Did I get SCAMMED by GameStop? 

I don't normally comment on videos, but this makes me sad. I worked for them evil overlords for 4 years and I know that the consoles I took in I personally deep cleaned and tried my best to package them in a way that I would want them packaged if I was receiving them. I used everything from bubble wrap and foam inserts to packing peanuts and packing paper to secure everything. I took a lot of pride in my job but GameStop as a company cared more about the bottom dollar than morals and standards. I loved my regular customers and wouldn't trade the experience for the world, but I'm so glad I'm free.

I knew when he said "housing for 3ds" it was gonna be hilarious. I do them all the time but they are not for beginers, the hinge is hard until you figure out how it works.

DS shell swaps are no joke, the way the ribbon cables have to pass through the hinge is a nightmare to both take apart and reassemble

Ex manager here to shed some light on Refurbished vs Pre-Owned Refurbished consoles are consoles that are traded into stores that do not fully function. Pre-Owned means that it functions. At store level, we have very limited tools to clean consoles and controllers - metal picks to get the gamer gunk from the creases, electric dusters for the vents, sanitary wipes for the shells. We (when I was there from '13-'20) didn't have any means to open the consoles to deep clean, and were discouraged from doing so. (I remember in 2015-17 that we were encouraged to use scrub pads on the glossy plastic to buff out the scratches; in 2018 and on they had us charge guests for stickers to place over deep scratches in any plastic; if pieces were chipped off externally we would have to deny it.) When consoles are traded in, they have to have not been opened (even if it was to clean the internals or do at-home repair), have to have first-party peripherals (can't trade in an off-brand Xbox controller with your console), all necessary cables to operate (power, HDMI, charging cable if necessary), and it must be able to be factory reset. Many stores are laxed on what they take in. Many stores get overly busy and forget (intentionally or unintentionally) to clean their consoles. What the hell happens at the refurb centers is a mystery and a shitshow; sometimes it's alright, sometimes it's cursed. Hope this help shed some light.

Surprisingly one of the best deals I ever got on a console was from GameStop. Back in late 2018 maybe early 2019 they had a GameCube bundle that was a GameCube 2 controllers, and a copy.of smash bros melee for $99. I thought it was too good to be true but risked it anyway and sure enough I got 2 oem controllers, a copy of melee in the box and the console. The controllers were fairly well used but still decent enough especially for the price as this was right after smash ultimate came out and finding oem controllers was near impossible. I am betting that deal was on the website by mistake as it was taken off a couple of days after I bought it.

In my experience buying not new consoles from GS (and I have bought several from them over the years), "used" means they bought it from a customer in store after testing it, at best wiped the dust off the case, and then put it in a box and sent it to the warehouse to be stored until it's sold online. "Refurbished" means that the store employee found problems when testing it in store, but decided to buy it from the customer anyway. I've always had much better luck with used than with refurbished. Knowing that a console had problems at one time, and trusting that the GS refurbishment team was actually able to fix said problems, is always a bit of a gamble.

Hey Austin! Former Assistant Store Leader here, so yes the refurbished ones come from the warehouse and the pre owned ones come from the stores. We would just check them to see if they work and that’s it. Quick format it and put it away. Now the process was that they were on “hold” for a few days when we can put them out to sell them. The process was to take them out at the end of that hold period and clean them. My store did so very well BUT let’s say if the ps4 comes in and it doesn’t work or scratched or with stickers then it’s considered “defective” we would send it back to the warehouse to get those refurbished. BUT those pre owned ones are intended to be sold only in store that’s why there’s no packaging when shipping them out we’re supposed to open the box and fill it with “protective” paper wrap lol But mind you we would ship from store to store to equalize the quantity of each console and some of those were done from other employees from other stores. So yeah, big recommendation is just go to the store and check them out, there’s always a test station for the consoles if you’re curious. But yes go PRO, it helps the employee a ton

Former GME employee, they were supposed to put brown paper and air bubbles before they packed and shipped those. Pretty poor job from the employee who worked that day.

It’s so dope because when I get off work and go to take a shower, always a new upload. It’s perfect timing

It's been so long, I don't remember the last time I've *been* to GameStop. I think the last time I've been in a GameStop was probably when GOW 2018 came out

At 7:30 Dude has Mannie Fresh just hanging out on his sofa while he opens boxes....😅

So no, you didn't get scammed by gamestop..again.

The GameStop photo you used is literally the GameStop I’ve been shopping at my whole life. Wild 😂

6:09 the 3DS and actually along with the DS is pretty hard to dissemble. They literally require someone who's used to opening the machine and i do not recommend people who never done this to do the same. I had a DS with broken Touch Screen and ended up with more broken system after opening it

I can always count on your videos to deliver high energy and interesting content.

The way gamestop does same day delivery is if they have the item in stock, an Uber each driver will pick up the item from your local store and deliver it to the customer. I've done several of those myself.

12:25 I was actually playing New Super Mario Bros Deluxe on my Regular Nintendo Switch while watching this video lol

As someone who was a shift manager till lockdown can confirm pre-owned consoles go through min testing usually no deep cleaning and are just stuff in boxes as it was shown in the video, then shipped out as requested.

If your wondering Evan, The Pelican Case is for Air Travel. You will see it used by people and Groups that go to conventions for Tournaments, both Competitors AND Tournament Hosts.

“It’s the New York Mets” why did this make me laugh harder than it should

Hack that 3DS and add all the game ROMs on it, it'll be AWESOME. P.s. you did NOT read this from me.

The consoles might get scratched in that no safety pancaked box 😂

I got really lucky with my certified pre-owned purchase from GameStop. I bought a PS4 Pro and an Xbox One X. They were packed loosely, but both worked as expected. However, the PS4 is missing a rubber foot, and the rear USB port is messed up, but can be fixed. It also started overheating immediately. To my surprise, it was completely clean inside, as if someone took it apart, dusted it, and put it back together. Whoever did it, did not reapply new thermal paste. I already had thermal paste, so I just did it myself. But the average person would think it's defective and would not know what to do but to return it.

havent fully watched it given i had the EXACT issue happen when trying a screen replacement.. the moment Austin said on the 3DS Shell swap "ohh this looks easy" i knew what was about to happen. to see the jumpcut to "i broke the 3ds"... :D it's soooooo damn easy to crimp cut tear etc that damn ribbon! happened to me twice trying to replace the top screen on an "Old" 3DS XL " A Link Between Worlds " edition

0:02 - this is in Huber Heights in the Dayton, OH area. I live about 10 min away from this exact store on Brandt pike. Amazing!!!

I’m honestly impressed the 3DS came with an AC adapter since they didn’t actually come with them new.

6:14 I can’t believe four minutes later in the video he manages to break the damn game system without even being able to refurbish it

I actually have that CaseMatix case (not from gamestop), and it's a high-quality case. Well worth the money if you travel with your XSX a lot.

I'm impressed at how consistent GameStop is with their inconsistency. One day, they could be selling a PlayStation Classic Mini for $29 like I got and the next a New Nintendo 3DS XL refurbished for $219 like Austin got.

I will say in my experience we kept the best looking consoles to be sold in store. The reasoning was two fold, in store sales of consoles unlike shipped consoles affected our store numbers. The second reason was because if we sold bad consoles in store we would usually get a return which once again hurt our numbers. So yeah, if possible make sure to purchase in store.

It's insane how little you save vs a new one with all the risks invloved

Wait what screens are in the 3DS? Are they IPS upgraded ones that are hard to find or the older panels

GameStop Refurb comes from the warehouse after being worked on they have extra packing that the stores don't get for the Used consoled. I work at a GameStop and we are supposed to clean the Used consoles very well and make sure all cables work. I know my store does. But the packing for and is that, they just don't give us the fillers at all.

Kinda new to the channel and wondered what you guys do with all the items you purchase after you are done with the video?

Very, VERY random... but the Game Stop picture you used is the game stop in my hometown lmao

nah the sniff then preowned is crazy lmfaoooo

Worked at Gamestop recently, they have very low hiring standards because its such a high turn over. A lot of the people they hire have 0 standards for what a clean console is. When I cleaned the preowns, only ones I could get near new (surface scuffs on shiny consoles the usual issue) I wouldn't send to the warehouse. My coworker would basically take a rag to the surface and that was it. The amount of gunk I'd pull from seams when I'd find them was insane. Some were so bad I wouldn't have even taken the trade.

I live in Canada and order often from Gamestop... it's night and day with the USA lol when I order stuff it's exactly as described and in amazingly sturdy boxes and super well packaged to protect. I don't understand why the US GS does this and not the Canadian one (at least in my area/province)

You could also make a short on replacing that switch lite's buttons and control sticks with gamecube colored ones!

Current GS employee here. The first couple of boxes were packed poorly. The PS5 Digital was definitely a GSRF console which is why it was packaged better than the PS4 and Switch Lite.

I use to work at gamestop. The differance between referbished and preowned is just the amount of $ the customer would recieve from gamestop when trading in a console. The customer would get less if their console had cosmetic flaws, broken/missing items, or broken hardware. Pre owned consoles passed all the test/checks and did not need to be sent back to the warehouse for fixing up.

“I’ve never opened a 3ds before” Oh sweet summer child, today you shall learn the pain.

I ran a store for a year. Yep. Pre-owned come from stores, so it 100% depends on the store you got it from, and some minimum wage employees care more than others whem packing your order. Sad to see...

I need to know where you got that minimalist squirtle shirt

When I’m about to get something from GameStop I see a video like this that reminds me why I haven’t bought ANYTHING from them for 7+ years. Then I get the item somewhere else.

I knew the moment i saw the custom covers Austin somehow was gonna break that perfectly functional new 3ds 😢

I worked at GameStop from 2018-2022. They do have expectations about how consoles are suppose to be cleaned and packaged. However, stores are only allowed to use so many hours of labor, so people tend to cut corners.

The thing to understand about Gamestop, coming from a former Employee - There is no standards in place, and everything is dependent on the base Employee, and how much work they care to do on a given item. At my store, we had a good manager and we took the time to clean and test most systems well. However, other stores in our district where more relaxed, and didn't do as well in that field. Some managers told their employees to buy whatever came in the door. My manager told me to turn away anyone who was trying to sell us garbage. The whole company seems to have that problem.

The seal in the the back of that Nintendo Switch NOM is from Mexico 😂

I've got a 2012 MBP Retina that's limping along, but has a translucent orange case like those dBrand plates. I dig it.

This pisses me off. They’re obviously doing this to all of their other customers. I can’t believe how poorly the ps4 was packed.

i worked at gamestop and at my store when we got a console traded in we packaged it ourselves then it was left in the store on a hold then sold to public

Do a short full video of the switch lite shell, I've been on the fence about that exact shell and upgrading to gulikit sticks at the same time, would be awesome to see a slightly more involved video then a short even if it was like 5 min

Have you checked the hdmi cord they gave you for the ps5 to make sure it’s the one you’re supposed to use for them

Gamestop in general had a lot of great deals in Scandinavia, but they closed all stores in summer 2020 and it wasn't because of Pandemic as they announced closures already in autumn 2019. Weird that Gamestop were the longest living game stores in Scandinavia. They were the last.

The bonus with the 3DS is that even the camera footage kind of shows the 3D effect. Hopefully after the Switch 2 they release a Virtual Boy HD!

The steam deck case looks exactly like mine. Got mine in june 2022 when i preordered it

Did I get SCAMMED (no austin you go into this wanting it at this point lol) 😂❤

As a former GameStop Employee, Refurbed Systems come from the Refurbishing center, and Used would come from store trade ins that were well enough conditioned to sell. The store are supposed to clean, test and hard reset the consoles.

3DS XL is great for homebrewing, i love mine for SNES and even very basic N64 emulation. As for my own stuff, i've bought maybe 2 systems from gamestop since 2010, a fat PS2 that still works like a charm, and a black 32gb Wii-U that again works like a charm. Both had very minor blemishes but were completely functional, and the Wii-U hadn't been banned from online use.

I used to have a 151 poster when I was a kid! Lol

So I was a store manager of 2 stores as of a week ago. I can tell you whats going on. The systems that were free floating were sent to you from a store and were pre-owned. The ps5 was sent from the warehouse and was refurbished. Refurbished honestly, they normally have more issues than pre-owned. Its almost like they dont actually check before they send it out.

What if everytime you have a mystery tech or unboxings like this... you have a giveaway to some items? maybe? hahahaha

Man, that first unboxing made me search for my new 3ds xl and boot up Persona Q lmao.

As someone who recently took apart and reshelled an old 3ds I instantly knew how screwed you were when it came to the ribbon cables. I cringed extra hard when you said you were flying blind without proper research.

When someone says “I work for him” I literally lost it 15:06

I bought two switch lights for 130$ last September. They are still working amazingly and glad I got a deal. Favorite thing to bring to work.

07:08 I had the 90s Version of that poster and, I think, my aunt even framed it. That was bougie af!

So here in Canada, they're not even refurbished anymore. They either work when they come in or they don't take them anymore. I was told that by Gamestop themselves

Yes, GameStop is selling "new" refurb 3DXL consoles for more than the priced that they originally sold for because they are now considered "rare". Most of them are in _horrible_ condition because they were acquired via trade-in for a $50 discount towards a new Switch years ago, mostly from people who weren't old enough to drive, and then sat in a warehouse until they could sell them for major upcharge. This is a common profit strategy for GameStop.

Warning: if you have not repaired a DS lite or any DS family…. I suggest you not open up a 3DS xl. You can and will tear ribbon cables. Sadly you were not spared from that…. (Talking from experience since I now repair 3DS xls….) I’d happily fix it for you but I know will not be taken up on the offer haha. I have spare parts, original shells, and etc. welcome to ask for replacements parts from me though 😅.

I'd rather have a boss like Austin Evans than the boss I have now

austin in the poster set you also had booster packs

What game was used to test the ps4? Looks interesting

So when I was working at gamestop those consoles usually come from store. We test the disc drive and make sure the console connects to wifi. We also test the controller on our system to make sure the vibration works and there’s no stick drift. Also when it comes to the cosmetic part of the system as long has the scratches aren’t deep we have to take it in. 😊

I understand Austin's depressed "oh" when he learned that the eShop closed

So most stores are burnt out, Overworked, underpaid and understaffed so buying Pre-Owned is online is going to be your worst option due to the fact they send the order to the closet store and that store only has a few hours to get it packed up and shipped out or else they will get a ding against their metrics.

I’ve personally been scammed by GameStop on an iPhone 8plus bought it out $800 and apparently it was still owned by AT&T and owed $645 so i would’ve had to pay that much extra just to use the phone!!

I worked there the take the pre owned console directly out the customers hands and throw it in a box on the shelf for sale😂

Why does this guy wants to keep getting scammed? He's done this soo many times and you'd think he learned his lesson by now. /s Edit: /s

I worked for GameStop for 8 years, and the used consoles that are traded in are either deemed to be in "good" condition and the store will keep them to resale without cleaning or extensive testing. If the console is deemed to be broken in some way, the store sends them to the warehouse to actually be refurbished (which the quality of which can vary depending on how thoroughly a particular employee gets with it). I would always rather have a home console from the warehouse, however they use a lot of 3rd party parts for repair (looking at joysticks) which make the handheld consoles a bit riskier to get from the warehouse.

As soon as he said he was going to replace the shell I knew he would break the ribbon cable

That Sunset Orange color way for the Dualshock 4 was a limited color back in 2019-ish and my absolute favorite of all time. The build quality on those, as was the same on most NON White or Black Dualshock 4's was abysmal. They developed stick drift almost immediately and they shell was designed differently so you couldn't shove the internals from a white or black DualShock 4. The other colors that were released with this were the Alpine Green and the Berry Blue, and they all developed drift in no time. The colors released after this were the Electric Purple, Red Camo, Titanium Blue and Rose Gold, and YUP!… those too developed the infamous drift in record time! I buy from Best Buy and aways buy the protection plan and these were all so bad that the manager at my local Best Buy used to just let me swap them out and refund my protection plan price in full because most would die within 3 weeks!!! The Dualsense is better int he way of stick drift, but they still exude that issue to some degree. Insane that Sony didn't have this problem on the PS3 controllers anywhere close to this scale.

Never buy any gamestop refurbished system..It's dusty and dirty inside..I bought a reconditioned gamecube in the past..I regretted it..

that ps4 pro would have been sent to be refurbished in the store i worked at. We were always told to only accept what we would expect to be able to purchase. Hands down I probably had the best experience at gamestop than most folks.

To the PS 5 and screen flickering...on the PS 4 anyway, I had this same thing happen and it was just a matter of switching something on in the settings to fix it; it's an HDR thing and how the Playstation connects to it. I had a regular HD TV and it worked fine, then I switched to HDR and the screen was flickering and I nearly got a new PS 4 Peo; instead, I decided to check Google and see if anyone else had the same issue; I was SO glad I did. Before you send it back, Google the problem and see if it's just something you need to turn on in the settings. :)

Austin: "shell replacement for New 3DS XL" Me: oh no you sweet summer child...

I'm a technician in repairing consoles with something like 10 years of experience... And even I brake those damned ribbon cables. The way those are twisted inside the case makes them friction every time you open or close the console, so with the time it becomes brittle. So there's no shame there

I have done that shell swap on a switch lite

I got the regular size new nintendo 3ds and got some cool plate swaps for it. I love it so much more than the XL version.

Gamestop has the worst search options for a store ever. "Same Day Available" and "Store pickup" NEVER accounts for actual stock. So if you filter a search by either of those options the results are with the assumption that it's in stock. Not that it actually IS in stock. It's ridiculous that a store in 2023 doesn't let you search by stock availability. As such it's always much easier to go somewhere else than to deal with the hassle. But that's another rant.

''... or dkoldies'' 😂😂😂 i dare you getting scammed again 😂😂

So I worked at GameStop for a year and personally I always cleaned the crap out of systems people gave us and I packed the crap out of the boxes and I even air dusted them the best I could, so seeing how some of these come in is surprising cause it isn’t rocket science to clean something people are lazy that’s all it is

The series x comes in a foam padded box that has a hinge and will work as a great travel case.

I usually don’t comment but I work at GameStop and yes at my store we test, clean and package our consoles very well here. We don’t let them sound like that PS4 Pro but not everyone that works for GameStop does that. A lot of it is because the corporate side of things makes us work harder while not paying us much.

Has GameStop not heard of the invention of bubble wrap, and common decency!? The fact that the power adapters, usb cables were faulty isn't acceptable for a customer spending as much as these costed.

I picked up a PS4 Pro from FB marketplace for £60 recently, it worked but they obviously thought they were scamming me as it sounded like a jet engine if you played for 2 minutes. Not sure what they did to it but the heatsink and fan were covered in oily fibres, after a clean out and new thermal paste it works great 😅

“Sock it to ya” was right there.

The fact that Gamestop doesn't package their boxes properly is a shame, wow

As soon as you said you had never opened a 3DS before I knew you were going to break it... Both consoles, DS and 3DS are easy to break if you don't know what to do or do stuff with little care. The only exception is the classic 2DS and, still, you should take a little bit of care.