Retail Revenge

Dan Benge was tired of seeing retail stores charge too much for their computer games.

He works as a database programmer for a geographic imaging software company in Atlanta, Georgia, and calls himself an avid gamer. A stint working at a Super Software store that prided itself on offering the lowest price on its titles taught him the value of comparison shopping. The manager of Super Software would even send Benge and his coworkers out on "spy trips" to other retailers, just to ensure that Super Software had the lowest price. Benge no longer works at that store, but on most Fridays, he still goes out on excursions to his local retailers to see what new games have arrived. And he'll also do some pricing comparison, checking out which store is offering the best price on which titles and comparing those retail prices against the manufacturer's suggested retail price.

What he's been seeing hasn't been making him happy. Too many retailers - and online software stores - are pricing their titles unreasonably high. And in Benge's opinion, that's damaging to the entire industry.

"A good example is when a company like Hasbro has intentionally set a US$19.95 price point on something like Sorry!, and some retailer adds $10 to that," Benge says. "They are destroying Hasbro's pricing philosophy. What's the point of publishers trying to create value-added titles if retailers are just going to up the prices?

"I walk into a place like Software Etc. and see these $60 price tags for a new game, and I feel personally offended. There is competition all around, and yet they still have the nerve to go over the MSRP and try to push it on me. Unfortunately, the reason they can get away with it is that their demographic is generally parents and relatives who have no idea what they should be paying for a computer game."

And so, out of Benge's frustration was born his Retail Rape web site, a place where he can vent his frustrations and point out where gamers can find the best price for the games they want, and which stores are ripping people off.

"We needed a place to show the average Joe, as well as hard-core gamers, just how much they are being overcharged," Benge says.

"The site's intention is not to piss off the retailers or get even. It's really in the spirit of protecting our favorite hobby: computer gaming. I love this industry, and I hate to see it being exploited by some executive in a monkey suit who thinks he can price a title over the MSRP and get away with it. It ticks me off that a great title is being so overpriced that more people won't enjoy it."

Benge plans to post his price comparisons on a weekly basis, indicating the prices he found for specific titles at specific retailers as well as those titles' MSRPs. He's also posting a "Retail Rape of the Week," ranting against what he feels is the most egregious instance of overpricing he has seen that week. But he'll be pointing out the good deals, too, he says.

"One of my goals is to have a lot of reader interaction," he says. "I want others to get as mad as I have and to have a place to blow off some steam. Kind of a public bulletin board, where we can share our finds, both good and bad.

"I want to make the consumer aware. I'd love to go into CompUSA and hear a woman tell the clerk that she knows what the real price is of a specific title, and see his reaction. I know I'm not the only one with this gripe, so I'm hoping that others will come out and voice their opinions on this subject."