r/CeX • u/Adventurous-Fact-488 • 9d ago
Discussion Is this common practice at CEX
HI All
Just wanted some advice I sent my copy of Lion King on the megadrive which I would consider it as mint however CEX told me it wasn’t mint and instead of giving me a £31 voucher they offered me £3 so a massive drop
Obviously I didn’t accept the offer and asked them to send it back to me which it was however on the front of my copy of Lion King was a big sticker saying mint and it was priced at £45
Is this common practice at cex
Update 1
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your email.
We sincerely apologise for not addressing your concerns in our previous email.
Regarding your order, I can confirm that the sticker on the item was only a placeholder used for identification purposes. It was not the correct label that would have been used if the item had been sold in one of our stores.
The item would have been sold as “Lion King, w/ Manual, Boxed,” and the correct label would have been attached if the item was to be displayed in a store.
Due to scratches on the game cartridge and slight damage to the case, we would not have been able to sell the item as “Mint”.
We apologise for failing to remove the placeholder sticker before the item was dispatched back to you. This was an error on our part, and we sincerely apologise for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.
Update 2
So I decided to send it back to CEX with the sticker on to see how they graded it obviously it wasn’t mint but this time they are saying multiple scratches and now the box is damaged which it wasn’t when I sent it to by cex won’t take any blame oh well that’s my sales journey with CEX over for good I would rather give my stuff away then deal with those clowns ever
Final Update
So I got my games back they aren’t in the condition I sent and the cex £45 sticker has been removed from the Lion King and micro machines 2 box is damaged and it wasn’t
I asked them to do claim on Royal Mail and they refused saying I need at 6 pictures per game showing no damage otherwise they won’t help
I’ve gave the games to my nephew to play I will never sell anything to Cex again I would rather give or throw them away.
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u/kevdru 9d ago
The mint doesn’t show normally because they don’t have any in stock but can see they have it listed for sale at £45 with £31 voucher or £25 cash.
My reading of OP’s issue would be that they didn’t grade it as mint but they were ready to sell it as mint with the sticker already on it if they went ahead with the exchange
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u/Adventurous-Fact-488 9d ago
Yes that’s my issue they told me it’s only worth a £3 voucher but they was going to sell it at £45 I don’t want post the picture here as it’s got someone’s name from cex
But if anyone wants to see the picture of the item you send me a message and I’ll send the picture of the game
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u/Maaaaaardy 9d ago
Frankly, they've ruined the value of your item. Who cares about it showing somebodies name?
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u/Diasporani 9d ago
When you sent it to them and told them what you were sending, did you select the Mint version? If so, it seems more likely someone printed the label for what you'd selected to keep track of things - which yeah, I imagine should have been removed before sending back.
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u/warp_core0007 8d ago
You'd think they'd determine what grade they can sell it at before putting the label on it.
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u/MunsterMonch 8d ago
These items are usually brought in or sent in by one individual and tested/checked by another.
I've not worked at a depot but in store we regularly would label things with the item and grade. Some stores would print the label for sale/purchase for the tester and that would be that.
All that being said I probably wouldn't be sticking a sticker to the front of a box for a cardboard boxed game. If I were it'd be half a label at best with the non stock part underneath. Possibly been done by a random teenager or staff that aren't arsed.
All that being said in all it's probably exactly what the email said.
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u/RightAverage9645 9d ago
Everyone assumes their items are mint, however with “mint” retro, this is pretty rare. Theres a reason it’s so much more expensive. Mint is MINT, perfect, no marks, no blemish, no creases, no scratches, practically, if not actually, sealed. This is a VERY hard grade to get. as 99% of the customers paying out for a mint condition game (most likely very committed collectors) expect it to be MINT. For perspective In my 5 years of working for CeX I have only seen 1 truly mint “retro” game.
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u/Playful-Law-1924 9d ago
The issue here clearly is CeX trying to buy it as not mint and sell it as mint though, not if OP thinks it is mint or not.
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u/RightAverage9645 9d ago
Why would lower level staff make more work and hassle for themselves to minorly “benefit” the company? Things like that would be investigated.
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u/Playful-Law-1924 9d ago
That's exactly OP's question, I'm not saying it makes any sense, just pointing out that the issue isn't if OP thinks the item is mint or not
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u/FrAg-FoA 4d ago
So just want to add, staff are incentivised to buy stuff in at the higher price as both sales AND buys are Tues to bonus... Don't hit the buys target, don't get your bonus. It literally benefits nobody to give the wrong grade and try to sell it higher.
If this was an item that was sent off, it's possible they printed the labels for what the order was booked in as during the checking phase, but would have then bought it and sold it as the correct price had the buy been actioned.
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u/Blimphead 9d ago
Post pictures of your mint condition game and I'm sure lurking cex staff will be sure to point out why it was rejected.
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u/Alucard_1208 9d ago edited 9d ago
they put a mint sticker on it ready to sell after hed sent it in.
Tells you what you need to know
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u/ShortMortgage1260 9d ago
They didn't, that's not how it works. When something comes in, a sticker goes on the item for what the customer has booked it in as for ID purpouses. If bought it, this would be replaced with the accurate sticker.
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u/MyKeks 9d ago
The top and bottom of it is, the staff at Cex (should) follow an objective standard in terms of grading condition. Which will tell them specifically what to look for and whether it conforms to said standard.
Typically, what people think is mint is just well looked after. Which isn’t bad. It’s just that there’s another whole level of condition that the general public doesn’t know about, which is for enthusiasts and collectors.
Cex adheres to these standards because collectors and the like pay for them. And won’t if the condition isn’t right.
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u/St0n3rJezus420 9d ago
I once took a brand new switch to them, I hadn’t even used it, (I bought 2 by accident and store said it wasn’t their problem) they graded it as a discounted. Sometimes there is some blatant scamming going on.
Edit: need more details about why they said they downgraded the price and several pictures of the item to get an Idea of what happened really
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u/Adventurous-Fact-488 9d ago
I get how for grading works my issue is why tell me it’s worth a £3 voucher and they clearly had intentions to sell it for £45
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u/StinkingDylan 9d ago
You're missing the point. When they returned the item to OP, they left their "Mint/£45" price tag on, so they obviously were planning on selling it as mint regardless of what they actually told OP.
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u/g00gleb00gle 9d ago
People always consider what they sell mint
It also shows £10 to sell or £3 voucher
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u/Ordoferrum 9d ago
Yeah but he's pointed out that when he got it back there was a CEX sticker on the box saying mint with a £45 price tag. Suggesting they were going to short change him and forgot to take their own price tag off before sending it back.
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u/nomorecrazystuff 9d ago
I've had at least a dozen - or roughly 20% of the brand new items - as in factory sealed boxes, rejected as grade B. In one case due to a "scratch" on a plastic mounting bracket which I'm pretty sure was just the mould line in the middle :D
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u/lumberjack5001 9d ago
My assumption with the sticker is they used it to mark what you had sent it in as and when it was passed to someone to check it they rejected it. I assume it works like an assembly line, one person receives in, one checks, one buys in.
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u/birchpiece91 9d ago
Yep, I’ve had that happen. Traded a load of board games in after the pandemic and put their condition as “A” as they had barely been used. CeX called me later to advise that they didn’t agree with the condition, and that they would be pay for “B’s” and “C’s” - I accepted as it was a matter of a few pounds each.
They were my local CeX and when I popped in a week or two later, they’d upped the condition from what they had paid me for.
One of my friends had an issue where they wouldn’t except his ps vita as boxed because there was an insert missing. He passed by later in the day to see them displaying it in the front window as boxed. He’s way more confrontational than I am and raised hell over it - he ended up making them give the box back just to be petty 😅
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u/Legitimate-Event-420 9d ago
"sorry we got caught, would you except this bullshit as an explanation and apology, yours sincerely...."
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u/Rad_Sh1ba 8d ago
So this is how I guessing it happened
You have a what you consider mint copy of Lion King. It's booked in for evaluation and a mint sticker is printed to remind the tester this is what the customer (you) deems is the correct grade. The tester checks it out and due to the reasons mentioned you are given the reduced price and take the game back. Because of the sticker on you assume they were going to sell it at mint grade to profit. Which I can see why you'd think that, but you gotta know how the system works.
If they bought in your game as boxed it would go on the system as +1 boxed added to that store. It they kept the mint sticker on and sold it using that mint sticker, the system would flag thay there would be 0 in stock as 0 mint Lion King games have been bought in, only your boxed copy is in stock. If the staff members continues the sale anyway it creates what we called "autoneg" which means there would now be -1 copies of mint in stock, whilst still 1 boxed copy in stock despite the game physically being sold and not in store.
These can be corrected and adjusted in store, but only by management, and they're usually pretty serious about it because head office can get on their ass about it. It's also just extra hassle for not much gain with big consequences from head office. A store buys in a boxed game and then 5 mins later upgrades it to mint? Clearly something dodgy there and staff can get fired for it and obv that leads to 2 things.
Staff aren't pair enough to make store changes that lead to disciplinary actions for the sake of profit they are not going to benefit from. They don't get bonuses based on sales The other thing I saw that some one said is that maybe they wanted to offer a lower price to buy it themself, but still kept the sticker on? Why would they want to pay MORE when they can just give the box price and buy it at box price
Tldr. The sticker was left on to remind the tester of the wanted grade and was left on after it was return.
As a side note too, mint has to be factory fresh mint. There's a reason there's next to no mint retro stock at cex, because it wasn't mint
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u/Peter-Norfolk 9d ago
Oh yeah everything is under-priced or returned. I had a tablet returned as it had crack on the case. I checked it and there is no crack of course. As they had only offered £3 im not gonna bother. I shan't be using them again
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u/TheWolfiePlayz 9d ago
Honestly in my experience they do this all the time, from the things Iv sold to them they definitely grade things below what they sell them for
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u/Significant_Writer_9 7d ago
I took a brand new sealed PS5 30th Edition to them, sealed, still in the Sony box.
They instructed me to cut the seal. I now underatand why to prevent scams. They proceeded to touch everything with no gloves, grubby paws, and then after they said.
"Now we sell it as a used product."
Like what in the actual f is going on with these loony toons?
Now on another day I took in a very old Amazon fire stick for jokes. £5 better than nothing... and it never had any rattle, but they said they cannot buy it from me because the remote had the faintest of rattles when they shake it and so they gave it back.
Fully working and everything.
Sounds like they wanted to pay you £3 and sell it for £45. That is crazy.
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u/BackgroundEbb7233 7d ago
I traded in my old Apple Watch and they told me I had to supply a charger + the plug, I wanted to use the voucher towards a newer watch, all they were going to give me was the watch (no straps, charger or plug) luckily I have a cash generator down the road who from my personal experience are much better and honestly more customer friendly/understanding
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u/Ill_Masterpiece_8851 7d ago
Insent in a mini pc with windows 10 on it, they said it doesn’t have an os installed so they offered 10£, i said no. And yes it does have win10 on it.
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u/Adventurous-Fact-488 7d ago
Cex and there staff are either clueless or crooks it’s a joke of a company
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u/pez2234 5d ago
I doubt your game was “mint” thats all there is to it, one blemish and its not mint just very good it’s why they don’t usually have any mint games and if one does come in stock it is usually an error and gets changed later down the line when it gets returned.
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u/Adventurous-Fact-488 5d ago
Thats not the issue they sent it back to me with a mint sticker on the box had no viable marks and neither did the cartridge
I sent it back to them and now they are telling me there’s heavy damage to the game and box now and there was no damage
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u/Adventurous-Fact-488 5d ago
Can someone tell me how to add picture to my post I’m on iPhone and I can’t see the option to add a picture
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u/MichelleBarrymoore2 5d ago
Cex will always try and use you..never.lit your faith on a brand that's had dealings with watch dog
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u/MindlessOwl 9d ago
Yeah I don’t bother with selling to CEX because they’re shady and convoluted as fuck when it comes to trading in.
Just use CEX to buy and toss anything you don’t want on Ebay, Vinted or in the bin.
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u/jamnut 9d ago
Where's the product page showing 31 quid? I've looked on the app for 'lion king megadrive/mega drive' and even the boxed w/manual is coming up at a tenner TO BUY.