For you personally it may have always been about the money, but having been a collector since 1989, I can honestly say the whole flipping/reselling thing is a relatively new phenomenon, at least in the scale and scope it's happening today and it's still not where most collectors are operating. For most of the 90s and even into the 2000s, there were a number of good on-line small retailers selling old games at reasonable prices, plenty of Ebay auctions that were actual auctions and plenty of collectors who traded or sold stuff at or below cost whenever they met up at various local gatherings or CGE and other regional conventions. I know I have given away thousands of dollars in duplicate games and consoles over the years to new collectors and I know many other collectors have done the same thing. In short, collecting was always a community first and the whole money thing was completely secondary. Similarly, the vast majority of people collecting prototypes and other rare items in the 90s were not doing it for the money. They did it to preserve the games and to build interesting and unique collections. Heck, if everyone was doing it for the money, there would be no museum at CGE or large holdings of rare Atari items like Curt Vendel's collection.

With the rise of NES collecting and grading, the whole flipper/reseller thing has reached alarming proportions. For me personally, it troubles me that these resellers are contributing nothing to the collecting community, using tips and resources from collectors to profit and essentially sitting on Ebay to grab stuff only to have it graded and re-sell it a month or two later at several times the original price. There is no real work going into the process, it's not like these people are going out and searching swap meets or thrifts or scouring distributor warehouses for the stuff, they are simply snagging games before other non-flipper/reseller collectors can purchase them on Ebay and marking up the prices to absrud levels.

I guess my major trouble with all of this is that there seems to be a lack of outrage against these resellers. I have no problem with people selling their excess or even buying lots and breaking it up, removing what they need for their own collection. I do have an issue with people doing the perpetual Ebay flipping and justifying it by saying it supports their collection. Those resellers hurt other collectors by taking away their opporunity to grow their collections at reasonable prices. That should not be commended or accepted. Similarly, these resellers shouldn't be allowed to have free access to the knowledge and advice of collectors who really do care about the games and want to help other members of the community to grow their collections and not profit financially.

I've collected many things over the years and I am very confident that at some point in the near future, the bubble will burst and the resellers will move on like they always do. Until then, there are plenty of collectors out there who care about the games first and preserving history and who will continue to operate in the spirit of the old days of video game collecting.

Quote Originally Posted by Buyatari View Post
I've been collecting since the 90's and it is always been about the money.

When DreamTr tracked down every NWC cartridge he could find.
When the race was on to track down every former (Atari,Coleco,Vectrex,etc) company employee before the next guy.
When Atari guys fought for prototypes just so they could be the one to re-release them in qty of 250 at $50 each.
It was always about the money.

Collectors pick which systems to collect not based on what they enjoy or had as a kid but what everyone else is collecting. What is hot and what is not. The N64 is the best example of this. The N64 was the worst of the generation but it is Nintendo and has Mario and Zelda and many guys who never touched the system when it was available collect or resell for it today. I know a long time local collector who has never played a single game of Mario on any system. He played Doom and then Halo and COD but for right now at least Nintendo is where the money is.

Bragging rights and reselling have always been a big part of this hobby and cash as they say is king. I remember the first time I saw a Atari game rarity list. Instantly in that moment it hit me that videogames were the next big hobby. If you got in early and bought the right stuff you could name your price. Last month I unloaded hundreds of new Atarisoft titles which I horded for 10+ years for $1.50 each to another local just to make room in the house. As you may have guessed not everything I expected to appreciate in value has but somethings have way beyond my expectations. Had I been BuyNintendo instead of BuyAtari I'm sure I'd be able to retire right now.

I like videogames but I can't pay the rent with them nor can I feed my family with them without converting them into cash. When long time collectors find themsleves in a rut they sell off the games they collected. In a way for some it is a part of growing up and setting priorities. It is selfish to keep a game that is now worth 10k when your family could use a new car?

The only difference today is that the money is bigger which happens in time with all hobbies that do not fade away and the transactions are more public. In the past many high dollar sales were private and not made public but now that they have become more obvious I can tell you that they have always been there and that money has been a factor for as long as I have been collecting.

That doesn't mean is has to be the hobby for you. You can just collect what you enjoy and there is plenty out there which is cheap.