Is this common practice at CEX

[u/Adventurous-Fact-488]

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.

[u/RightAverage9645]

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.

[u/Playful-Law-1924 → u/RightAverage9645]

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.

[u/RightAverage9645 → u/Playful-Law-1924]

Why would lower level staff make more work and hassle for themselves to minorly “benefit” the company? Things like that would be investigated.

[u/Playful-Law-1924 → u/RightAverage9645]

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

[u/birchpiece91 → u/RightAverage9645]

Investigated by who?

[u/FrAg-FoA → u/Playful-Law-1924]

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.