Last thread was comfy but I only lurked in it, so I'll make one more. Don't expect this to become a general.

What's your experience with CeX? I don't know what it's like in the UK, but in Australia it's a mixed bag. Software is surprisingly cheap and you can get some pretty desirable games in the $20-50 price range. However, you can just as easily end up with a heavily scratched up disc.

As for hardware, only buy from CeX as a last resort: their controllers are mushy, drifty, brittle, and several buttons may not work. They don't properly test their stuff and their return policy is absolute garbage too because they only refund you with store credit (which is illegal here, lol). Consoles are also ridiculously expensive at CeX; do not buy.

Their inventory infrastructure is kinda bad too since I made a pickup order online, but once I got to the actual store they didn't have the component cables I wanted. I guess God is telling me that composite is the one true path, and I'm inclined to agree.

To be honest, I made this thread solely to vocalise how much I want to bang the goth chick working at my local CeX. Can a dashing young zoomer lad like me woo this washed up millennial and give her an escape from the harrowing realisation she peaked in 2008?

Long running joke in the UK that these stores stink of cum, if there's any other disgusting detail I can attribute to them, it's dead skin cells. I think I got a couple of DVDs and games from there years ago, but I've probably long thrown those out. People mostly have stories about the staff and the clientele. Me and my wife refer to people of a certain look as "CEX people" though they're mostly harmless.

>Spoiler
You read like you're 34.

>>11786324
>stink of cum
Some of their controllers were covered in gunk that even a superficial wipe could've eliminated. I strongly discourage picking up hardware from CeX.
>You read like you're 34.
Does that mean I've got a chance with her?

>>11786302 (OP)
I’m from the UK so I’ve been to a few. Good (and only) place to find PS2 games that aren’t sports games. They triple the prices on retro stuff the moment a new game in a series is announced though so they’re just scalpers with a storefront.

Having been the millennial goth working a retail job, I can tell you that we’re far too dissociated to think about banging.

>>11786364
>we’re far too dissociated to think about banging.
That's fine, I'd never want short-term things myself. I really at the end of the day want to share a smoke and chillax.

>>11786324
>CEX people
Can confirm that's a thing outside the UK. No cum stink in my local store thankfully, but the music is loud and terrible. I'd go insane if I had to listen to nu-metal on max volume for a whole shift if I worked there, but then again the store employees more often than not also look like "CEX people"...
Some of them seem interesting though, always make me wonder about their life stories. One time I visited the store during lunch to pick up Virtua Fighter 5 for the PS3 and a comely MILF was working the register instead of the usual awkward students working part-time. I also used to find a really cute girl with greasy dyed hair and shitty anime shirts working there but sadly she hasn't been around lately. Other than one long-haired, balding cranky guy who always looks tired, people don't seem to last long at that job.

>>11786302 (OP)
>Software is surprisingly cheap and you can get some pretty desirable games in the $20-50 price range
That's probably because no one wants PAL versions of these games anyway

>>11786985
Wait til you find out why the software is cheap...

>>11787032

>>11786302 (OP)
i never purchase anything from that retailer because the prices rip you off and their products are usually in a terrible state or outright gross.
>t. made the mistake a few yrs ago of purchasing a transparent dualshock controller only to find out it had dog bite marks later

>>11788167
kek

I've just seen that they'll buy my complete heart gold box for £145. That's tempting considering I have the ROM and hacked DSi/ 3DS.

>>11788142
You can return stuff that doesn't work, up to a period of 3 years or something which is insane. You can return things up to two days after purchase for any reason. You can also ask to look at the disc before purchasing.

>>11786395
besides managers, the team is basically all casuals, so if they piss off the scheduler, chances are they get no shifts.

>>11788430
OP's window to romance the goth chick is fraught!

>>11786324
I've only seen one of these in the US. There used to be one open in a mall near where I went to college. Didn't smell like cum, but it definitely had a scent in it. Neat store though, I got some of the later Guitar Hero games there for cheap before it closed.

I haven't bought anything there in years, think the last thing was the Sonic OVA on DVD, but that's more due to me having everything I want. I do find a lot of the stuff they have is in poor condition though, but it's worth it for the odd chance of finding a gem.

>>11786302 (OP)
They are alright, got some dvds and games from there, non-retro but they put the wrong version of RE8 in the case, was supposed to be the gold edition but they put in the normal, also messed up the dvds in the cases a few times but they are otherwise alright, the staff tend to be slow/disapper when you need them

>>11789437
Somebody in the last thread said they got a Vice City Stories disc when they bought Vice City lol

My local CEX closed unexpectedly, turned out one of the staff was heavily embezzling from the store lol

>>11790137
Tell us what happened lad

>>11786302 (OP)
This one time after a few months of unemployment I literally lived off of selling my old N64 games to CEX. Would basically go to CEX, trade a few cartridges for about £10, then go to the Tesco opposite and buy discounted lamb liver
>>11786324
>CEX people
the people who work at my local one are dysgenic as FUCK, there's this guy with a huge forehead, some girl with her eyes really far apart and a guy who I swear is a tranny but just doesn't put much effort into it

>>11786302 (OP)
i was at a cex in a small town just outside my city and it was real comfy. no smelly goth teenagers and the staff were nice. picked up a bunch of good condition games at pretty reasonable price. one thing I hate about cex is they charge 3 pound per item you order online instead of having one delivery fee for the whole order.

>>11789437
Noice I got Doa5 for 5 bucks but twas 5ltimate

>>11788142
All the CEXs near my have disc resurfacing machines. One of the few benefits of buying from them is you can ask to have it resurfaced on the spot. I asked once could I pay to have games j hadn't bought from here resurfaced, they said no.

So I came in the next day with a bunch of games I hadn't bought from there, said I did, and had them resurfaced lmao

>>11790620
did you have any issues with the disc resurfacing? ive heard some nightmare stories

>>11790643
Not that anon but I tried buying FF XIII from a cex once and they said disc 1 was super scratched, used the resurfacer and straight up told me "hey, it's too far gone, I can't guarantee this game will work, in good conscience we can't sell it to you".

>>11790620
Is this the UK or Australia? I should go take a few discs for service.

They seem to hire trannies exclusively.

It's where they want you to buy this obscure game sold in every CeX for 130 pounds because somehow they made so many copies of this game with no takers as it was a late release for the PS2 too.

>>11786302 (OP)
Worth a look on the off chance they are selling something for cheap but a lot of it is overpriced. Usually my go to if I am doing a laptop memory upgrade since the sticks are so cheap now and so are the HDDs if it's needing replaced too.

>>11786302 (OP)
Fuck man, i was about to pop in to one in liverpool and pick up some ps3 games. Should i just use my regular out of state stores?

>>11792072
I picked up some Triple games from there the other day and they were in great condition. PS3 games are dirt cheap at CeX, though with how easy it is to pirate on PS3 I'd only pick up a physical copy if it's a game doesn't need to install to the HDD since that's just convenient.

Fuck me JSRF is 38 quid on the UK site meanwhile it's at minimum $100 on the Australian site (£48.3)

Bump

>>11792072
Salute to Liverpool but I've never heard an Englishman say "out of state". I love Americans.

I've ordered from CEX a few times and every time the stuff has been broken or just junk, like broken controllers with bust buttons, no power supply, game not in case. Do not order off their website, each time I got tempted I got a broken piece of shit and a headache, or an order where half of what I wanted turned out to be actually unavailable and I get two broken things. All their reviews on trustpilot are fake or paid for with promotionnal incentives. In person you have to be careful too, 1/2 the time they won't have the game in stock even if it is listed on their site, will put the wrong game or the wrong number of disks in the box etc. Ttat being said they are defnitely better than 'retro' gamestores where I am where prices are simply gouging and that the staff are genuinely shit. CEX is also going to work out cheaper than ebay etc so I'm glad they are around and always try and be nice to the people working there, I get it, its a low paying retail job that involved the public.. I think they make most of their money reselling phones junkies steal though, games is a very secondary part of their business at this point. I'll probably keep buying from them as long as they don't employ Indian hinsus or Pakistani Moslims because no one wants to deal with that level of scamming lying shitbag as opposed to just underpaid demoralised probably harmless people.

I have bought a CPU in person that was dead, a joystick by mail order that was dead, a steering wheel that was broken. Harware wise 0/10. You can get a lot of cheap games i person and its fund looking to see what is theer but you have to check they have the right game or number of disks and don;t travel to pick onne up as the stock is nearly always wrong on the weebsite and can't be trusted. Some of the staff are obviously very hardworking and nice people who are carrying utter bums who's morale has collapsed and just hate anyone who walks into one. Software 7/10

>>11792072
Ooer

I've bought used games there several times in the UK, they've all been fine. There's literally always some alt-girl/e-goth working there alongside some pimply bald/long haired dork, but they're usually half my age and it makes me feel weird to be buying games when the shit I overhear them talking about makes me feel ancient. They also invariably sound dumb AF.

>>11794449
God I love alt girls

>>11794449
If you present it confidently, they will be subconsciously attracted to you not giving a fuck about their zoomer babble/gossip (assuming you are in a retro games store at least, just to keep it on topic). Especially if the girl working at the retro games store has daddy issues, it is somewhat attractive to them for you to be "above" it (to a degree)
Just embrace it brother, being 30+ and single is purgatory if you confine yourself to 30+ years old single women (who work at retro game stores)

>>11794752
What if you're a guy in your 20's who wants 30+yo single women who work at retro game stores?

Why are CEXs so stuffy?

Last time I went to CEX (in my country) it was 2019.

In my area there are 3 major cities with 100.000-200.000 inhabitants.
The medium one, has the "local CEX" withe the best games and best deals. "BIG city" CEX are the worst ones.

I get really cheap PS2 and xbox360 games every week.

>>11794287
There's only so much they can test. But they are good for returning stuff, had a faulty CPU but lost the receipt but they tracked the serial number and accepted it anyway.

They really are in the UK the only place guaranteed for retro games. Some Cash Converters do them if you're lucky but it seems to be depending on the store. Charity shops are hit and miss, depends on if they take electronics or not. The mainstream game stores eventually stopped caring about retro games and no doubt that resulted in a lot of people throwing carts out, hence the bumped up ridiculous pricing in CeX. I am not paying £80 for a fucking PS2. Nearly bought a fat one in a charity shop for £30 but it had gone the next time I was in.

Honestly regret not raiding shops for SEGA and PS1/2 stuff back in the day.

Also fun fact - CeX will not take in games without a PEGI rating. Saw someone try to trade in some USK (German) rated games and were told they couldn't be traded in.

>>11796791
Really depends on who has the franchise. Some go out their way to get in stuff that people really want, others just half-ass them with slop.

>>11786302 (OP)
>but in Australia it's a mixed bag
I haven't bought stuff from CEX in years but it used to be really good for certain things. For instance; I bought a couple Namco G-Con 2 Light Guns for my PS2 in May 2019 for $12 AUD each, and now in 2025 they're selling them for $60 AUD each.

>>11790137
>>11790513
Is that the CEX in Gunghalin, ACT? I remember going there once a week or so and then it just closed down out of nowhere. Apparently the manager was diverting the cost of returned items into his own personal bank account. He stole $58 grand before he got busted.

>>11786302 (OP)
CeX was great until the scamdemic. They got in on all the scalping going on and made it their new business model. The only way you can get anything for a decent price now is if it's something nobody cares about yet. For any retro stuff they just take their prices from Ebay and then mark it up further to cover the warranty.

>>11797254
They were shit before the pandemic too, I honestly don't think much has changed.

>>11797983
Yeah I can recall people commenting on the price of things before 2020.

>>11796796
Yeah used stores don't deal with imports, you could only get those from specialised shops.

>>11797990
>>11796796
Why the hell not? They're PAL copies and will work just fine. As long as they're in English I don't see the issue.

>>11797992
Because they don't, they didn't retail here.

**sex**

Wot if yeah? We opened a computah shop roight? And it was called Sex, haha woudln't that be funny mate

>>11798004
In Australia CeX sells tons of games without ACB ratings. On one of them here they just poorly slapped an ACB sticker on top lol.

>>11797237
That's the one. Had some DS games I was interested in, then just shut one day. RIP $2 DVDs

>>11796796
I get your point
but
>CeX will not take in games without a PEGI rating
Is not technically true as they will take ELSPA rated games. Most common on pre-2003 PC and PSX that were rated before PEGI

>>11798012
That was kind of the joke with their advertising.

I didn't know CeX existed outside the UK but found this from the first one opened in Australia which is a time capsule of CeX workers fashion circa 2012. Especially the poor bloke tagged gayboy

I didn't know CeX existed outside the UK but found this from the first one opened in Australia which is a time capsule of CeX workers fashion circa 2012. Especially the poor bloke tagged gayboy

>>11798040
The funny thing is that kid is probably hung.

>>11796796
>>11797990
I have sold hundreds of items to CeX over the years ranging from SNES, N64, PSX, PS2, PS3 Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, PC, PC components, DVDs, CD's, Blu-Rays and I have been told by several staff members that I have a flag against my seller account for both selling them a foreign game and a bootleg DVD. I can't even imagine what it was but evidently it was something I hadn't noticed in a stack of things I was flogging and the poor overworked geek in charge of checking everything didn't notice. I guess it's something they are angry about losing money on. They should just amend their policy and sell import games.

>>11798047
I wonder why CeX abjectly do not give a fuck about imports in Australia

>>11794269
american here.
ive neber heard the phrase "out of state stores"

Here in Spain we used to had: Cashconverters, Rebuy and CEX in big cities, small cities have similar shop but in lesse magnitude.

>>11798157
I hear Americans talking about things bring "out of state" all the time

>>11798021
Maybe Australia is more relaxed about it as long as it's not a banned game?

>>11786302 (OP)
Is it company policy that all Cex stores need to have at least one token alt/trans girl?

>>11800289
I want to rescue her from the harrowing realisation she peaked in 2008 (she's actually at her peak now <3)

>>11800289
It's called DEI.

>>11800289
>2007
holy shit though, i'm not even 30 and this clip makes me feel like my ashes could be used as fossil fuel

>>11790643
It's worked for me but my store just buffs it out. Is CEX like gamestop?

ex londonite here, cex circa 98 felt like a underground twilight zone. i think they just had 2 shops then. not a single normie in sight ever, cool staff and alternative music.
we used to run a scam where we got cheap games from virgin/hmv and resold sealed boxes to cex lol

>>11798024
Nigga went to jail for like 18-months because of it. The weird thing is it happened in mid-2018, but he didn't actually have go to court until more than two years later in late-2020. I know a chick in real-life who had to go to jail for a couple months (while she was pregnant) for stealing $8 grand from her employer. It's just not worth all the bullshit the lawyers, police and magistrates will put you through.

>>11798040
I can tell that's Western Sydney just from the woman in the background wearing a hijab.

>>11801676
Fuck me they had those cunts in 2012 alone? I thought it only got bad in the last 5 years.

>>11801881
I'm a Queenslander but I was under the impression that Sydney has been a caliphate since the 90's.

>>11801667
Stealing from your boss is hectic she's a fucking hero

>>11800548
>we used to run a scam where we got cheap games from virgin/hmv and resold sealed boxes to cex lol
Cushy!

>>11786302 (OP)
It's been over a week anon. Have you made your move on your goth millennial crush?

>

>>11804083
True

>>11801676
>>11801881
>>11801886
Except it's white and you can see from her feet that she's white too, so she's probably a Coptic Christian. Lots of them around Western Sydney. One of them once called me a poofcunt for not braking fast enough when she came out in the road. Told her god's a fag then tore off.

>>11786302 (OP)
went to one yesterday, hd allits gamecube games behind glass and it was selling rule of rose for like £290 but you can find some decentdeals on modernish/sometimes older games