VGA question

[GameBoyGeek]

Ok so I was reading a while back where someone wanted to know if they should slab one of their MIB games for....whatever system. From what I have read and a have been told it's basiclly a scam to do this. People where saying that because of how well they incase the game that there is no way to tell weather or not the original game is even in the box to begin with due to the people at the company gutting the box and replacing it with something substantially less valuable.


My question is, has anyone ever had something slabbed and not tryed to get it open? I mean if these accusations are true and this company is a load of bs then why not catch them doing something that well pretty much should be illegal?

Would it not be worth it just to bust them on it? Or to prove that they are legit? I mean because think about it, if they are legit and you arnt going to ever open said game and play it then its a good Idea IF it weren't so expensive and again it could be proven that they are legit, though I have my doubts. I'm not defending them at all in anyway and I might be wrong someone may have already done this but I dunno I just thought it was worth asking. Thoughts on this?

[TonyTheTiger]

The company is a load of BS but not because you don't know what game is inside or because they're actively stealing.

Sure, technically that could happen but if you buy sealed games on the secondary market you run the risk of somebody with really great seal replication screwing you over regardless of whether VGA is involved or not. But if this person is capable of doing such flawless reseals so that nobody can tell the difference then, philosophically speaking, it doesn't matter what's actually inside since any potential buyer/seller will believe it's an original factory seal and will value it as such. And since this is probably an extremely rare situation it's not worth worrying about.

The real reason VGA is a load of BS is because of how they're trying to get a stranglehold over the market while providing virtually nothing as a service beyond a plastic display case with a fancy sticker.

I wrote this in another thread:


I don't think I have any right to judge people for how much they charge for their items nor how much they spend on their hobbies unless it somehow interferes with their own well being or the well being of people around them.

If somebody wants to put a sealed copy of Super Mario 64 up on Ebay with a Buy-It-Now of $15,000 then so be it. Market forces will dictate what a fair price is. Likewise, if somebody with too much money to burn pays $15,000 for it then so be it. That's his choice.

What bothers me is when these two forces come together in what is essentially collusion and price fixing.

You get a service like VGA. If the market works as it should then if VGA's service is worthwhile it'll succeed and competitors will try to do the same thing. Competition will drive quality up, drive costs down, and everybody wins. If VGA's service is not worthwhile then it'll crash and burn and that will be the end of it.

But what happens if these high priced deals are set up to give the impression that the reason these sealed games are worth so much is because they have that VGA goodness? It would basically be a tactic to convince the world that without the VGA rating, your item is less valuable.

This kills two birds with one stone:

First, it gets everybody to pay the entry fee to get their item slabbed so VGA is making money hand over foot that way. After all, without the slabbing they'll never get those prices that they see without realizing they were fixed from the start. Likewise, buyers will figure that a slabbed game actually is worth the asking price so they'll buy into it, too.

Second, it eliminates the possibility of competition because what you established is that it's the VGA slabbing that matters, not just any slabbing. So you kill off potential competition before it starts.

Then once enough people get sucked in you can stop price fixing because enough time will pass that even if the prices go down nobody will attribute it to the slabbing being worthless. They'll just think "general market forces at work" and "well, if it wasn't slabbed it would just be worth even less." Then people actually start believing it to the point where games that aren't slabbed actually do go for less which creates a perpetual cycle.

Not a bad business model, right? You basically trick the world into thinking that not only is your service indispensable, but your company is the sole provider worth a damn.

While not being quite the same, it's similar to what the Mafia does when it invades the construction industry.


I have no problem with resellers. If somebody can flip a purchase to make some dough then more power to them. Market forces will dictate whether or not they can pull it off.

I do have a problem with collusion, price fixing, and market manipulation.

Part of me wants to send in something to be graded, get it back, crack open the slab, resubmit it, and see if it comes back with a different rating. Because, frankly, I'm convinced the "service" VGA provides is mostly common sense. People can generally tell with a naked eye an item's condition but the difference between an 80 and 85 is probably a good bit of bullshit. So what are people really paying for other than a pretty plastic case and a number that might be arbitrary to begin with?

Imagine if you show me a copy of Super Mario World in great condition. I know it's in great condition and everybody else does too. It's obvious. Now X number of people are willing to pay, say, $200 for it because of how great it is. Now imagine if I told you that your copy of Super Mario World is an 80 but that guy's there is an 85. You, nor any potential buyer, can tell the difference between the two. Then I tell you that your copy is now only worth $150 while his is worth the full $200. I also say that my word is law and you can't really argue about it since now people have that shiny number to look at rather than the product itself. If it says 80 on the package then that's what they'll use to determine value.

I'd bet you'd think me to be quite the asshat. After all, I'm telling you that your copy is worth less because of some flaw that nobody can see with a naked eye, a flaw that nobody will know exactly how to locate, mind you, since my specific methods are a trade secret that can't be duplicated for lack of disclosure.

:roll:

[GameBoyGeek]

Ah ok see that clears some things up for me. Thank you.

[badinsults]

Remember when game collecting was just about collecting games? VGA is basically just an authority about the quality of the plastic wrap of a new game, with their subjective view on what an "original" seal is. As it stands, sealed games are a pretty niche market, and I don't think VGA would even rate something without a seal (and if they did, I bet it would be graded very low).

[GameBoyGeek]

Probably so. I dont usualy buy sealed games but If I cant find one with the box that i am looking for and all i am able to find is a sealed game then I'll buy that and hope that I find another sealed one buy it if its a good price then open the worst condition of the two and keep the other one. Again this is ONLY if i find it at a good price.

I have like...5 copies of donky kong land 3 factory sealed and thought about sending one the be graded then going a head with opening it to prove or disprove.

[Clownzilla]

A better idea would be if they graded every part of a game set (cart, manual, box, inserts, etc.) and then slabbed it all in one big slab (like they do with comic books). In this state the buyer/seller would know that the actual game is there and not just a box of rocks. Another benefit is it would allow a TRUE grading not unlike the sports card grading business'. Box wear, corner sharpness, cart plastic wear, cart label wear, creases, etc. could all be factored into the final grade. This would put more confidence in the graded game market. Regardless, I always like to PLAY my games and a slab would obviously keep me from enjoying my hobby the way I like to enjoy it:)

[GameBoyGeek]

Yeah I think I like that system much better.