights.

Chris @ Oct 24th 2006 11:56AM

Pffft. Like there will be any reason to enter your employee number in for purchase of a system, and outside of scanning for employee numbers, it would be tiresome at best to cull employee sales from regular customer purchases. You're not going to get a discount off of the hardware. It's going to look suspicious if you don't buy anything else, but if you're smart, you'll split up the purchase, get your discount off of those items, and list a bundle.

SaraAB87 @ Oct 24th 2006 12:23PM

If they wanted to stop this practice then employees should not be allowed to preorder systems, i feel sorry for all those poor guys standing in line on preorder day who were #16 or #17 and got kicked out of the line because 2 employees from each store had to preorder. Either that or employees should have to stand in the line just like the customers did.

If i worked at ebgames this would just encourage me to buy stuff at another store or online, in which i would be able to do anything i wanted with it, i can probably match or beat the employee discount with a bit of creative online shopping. Back when ebgames.com was still doing orders you could use coupon codes to get 25% off your entire used order plus free shipping, which to my understanding was the same as the employee discount employees got.

In fact its encouraging me to shop at online stores for a better discount instead of at certain ripoff retailers right now..

32_Footsteps @ Oct 24th 2006 12:24PM

Oh, employment laws. How poorly you are understood.

Now, keep in mind, except for a few extreme cases, like in the instance of whistleblowing or any sort of harrassment or discrimination, an employer can fire whomever they want for whatever reason they want.

The law mostly doesn't bother getting involved until the former employee tries to file for unemployment. The laws vary from state to state, but the most liberal interpretation I've seen is that if the employer can prove it fired someone for breaking the rules or acting against the best interests of the employer, then the former employee doesn't get unemployment. (If you're wondering why an employer would fight someone's unemployment, it's because unemployment taxes come completely out of the pockets of employers, and they go up dramatically if they have a former employee go on the dole.)

Now, in the general case of someone fired from GameStop for selling a PS3 they preordered via the employee discount/preorder bonus, it's pretty easy to prove that they're not acting in the employer's interest (after all, if they're effectively taking full profits from the employer for themselves and then some). And that's besides whether or not GameStop has hard-and-fast rules against the practice written in the employee handbook (which I bet they do, dollars to donuts).

Basically, you might argue whether or not it's fair, but GS is well within their legal rights to fire employees in that situation, and the employees are basically screwed. I'm sure they cry themselves to sleep with their eBay earnings that they lost a mall job.

Greg @ Oct 24th 2006 12:50PM

I'm just curious. Does anyone have any REAL anecdotes about being shut out of a preorder because they were all taken by employees? Not stuff that happened to a friend of a friend of a guy who's on your WoW server, and not things you assumed happened just because you're pissed at EB because they only gave you a dollar for Madden 2003.

I'm looking for real stories about EB/GS employees reserving an unreasonable amount of systems.

Greg @ Oct 24th 2006 12:56PM

@30-
You have to understand that employment is an agreement, and when you enter into an employment agreement you agree to waive certain "personal rights." One of those rights you waived upon entering employment with GS/EB was being able to sell items you bought at GS/EB. Another right you waived was being able to work at a competing establishment, such as Best Buy.

JCA @ Oct 24th 2006 1:21PM

"Now, in the general case of someone fired from GameStop for selling a PS3 they preordered via the employee discount/preorder bonus, it's pretty easy to prove that they're not acting in the employer's interest (after all, if they're effectively taking full profits from the employer for themselves and then some)."

I'm not attacking you or anything but I highly doubt EB/GS gave employees discounts on PS3s when they are so incredibly limited to begin with. They simply gave them the opportunity to preorder first. Which means that the employee preorder affects their profits the same that a "Joe Schmo" preorder would. Which means they technically aren't cutting the employer out of anything.

I wonder if their are any legal eagles out there who can talk about whether or not an employee who was fired for selling their system would have a shot at a wrongful termination lawsuit? If so, then the only reason EB/GS continues with this nonsense is because they know none of their employees can afford real legal representation and hence will probably never get sued.

benny hill @ Oct 24th 2006 1:28PM

this is a true story. i work for Eb/gamestop and we were told if we
sold our preorders/consoles on ebay that we would be terminated.

i am a keyholder. why would i lie? :)

deepbassex @ Oct 24th 2006 1:31PM

Gamestop/EB Game Employees worry not. Buy your PS3 on one transaction and games/accessories on another. Employees do not recieve discounts on systems... Games/accessories only.

That way, your PS3 purchase has no trace of having an employee discount on it.

deepbassex @ Oct 24th 2006 1:47PM

BTW, Employees getting reserves before customers happens all the time. I used to work there for many years and still have friends in the company.

It is a dick thing to do, but I feel the employees have the right. That company flaunts the fact that they do not give a rat's ass about their employees. Their job hangs in the balance at all times. So if an employee gets the chance to take advantage of working there, I say good for him/her. Don't agree with me, get a job at a GS/EB store working 40 hours a week... You will be singing a different tune in about a month.

Fairness and Retail are 2 words that won't mix until retail treats their employees as assets and not as expendable resources. This doesn't go for all retail chains of course... but most.

Greg @ Oct 24th 2006 1:52PM

@38- Those are the accounts I'm looking for. GS will probably shut that guy down, though. They'll see 2 preorders with his name on it and cancel one, if not both. With console preorders GS has a pretty strict 1 per household policy. That's not going to help you get a Wii, sadly.

Any more stories like this?

@36- There's no way you could call wrongful termination on this, it's a violation of the employee handbook.

32_Footsteps @ Oct 24th 2006 2:03PM

"I'm not attacking you or anything but I highly doubt EB/GS gave employees discounts on PS3s when they are so incredibly limited to begin with. They simply gave them the opportunity to preorder first. Which means that the employee preorder affects their profits the same that a "Joe Schmo" preorder would. Which means they technically aren't cutting the employer out of anything."

That's a fair point, and I'm willing to concede it. However, it would still be an action against the employer's interests, as it deprives the employer of taking any similar action or being able to profit via combination deals or the like. And again, should GS put it in writing (which again I suspect is the case), then they can also hit violators on the "you broke the written rules" provision of the law.

And really, it's awful difficult to argue you were wrongfully dismissed when the rules are in writing and you're admitting to breaking them.

Mischa @ Oct 24th 2006 2:22PM

As an employee of gamestop, we were also told that anybody who was caught selling ps3s or wiis on ebay, can't have their preorder removed. However, they can move them down the list. There was already a case of somebody who used 4 different names and addresses to preorder 4 different ps3s, and all 4 ps3's were pushed to the bottom of the preorder list. Which could be a big problem, as sony has recently admitted that the launch numbers were simply "targets" to shoot for, and there may be fewer systems per store.

Food for thought.

Spudmunkey @ Oct 24th 2006 8:12PM

I agree with most of the folks here, but I used to run an EBGames for those assholes for awhile, and they wanted you to enforce this with the employees. It's more of a "don't ask, don't tell," kinda thing. If my guys were selling them, I didn't want to know about it, just so the assholes above me couldn't hold anyone accountable. For the record, they do have an email address for most of the employees, and they just cross reference it with the ebay one, not that you can't just have a different email, I know...

Damien @ Oct 25th 2006 12:03AM

Yeah, right Gamestop wants to get them into the hands of gamers. Thats why they are holding back 75 percent of thier allocation from the stores to force bundles online. Spare me the evil employee turned profiteer story. Out of all the systems I have seen reserved the entire store onyl has like 4 games reserved for it. Whereas the Wii has like well over a hundred games reserved. Which system you think the customers are acutally keeping and which do you think they themselves will be fliping on Ebay??

Gamestop is just trying to stop the emyployees from making the money that they would like to ream the desperate parents for with bundles online. That is the nobility of thier motives.

SmokingPun @ Oct 25th 2006 12:13PM

Since when did GS/EBGames let employees pre-order games or systems before the general public?

And I beleive they did limit the number of systems per store that employees could pre-order. So, example, if they had 20 to preorder only 2 employees could preorder. I know there are ways around it, but they did try.

dinneh @ Oct 26th 2006 12:48AM

okay, I work for a gamestop, and what's funny is, we're strict on that stuff. one per hosuehold, the person who sold that guy two wii preorders should theoretically be fired because he broke that policy, and, sure, we knew how many preorders we were going to have, but they had a certain number that employees could reserve. like, at my store, we had 18 wii preorders and 4 employee slots. no more than 4. we told everyone "hey, we'll have 14" because we knew the 4 employee slots were taken up. we told people that if they got here, and there were already 14 people, to not waste their time out in the cold weather. we never told anyone any lies, we went by the book. that's how it all should have been. hell, I tell people not to waste their money on ebay, because they'll be so many available.

not all gamestop/ebgames employees are assholes.

SoldJah @ Oct 26th 2006 3:29AM

I for one will be selling my PS3 on ebay... I already have my auction scheduled to start on Nov. 17th at 12:10 am. I was the second person to reserve one at my local EB Games. As far as working at EB Games let me tell you I worked there last year, part-time during the summer and POST #3 is correct. Not everyone there makes $7/HR. I was only making $5.65/hr, not that I cared. I also worked (and still do) at Cingular Wireless making $11.00/hr plus commission. I literally worked at EB Games for the discount. If i still did work there however, I would STILL sell my PS3 in a heartbeat. As for all you haters who cry and say boycott ebay PS3 sales and still us with the consoles, do you realize that at the end of the day I'd still have a PS3 and you won't, so who's the bigger loser still. Either way it's win win for me!!

dinneh @ Oct 27th 2006 12:24AM

@27

if you want money so bad, why not get a better job? don't take away a system from someone who wants it to play it. and if you think "oh, someone will get it, I'm selling it", yeah, sure, but that's just being a jerk and jacking up the price. taking advantage of someone.

ebayers who do that are idiotic. "oh, get the system here for assloads or you won't find one!" of course they can't find one. idiots like them are preordering all the systems.

Dave @ Oct 27th 2006 11:56PM

Actually it isnt just the ps3/wii sales that an employee can get fired over if they show up on ebay. Part of the agreement you make when you get hired is you cany resell anything you buy as an employee (discount or no) on ebay or elsewhere or you will be fired. And to respond to Eric...Gamestop has no control over how many systems they get. Complain to the "gods" at Sony and Nintendo...they decide who gets what....

And insomnia bob......Gamestop or no MOST people cant afford a PS3 :P