Well, I went to the mall the other day and sort of spontaneously decided to preorder Skyward Sword at the Gamestop there.  I paid for it, got my receipt, and the cashier said if I wasn't able to pick it up in the 48-hour window after release, I should call and tell them to hold onto it for me.

I didn't even think about it, but I'm going to be out of town for Thanksgiving break from the 18th to the 28th. 

So, it's 8 days after the release date (11/20) and 6 days after the 48-hour wait period. 

I'm just wondering how long they'll hold it for me?  I'm also sort of worried that it will get beat up or something, in the time that it takes me to get my hands on it.

That's why I will be waiting outside before they open that morning.


Not sure on how long they will hold it for. But if I were you, not matter what they told me I would pay it off 100% before, if you are not going to be there for almost a week. That way there should be less of a chance of a copy getting 'lost'. I know i've seen my store sort things by "paid off" and "$5 reserved" piles.

I believe they hold for 10 days, though each gamestop might be different. I know you can preorder at one gamestop, and ask them to move your pre-order to a different gamestop (before the game is released). There's like 8 gamestops in my area and they always ask me if I want to pre-order it there and have it ready for me at another location.

I might try that then Adam.

@Mog, I did pay it off all at once.

I don't think the game will be in too short of supply right away. Maybe closer to Christmas, who knows.

As for how long they hold pre-orders, it goes store to store. Policy is usually 7 days. As for being able to pre-order it at one and picking it up at another, that shouldn't work. Once you drop the money on it at one store, it stays at that store.

Now, how long they actually DO hold it depends on the store manager, or DM. When I was at a "major retail game store" we had the 7 day policy, but our boss told us to sell through our entire stock. It was BS. But in some cases they couldn't get more if they didn't sell out of what they had... which doesn't justify it.

Can't you preorder something and have them ship it so it gets to you that day? Try to ship it to your house, unless it's not get put in a mail slot that's secure or something like that.

As far as I know if you have a hold on a game they have to hold it, mind you if it's only a $5 deposit there is a window on it, but if you have paid outright it is yours. If you're gone then pay it off before hand, and if it's not there when you get back then they illegally sold off what you paid for and owned. If you go the preorder route they can just say you have a hold, but not a guaranteed hold for X date as shady as that is as I've seen them do that crap time and again over the years.

Unless the 5 gamestops in my area (in 4 towns) are owned by the same person, which I doubt, I don't see why this wouldn't make a difference. Everything goes through their main hq anyway, so the $$ is still going to where it needs to.

Policy is 48 hours, but if you call your local store they should work with you if you need longer.

It doesn't all go to their HQ. The only time it does is for backing up and if you load it on to a gift card or your "power up" rewards card. Pre-orders are per store, though. How easy would it be to drop a load of credit on to an account with a trade and then have someone steal it at another store? And a lot of people are pretty dumb, or don't want to have their personal information in a computer, so they use someone else's account, often times someone who doesn't come in often (or at all).

Well then if that's the case then the Gamestop 'hold' for preorder is nothing but another one of their lies to sucker people into a false sense of security. I knew people who worked there years back (decade ago) and then I was told if you paid the $5 it's a soft hold, but if you put up the full amount while you can't have the item early it is considered sold and will be yours when you arrive. If that was wrong, or was right then and is wrong now, that's just sad and should be legally banned from being done as it's criminal misrepresentation.

I'm not entirely sure of the legality of it, all I know is that a hold is only as good as the person holding it.

Maybe you could cancel with Gamestop and pre-order from Amazon? You could ship it to a friend's house so they can hold it for you if you're afraid of people getting into your mail.

whats with all the typing? When i worked there it was 48 hours