Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!macsuppor
From: macsuppor@a1.nl (DEnnis Brinkhuis)
Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.freetalk.english
Subject: Re: That'll be five of your pounds, sir (snigger!).....
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 08:15:20 +0100
Organization: Debri Productions
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References: <71ld42$9iv7@chuka.playstation.co.uk>
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Here is a bit of the Dutch way..

In Holland we don't like to spent a penny too much.. Therefore there are
very little shops that do secondhadn games, concerning the risk of
getting stuck with it.
To be honest, we have very few games shops in Holland. Maybe 15 or so,
but not more. Only the larger cities have game-shops. And most of the
time the games-shops are part of a PC-store.
Only Games-shops exchange secondhand games. Most of us in Holland buy
games at toystores (like Toys 'r Rush) or warehouses and Dixons (the
dutch formula is a little different).
We don't have mail-order for games either. The second hand games are all
sold privatly. In our games magazines are most of the time some pages
with adverts for gamers that want to sell or buy games or systems. And
if you want a bargain, you buy a magazine and look ad the adverts.

For the shops that do take secondhand games, there is a system.
They divide games into groups. There is a 0 - 10 pound group, a 10 - 20
pound group, a 20 - 30 and so on.
If you buy a game in a sertain group, you can excange it and you will
get a discount of 1 lower group.
For this system you do need to get an membership (10 pounds).
Example: you buy the game "FreeFall" for 45 pounds (group 40-50). After
twoo weeks you want another game. Then you will get a discount for
FreeFall between 30-40 pounds.
Now you ask how they make money? Well, your FreeFall will be in the
shelves again as secondhand game. So say your reduction-price will also
be the new sales-price. somebody else buys the game and pays a 30-40.
When he returns it within that first month, he gets 20-40 for it. But as
long as the original game is on the shelves for 45 pounds, the
secondhand price will stick at 30-40. Get the system?

And next to this, we also have a lot of video-rental shops in Holland.
The rather small city I live in already has about 8 that I know of. At
the video-rental shops, you can also rent a game for a day for 2 pounds
or for a week for 5 pounds.

But that is HOLLAND..


Cheers,

DEnnis..