Game Terms Change

[djblade]

Coming soon to your local Blockbuster lol Its when Madden 2012 comes out that the game rental terms will change. The majority of the game titles will be avaiable to rent for only 99 cents per day



Good news for PS3 and somewhat WII

but terrible news for Xbox 360 they're going to die real fast by the ring of death on the disk. Blockbuster better get insurance policy on them.

[johnlow71]

i like this. heard about it yesterday...

[Darkfall28]

Better be sure that the credit card on file is solid. I'm not real keen on losing a 60 dollar game after somebody only paid a buck or two for it. I'm not a math wizard but I'm fairly sure that's not good for revenue. I guess they're hoping for late fees everytime. I smell alot of credit cards being autocharged.

[Damien Oujia]

Originally Posted by Darkfall28

Better be sure that the credit card on file is solid. I'm not real keen on losing a 60 dollar game after somebody only paid a buck or two for it. I'm not a math wizard but I'm fairly sure that's not good for revenue. I guess they're hoping for late fees everytime. I smell alot of credit cards being autocharged.

For the ring of death? At our store we have to check in the damaged games, even if we know for a fact the person who rented it ruined the game. (We've had some games that were only rented once and came back with the ring of death.)

And how can you be sure it's "solid" when all the system does is make sure a dollar is on there?

[Darkfall28]

Originally Posted by Damien Oujia

For the ring of death? At our store we have to check in the damaged games, even if we know for a fact the person who rented it ruined the game. (We've had some games that were only rented once and came back with the ring of death.)

And how can you be sure it's "solid" when all the system does is make sure a dollar is on there?

I'm talking about people keeping the games man. Many times, someone will only pay the initial rental fee and then keep the game never to be heard from again. How do you think bad debt gets so high so quick? That affects the profitability of your store in a hurry if you let that happen too much. As far as them being damaged, yes, we're all screwed when a customer does that, there is no option there, you have to check them in. That's not the "ring of death" by the way(that's when the 360 itself goes bad and you get the red colored "ring of death" around the 360's power lights and the system dies. They coined that term when that happened so much with all the original 360s dying like that right away). The ring around the games that sometimes happens when customers return them damaged is from the 360 being moved or improperly positioned when the disc is spinning inside. The 360 that caused it still probably works fine but the game does not (it happens alot when people leave them vertical). But whatever, regardless, losing a game disc to defect is a better option then losing it ENTIRELY to bad debt upon non-return without a good credit card because defects don't go to bad debt. As far as a credit card being solid, of course it just preauths only a dollar but you can check their history and be sure if they've rented games in the past that it has auto charged them when they were late or didn't return them. If not, you can try to get a different one. Take care how many you rent out at once if they have no prior history at all (I know the system allows four but renting out that many brand new ones at once with the new terms is a bad idea, my crew knows that, every good SM should too). There aren't many options but there are a few common sense ones here man. I don't like these new terms for the very reasons I've laid out. I run one of the most profitable stores in my region. Been that way for many years. Recognizing the bs and learning how to adjust to it might have something to do with that.

[Blockbusterstore482]

Originally Posted by Darkfall28

Better be sure that the credit card on file is solid. I'm not real keen on losing a 60 dollar game after somebody only paid a buck or two for it. I'm not a math wizard but I'm fairly sure that's not good for revenue. I guess they're hoping for late fees everytime. I smell alot of credit cards being autocharged.

.99 times 7 days equals 7 bucks...just like old times. Wanted to do this a year ago but Jim keyes did not like the idea. Thank God for Dish..

[itirnitii]

If someone is truly intent on stealing the game by renting it then never bringing it back... they are probably going to put a valid card on file and then after renting it cancel their credit card by reporting it lost/stolen to their bank. Depends on your bank though, because some will still reroute automatic deductions to the new card, some banks won't though. You can always claim fraudulent charges though to put a stop to that.

If the drivers license, address, name, etc on the blockbuster account is valid I'm sure a collections notice will make its way to their house eventually. If the account is fake (person used a fake ID) then Blockbuster is truly screwed. The initial cost of the game rental at the counter only matters if (1) the game never returns and (2) the person who rented it can never be charged for their theft.

If I can rent the game for $1 instead of $7 with the full intention of never bringing the game back and never being found to be charged for it than that is major win as far as thieving goes as the game essentially becomes completely free ($1). Your average person won't go that far to steal a video game though, but thieves like this do exist.

[zooworker]

Originally Posted by djblade

Coming soon to your local Blockbuster lol Its when Madden 2012 comes out that the game rental terms will change. The majority of the game titles will be avaiable to rent for only 99 cents per day



Good news for PS3 and somewhat WII

but terrible news for Xbox 360 they're going to die real fast by the ring of death on the disk. Blockbuster better get insurance policy on them.

Like this plan, maybe I'll start renting again.....as for xbox 360, mine died 2 years ago, went with ps3 and much happier.

[Darkfall28]

Originally Posted by itirnitii

If someone is truly intent on stealing the game by renting it then never bringing it back... they are probably going to put a valid card on file and then after renting it cancel their credit card by reporting it lost/stolen to their bank. Depends on your bank though, because some will still reroute automatic deductions to the new card, some banks won't though. You can always claim fraudulent charges though to put a stop to that.

If the drivers license, address, name, etc on the blockbuster account is valid I'm sure a collections notice will make its way to their house eventually. If the account is fake (person used a fake ID) then Blockbuster is truly screwed. The initial cost of the game rental at the counter only matters if (1) the game never returns and (2) the person who rented it can never be charged for their theft.

If I can rent the game for $1 instead of $7 with the full intention of never bringing the game back and never being found to be charged for it than that is major win as far as thieving goes as the game essentially becomes completely free ($1). Your average person won't go that far to steal a video game though, but thieves like this do exist.

Well said, and that's where my concern lies the most here. And let's not forget, there are many who don't care about their credit and find a credit card with just enough on there to rent the game and then never return it and don't care about what it does to their credit rating because it didn't matter to them to begin with as it already was probably screwed. Those people and the thieves you mentioned pose the biggest problem here and they do exist for sure. I doubt we can find a feasible way to get any of them charged with theft so it most likely will hit the store for the loss

Originally Posted by Blockbusterstore482

.99 times 7 days equals 7 bucks...just like old times. Wanted to do this a year ago but Jim keyes did not like the idea. Thank God for Dish..

This is a nice idea in theory but there are a few problems with that:
1. They only pay a buck initially. You're absolutely counting on the fact that if they are 6 days late, it will charge their credit card. That doesn't always happen as when that auto charge is attempted, said card may not have enough funds left on it to charge and you may never get that money back. Have balances on accounts all the time from this or credit card numbers being changed etc. You at least get 8 bucks now (unless they have a coupon). They have to pay that. 8 right now is better than one and MAYBE you get 7 more (and you could lose alot more with multiple games too). I stress the maybe here.
2. People don't like late fees. I don't know anyone that likes that term (or extended viewing fee for that matter). This will result in ALOT more of them with games. People think they return things faster than they do. Some arguments that didn't have to happen definitely will as a result of this. Most people do not return their games in a day. We will be telling people they have/had late charges alot.
3. The wear and tear on the games is pretty bad as is. This system encourages renting of them at a much faster pace with many more people using them in order to make up for the cost of getting them in the store. Kids are not gentle with games. The amount of defects will go up in a HUGE way from all the renting. It's a BIG gamble at a 1 dollar a day rate that you get enough rents to make up for the cost of the game before it might go bad. And I very much doubt that they will send replacement games when this happens. Long term profit will be difficult here.
I'm not saying that I don't see certain merits here but it will be difficult to make them work against those kinds of obstacles. I will say this, it will work better for the PS3 stuff as their discs hold up alot better than the other systems as far as going bad.

[Freemason220]

Long Term Profit?

I've said this many times, but Dish is not in this business for the long term. They want to make their money now...as much as possible...before moving Blockbuster to only a digital based media outlet.

There is no long term for brick and mortar Blockbuster. That would be terrible for Dish to do in terms of even making a decent buck. The cost of operating, and paying labor outweighs the cost of simply being digital.

They will squeeze as much as they can from the stores before just taking their money and running.

I understand a lot of you don't want to believe it but it will happen. I guarantee it will within the next year or so.