Disc Traders Lansing — Local services in Delta Charter Township

Went there the other night with my girlfriend, her sister, and her sister's girlfriend. I went in thinking this store was similar to most used video game stores in that they negotiate price but they don't, and it wasn't made very apparent that that was the case. The staff seemed largely unaware of what their product even was. I inquired if they had a copy of Pokemon Stadium, a game that should be instantly recognizable to any fan of retro gaming as a Nintendo 64 title, and yet the staff member I asked didn't know. And then he told me they had a copy as well. So I pester another staff member and get him to open up the case with the games I want in it including their supposed copy of Pokemon Stadium, and I was rudely shut down, being told they couldn't POSSIBLY have a copy of pokemon stadium, or it would be on the top rack with the other games of that pedigree and not down with their millions of Madden games. I walked out with a copy of Banjo-Tooie which was OK. It's a game I didn't have at that point and I enjoyed Banjo-Kazooie so I walked out feeling like I'd enjoy what I bought but it should be noted that I paid $44 and some change for it whereas Pricecharting.com, a site that tracks sales on eBay, Amazon, and even the notoriously stingy GameStop, had their average price calculated to around $37 and some change. Not the most egregious price difference but a substantial one nonetheless. It should also be noted that selection of games and the quality of product was lacking to say the least. To start, a lot of the games they had were annual dime a dozen EA Sports shovelware and Madden games. Almost every GameCube game they had was some EA sports title. If you're looking to fill out an EA collection, fine, but for most people, this is pitiful. What's even worse though is that a lot of their games had printed out boxart as opposed to the original. I remember picking up a copy of Kirby Super Star Ultra in there thinking that I'd stumbled upon something I'd want to buy, but on further inspection it was probably the worst looking case I'd ever seen. There was a large gouge in the clear plastic keeping the artwork in and the boxart itself was shoddily printed off and not even convincingly cut, leaving white margins on the edges to show that they hardly even cared to make the art appropriately sized for the box they were sticking it in. They also placed their price stickers on things that they could easily damage. There was a vintage paperback Mario Paint player's guide and an in-box copy of Virtua Racing for the Sega 32X which any collector would know, comes in a cardboard box, so anyone attempting to remove those blemishes from their games are gonna have a hard time not damaging their newly purchased, overpriced, difficult to replace because they aren't made anymore item. It's just baffling to think that a reseller would have such little regard for resale value. To top the whole terrible experience off, my girlfriend told me almost as soon as we walked in that the store had an odor to it that she described as "like her aunt." Absolutely atrocious the experience I had and I don't care to step into another disc...

I have been a customer of disc traders for many years (10+) and have never had a bad experience that I can recall. The staff is incredible and the do a really great job. The selection is wide a diverse, and priced reasonably (for the most part. More on that later).

If you were to ask me to review Disc Traders a couple years ago it would have been EASILY 5 stars. But, there have been some changes made by new management that have really disappointed me. The first change was the return policy. It used to be you could return an item within 14 days for whatever reason. An incredibly generous and pro-customer policy. It has since been changed to 48 hours.

The second change are the prices. Disc Traders used to have much more competitive prices. And to be fair, for the most part they still do, but I've noticed a trend toward to higher side of what a price range should be for certain games and consoles. $99 for an NES with two controllers, no games, no zapper gun is quite expensive. I don't think it's a stretch to say you could get that bundle online for $60-$70 nowadays. Gameboy Pockets were $35 a few months ago. Very fair and reasonable price. Now, $50. Which is very much on the higher side. You get the idea.

The last change and by far the most disappointing was the rewards program. The old program used to be after 10 visits you were able to get a 20% off coupon of any pre-owned item. This discount was unmatched in terms of value. This rewards program was incredible and the SOLE reason this store was unmatched and I was loyal to this store. I would visit disc traders many times a week just to check in, and most of the time walk out with something I bought. I would always use the 20% off on big purchases like pre-owned consoles or expensive retro games. But, they've since changed it. It's now a point system where you get points for every dollar you spend and if you spend like $200 you get 10% off. What a downgrade to say the least. I have seen this store trend towards more anti-customer policies and its slowly feels like it's getting worse and more corporatised. You hate to see it because I used to rave about this store, but I can't find myself having the same enthusiasm because of these policy changes.

I know this review won't change the policies back. The Disc Traders of yesteryear is gone, and it ain't coming back but I want to let the new owners know that people do recognize these changes and hate them. The store feels much more corporate and less like a local media store owned by people who care about...

As of today I will no longer be giving Disc Traders Lansing or any other locations owned by the same people my business. This is due to a policy that was brought to my attention by a fellow collector in which Disc Traders will no longer honor coupons if they deem you to be a "known reseller". I can see no logical reason for such a policy. It provides no benefit to the business or the community of people that purchased games at a store such as this. What does Disc Traders Lansing gain by preventing someone from using the coupon they earned? A few extra dollars on their bottom line at the cost of losing the respect and business of the very people who shop there? If someone reselling items they bought in your store eats into your bottom line that badly why on Earth would you have such a coupon system to begin with? How much money do you possibly save (or in this case likely waste) by policing what people do after they purchased something from your store? And as a collector myself and a member of several groups dedicated to the Hobby; we are all resellers your store is just a glorified reseller! If anything someone buying your items and selling them again online benefits people that don't have easy access to such things in a location such as yours. What exactly is your goal in preventing people from getting good deals at your store? You still get paid either way and it's not as though a 20% discount makes for much profit after you factor in the sales tax that's calculated after the discount in addition to the cost associated with selling such items be it through shipping, PayPal fees, or eBay fees if you choose to sell there. the market self regulates and your prices are based on online sales anyway so I'm not sure how there could be any real reason for you to do this other than being weirdly Petty about what people do in their spare time.

The real kicker? the person that brought this to my attention isn't even really a reseller! The only things I have ever seen him sell after purchasing are consoles that he is modded with graphical upgrades or other functionality which you don't offer anyway. Outside of that I've only ever seen him sell games he has owned personally for years I'll be sharing this review across all of the collector groups I am in in addition to posting it to any of the disc Trader locations owned and operated by the same individual...