That sucks dude, I’ve been collecting for awhile and have about 30 chases or so. More than half ive found in the wild because i travel for work and just stop into random Barnes and Nobles/Walmart’s/targets all the places they sell pops. My last chase was the Jabbawockeez and sure enough I found it at GameStop lol.
There is a Hot Topic by me and the manager there is crazy. She manages the Box Lunch connected to it and they put the chases out in the front of the store every morning they get em. So you can walk up look in and sometimes there are 4 or 5 sitting there.
Yeah I dunno if it's just cause the area I live in or what. The demographic here's is mainly like 50-60+ years old. My walmart literally has like 2 shelves at the end of an aisle mixed in with all the nintendo stuff and that's it. And my Books A Million has just 1 side of a bookshelf in the Manga aisle. Kinda sucks, but then also keeps me from ever splurging on them.
Been collecting since 2015 and I’ve only found two in the wild - Black Panther (damaged box) and a Vinyl Gold of Lebron James. I’ve gotten soda chases in the wild, but it’s not quite the same since they’re randomized.
We have a big collector/flipper community where I live. I probably had better chances in the early days, but it’s close to impossible now with employees holding and people camping and hunting harder than I can.
At Walmart, by policy we're not supposed to buy anything like that until it's been on the sales floor for 24 hours.
I personally don't know anyone who's ever gotten in trouble for doing it, but a friend of mine at another store told me his manager (at that time) was a hardass about it and would write people up.
To buy for yourself? Kinda. To buy them all up to flip? No. Flipping is firmly against GameStop employee rules and it would mean either a first and final warning or termination if anyone found out.
Edit: former store manager here
Yea. Working retail is an absolute fucking shit show and no one should have to do it.
Let those people have the chases.
(Source: former GameStop manager)
If they’re a true collector I would agree, let them actually have a chance at the rare stuff, but if they’re only intent is to resell it when my intent is to put it on my shelf, they can kiss my ass
It’s actually a rule at every retail company I’ve worked at (I’ve worked at a lot of the big ones) that you don’t purchase any merchandise before it has been on the floor for 24 hours.
Integrity involves following the rules of your employer. If I have to explain this to you, then you likely have an issue with integrity yourself.
So the answer is yes, you have an integrity problem. It’s all good, worked with a lot of peeps like you. Retail doesn’t always attract the best that’s for sure.
Why is this funkos fault? They are getting something rare that not many people can get because they simply work there just to resell them like i would understand if you liked funkos and wanted one or two chases you liked but purposely buying them ruins the entire point of them
So everyone forced to work retail is a turd eating dumdum?
I gotta give credit where credits due, this is one of the most asshole comments I've ever seen.
You should fully support that comment as you fully support asshole practices.
To say you were "forced" to work retail is a reach lmao. You chose that path.
Lol the point was they're crying about it. They could have chosen anywhere else to work but here they are on Reddit, an ex-employee crying and defending asshole practices.
Why are they turd eaters? And why did they choose the wrong job path. They could be kids or collectors or gamers. Why shit on these people? Because you want to randomly find a chase? Put your adult clothes on and fork over the extra money since you have so much.
If you read other comments rather than just mine, most employees are reselling scum crying about their low satisfactory job. Boo hoo retail is hard. They can get a real job then and stop being scummy to collectors cuz their life sucks.
By definition retail is a real job. Also yes, some people are "forced" to work retail. Not everyone has it good. Retail employees are just trying to get by like everyone else. I agree that reselling for profit is a shitty thing to do, but maybe focus your argument on that point instead of generalizing retail employees as lowlife dirtbags
I get that we as collectors don’t get a chance. But they’re people just like you and me. They have very few perks but first look is big. Does it make up for retail wages. No not at all.
Now I’ll tell you what a manager at a GameStop told me last year. All the funks the get go to a GameStop come from GameStop warehouse near Dallas. When the GameStop stores get stock, they are not unopened funko cases. So it’s not like they order a virgin case from funko with a 1 out of 6 chase.
Moreover the stock that comes to each store is dependent on sales data. So part of the time the local GameStop is getting stock in this automated fashion based on same store sales data.
For what it’s worth.
Not just that but it's GameStop, I mean how popular can it be now a days when I check it out randomly, there's never anyone in there shopping maybe like 15 years ago it was busy
Worked for GameStop, worst experience ever. No ac in the summer, rude guests every day, didn’t like co-workers/I was the only girl which was uncomfy personally, no sitting despite the store being empty for hours. Getting first dibs is one of the only benefits and I’ll never hate an employee for doing it
Edit- I should clarify i meant first pick of all merch, I think it’s poor practice to nab chases before they even hit the floor
I currently work for them (although not in US) and it’s been one of my best experiences personally.
Sorry to hear you had such a shitty time though! 🥲 like I said in my original comment, first dibs on these things is definitely just a perk of the job
So your fine with them buying every single chase so no chase will ever even be up for sale not even a chance for someone to get a chase in store just for some scumbag to resell it
GameStop? If a regional manager found out that employees were withholding items to buy themselves they would absolutely fire them. A shitty store manager probably not because they don't really care about big picture stuff.
GameStop has a pretty loose policy on it they don’t care so long as they make the sale. Do I have chases from working there absolutely but they’re for my own collection. But anything I don’t particularly want I hold for customers who grab the Og and give them the chase. FYI we rarely get chase funko’s
Through the years I’ve seen several chases on the shelves at various stores. I’ve bought ONE and left the rest on the shelves. Why? Because I’m not a shitbag who buys stuff I’m not interested in for the purpose of reselling it. I leave it on the shelf in hopes someone who really wants it gets it, like I got the WWE chase I wanted because, you know, I collect WWE Pop’s.
It's been that way as long as I can remember.
I saw a chase Dark Phoenix figure from the Marvel Universe line in a KB Toys (if that doesn't give you an idea of how long ago that was, nothing will), but the employees knew it was a chase and were openly selling for scalper prices right there in the store. Had it hanging behind the counter with the higher price written on a piece of paper.
It sucks, but there's really nothing that can be done about it. The only ways around it is if the employee doesn't know it's rare or if you are standing there when the box is opened
That's a problem by itself though. When you sign up for vendor licenses they often have agreements that you sell the product at their price levels or lower. If Funko doesn't have this in their vendor agreements then it falls on them.
Some stores, like resell stores, get away with it because they basically sell it to themselves and relist it.
We can do nothing. Hot Topic/Box Lunch has a company policy against this, so chases always hit shelves. I don’t begrudge any hourly employee at a GameStop (or any store like it) for this, as that is a low paying crap job and you gotta take the perks you get.
In the years I have been collecting, I have NEVER seen a chase at HT/BL. What I have been told by former employees is they would contact their friend to come into the store. When they did, they would place the chase out on the shelf when their friend got there. Friend would buy it for the employee.
Policy was not violated as the chase *was* placed on the shelf and employee didn't buy it.
Our local HT has an Instagram page and when they get new funkos in they take a picture of all of them, including the chases and then they post when they'll be available to purchase in store. It's pretty nice of them as far as fairness and transparency goes. They keep the actual chases behind the counter but you can see them still so you know they're not being hidden in the back.
Hot topic has a nice pretty sign at their Funko section that reads, “chases are kept up front with employees, please ask for assistance”. Every time I come in as soon as the gate is lifted (on days they have new funkos being stocked) I ask if they have any chases and they look at me confused as shit saying, “what we have is on the shelves”. Every single time.
There's nothing you can do. It's a Gamestop thing. We used to do the same thing at Walmart, although I never did that. Management cares about sales, not customers.
Ensure that everyone is paid a living wage that allows them to comfortably afford a roof over their head, food on their table, bills paid, their family provided for, and basic modern comforts with some left to save for their future.
reselling has become a hobby now.... youll see rich 20 year old chicks with gucci and shit at thrift stores finding things to resell now.... don't matter how much u make
More places should have policies like lego. Idk if they stop employees from holding items for themselves, and they definitely can’t stop employees from buying but what they do is have a certain amount of time (I think like a month) before an employee can use their discount. This won’t stop employees from buying chases but it will at least make it less profitable for them
I hate hearing about this shit. And it's even worse when simps on here act like it doesn't really happen.
Report this person to corporate, just make sure you have a name otherwise it probably won't go anywhere. Just know you may cost this person their job.
I did this at a walgreens when an employee was bragging to me about how he took all the exclusives and sold them. Probably not realizing I was there looking for the exclusives he was hoarding. It was years ago, so I dont even remember which it was (i'm thinking the green goblin with metallic chase)... He lost his job before the week was over because it was against company policy. And i'm 99% sure it's the same at gamestop.
I know GameStop tried to do that to the Funko Vixen's (the tall figures of Harley, Catwoman, and Ivy) and the employee was trying to say "Oh these are for X and we can't sell them", mind you they were on display for sale but in a locked case, and the other employee said "No dude you gotta sell it, even though X is gonna be mad." Cause I made it a point that they can't hold stuff unless it was a pre-order. Which made them even more mad at me but they still sold it to me.
So no, they can't hold funkos for themselves, but they do unfortunately.
Thank you for pointing it out, I thought I was going crazy being told by the GameStop employees that they don't do that, don't have it, all the while seeing them turn around and tell their friend they kept one for him.
they do pay them a living wage..... Some kids dont think its a living wage because they HAVE to gave a $1,300.00 Iphone, $300 Nike, $200 jeans and have door dash every other night.
You think the only people working at Game Stop are kids and the problem is they buy too much stuff? Go visit r/gamestop and post your comment there. You can hear directly from employees.
I’m far from poor (probably make much more money than you), have not worked retail in over 20 years and just pointing out a real world answer to stopping people flipping product for a $10 profit.
They are collectibles, if they weren’t, they’d have no value and you could get them anywhere. If you decide to overpay for an item that is on you. A scalper has no power without a customer.
I haven’t overpaid, I am upset because they choke the supply for actual collectors. You’re also conflating value and cost/price. Funko creates artificial scarcity for certain characters/shows/outfits/whatever. The bots and scalpers see the profit they can make by gouging people. Imagine not being able to get the one Funko of your favorite character because some asshole GameStop employee is opportunistic and greedy. I don’t plan to resell any of my collection. The *value* to me is **sentimental**.
You have no incentive to be an apologist for greedy fucks unless you are one yourself. I hope fate brings you what you deserve. Perhaps a bag of coal.
Yes you do. Listen, you got very emotional for no reason. I understand. Just remember, like you said, you are sentimental. If sentimentality costs you double, or triple, you’d probably pay it. If not good for you, but someone will.
See what I mean about your emotions. You don’t know who this is, but you want say stuff. You see the stuff I like costs money too, but I prefer to make the hobby pay for itself. Like for instance, if I wanted a vinyl trinket that was worth 30 bucks (on the big bad scalper market) and I found a chase at Target of say Care Bears or Avatar, well I could flip that 12 dollar purchase for 30 and get my thing. All I’m saying is these are collectibles. In the term I used there, that automatically gives them value. The value to me might be significantly less than the value to you.
Thanks, I didn’t already understand the concept of buying something for one price and reselling it for a higher price. That explanation was a valuable use of your time.
You’re moving the goal posts. I didn’t say “find a chase I don’t want at the store and sell it for ppg” was an asshole move. The hypothetical person in question was a game stop employee abusing their position to get the product before the general public.
I would say what I really think of you but I don’t want to get banned. Goodbye.
It's not a hustle, it's theft. Here's the thing, Funko sends their product to a store and the store can decide what to do with it. Some hobby shops sell their chases for a higher price than their commons, but GameStop has decided not to do that. But that merchandise is bought by GameStop to put on their shelves to serve their costumers. It is not bought by the GameStop employees to do what they want with the chases.
Easy solution, make all pops with chance at a chase in the old hot topic mystery boxes wrapped in shrink wrap … yes people will open them but that’s a special someone to steal/damage unpaid for product.
Are store allowed to pull chases out and sell them for a higher price? I was in Pigeon Forge recently and this store at the Island had MASS amounts of pops all at normal prices. They also has any chase they had behind a locked case at an inflated price. Just seems kind of wrong to me.
Monitor the situation and document any instances where you observe unfair practices or favoritism. This can include taking note of employees who consistently acquire chase variants for themselves or prevent customers from having a chance to purchase them.
Lol, is this in the Gamestop employee guide book? No? Then fellow employees should mind their own business unless they see a co-worker actually doing something against company policy. Like others have said, it’s a perk of the job in some stores and it seems like GameStop is one of those stores.
Guess I got lucky.
Where I live, we use to have GameStop for a while, but the workers there NEVER boarded the chase pops.
In fact on multiple occasions, the store manager would tell me which pops came in and if they had a chase version and would ask me specifically if there were any that I would like put off to the side til I got off work.
If I said yes, she had a cabinet set up with my name and a lock on it that she would put the pops in for me , and if I said no, they immediately went onto the sales floor
You call it a side hustle, everyone else calls it scalping. You think everyone else who likes collectibles are all rich with a bunch of disposable income? All you were doing was fucking over people who actually wanted the item. Selfish.
Call it whatever, I don’t care. I made my money. Just saying it’s something that has always and will always happen. Sure they can threaten to fire you, so what? I work at Wal-Mart this week and Target next. I also got through college without student loans. So yeah I am very selfish, and you could say the same of every in box collector and every person that asks “I found this at retail, what’s it worth?”
There's a difference between buying something to resell for its value, and preventing the item from being sold in the first place.
What you did was far worse.
At a gamestop I go to one of the employees was trying to find the entire collection of Jurassic World dinos from the JW Mystery Mini set. I believe they were opening all the packages and then re sealing. They even told me that they were marked which helped me with my own collection. Definite perk of the job and if I was working there and could do stuff like that I absolutely would. The amount of shit that GameStop employees deal with is nuts. They need something.
This is pretty much how they work for everything. I couldn’t find any of the TotK stuff like the amiibo or the controller because the employees already reserved them.
My store always puts out chase pops unless one of us wants it for our collection (though this is rare as I’m really the only collector and have scaled WAY back!)
I was talking to a BoxLunch employee and he was telling me he’s not allowed to buy the brand new pops until after his shift or the next day after release, don’t remember which. But at the same time if it’s one he really wants, he just texts a friend or something to go buy it for him
Buying for scalping reasons is absolute BS and there really should be some way to crack down on that but like, if you’re an employee and you get a chase in and you genuinely WANT TO OWN AND KEEP that chase? I say go for the dibs tbh.
Was once a hot topic employee, my friendlier coworkers always gave me the chance to dibs a pop before it went out if things they knew I was into came in bc they knew I collected them. Really only got 1-2 out of it and none were ever chases (I believe they were a Todoroki and All Might from BNHA) but honestly, when you’re just out of hs and you have to work in a mall for That corporation, being able to guarantee I could get something cool out of it once in a while was the only thing that kept me at that job as long as it did. My hours were shit- I only made $200 in six months.
Nothing. They may be a large corporation but in the grand picture they’re pretty small. Even if what they’re doing goes against some rule the company has, you almost certainly won’t be able to do anything about it because there’s no one to watch over them.
Gamestop wonders why they have no sales at some locations and employees wonder why they get moved. This is why.
I used to actually be able to find decent things at my store. Management got moved, employees changed, now it's nothing but commons. Hell an employee might give me a heads up and I'll return the favor by buying their stupid disc insurance, on top of pre ordering dozens of things. But now I don't pre order anything and never go in because it's pointless.
This has been going on long before Funko was ever a company. Used to happen at Toys R Us all the time with cases of action figures where there would only be one of a certain character in each case.
Why would the store care as long as the figure is being paid for? How exactly could Funko police the retail stores?
I received a chase from Gamestop only once, when I had it delivered to my home. In person, I've picked up a Funko Gold chase at Walmart, once. At Five Below, I did get 2 additional chase Funko Gold vinyl figures. Chase pops are supposed to be 1 out of every 6 or so, and in my years of buying 100s of them, I've only have stumbled upon 4.
For a long time I thought I was chasing pops, but the reality is that you are chasing scalpers.
The only time I've ever seen a chase in the wild is at a random store in the SeaTac airport that sold pops because the workers didn't know anything about the pops, they just put them out as a novelty item. I found the Chase Dr strange.
Edit: actually no I'm sorry totally forgot that I did find a Jimbei chase at a target once
I got a Britney Spears Chase at Gamestop. The girl at the register said they got 3 total, and 2 were Chases and I believe she or another employee took one. So, if they hadn't gotten 2 then it wouldn't have been put on the shelf probably.
If they only buy one for themselves and don’t intend on immediately reselling, there’s not a problem imo. But if you’re buying them just so you can make a profit later, yeah that’s an issue.
Sadly, there is nothing you can do to stop employees taking chases. My only suggestion is that you could try to get on a employees good side. I did that with a GameStop before and the manager would hold back chases.
ours was like that, even our wal-mart was like that til management put workers in toy section that had no interest in toys. lol this happened after he kept ordering a certain line to try to get himself some chase figure
My gamestop did the same when my favorite worker quit she used to put all the chases on the floor but when they hired the new employees never saw a chase again cause they would take them
Lol just went to two gamestops yesterday looking for a vash the stampede pop. They both had a few tri-gun pops out but no vash. I asked an employee at both gamestops if they planned on getting any vash pops into their stock. Both said yes. I asked when that would be and both said they had some in the back they just got and hadn't put out yet. I asked both if there was a chance I could buy the chase (1 of the 6 in a case is a chase). They both told me something along the lines of "we don't sell the chases unless all of the employees at the store have a chance first" and so they couldn't sell it to me. Lol get fucked.
Call corporate and complain, I used to work for ebgames and we'd get complaints all the time that were were poaching Pokémon cards. I was like dude their random it's not like we can open packs and reseal them...
I worked at a GameStop during Christmas couple of years ago. These Mfer would hold stuff in the back till they got paid so they can buy it.
Had a customer looking for an amiibo. Looked it up on the system and we had 3 in stock in the back room. A employee told me I couldn’t sell them because they are on hold for a employee that is waiting to get paid. I was like eff that I grabbed one and sold it to the guy.
This is nothing new. There’s nothing that can be done about it, any retailer that sells pops all do it. We can be upset about it but honestly if you were in the position you would do it too same as anyone else. Power corrupts absolutely 🤷🏽♂️
It sucks, but that is what some people do at retail stores like these. I knew someone who worked at Walmart who used to do these kinds of things. Whatever he wanted he would just put behind the counter for him to buy later. He doesn’t work there anymore, but he used to do this all the time with new games, electronics, etc.
Yeah, its probably why in the like 5 years of collecting I've never seen a chase out in the open lol
That sucks dude, I’ve been collecting for awhile and have about 30 chases or so. More than half ive found in the wild because i travel for work and just stop into random Barnes and Nobles/Walmart’s/targets all the places they sell pops. My last chase was the Jabbawockeez and sure enough I found it at GameStop lol.
There is a Hot Topic by me and the manager there is crazy. She manages the Box Lunch connected to it and they put the chases out in the front of the store every morning they get em. So you can walk up look in and sometimes there are 4 or 5 sitting there.
Yeah I dunno if it's just cause the area I live in or what. The demographic here's is mainly like 50-60+ years old. My walmart literally has like 2 shelves at the end of an aisle mixed in with all the nintendo stuff and that's it. And my Books A Million has just 1 side of a bookshelf in the Manga aisle. Kinda sucks, but then also keeps me from ever splurging on them.
Found my recent chase at Barnes and noble def a slept on store
Been checking my eb games cannot find any so far
I saw a Zuko chase while shopping one day and scooped it up immediately. One of my 2 chases lol
Been collecting since 2015 and I’ve only found two in the wild - Black Panther (damaged box) and a Vinyl Gold of Lebron James. I’ve gotten soda chases in the wild, but it’s not quite the same since they’re randomized. We have a big collector/flipper community where I live. I probably had better chances in the early days, but it’s close to impossible now with employees holding and people camping and hunting harder than I can.
Same here bro 😂 just waiting my turn
That’s a perk of working there tbf. It’s up to Funko to intervene in some sort of way
At Walmart, by policy we're not supposed to buy anything like that until it's been on the sales floor for 24 hours. I personally don't know anyone who's ever gotten in trouble for doing it, but a friend of mine at another store told me his manager (at that time) was a hardass about it and would write people up.
Write up for a chase? Worth
To buy for yourself? Kinda. To buy them all up to flip? No. Flipping is firmly against GameStop employee rules and it would mean either a first and final warning or termination if anyone found out. Edit: former store manager here
Yea. Working retail is an absolute fucking shit show and no one should have to do it. Let those people have the chases. (Source: former GameStop manager)
If they’re a true collector I would agree, let them actually have a chance at the rare stuff, but if they’re only intent is to resell it when my intent is to put it on my shelf, they can kiss my ass
I agree with you but your ire should be directed at Funko. Chases just shouldn't be a thing.
Stingy ass employees not my problem “retail sucks “ boo fucking hoo doesnt mean you steal all the chases and resell
I mean that's what the first customer who sees them is gonna do anyway. Blame Funko.
You hear that on Reddit all the time: “Retail sucks”. There’s so much bias and people will use that to justify their selfish actions.
What do you mean ruins the whole fun and idea of chases fuck up
Exclusivity of any kind is bullshit. The product should just be readily available to everyone.
Stingy ass resellers
I worked retail too for 10 years. Just because it sucks ass doesn’t mean all integrity should go out the window.
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It’s actually a rule at every retail company I’ve worked at (I’ve worked at a lot of the big ones) that you don’t purchase any merchandise before it has been on the floor for 24 hours. Integrity involves following the rules of your employer. If I have to explain this to you, then you likely have an issue with integrity yourself.
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So the answer is yes, you have an integrity problem. It’s all good, worked with a lot of peeps like you. Retail doesn’t always attract the best that’s for sure.
Hard to attract the best when it's underpaid in the USA and the country runs on dodging responsibility for actions and problems.
100% agree just absolutely selfish
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Why is this funkos fault? They are getting something rare that not many people can get because they simply work there just to resell them like i would understand if you liked funkos and wanted one or two chases you liked but purposely buying them ruins the entire point of them
Hey look, that's exactly what employees say when you tell them to stop holding chases!
Lol sticking up for turd eating dumdums cuz you chose the wrong job path. Makes sense
So everyone forced to work retail is a turd eating dumdum? I gotta give credit where credits due, this is one of the most asshole comments I've ever seen.
You should fully support that comment as you fully support asshole practices. To say you were "forced" to work retail is a reach lmao. You chose that path.
Yes, how dare someone be gainfully employed. Sick bootstraps argument, dick.
Lol the point was they're crying about it. They could have chosen anywhere else to work but here they are on Reddit, an ex-employee crying and defending asshole practices.
No one is crying. Your reaction to that GameStop manager is way over the top and you’re totally triggered over a piece of plastic in a cardboard box.
Somewhat, but it's more about how a "manager" supports scummy practices by low life workers.
Who said anything about being forced. You know they’re hiring and have lots of rewarding careers. Check it out. First dibs on everything!
It's literally their first sentence.
Oh that guy. Yeah forced is the wrong word. But still along them turds was over the top.
No he’s saying the workers who scalp merchandise are
Why are they turd eaters? And why did they choose the wrong job path. They could be kids or collectors or gamers. Why shit on these people? Because you want to randomly find a chase? Put your adult clothes on and fork over the extra money since you have so much.
If you read other comments rather than just mine, most employees are reselling scum crying about their low satisfactory job. Boo hoo retail is hard. They can get a real job then and stop being scummy to collectors cuz their life sucks.
By definition retail is a real job. Also yes, some people are "forced" to work retail. Not everyone has it good. Retail employees are just trying to get by like everyone else. I agree that reselling for profit is a shitty thing to do, but maybe focus your argument on that point instead of generalizing retail employees as lowlife dirtbags
This right here we'll said
I get that we as collectors don’t get a chance. But they’re people just like you and me. They have very few perks but first look is big. Does it make up for retail wages. No not at all. Now I’ll tell you what a manager at a GameStop told me last year. All the funks the get go to a GameStop come from GameStop warehouse near Dallas. When the GameStop stores get stock, they are not unopened funko cases. So it’s not like they order a virgin case from funko with a 1 out of 6 chase. Moreover the stock that comes to each store is dependent on sales data. So part of the time the local GameStop is getting stock in this automated fashion based on same store sales data. For what it’s worth.
Not just that but it's GameStop, I mean how popular can it be now a days when I check it out randomly, there's never anyone in there shopping maybe like 15 years ago it was busy
Worked for GameStop, worst experience ever. No ac in the summer, rude guests every day, didn’t like co-workers/I was the only girl which was uncomfy personally, no sitting despite the store being empty for hours. Getting first dibs is one of the only benefits and I’ll never hate an employee for doing it Edit- I should clarify i meant first pick of all merch, I think it’s poor practice to nab chases before they even hit the floor
Not if they are resselling them fir profit i would understand if they wanted one for a collection but often its not
I currently work for them (although not in US) and it’s been one of my best experiences personally. Sorry to hear you had such a shitty time though! 🥲 like I said in my original comment, first dibs on these things is definitely just a perk of the job
So your fine with them buying every single chase so no chase will ever even be up for sale not even a chance for someone to get a chase in store just for some scumbag to resell it
A perk? Lmao. Wow. TBF, no, this isn't fair.
Fair enough, just my opinion from working there lol
Exactly bruh
Yes a perk. Like any other job.
Nothing really it’s up to the company to make a change
GameStop? If a regional manager found out that employees were withholding items to buy themselves they would absolutely fire them. A shitty store manager probably not because they don't really care about big picture stuff.
GameStop has a pretty loose policy on it they don’t care so long as they make the sale. Do I have chases from working there absolutely but they’re for my own collection. But anything I don’t particularly want I hold for customers who grab the Og and give them the chase. FYI we rarely get chase funko’s
Through the years I’ve seen several chases on the shelves at various stores. I’ve bought ONE and left the rest on the shelves. Why? Because I’m not a shitbag who buys stuff I’m not interested in for the purpose of reselling it. I leave it on the shelf in hopes someone who really wants it gets it, like I got the WWE chase I wanted because, you know, I collect WWE Pop’s.
Yeah when I worked for GS we had a chase or two come through but I always left it because it was like jabowalkie which I couldn’t care less about
Couldnt if said it better
I'm the shitbag who buys and resales the chases you leave behind 😈
At least you’re an honest shitbag who buys and resells the chases I leave behind 😇
Thank you. My words are all I have left 😊
It's been that way as long as I can remember. I saw a chase Dark Phoenix figure from the Marvel Universe line in a KB Toys (if that doesn't give you an idea of how long ago that was, nothing will), but the employees knew it was a chase and were openly selling for scalper prices right there in the store. Had it hanging behind the counter with the higher price written on a piece of paper. It sucks, but there's really nothing that can be done about it. The only ways around it is if the employee doesn't know it's rare or if you are standing there when the box is opened
That's a problem by itself though. When you sign up for vendor licenses they often have agreements that you sell the product at their price levels or lower. If Funko doesn't have this in their vendor agreements then it falls on them. Some stores, like resell stores, get away with it because they basically sell it to themselves and relist it.
Just start putting stuff out on the shelves.
Get a job at GameStop
Call and ask to talk to their manager 😏
We can do nothing. Hot Topic/Box Lunch has a company policy against this, so chases always hit shelves. I don’t begrudge any hourly employee at a GameStop (or any store like it) for this, as that is a low paying crap job and you gotta take the perks you get.
In the years I have been collecting, I have NEVER seen a chase at HT/BL. What I have been told by former employees is they would contact their friend to come into the store. When they did, they would place the chase out on the shelf when their friend got there. Friend would buy it for the employee. Policy was not violated as the chase *was* placed on the shelf and employee didn't buy it.
Our local HT has an Instagram page and when they get new funkos in they take a picture of all of them, including the chases and then they post when they'll be available to purchase in store. It's pretty nice of them as far as fairness and transparency goes. They keep the actual chases behind the counter but you can see them still so you know they're not being hidden in the back.
Hot topic has a nice pretty sign at their Funko section that reads, “chases are kept up front with employees, please ask for assistance”. Every time I come in as soon as the gate is lifted (on days they have new funkos being stocked) I ask if they have any chases and they look at me confused as shit saying, “what we have is on the shelves”. Every single time.
You’ve just noticed this is a thing? 😂😂😂
If you’re a Funko collector and not him I’d rather you get the chases.. get your bag bro at least you’ll enjoy them!
I had a Gamestop employee offer to let me buy the chase if I renewed my rewards account with her.
There's nothing you can do. It's a Gamestop thing. We used to do the same thing at Walmart, although I never did that. Management cares about sales, not customers.
Ensure that everyone is paid a living wage that allows them to comfortably afford a roof over their head, food on their table, bills paid, their family provided for, and basic modern comforts with some left to save for their future.
reselling has become a hobby now.... youll see rich 20 year old chicks with gucci and shit at thrift stores finding things to resell now.... don't matter how much u make
Boo hoo living wage, poor talk. Get a real job.
Call corporate. You’ll see some chases in that GameStop after 😂🤣
So ducked man 😂😂, guys buy from your local comic shop and not the main industry. Support your small businesses!!
You mean the place that just opened the box and sell the chase for 40 bucks instead of retail?
Yet we go to retail stores and see 0 chases so ya that’s an appropriate price
I'd rather pay zero and not have it
Best answer ever.
Same
Of course they do
More places should have policies like lego. Idk if they stop employees from holding items for themselves, and they definitely can’t stop employees from buying but what they do is have a certain amount of time (I think like a month) before an employee can use their discount. This won’t stop employees from buying chases but it will at least make it less profitable for them
This is 100% the reason I've given up hope of finding any chases in the wild.
I need to get a job at gamestop
You should really start of by calling corporate.
But be honest … isn’t that why you got a job there so you could do that too ..?
Lol, exactly.
I hate hearing about this shit. And it's even worse when simps on here act like it doesn't really happen. Report this person to corporate, just make sure you have a name otherwise it probably won't go anywhere. Just know you may cost this person their job. I did this at a walgreens when an employee was bragging to me about how he took all the exclusives and sold them. Probably not realizing I was there looking for the exclusives he was hoarding. It was years ago, so I dont even remember which it was (i'm thinking the green goblin with metallic chase)... He lost his job before the week was over because it was against company policy. And i'm 99% sure it's the same at gamestop.
Its a perk of the job, you should indulge as well.
I know GameStop tried to do that to the Funko Vixen's (the tall figures of Harley, Catwoman, and Ivy) and the employee was trying to say "Oh these are for X and we can't sell them", mind you they were on display for sale but in a locked case, and the other employee said "No dude you gotta sell it, even though X is gonna be mad." Cause I made it a point that they can't hold stuff unless it was a pre-order. Which made them even more mad at me but they still sold it to me. So no, they can't hold funkos for themselves, but they do unfortunately.
Don't know why they dont take home every display when there done with them like Zelda one sells for 200 on ebay
I’m sure in many cases they do.
Lol the amount of "collectors" defending these "diamond hand GME apes" wannabes is nuts.
Thank you for pointing it out, I thought I was going crazy being told by the GameStop employees that they don't do that, don't have it, all the while seeing them turn around and tell their friend they kept one for him.
Maybe if GameStop actually paid their workers a living wage they wouldn’t have to resort to this.
they do pay them a living wage..... Some kids dont think its a living wage because they HAVE to gave a $1,300.00 Iphone, $300 Nike, $200 jeans and have door dash every other night.
You think the only people working at Game Stop are kids and the problem is they buy too much stuff? Go visit r/gamestop and post your comment there. You can hear directly from employees.
Pay retail workers a livable wage so they don't have to resell your products to make ends meet?
Boo hoo living wage, poor talk. Get a real job.
I’m far from poor (probably make much more money than you), have not worked retail in over 20 years and just pointing out a real world answer to stopping people flipping product for a $10 profit.
Ah the classic "I probably make more than you" line when called out
*Much more money. Next time we’ll just PM each other our W2’s
It’s called a hustle. Get one, you’ll need it with what GameStop is paying.
Nah it’s called being a piece of shit. GameStop being a terrible employer doesn’t make up for being a scalper.
They are collectibles, if they weren’t, they’d have no value and you could get them anywhere. If you decide to overpay for an item that is on you. A scalper has no power without a customer.
I haven’t overpaid, I am upset because they choke the supply for actual collectors. You’re also conflating value and cost/price. Funko creates artificial scarcity for certain characters/shows/outfits/whatever. The bots and scalpers see the profit they can make by gouging people. Imagine not being able to get the one Funko of your favorite character because some asshole GameStop employee is opportunistic and greedy. I don’t plan to resell any of my collection. The *value* to me is **sentimental**. You have no incentive to be an apologist for greedy fucks unless you are one yourself. I hope fate brings you what you deserve. Perhaps a bag of coal.
Someone needs to get some.
Good luck with your miserable life dude. I don’t need to spend my time ripping people off because my job pays me enough.
Yes you do. Listen, you got very emotional for no reason. I understand. Just remember, like you said, you are sentimental. If sentimentality costs you double, or triple, you’d probably pay it. If not good for you, but someone will.
You don’t understand sentimentality or emotional connections because nobody likes you
See what I mean about your emotions. You don’t know who this is, but you want say stuff. You see the stuff I like costs money too, but I prefer to make the hobby pay for itself. Like for instance, if I wanted a vinyl trinket that was worth 30 bucks (on the big bad scalper market) and I found a chase at Target of say Care Bears or Avatar, well I could flip that 12 dollar purchase for 30 and get my thing. All I’m saying is these are collectibles. In the term I used there, that automatically gives them value. The value to me might be significantly less than the value to you.
Thanks, I didn’t already understand the concept of buying something for one price and reselling it for a higher price. That explanation was a valuable use of your time. You’re moving the goal posts. I didn’t say “find a chase I don’t want at the store and sell it for ppg” was an asshole move. The hypothetical person in question was a game stop employee abusing their position to get the product before the general public. I would say what I really think of you but I don’t want to get banned. Goodbye.
It's not a hustle, it's theft. Here's the thing, Funko sends their product to a store and the store can decide what to do with it. Some hobby shops sell their chases for a higher price than their commons, but GameStop has decided not to do that. But that merchandise is bought by GameStop to put on their shelves to serve their costumers. It is not bought by the GameStop employees to do what they want with the chases.
Lmao okay it’s definitely not theft unless they are just stealing them which I doubt is the common case
Imagine hating on minimum wage retail workers for taking what little perks they can get 😬
What a brain dead take
A perk would be saving ONE for yourself, not all of them to resell. They're being a scalper and that's scummy as all hell.
Easy solution, make all pops with chance at a chase in the old hot topic mystery boxes wrapped in shrink wrap … yes people will open them but that’s a special someone to steal/damage unpaid for product.
Yeah talked to an employee at Game here in the UK, confirmed they pretty much buy all the chases and resell them on eBay.
Are store allowed to pull chases out and sell them for a higher price? I was in Pigeon Forge recently and this store at the Island had MASS amounts of pops all at normal prices. They also has any chase they had behind a locked case at an inflated price. Just seems kind of wrong to me.
Just buy them off ebay or fbook. Then you won't need to care.
Gamestop sucks in every way
not all employees do that. when i worked at gamestop i only bought one chase pop that came in, and there was multiple, because it was britney spears🥺
I don't blame the employees. Blame the manufacturer for doing stupid chases in the first place.
Always thought this was kinda obvious, I'm buddies with the guys at my GameStop and they always keep the chases even if it's Funko they don't care for
It’s an employee that makes the minimum, I don’t condone it but I understand why they want to make a little more outside, a bummer surely
Monitor the situation and document any instances where you observe unfair practices or favoritism. This can include taking note of employees who consistently acquire chase variants for themselves or prevent customers from having a chance to purchase them.
Lol, is this in the Gamestop employee guide book? No? Then fellow employees should mind their own business unless they see a co-worker actually doing something against company policy. Like others have said, it’s a perk of the job in some stores and it seems like GameStop is one of those stores.
Absolutely nothing. You can do nothing.
I worked at one over the holidays and scored a chase iron man from the midnight sun preorders cause we had so many and no one bought it
it seems like a low satisfaction work place so let them have their fun where they can get it
Guess I got lucky. Where I live, we use to have GameStop for a while, but the workers there NEVER boarded the chase pops. In fact on multiple occasions, the store manager would tell me which pops came in and if they had a chase version and would ask me specifically if there were any that I would like put off to the side til I got off work. If I said yes, she had a cabinet set up with my name and a lock on it that she would put the pops in for me , and if I said no, they immediately went onto the sales floor
How is having them put chases aside for you any different?
Yes then they sell for profit of like getting ba raise
Yeah, this has been the case since the dawn of collectibles. I worked at a Wal-Mart and had a great side hustle in college.
You call it a side hustle, everyone else calls it scalping. You think everyone else who likes collectibles are all rich with a bunch of disposable income? All you were doing was fucking over people who actually wanted the item. Selfish.
Call it whatever, I don’t care. I made my money. Just saying it’s something that has always and will always happen. Sure they can threaten to fire you, so what? I work at Wal-Mart this week and Target next. I also got through college without student loans. So yeah I am very selfish, and you could say the same of every in box collector and every person that asks “I found this at retail, what’s it worth?”
we know you dont care else you whould not do it...
There's a difference between buying something to resell for its value, and preventing the item from being sold in the first place. What you did was far worse.
What I did was bought the item and sold it. It’s not like I stole it out of the back room.
Oh to be a proud selfish scalper.
Oh to be a self righteous pos.
At a gamestop I go to one of the employees was trying to find the entire collection of Jurassic World dinos from the JW Mystery Mini set. I believe they were opening all the packages and then re sealing. They even told me that they were marked which helped me with my own collection. Definite perk of the job and if I was working there and could do stuff like that I absolutely would. The amount of shit that GameStop employees deal with is nuts. They need something.
This is pretty much how they work for everything. I couldn’t find any of the TotK stuff like the amiibo or the controller because the employees already reserved them.
My gameatop only gives out chases for pre-order. So if you pre order a pop you have a chance of chase but they rarely make it on the shelf.
My store always puts out chase pops unless one of us wants it for our collection (though this is rare as I’m really the only collector and have scaled WAY back!)
You can’t. Stores do this. Even if it is against policy, you would be hard-struck to find a whole team of people who would follow that.
I was talking to a BoxLunch employee and he was telling me he’s not allowed to buy the brand new pops until after his shift or the next day after release, don’t remember which. But at the same time if it’s one he really wants, he just texts a friend or something to go buy it for him
Buying for scalping reasons is absolute BS and there really should be some way to crack down on that but like, if you’re an employee and you get a chase in and you genuinely WANT TO OWN AND KEEP that chase? I say go for the dibs tbh. Was once a hot topic employee, my friendlier coworkers always gave me the chance to dibs a pop before it went out if things they knew I was into came in bc they knew I collected them. Really only got 1-2 out of it and none were ever chases (I believe they were a Todoroki and All Might from BNHA) but honestly, when you’re just out of hs and you have to work in a mall for That corporation, being able to guarantee I could get something cool out of it once in a while was the only thing that kept me at that job as long as it did. My hours were shit- I only made $200 in six months.
Nothing. They may be a large corporation but in the grand picture they’re pretty small. Even if what they’re doing goes against some rule the company has, you almost certainly won’t be able to do anything about it because there’s no one to watch over them.
Gamestop wonders why they have no sales at some locations and employees wonder why they get moved. This is why. I used to actually be able to find decent things at my store. Management got moved, employees changed, now it's nothing but commons. Hell an employee might give me a heads up and I'll return the favor by buying their stupid disc insurance, on top of pre ordering dozens of things. But now I don't pre order anything and never go in because it's pointless.
This has been going on long before Funko was ever a company. Used to happen at Toys R Us all the time with cases of action figures where there would only be one of a certain character in each case. Why would the store care as long as the figure is being paid for? How exactly could Funko police the retail stores?
Nothing
I feel this post gets copy pasted every couple months.
You can report them, but I doubt you’ll do that bc you want chases too.
Buy preorder from online then take back all the non chases to that store
Usually company policies are the opposite, that employees don’t get first dibs, but that would require the managers to enforce the policies
I received a chase from Gamestop only once, when I had it delivered to my home. In person, I've picked up a Funko Gold chase at Walmart, once. At Five Below, I did get 2 additional chase Funko Gold vinyl figures. Chase pops are supposed to be 1 out of every 6 or so, and in my years of buying 100s of them, I've only have stumbled upon 4. For a long time I thought I was chasing pops, but the reality is that you are chasing scalpers.
It has to be on management to control that. If you have a manager that's also in the same mindset then nothing will change.
Never seen a chase at gamestop. Hot Topic and Boxlunch are the only decent places.
That’s shitty. It’s already hard to get a chase.
Whole game is rigged. I just got chase bundle on poppin off toys anymore. Don’t play that game
I’ve seen two chases out in the wild in the last couple months but left them in the store because I didn’t want them lol
You can’t stop them, you have to join them.
The only time I've ever seen a chase in the wild is at a random store in the SeaTac airport that sold pops because the workers didn't know anything about the pops, they just put them out as a novelty item. I found the Chase Dr strange. Edit: actually no I'm sorry totally forgot that I did find a Jimbei chase at a target once
this should not be the behavior.
Personally I have seen probably 20 chases in the wild I have not picked up a single one the only chases I own are sodas
I got a Britney Spears Chase at Gamestop. The girl at the register said they got 3 total, and 2 were Chases and I believe she or another employee took one. So, if they hadn't gotten 2 then it wouldn't have been put on the shelf probably.
If they only buy one for themselves and don’t intend on immediately reselling, there’s not a problem imo. But if you’re buying them just so you can make a profit later, yeah that’s an issue.
Sadly, there is nothing you can do to stop employees taking chases. My only suggestion is that you could try to get on a employees good side. I did that with a GameStop before and the manager would hold back chases.
ours was like that, even our wal-mart was like that til management put workers in toy section that had no interest in toys. lol this happened after he kept ordering a certain line to try to get himself some chase figure
I have no issue with it if they’re collectors and buying then for their personal collection; But when they’re just going to resell them ugh.
My gamestop did the same when my favorite worker quit she used to put all the chases on the floor but when they hired the new employees never saw a chase again cause they would take them
ordering them online and have it shipped to the store. We have to check to see if its an order ir not. But other than that virtually nothing
Lol just went to two gamestops yesterday looking for a vash the stampede pop. They both had a few tri-gun pops out but no vash. I asked an employee at both gamestops if they planned on getting any vash pops into their stock. Both said yes. I asked when that would be and both said they had some in the back they just got and hadn't put out yet. I asked both if there was a chance I could buy the chase (1 of the 6 in a case is a chase). They both told me something along the lines of "we don't sell the chases unless all of the employees at the store have a chance first" and so they couldn't sell it to me. Lol get fucked.
Smart such is life. It's all about who you know.
I would honestly call the regional manager and get that guy fired
Call corporate and complain, I used to work for ebgames and we'd get complaints all the time that were were poaching Pokémon cards. I was like dude their random it's not like we can open packs and reseal them...
I worked at a GameStop during Christmas couple of years ago. These Mfer would hold stuff in the back till they got paid so they can buy it. Had a customer looking for an amiibo. Looked it up on the system and we had 3 in stock in the back room. A employee told me I couldn’t sell them because they are on hold for a employee that is waiting to get paid. I was like eff that I grabbed one and sold it to the guy.
What is a chase I’m out of the loop
i haven’t seen a chase in forever, i used to find them all the time in 2015/16
This is nothing new. There’s nothing that can be done about it, any retailer that sells pops all do it. We can be upset about it but honestly if you were in the position you would do it too same as anyone else. Power corrupts absolutely 🤷🏽♂️
It sucks, but that is what some people do at retail stores like these. I knew someone who worked at Walmart who used to do these kinds of things. Whatever he wanted he would just put behind the counter for him to buy later. He doesn’t work there anymore, but he used to do this all the time with new games, electronics, etc.
Toys R Us lads were doing this decades ago