We’re Not Playing Games With Our Games

I own a small board game company. I’m not a “real” retail guy — props to those who are — but before the health crisis, I attended two or three game conventions a year and of course, we’d have a booth and I’d help sell our product there, along with other team members. No doubt we’ll return to the conventions once the black clouds lift completely.

Normally, our goal at a convention is to sell 100% of the product that we brought. We HATE shipping stuff back to our warehouse — SO much so that, on occasion, we’ll sell excess stock at a slight discount on the last day (Sunday). But usually, we sell out. Another important thing to remember is that our games are highly desired, and they are often out of stock online, so people are excited to see these rare games in person at the convention where they can pick one up at last. Often people will buy an extra copy to take to a friend who couldn’t make the trip.

I am at a game convention and a guy shows up with one of my highly desired but really expensive games. But lo and behold, there’s a ding in the corner of the box. The guy wants a discount.

Me: “You already bought this game. The time to ask for a discount was then.”

The guy lays down the law.

Guy: “Either give me a discount or a refund.”

Me: “No problemo, pal.”

And I give him a full refund. IN CASH. The guy is amazed but takes the money and walks away. I have no evidence he even bought that game at the convention, but I don’t care, because I know we are going to sell out.

Then, I find out what his sinister plan was. He comes back on Sunday to see if he can pick up a copy of the game at a discount because it’s the last day. Lo and behold, we have only three copies of the game remaining, and in fact, we are considering price-gouging because people are literally fighting over who gets the last copies. We don’t, though. The guy from before asks for his discount because it’s the last day, and instead, I sell all three remaining copies while he watches.

Me: “Gotta wait in line, buddy.”

He even looked at the boxes to see if one of them had the dinged corner but no, I sold that one like an hour after he turned it in.