Retro Games rising in price. How much is too much?

[Gypsy]

There are lots of undesirable old rares. They are pretty hard to sell. As someone who sells a lot I have a pretty good grip on what moves quickly and what doesn't. But of course like you said there are lots of resellers that can't tell the difference because they aren't actually gamers. Every game needs to be pushed up in price! Max profit!

I don't know that we will ever see the good old games drop back down in price much. It's unfortunate because I'd like to get all the WD turbo games at some point. With some of my recent sales I'm definitely getting Sega Ages and Thunder Force V to fill out my post turbo set, but the trick with those is waiting for a decent listing to pop up. I will not pay more than $100 for Sega Ages CIB so it may take some time to get...

[Fabrizo1]

I wonder, does anyone here make their primary income from buying/selling things through ebay/amazon?

[VychoVor]

Yeah, I was more or less talking of games as a whole. There's certainly going to be those handful of titles per system that just won't ever be the same price again. I can imagine them not being as inflated, but a doubt anyone nowadays will get them anywhere near even the original MSRP ー'cept in the wild (have fun! ergh...).

Pricing games just based on age isn't going to last forever. And you only have a better chance at it if you follow the trends. People that are sellers before they're gamers won't know the difference, that's true. Pricing LE high right off the bat is just silly, when gamers are more aware of a market now and ordered their copy when they had the chance if they could.

I knew someone who was looking to get their own copy of Tail Concerto. There was always the option of loaning it off, so she was never in a hurry to. When Solatorobo was announced for US release, I had told her that she better pick it up now, because it was going to raise in price. Didn't listen, and she literally had the price to pay. Thankfully, it was only when it was up double. Next time you listen.

A good thing to do with some games, is to purposely misspell them on the off chance there's an unnoticed listing of it for cheaper, too.

[ErickRPG]

I try to buy only from collector's on ebay, not resellers. You can generally tell by either them saying they owned it and didn't play much, and also how gemmy mint the game looks like. It's a game of patience but I'd rather buy a game from a single owner, well cared for game. Instead of a flea market or garage sale pick up. One of my recent games was King's Field II and I got it for $25 including shipping. It looks like it was barely touched.

[storino03]

Tail Concerto was a great game. I remember buying it for $20 new from Media Play.

[Gypsy]

Yeah, I was more or less talking of games as a whole. There's certainly going to be those handful of titles per system that just won't ever be the same price again. I can imagine them not being as inflated, but a doubt anyone nowadays will get them anywhere near even the original MSRP ー'cept in the wild (have fun! ergh...).

Pricing games just based on age isn't going to last forever. And you only have a better chance at it if you follow the trends. People that are sellers before they're gamers won't know the difference, that's true. Pricing LE high right off the bat is just silly, when gamers are more aware of a market now and ordered their copy when they had the chance if they could.

I knew someone who was looking to get their own copy of Tail Concerto. There was always the option of loaning it off, so she was never in a hurry to. When Solatorobo was announced for US release, I had told her that she better pick it up now, because it was going to raise in price. Didn't listen, and she literally had the price to pay. Thankfully, it was only when it was up double. Next time you listen.

A good thing to do with some games, is to purposely misspell them on the off chance there's an unnoticed listing of it for cheaper, too.

Yeah I know what you were talking about, I just wanted to cover undesirable old games and the stuff that is truly desirable (the stuff I have a hard time seeing go back down). I will definitely agree it has gotten out of hand and the Saturn is a fine example. In a big lot I got recently most of the games are pure crap and almost none of them sell for less than $10 except sports and what have you. At some point that part of the bubble has to pop, one would think.

Funny you should mention Tail Concerto. That game has always been rare and difficult to find. It's a game that if I had wanted it I would have shelled out for it a long time ago, because I recognized its rarity. It's also one I would have bought any number of in the wild, but I've never seen it outside of a store setting. I am of the belief that you should just about never pay market value for common games.

Personally I've never really had any luck with the misspelled listing thing. I've even got more deals by lurking on Amazon and getting lucky on cheap listings (half price Silhouette Mirage for instance) but I have heard of people having success with that.

I'd really rather not even get into the people reselling new LEs...I really want that to stop but there are too many weak willed buyers. Of course increased production could curtail it a bit (these sellers are still artificially increasing demand) but at some point they would make too many. Maybe that is what needs to happen...

Oh and welcome back to the forum, hadn't seen you in awhile.

[almighty]

They're just seeing how much they can push the prices of this stuff. No sooner than a LE gets sold out, there's already people overshooting the original price $20~30 within the following week. Merchants know there's a profit to be made now. Though, many older collectors are just evening out their collections and they make up the majority, especially concerning the even older systems.

Another thing is that originally, barely anyone figured that some titles or consoles would gain any significant value overtime or were just dumb kids at the time who threw away their boxes/manuals and whatever else gave them higher value today. That was before most gamers were aware that there might be a growing market behind gaming, or were too young and/or rented titles alot, when you just sort of guessed (if you weren't just buying strictly for playing). That's not the case now.

But I doubt it'll last long and the market shifts depending on what's trending at the time. Collectors eventually learn when to sit on a deal and when to take it.

I think one of the things that annoy me the most is when sellers will pawn off average at best or mediocre games at an incredibly premium price for no other reason except its age. The game is awful. No.

E.T. for 2600 comes to mind as a prime example of this, and look at the reputation it's gotten for being one of the worst games ever made. And yet it got a whole movie made dedicated to it. Not bad for being at the bottom of the heap (literally).

[storino03]

I got a documentary because of the urban legend surrounding it on whether they were buried or not (they were). Just because games are bad or horrible doesn't mean they should be free.

[Lord of Pirates]

Nonsense. Garbage games should be worth next to nothing as is befitting their crap level.

[storino03]

With bad games come cult favs!