Trading in Imported games

[MMaC]

For along time now i have always been someone who imports games (PS3 in particular) from the UK. This is great for the consumer as it generally costs half price and the only difference between the UK and AUS versions is the ratings symbol on the cover. Yes even the discs are generally the same with both UK PEGI symbols and AUS OFLC symbols.

Anyway around the MIDDLE of last year JBHIFI put their foot down and said they cant except these game cause they were imported and there would be issues with the rating system and getting DLC from the online store. This is not the case with the UK versions as they are the same disc so it access the AUS Store. I was fine with this its a vaild concern of theirs.

Not too long after GAME has followed suit and wont accept UK PAL imports either. Once again i was fine with this its a vaild concern of theirs.

Now whats really got me a little aggravated is that both JB and GAME's pre-owned section is still (i say still cause there were a lot of new releases there too) full of imported games with the AUS OFLC rating stickers posted over the other rating symbols. So i call bull****.

Anyway this is just me ranting does this annoy anyone else?

Im in half a mind to go to a sticker printing company and get them to print some of the AUS OFLC stickers for me.

[JohnnyB]

This DEFINITELY annoys the heck out of me.  What I would do, is actually get the games off the shelf BEFORE going to trade-in and if they don't accept the fact that you want to trade in UK games show them that THEY ARE SELLING THEM.  Hopefully once you show them this they will accept.  If not, contact maybe the Classifications Board and report they are selling games with the wrong classification (i.e. the UK ones) or maybe try something like the ACCC and just e-mail or ask them if this is a breach?  (Don't say it is, just ask if it is)

If your the kind of consumer who likes to be confronting at times like these, you could always try telling them that you will report them to those bodies if they don't do what you say, but I wouldn't recommend this course of action in case you talk to someone at the store who is familiar with this lol.

Anyway, don't bother trading in just sell them for free in the quokka or on e-bay or sell to a friend or something.  Seriously unless your lucky and they do it, it would probably be easier.

[hotmustardsauce]

Is this for a specific JB/Game or just all stores in general?

Personally i think you should just eBay them. Chances are you will get at least ~$20 for whatever game it is and a new game from UK will likely cost ~$60. So it works out to be roughly the same.

[joe123]

Just print off an AUS game cover? I don't have any imported games but I imagine the disc looks the same?

[MMaC]

im going to buy some lables from office works and just print of the OFLC symbols and stick em on. If they can do it then i should be able to too.

Is this for a specific JB/Game or just all stores in general?

Personally i think you should just eBay them. Chances are you will get at least ~$20 for whatever game it is and a new game from UK will likely cost ~$60. So it works out to be roughly the same.

It seems to be all the JB and GAME's in my area. Your right about selling them and buying it from the UK as it works out the same its just sometimes i want the game when its released not a week later.

[Aquil0]

Ever wondered why so many pre-owned games and EB dont have covers? THIS is probably one of the reason.

[CrazyDiamond]

Erm... I thought I'd clicked post but obviously not...

I work at JB in the games department and we're not allowed to accept imports because apparently we don't have a license to resell them... at least this is what we are told and this is what we tell customers too.

I would suggest trading in imports at EB and asking them to price match on the game you are buying since they tend to be expensive.

Didn't know GAME did this too. It's pretty annoying. I wonder how much trouble it would be for JB/GAME to actually get a license.

[Zychion]

I'm just asking but,
Don't you think it's a bit unfair if you are allowed to trade in UK bought games.

Someone in Australia buys New Release $100 - Trades in for $74
you buy UK New Release $60+ - Trades in for $74

It just doesn't seem very fair to me. Like you can put it down to an award for being savvy I guess. I don't know, I haven't traded a game in for years as I wear my old games like badges of honour.

[Aquil0]

I'm just asking but,
Don't you think it's a bit unfair if you are allowed to trade in UK bought games.

Not at all unfair, Thats like saying if you import a car from Japan you shouldnt be able to trade it in. Importing games (for me) has its own set of issues, like the fact its alway 2 weeks shipping OR you have to deal with erratic per-order sellers (CDWOW im looking in your direction    ).

Which usually means it 3 - 4 weeks after release that you actually finish the game and are ready to trade it, at which point all of the trade deals are over.

[riku]

It's the fact that you buy something for say $2 and you trade for $4...

[Charlie Miso]

'unfair'

[gizmomelb]

every single copy of Shaun White's Snowboarding for the XBOX 360 I've seen in EB recently explicitly states NTSC on the front cover yet there is a (forged?) Australian G rating sticker on the front and back cover.

I wonder if this was an EB cheap import, or someone in the area has been offloading a ****eload of imported games in trades?

Imports are the main reason I've stopped buying games off Ebay - you can't be certain if they're Aussie releases or not (and yes, it's important to me as I tend to trade my games later.. if it's not an Aus version I can't trade it).

[Fuelee]

I'm just asking but,
Don't you think it's a bit unfair if you are allowed to trade in UK bought games.

Someone in Australia buys New Release $100 - Trades in for $74
you buy UK New Release $60+ - Trades in for $74

It just doesn't seem very fair to me. Like you can put it down to an award for being savvy I guess. I don't know, I haven't traded a game in for years as I wear my old games like badges of honour.

No whats unfair is the prices we are paying for games here in Australia compared to the UK when its essentially the exact same product. Its never really been explained why we pay more for the same thing and im sure people would import less if the retail cost of the game was the same here.

I think i read something once that claimed its because the games cost more to ship or manufacture here but most of the games ive purchased from the UK have our coloured ratings printed on the disc already and one or two games i have purchased from CDWOW in the past have also had our ratings printed on the sleeves.

Are we paying more just because they have to print the game sleeves with our ratings system on them because apart from that I cant see any real reason why we pay more for the games here in Australia.

[Aquil0]

No whats unfair is the prices we are paying for games here in Australia compared to the UK when its essentially the exact same product.

SO TRUE, And the fact that they import in bulk..  If I can import a game (a single unit which includes a retailers profit) for $60, you sure as hell can beleive bulk importing of the same product would have a cheeper per-unit price.

BUT Back to the topic.. If the big players Sony, Microsoft, Activison think screwing me for an extra $40 is OK.. I feel its only 'fair' for me to trade in my old loot!

(YES I understand EB and GAME are only the middle men but in the larger picture.. when it comes down to game sales, screw the big companies.. for the past 20 years they have been screwing us)

[ArjaytheGuy]

No whats unfair is the prices we are paying for games here in Australia compared to the UK when its essentially the exact same product. Its never really been explained why we pay more for the same thing and im sure people would import less if the retail cost of the game was the same here.

Gameinformer actually has a pretty intelligent article about this in their current issue (and yes I realise that the fact that they're EB Games' "in house" magazine may seem to sink any claims of journalistic integrity before they're even made) and it's well worth a read.

I mean; if it were a simple matter of "it's cheap to make it in the UK and it's the same thing we use here why isn't ours that cheap" being the argument why isn't EVERYONE saying that about petrol prices in Australia compared to the US? (or prices for a comparable food product in 2 different countries, or Colgate toothpaste's cost here vs indonesia or a dozen other examples - all of which have a number of other factors that must be considered).

Personally I'm of the view that if JB (or EB or Game or anyone!) have for sale any games that are international releases they should be able to accept for trade international releases.  THAT strikes me as fair.