Florida Used Game Shops Required To Take Traders' Thumbprints
If you're trying to sell or trade used games in Florida, expect to be treated like a registered sex offender or a diamond fence. The state legislature passed a law in October that classified video game trade-ins as pawn shop items, requiring businesses to take thumb prints and in-depth personal information from customers. Thew NewTimes Broward-Palm Beach reports a county sheriff is cracking down on game shops to make sure they follow the law.
Broward County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kayla Concepcion said the new requirement comes straight from the Florida Legislature, which enacted a law on October 1 of last year that treated video games like second-hand goods sold at pawn shops. Now any store buying used video games has to collect the thumb prints, along with a bunch of other personal info about the seller.
The worst news for gamers: This means the cops will now a have a permanent record that you once owned a copy of Wii Music.
Sell Your Used Games, Get Thumbprinted [NewTimes Broward_Palm Beach, via Kotaku,Sports Legends]
(Photo:iDream_in_Infrared)
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All the more reason for people to switch to using online trade-in services. I've used eStarland for a long time now, and I've gotten a lot more money for used games vs. a place like GameStop.
What has two thumbs and is happy to not live in Florida?
Good job Florida - you'll just shut down local businesses as people who don't want to have their privacy invaded turn to Craigslist or eBay to sell their stuff.
One more reason to sell on Craigslist or Ebay.
Well done Florida--for losing local sales tax revenue, and increasing taxpayer expense to enforce it.
Win-Win.
@SatanicGuinea: Oh come on my friend, you underestimate The Man. They'll get around to irrevocably crippling Craigslist and eBay soon enough.
All the Gamestop stores in my area (SoCal) have been doing this for years, since this is technically a pawn type transaction.
Given the weak trade-in value @ Gamestop vs. cash price on Craigslist, etc., I'm not sure that this stops any serious fencing of stolen items, but the theory is sound.
(Trading in your games for a bad price so that someone else can buy them back for $5 less than new, however, is completely insane, so the lesson here is use Craigslist, eBay, Swaptree, etc. even if you aren't a criminal.)
That should make the lines go faster at the GameSnot :)
Seriously, though, Rhayader has a point. Here in the Sunshine State, we have the cops worrying about the real problems, game traders and folks growing pot. Don't worry about people killing their kids or being kidnapped and killed (while 911 fails).
But hey, at least it's not snowing (nudge nudge).
@MikeHerbst: the theory is sound
Uhhh, how? Does the fact that it is "technically a pawn type transaction" really justify the need for fingerprinting someone looking to sell back a damn video game?
I simply don't see what could possibly be gained from fingerprinting a 13 year old kid looking to get rid of the lame licensed game his grandma bought him.
I guess wal-mart won't be implementing any used game kiosks in florida now .. lol
@SatanicGuinea: Good job Florida! Now people might actually make some money while selling back their stuff!
@doctor_cos: Yeah they're going to town on the growers down there, huh? Naturally they are two steps behind, even when they are busting several grow houses per day.
The solution, of course, will be getting "tough on crime" and setting up federally funded task forces all over the state. And then increasing mandatory minimum sentences. And then eviscerating any last remnants of search and seizure protections. And then....
Wii Music? No more lame than on-record for selling Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball.
Well, no more so than being on-record for having bought it in the first place.
Good thing I jumped out of video games a year ago. Outside of the few games I own for entertainment on my family's Wii, i'm done dealing with the hassle of getting ripped off on video game trade-ins.
@SatanicGuinea:
Yup. So now you are encouraging teens to meet up with strangers they found on Craigslist to complete the transactions.
Also, it's another way for the gubmint to get your prints on file.
Sounds like a great idea. Everyone should do this.
@Rhayader:
The theory is that cash sales of easily negotiable property (tools, jewelry, videogames) are one of the legs that hold up the table of theft. In theory, identifying WHO is selling such items makes it easier to identify thieves and recover items, thus creating a disincentive to pawn the items and making the potential theft less attractive.
On rare occasion I have heard success stories, including the arrest of someone who stole tools from a friend's jobsite. Some easy-to-identify tools were pawned hours after the theft.
That said, I already stated that in-practice, for video games, its probably not that much of a deterrent, hence my comment about the theory.
The real question is where to draw the line? Its OK to pawn video games, but not tools or jewelry? Only items costing more than $50? (Rules out some games!)
The real solution short term is to trade your games elsewhere (see my post). The real solution long term is to make more software licenses transferable, like how Valve's Steam system works.
Does this also apply to people bringing back a return because the box actually contained a couple paving bricks?
I'm all for it too as long as it's not too expensive for the companies to implement. Sounds like a nice frontline deterrent to fraud.
@MikeHerbst: I'm not seeing it.
A pawn transaction involves loaning money at an interest rate and holding a piece of property as collateral against the loan.
Selling something you own is not a pawn transaction. Trading something for something else, with or without cash either way, is not a pawn transaction either.
@MikeHerbst: How is this a "pawn type transaction"?
While pawn brokers will buy used goods and sell them for a profit, the primary intent of "pawn type transactions" is for the pawn broker to give a loan based on the value of the item with the intent that the person will come back and claim the item.
That does not happen in the case of video games (unless someone really regrets getting rid of their Wii music). If trading in a video game is a "pawn type transaction" then so is selling a book to a used book store or trading in your car when you buy a new one.
I don't understand why they singled out used video game tradeins, but the pawn model really doesn't apply.
@Gtmac: Yeah I also don't really see the distinction between a "pawn-type" transaction and a regular old resale, if that's how we define pawning.
I've always wondered exactly what they are going to do to you if you are found breaking the trading in rules in some way. Seems like that type of thing would be very difficult to prove even if you were trading stolen games, unless it was really cut and dry like you were going to walmart and then 10 min later trading in games at GS. Even then I wonder how many people have been caught using the information they collect.
Its probably costing more to implement this system than the (independent) store is making on video game trade in's, considering that used games are so difficult to sell in certain areas, and most independent pawn shops have the same selection of games that sit and sit and sit on shelves until they are so outdated that they are worth nothing. Most people are using these stores to dump their games, get cash and not actually buying anything at them especially in this economy.
It would probably be less trouble for the shop to just not take in used games if they don't have any other merchandise that requires fingerprinting. If everything sold to a pawn requires fingerprinting then this isn't really anything new.
Since video games seem to be priority #1 I guess they solved that pesky meth problem.
So... they're cracking down on what is essentially a misdemeanor (stealing a few games out of a car and pawning them). Good luck with that.
@Outrun1986: I guess it's because if someone trades in a copy of Hello Kitty's Sunshine Adventure and that same day someone reports their copy of Hello Kitty's Sunshine Adventure stolen, theoretically, the police have a lead.
That is, if they'd bother to even investigate a complaint about Hello Kitty's Sunshine Adventure. I figured they would treat it the same way as reporting a stolen bike or a lunch money bully unless, say, it were the Lindberg Baby's copy of Hello Kitty's Sunshine Adventure.
On an aside, damnit, I'd really like there to be an actual game called Hello Kitty's Sunshine Adventure. :(
I'm assuming this is to crack down on people breaking into houses, stealing a handful of video games, and walking away with a few hundred bucks?
The only people who should be concerned about fingerprinting are criminals. No one else really has a damn thing to worry about. I know for a fact that pawn shops keep many many many a criminal in business - we all know this is true. I imagine that fingerprinting will make some amount of impact on crime involving pawned items. I can understand too how video games have gotten coined "pawned stuff" - just go into ANY pawn shop and you'll find 100s if not 1000s of used games (often for far cheaper than what you'll pay at Gamestop, btw). So, overall I just don't see that this is a problem. Hey, if by giving my prints and my retinal scan to the government, they can turn around and insure me that my ID won't be stolen/misused, PLUS decrease my waiting time checking into an airline, then I'M ALL FOR IT!!
(I know, I know, the government can't even control how the bailout money gets used, let alone the above stuff. Wistful thinking, that we'd actually have an 'Abe Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Government' rather than the shit we have now)
@SpruceStreetPhil - but ya gotta take market, the bridge is ...: Especially now that I'm ready to sell my heavily used copy of Tracy Jordan's Goregasm.
@MikeHerbst:
a) it's not pawning
b) used video game values are not easily negotiable unless you mean ~10-20% of MSRP in which case you're better off getting a damn job than stealing them.
@JGKojak: Actually, it's a scam designed by the media/game companies to discourage trade-ins so that people are forced to buy new. This is a disgusting example of corporate welfare for companies that pay no Florida taxes and have no business presence in the state other than through their distributors and retailers. And those retailers are the ones getting screwed over here, along with the taxpayers who foot the bill for the police enforcing this law.
What a waste of tax dollars.
@Rhayader:
eBay/PayPal nees no help. They are on a neverending quest to prove just how utterly abusive a corporation can be to it's customers...evil.
Used video games are now pawn shop items? What about used videos?
This has to do with Gamestop's being turned into places to sell stolen games and consoles. It has started to become a real problem in Florida. The biggest tip-off is when they ask for cash when trading in a whole bunch of games.
@Canino: You are correct. If they are forcing Game Stop to do this what about someone selling their used games at a garage sale or local fleamarket? Someone is selling a used game and someone is buying one. How is that different than doing the same thing at Gamestop?
The reasons to not move to Florida just keep piling up.
@Rhayader: Take the used game model and apply it to used clothing stores. You take in clothes. The store offers you a price for them or agrees to consign them and give you your cut if it sells depending on how the store operates. Used goods being bought by a store. So are all used clothing places going to have to do the pawn shop privacy invasion too?
Guess the news hasnt spread. I trade-in 4 games 2 weeks ago and all they did was ask to see identification. I believe he was supposed to swipe it, but he just handed it back to me and said "Im not going to waste our time."
Whatever. Works for me.
If I am requested to be printed the next time I trade-in Ill respectfully decline and go to a different store.
@ShadowFalls: GameStop has been the place to take stolen goods to get cash for years. That's why they stopped taking DVDs for cash. When I worked there, every week like clockwork, we'd magically get perfectly copies of all the movies that just came out on DVD.
@Corporate_guy: Both of you have to be trolls. There's no legitimate reason to fingerprint minors here.
@rysar: Well it was supposed to be 'pokety poke poke' instead of the Python-esque 'nudge nudge' (say no more).
"Say you...you know why I pulled you over?"
"Yeah. You know why I ran the sign?"
You know this might have helped when my ex-girlfriends son was stealing my games and selling them to buy pot. Not that I have any problem with the pot per se, I just don't think 13 year olds should be smoking it. Kid sold his X-Box 360 too. Now, he's in rehab, hope he gets better.
Sweet, at least the cops are cracking down on the real problems out there.
Now not only are you expected to smile while you're completely raped for your trade-in, but you need to tell the government you've done so. If I walked into a store to sell an old Xbox game and a guy broke out a freaking fingerprint scanner, I would laugh in his face and never go back there again.