It boggles my mind how stubborn some game retailers are!!

[duffmanth]

There are a few local indy game stores in my area that I've been periodically going into for a few years now, and it amazes me how long they're willing to sit on the same inventory and not budge on the prices at all. I would say that at least 50%-75% of these stores' inventory is the same shit that has been sitting in the same place for probably 2-3 years now. I've gone into these places here and there over the last few years and have made what I think are reasonable offers for certain games (maybe asking them if they will knock $10-20 off a game) and they won't budge on anything. Has anyone gone into game stores like this?

[Swamperon]

Yep! I visit them just in case something special turns up or goes underpriced but generally it's the same stuff week in, week out. They never reduce the prices or have sales on... no wonder they often go out of business!

[duffmanth]

These places never have sales. I think the only reason they're still in business is because they're in a big city where too many people have more money than brains. The only game I've ever been able to get them to drop the price on was a new and sealed black label God of War 2. The greedy pricks wanted something like $50 for it and I offered them $30 and they very reluctantly took it. This was only about a year ago.

[JSoup]

It's a two way street for them.

If they budge, people will notice and just stop buying until the price drops.
If they don't budge, they risk losing large amounts of potential business to other businesses that dropped prices.

Either way, they get screwed.

[Emperor Megas]

I see the same thing all of the time.

I can understand why they don't want to budge on certain vintage titles, but I think that they should consider having sales every now and then, or perhaps offer some sort of rewards program to help move some of the pricier titles that just hibernate on their shelves. Offering BOGO deals helps everyone, too. They could get you to bite and move the pricier titles by offering you discounted or free lesser titles that they don't make that much off of anyway. I think mixing things up is a good way to get people to move on things that they'd otherwise sleep on.

At least most comic book stores will usually work with you to move product. I feel like independent specialty stores should be about more than just turning a high profit. I mean, they could be doing anyone else, but they chose to deal in what they do (in this case selling classic video games). Sometimes I'll take a little less profit on something (be it a comic, video game, poster...whatever.) if I know that it's going to a fan. I'd like to see shop owners take that attitude, too, though I understand they still need to make money.

With that said:


I've gone into these places here and there over the last few years and have made what I think are reasonable offers for certain games (maybe asking them if they will knock $10-20 off a game)Depending what games you're talking about, that can be quite a bit you're asking them to knock off.

[Bojay1997]

I see the same thing all of the time.

I can understand why they don't want to budge on certain vintage titles, but I think that they should consider having sales every now and then, or perhaps offer some sort of rewards program to help move some of the pricier titles that just hibernate on their shelves. Offering BOGO deals helps everyone, too. They could get you to bite and move the pricier titles by offering you discounted or free lesser titles that they don't make that much off of anyway. I think mixing things up is a good way to get people to move on things that they'd otherwise sleep on.

At least most comic book stores will usually work with you to move product. I feel like independent specialty stores should be about more than just turning a high profit. I mean, they could be doing anyone else, but they chose to deal in what they do (in this case selling classic video games). Sometimes I'll take a little less profit on something (be it a comic, video game, poster...whatever.) if I know that it's going to a fan. I'd like to see shop owners take that attitude, too, though I understand they still need to make money.

With that said:

Depending what games you're talking about, that can be quite a bit you're asking them to knock off.

Agreed. On used games, independent retailers have a lot more flexibility. On new games, they get screwed when they buy them, getting as low as a 15-20 percent margin or roughly $7-$10 on a $50 game, if that, and may not even get a credit with their distributor if there is a price drop. As such, selling for $10-$20 off is a huge loss.

[duffmanth]

I see the same thing all of the time.

I can understand why they don't want to budge on certain vintage titles, but I think that they should consider having sales every now and then, or perhaps offer some sort of rewards program to help move some of the pricier titles that just hibernate on their shelves. Offering BOGO deals helps everyone, too. They could get you to bite and move the pricier titles by offering you discounted or free lesser titles that they don't make that much off of anyway. I think mixing things up is a good way to get people to move on things that they'd otherwise sleep on.

At least most comic book stores will usually work with you to move product. I feel like independent specialty stores should be about more than just turning a high profit. I mean, they could be doing anyone else, but they chose to deal in what they do (in this case selling classic video games). Sometimes I'll take a little less profit on something (be it a comic, video game, poster...whatever.) if I know that it's going to a fan. I'd like to see shop owners take that attitude, too, though I understand they still need to make money.

With that said:

Depending what games you're talking about, that can be quite a bit you're asking them to knock off.

I'm talking about games that are generally $50+.

[understatement]

It's a two way street for them.

If they budge, people will notice and just stop buying until the price drops.
If they don't budge, they risk losing large amounts of potential business to other businesses that dropped prices.

Either way, they get screwed.



I don’t see how they get screwed if they drop their prices down to a reasonable level.

That’s only if they are gouging prices like the Play-N-Trade I go to.

All NES, all loose, and all $50 and up in price
Final Fantasy
MT Punch Out
Contra
Super C

So I tried to trade some of those titles in and they only give $5 ~$8 per game.
Oh, and Final Fantasy 7 they sell for $100 but only give $13 for it.



I see the same thing all of the time.

I can understand why they don't want to budge on certain vintage titles, but I think that they should consider having sales every now and then, or perhaps offer some sort of rewards program to help move some of the pricier titles that just hibernate on their shelves. Offering BOGO deals helps everyone, too. They could get you to bite and move the pricier titles by offering you discounted or free lesser titles that they don't make that much off of anyway. I think mixing things up is a good way to get people to move on things that they'd otherwise sleep on.

At least most comic book stores will usually work with you to move product. I feel like independent specialty stores should be about more than just turning a high profit. I mean, they could be doing anyone else, but they chose to deal in what they do (in this case selling classic video games). Sometimes I'll take a little less profit on something (be it a comic, video game, poster...whatever.) if I know that it's going to a fan. I'd like to see shop owners take that attitude, too, though I understand they still need to make money.

They have sales like buy 2 get 1 but with prices like this it doesn’t help move product.

[Bojay1997]

I'm talking about games that are generally $50+.

$20 off of a $50 game is 40% off. That's a very substantial discount for a store that may only have received a 15% margin to begin with and never got any distributor credit for the price drop. I suppose it might be worth it for them to just cut their losses, but I know a lot of local independent retailers around here have figured out that if they wait a while, "black label" copies regain some of their value and do eventually sell.

[crazyjackcsa]

I don’t see how they get screwed if they drop their prices down to a reasonable level.

That’s only if they are gouging prices like the Play-N-Trade I go to.

All NES, all loose, and all $50 and up in price
Final Fantasy
MT Punch Out
Contra
Super C

So I tried to trade some of those titles in and they only give $5 ~$8 per game.
Oh, and Final Fantasy 7 they sell for $100 but only give $13 for it.




They have sales like buy 2 get 1 but with prices like this it doesn’t help move product.

What you consider "reasonable" may very well be utterly UN resonable.

As was mentioned, margins are thin on new games, and if it's a trade in, and sits for a while, the loss could be huge.

It's interesting that you bring up the Trade in values. People asume that if you're selling a game at $100 the trade in should be much higher. However, that game has to pay for things like lights, salary, rent and the other costs associated with running the store.

It also has to pay for LOSSES on other game sales. Trade in value is low on lots of games and systems because the store knows that they damn well can't move them.

Have you ever seen the stock some of the stores have? An indepentant I go to on a monthly basis, has litterally hundreds of systems he can't move.Everything from Atari to the original XBOX and PS2. They get traded, and they sit. For years.

[understatement]

What you consider "resonable" may very well be utterly UN resonable.

As was mentioned, margins are thin on new games, and if it's a trade in, and sits for a while, the loss could be huge.

It's interesting that you bring up the Trade in values. People asume that if you're selling a game at $100 the trade in should be much higher. However, that game has to pay for things like lights, salary, rent and the other costs associated with running the store.

It also has to pay for LOSSES on other game sales. Trade in value is low on lots of games and systems because the store knows that they damn well can't move them.

Have you ever seen the stock some of the stores have? An indepentant I go to on a monthly basis, has litterally hundreds of systems he can't move.Everything from Atari to the original XBOX and PS2. They get traded, and they sit. For years.


But I’m not talking about new games I understand why they can’t come down on them

In this day and age with things like ebay you can’t expect to pay someone $5 for a NES Final Fantasy and sale it for 5x the going ebay price of $10~$15. I could understand FF at $20~$25 but $50 is not reasonable.

You act like if they bring the price down to or around the average going price they don’t make a profit that’s :bullshit:.

[Rickstilwell1]

The reason the local shop in my area doesn't drop prices very often is that his business specializes in card gaming. He has a contract with Wizards of the Coast and he gets funding from them to keep the place open to host tournaments and sell their products. All of the video game stuff he gets in are from people who are too lazy to put them on ebay, such as myself sometimes. A handful of 20 bad PS1 games that nobody likes? $5 store credit if I'm lucky but I'm all for clearing space and exchanging bad games for good games. While some stuff is priced well, other stuff he says sell quickly every time he gets them in, so he keeps the price at $20 for a game like Crash Team Racing original black label complete even if it's not all that rare.

It seems demand is more important than rarity in price reflection.

[duffmanth]

$20 off of a $50 game is 40% off. That's a very substantial discount for a store that may only have received a 15% margin to begin with and never got any distributor credit for the price drop. I suppose it might be worth it for them to just cut their losses, but I know a lot of local independent retailers around here have figured out that if they wait a while, "black label" copies regain some of their value and do eventually sell.

I'm talking about used games that these places sell for $50+ and give most people $15 max for on trade in value.

[duffmanth]

What you consider "reasonable" may very well be utterly UN resonable.

As was mentioned, margins are thin on new games, and if it's a trade in, and sits for a while, the loss could be huge.

It's interesting that you bring up the Trade in values. People asume that if you're selling a game at $100 the trade in should be much higher. However, that game has to pay for things like lights, salary, rent and the other costs associated with running the store.

It also has to pay for LOSSES on other game sales. Trade in value is low on lots of games and systems because the store knows that they damn well can't move them.

Have you ever seen the stock some of the stores have? An indepentant I go to on a monthly basis, has litterally hundreds of systems he can't move.Everything from Atari to the original XBOX and PS2. They get traded, and they sit. For years.

This is my whole point though. These places that I go to give you jackshit for most games. Just as an example, I once asked how much I could get for a mint used black label FFVII, he said $15 trade value, and they sell them for $100! Now I understand these places have to make a profit, but there's a fine line between making a fair profit and being outright greedy pricks.

If stores like the one you mentioned can't move these systems and games, why do they keep buying them? I worked at an indy game store for a few years, and if there was a certain game that we had say 20 copies of that we couldn't move, I just wouldn't take anymore copies of that in on trade. If our inventory got to a point where we had to blow a bunch of it out, we always had a sale and blew out old stock to make room for stock that would actually sell. There's gotta be a point in time where you have to cut your losses and get rid of old, dead inventory to make room for newer stock that will sell. It just completely puzzles me how long some of these stores are willing to sit on the same shit.

[crazyjackcsa]

Sure, but what you're comparing is two entirely different business models. As a consumer I can:
a) Drive to store and buy a game, and drive home.
b) sign up for ebay, sign up for some sort of online payment, bid for game, wait for auction to conclude, pay shipping costs, wait for game, hope game arrives as promised. Play game.

and if there is some sort of problem? Good luck.

Markets for brick and mortar stores are smaller, costs are higher, risk is higher. All conspire to bring together what you're talking about.
Listen if you don't like it, don't go there, but bitching about "the system" isn't going to affect change.

[mobiusclimber]

Of course they sit, they're overpriced. No one is going to pay the ridiculous prices that most used game stores slap on their product. In some cases, prices are higher than Gamestop ($80 for a used PS2? Really???), so no they'll never sell that crap. The fact that they got it for $8 in store credit never crosses their mind that maybe they should just drop the price a bit.

I'm sorry but I have zero sympathy. If you don't have a working model of how you're going to turn a profit at your business, then you should go broke and close, it's as simple as that. And yes, thinking that you can charge double what fair market value is, is not at all a working model. I've seen em try, it doesn't work.

So if they store knows they can't sell the game at the stupid price they're trying to get, wouldn't it make sense to not keep trying to get that stupid price? I can slap a $10 price tag on a loaf of bread and watch it sit and grow mold, but that won't sell the loaf of bread.

[jb143]

I have no idea what type of store your talking about, but if it's like most of the ones I've seen that mainly sell modern games but have a classic game section, then it's not the classic games that keep them afloat. They therefore have no worries about letting a game sit there for years. Now the stores that specialize in classic games ...they will likely know their stuff and price everything accordingly. That's been my experience anyways.

This past weekend I went to a store that mainly sells newer stuff but has a few older games as well. There were maybe 50 or so Atari 2600 games. I asked how much they were and they said I was the first person to ever ask about them.LOL

[UnpluggedClone]

Google 4 gaga

[duffmanth]

I have no idea what type of store your talking about, but if it's like most of the ones I've seen that mainly sell modern games but have a classic game section, then it's not the classic games that keep them afloat. They therefore have no worries about letting a game sit there for years. Now the stores that specialize in classic games ...they will likely know their stuff and price everything accordingly. That's been my experience anyways.

This past weekend I went to a store that mainly sells newer stuff but has a few older games as well. There were maybe 50 or so Atari 2600 games. I asked how much they were and they said I was the first person to ever ask about them.LOL

This is kind of like the store I use to work at. When I first started there, the original owners were more concerned about making a huge profit on used games and marked the rarer games up a lot while leaving the more common games at relatively low prices. As a result the higher priced used games just sat there and never sold. Then we eventually had new owners who took over and were more concerned about moving a large volume of product out the door at less profit. This was a store that relied on new, used, and rentals pretty equally to stay afloat. We did far more business with the 2nd owners, and that's how I would run my own business.

[Gameguy]

I've talked with some store owners, some said they like having a huge variety of vintage games available so they priced them higher and weren't concerned about selling them any time soon. If they priced the more desirable games well they'd sell within a few weeks and wouldn't have great stuff available while the common stuff would be left. They made most of their money on newer games and rentals anyway, I guess it sort of worked for them....until they went under a few years later. Most of the used game stores around me have gone under. There's a few left, and they price most things decently.

Before most people used the internet, there wouldn't be much choice where to sell your games besides yard sales or bringing them to thrift stores. In this age where anyone can buy or sell their games online using craigslist, ebay, or various specialty forums there's little reason to go to specialty stores unless they price things well and offer decent trade in values.

[mobiusclimber]

Yeah there's a store I've gone to a few times that actually has some things marked as "Not For Sale" just to show them off. And I can understand having something rare and desirable and marking it up in the hopes that someone will come in and just lose their mind that you have it there for sale.

But...

There's really two kinds of business models for this type of store. Either you buy/trade cheap and then sell at a reasonable price, or you buy/trade cheap and you mark it up til it's way overpriced. The second model used to work back when Amazon and Ebay weren't such powerhouses and not everybody had the internet anyway. Nowadays most people are well aware of these sites, and all it takes is a simple search to find out that you can buy most NES games for $5 shipped. So while I don't expect a store to sell Ghosts & Goblins (for instance) for $5, there's a big difference between marking it at $10, $20 or $50. The first one is going to sell, no problem. If you make your money in volume (which, if you have the supply, is really the ideal way to turn a profit), then you want to price the game at $10. At $20, it'll sit for a little while but someone's gonna buy. No one is going to buy it at $50, and if they do, better look over your shoulder every night when you walk to your car. Some people don't take kindly to being ripped off, and a cartridge does NOT fit too well in your backside.

The fact is, it's not a sound business model to price games at outrageous prices and have them sit on the shelf forever. Doesn't matter if they eventually sell or not. You're wasting money by having them take up valuable real estate in your store. It's always going to be more profitable to sell quickly and restock than it is to sit around and wait. Those light bills, pay checks and hookers&blow aren't going to pay themselves.

[duffmanth]

Yeah there's a store I've gone to a few times that actually has some things marked as "Not For Sale" just to show them off. And I can understand having something rare and desirable and marking it up in the hopes that someone will come in and just lose their mind that you have it there for sale.

But...

There's really two kinds of business models for this type of store. Either you buy/trade cheap and then sell at a reasonable price, or you buy/trade cheap and you mark it up til it's way overpriced. The second model used to work back when Amazon and Ebay weren't such powerhouses and not everybody had the internet anyway. Nowadays most people are well aware of these sites, and all it takes is a simple search to find out that you can buy most NES games for $5 shipped. So while I don't expect a store to sell Ghosts & Goblins (for instance) for $5, there's a big difference between marking it at $10, $20 or $50. The first one is going to sell, no problem. If you make your money in volume (which, if you have the supply, is really the ideal way to turn a profit), then you want to price the game at $10. At $20, it'll sit for a little while but someone's gonna buy. No one is going to buy it at $50, and if they do, better look over your shoulder every night when you walk to your car. Some people don't take kindly to being ripped off, and a cartridge does NOT fit too well in your backside.

The fact is, it's not a sound business model to price games at outrageous prices and have them sit on the shelf forever. Doesn't matter if they eventually sell or not. You're wasting money by having them take up valuable real estate in your store. It's always going to be more profitable to sell quickly and restock than it is to sit around and wait. Those light bills, pay checks and hookers&blow aren't going to pay themselves.

I couldn't have said it better myself, but...ebay and amazon aren't always the best sources to find cheap games, as I found out the other night when I searched for Ducktales for the NES and found copies going for $30-$1000+.

[jb143]

I couldn't have said it better myself, but...ebay and amazon aren't always the best sources to find cheap games, as I found out the other night when I searched for Ducktales for the NES and found copies going for $30-$1000+.

Going for? or Hoping for? There's a big difference and one reason why eBay can't just automatically be assumed to give the current "what's it worth" value. Completed auctions tell a better story of course.

[Arkhan]

a few local shops around here went under because they were asking shitty prices for games.... trying to cash in on the collectible retro gaming thing... asking obnoxious ebay prices for games. You can't charge collector prices at a retail shop and expect results.

One store, I went to trade a game in and he, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, went on ebay, looked up the game, and said he would give me 1/3rd of that in trade, or 20% in cash.

Im like "well, you just reminded me that I can just go ebay it for more"

Its a very large put off. The reason we bring crap in to the stores is to trade for loot, but if you are showing that you're basically a front end for ebay, then.... yeah

I find alot of game shop owners are very out of touch with the actual gaming community, and more in touch with the ebay profiteers. Focus goes to the wrong parts of how2business.

Lots of things I could list about what local shops are doing wrong, and why their inventory doesn't move the way it should be........

1) Not labeling the price of all your games. This means depending on your mood / what you saw on ebay this week, the price will be changing. Also this means the customer has to ask you. Which means bugging you every time they are interested. I tested this one time. I asked a game price, 3 hrs later I sent in a friend. He got a higher price than I did.

If the owner happens to be one of those less than cordial types, that quickly becomes a sale killer.

2) Not alphabetizing the frikkin games. Noone wants to look at 600 sega genesis games just to see if you have Shining Force 2 all because you couldnt be bothered to alphabetize them.

3) Dirty games. If you are going to ask 60$ for Symphony of the night (lol), at least have the frigging drive to clean or swap out the jewel case so its not yellow and crusty. ffs.

4) Quit being an idiot and believing ebay. Just because a mint Parasite Eve II went for 50$ on ebay doesnt mean the one you have with the blockbuster rental stickers all over it and the manual, is worth as much.

Ive seen 3 local game stops come and go, and they all had this kinda crap going on...

meanwhile the OTHER independent game store has been here for 15 years going strong.

[Emperor Megas]

Some of the places I go to separate the primo vintage games that are $40 and up from the common titles that are out on the shelves. They put the choice stuff in a glass display at the counter which probably gets more than a few people to bite since they're already about to fork over their money for their selections when they see them. And also have a low set prices for all strategy guides, and stock them in a tidy display at the front of the shop, and sometimes they throw in free sleeves (which they also sell) and dust covers for NES and SNES games. BOGO offers are also semi-common. When they do little stuff like that it makes you feel better about dropping a little more for a pricey title. Moving product and taking care of people gets them more in the long run. Better I spend $50 in their shop a week than $75 once for an over (or even fairly) priced game that's been sitting there for years.

Besides, every gaming specialty store I've been to in the past 10 years (that's lasted) deals primarily in DVD sales and rentals anyway, so there's definitely a safety net there.

[Griking]

Dealers usually aren't dumb. Every pawn shop and independently owned game store has internet access that they use to monitor eBay. They know what a game's approxamate value is and generally don't want to sell for lower than what it's really worth. They also know that a good chunk of their customers are resellers and a common mindset is why should they sell a game to somebody at a discounted price just so that other person can resell it for a profit

I also agree with an earlier comment that most resellers don't want to sell off all of their desirable games too quickly.

[Arkhan]

except, ebay is a shitty gauge of what a game is worth because of price gouging morons.

There are video game collecting magazines in existence with much more logical pricing. Those are what you see influence the pricing at conventions and the like.

[Griking]

Shitty as it is its what a majority of the flea market / thrift / resell industry uses to determine an items value.

Even my local Goodwill will put select items in their display cases with a print out of an eBay auction for the same item just to show what it's supposed to be worth. When I point out to the store manager that the auction that they're using as a reference doesn't show that there were any bids all I get is a blank stare.

[ryborg]

Even my local Goodwill will put select items in their display cases with a print out of an eBay auction for the same item just to show what it's supposed to be worth. When I point out to the store manager that the auction that they're using as a reference doesn't show that there were any bids all I get is a blank stare.

Are you saying that thrift store employees aren't tech-savvy? Well I never.

The one Salvie's by me does the ebay print-out thing too, with hilarious results. Last year, they had some Harry Potter books behind the counter for $125/7 with a huge sign saying "EBAY VALUE: $300!!!!" They weren't first edition, nor were they in decent condition, but either way, they sat there for many months.

[JimmyDean]

There's this store about 6 miles away from me called Big Fun. 150 bucks for an Atari 2600. I am not lying. Well, I called just for kicks and said I had Stadium Events (just to see how much they would offer) and they said they would give me 80 bucks for it.

[Emperor Megas]

Are you saying that thrift store employees aren't tech-savvy? Well I never.

The one Salvie's by me does the ebay print-out thing too, with hilarious results. Last year, they had some Harry Potter books behind the counter for $125/7 with a huge sign saying "EBAY VALUE: $300!!!!" They weren't first edition, nor were they in decent condition, but either way, they sat there for many months.For many months until they were repriced to something sane, or was someone actually stupid/crazy enough to purchase them for what they were asking?

And I've never been to a thrift store that does the whole eBay print out thing. Man, I probably couldn't resist discussing the ridiculousness of that with who ever ran the place if I encountered it. Well, probably not nowadays, but when I was a little younger and pettier I might have.

[duffmanth]

Going for? or Hoping for? There's a big difference and one reason why eBay can't just automatically be assumed to give the current "what's it worth" value. Completed auctions tell a better story of course.

Yeah hoping for is more like it. I had a good laugh when I saw some of those prices!

[jb143]

I've seen the ebay printout thing at thrift stores as well, and It's always the same thing. An over priced auction with no bids, or the 1 time it went crazy high durring a bidding war while there were plenty of other completed auctions showing it sold for a saner amount. I didn't ever say anything because it was never for somethign I was intersted in but I've alwanted to question them on why they charge more than stuff is worth and when they give their reasoning say something along the lines of "I thought you were supposed to be non-profit"...just to see what their response would be.

[duffmanth]

except, ebay is a shitty gauge of what a game is worth because of price gouging morons.

There are video game collecting magazines in existence with much more logical pricing. Those are what you see influence the pricing at conventions and the like.

I agree with this when it comes to some of those retarded "buy it now" prices, but if you want to gauge what a certain is worth, some of the closing auction prices can be useful.

[duffmanth]

Some of the places I go to separate the primo vintage games that are $40 and up from the common titles that are out on the shelves. They put the choice stuff in a glass display at the counter which probably gets more than a few people to bite since they're already about to fork over their money for their selections when they see them. And also have a low set prices for all strategy guides, and stock them in a tidy display at the front of the shop, and sometimes they throw in free sleeves (which they also sell) and dust covers for NES and SNES games. BOGO offers are also semi-common. When they do little stuff like that it makes you feel better about dropping a little more for a pricey title. Moving product and taking care of people gets them more in the long run. Better I spend $50 in their shop a week than $75 once for an over (or even fairly) priced game that's been sitting there for years.

Besides, every gaming specialty store I've been to in the past 10 years (that's lasted) deals primarily in DVD sales and rentals anyway, so there's definitely a safety net there.

This is exactly what a few of the stores in my area do. They have 1 or 2 display cases set aside with the rarer games, but the only catch is none of them are priced. So when you go in there and ask how much a particular game is, one will go over to the other and have a little quiet conversation for about 10 seconds, then come back with some insane price they just pulled out of thin air.

[Emperor Megas]

This is exactly what a few of the stores in my area do. They have 1 or 2 display cases set aside with the rarer games, but the only catch is none of them are priced. So when you go in there and ask how much a particular game is, one will go over to the other and have a little quiet conversation for about 10 seconds, then come back with some insane price they just pulled out of thin air.Jeez, that's ridiculous. I couldn't even do that sort of thing. I also hate when stores don't put the price on the merchandise. And whispering and consulting in front of you? I mean, is it a gaming store, or a garage sale?

[Arkhan]

There's this store about 6 miles away from me called Big Fun. 150 bucks for an Atari 2600. I am not lying. Well, I called just for kicks and said I had Stadium Events (just to see how much they would offer) and they said they would give me 80 bucks for it.

I assume you mean the dumb-ass store over on Coventry in Cleveland with all the toys?

In which case I will add to the hilariousness.

They had Splatterhouse for TG-16, for 75$, and I walked out laughing.

[JimmyDean]

Yeah, its on Coventry. Really? 75 bucks for splatterhouse? Thats a rip-off. Just to show you how much they know about video games, they gave me a bunch of money for pit-fighter for snes. Like 10 bucks. They thought it was an "excellent fighter". Wow. They can't even tell pit-fighter from Street Fighter. Dumbasses.

Edit: They also thought it was rare... I came back to see how much it was selling for and it was about 40 bucks.

[Emperor Megas]

Yeah, its on Coventry. Really? 75 bucks for splatterhouse? Thats a rip-off. Just to show you how much they know about video games, they gave me a bunch of money for pit-fighter for snes. Like 10 bucks. They thought it was an "excellent fighter". Wow.I'd actually pay $10 to have Pit-Fighter wiped from my memory.

[JimmyDean]

Yeah, me too. That game is atrocious.

[dnehthend]

I remember when I was little people would charge a flat rate of around $2-8 for NES games, then as I got older people started whipping out price sheets, that was a big turn off, I stopped collecting games for a while

[Arkhan]

Yeah, its on Coventry. Really? 75 bucks for splatterhouse? Thats a rip-off. Just to show you how much they know about video games, they gave me a bunch of money for pit-fighter for snes. Like 10 bucks. They thought it was an "excellent fighter". Wow. They can't even tell pit-fighter from Street Fighter. Dumbasses.

Edit: They also thought it was rare... I came back to see how much it was selling for and it was about 40 bucks.

yeah that stores great to go look around and check stuff out, but for anything collectible, theyre high on crack.

the action figures aren't priced TOO bad though

[JimmyDean]

Yeah, its a cool store, but they are WAY overpriced. I just feel bad for the guy who bought pit-fighter! ROFL

[dnehthend]

the best places are the ones that lower the price based on the time the game has been on the shelf, I like to go in and buy all of the dollar games that have been sitting around for 6 months

[mobiusclimber]

How about $50 for CIB Phantasy Star III. I think eventually the ditz working at Al's realized that was never going to happen and repriced it. (Any other Seattlites out there?)

[Gavica]

Am I the only one that loved pit fighter in the arcades?

[Emperor Megas]

How about $50 for CIB Phantasy Star III. I think eventually the ditz working at Al's realized that was never going to happen and repriced it.Yeah, no. That's sort of ridiculous. Even if you can forget that PSIII is the red headed stepchild of the series, none of the other (better) ones even go for that price.

LOL at my friend who pre-ordered Phantasy Star III in Junior High school and paid 80+ bucks for it.

That was actually the first I'd ever heard of pre-ordering games (which I still think is sort of pointless, unless you get some sort of promo swag or something), and that was a hell of a lot of money for a 14 year old back then.

[MachineGex]

Well, one thing no one has mentioned is how rude some customers can be. That in itself is one reason some people hate to negotiate prices. Rude (or extremely cheap) customers can really turn off a store owner and cause him not to even go down the road of negotiating. How many times do you want to hear "Will you take $5 for that complete Earthbound?"

What really irks me is when you give someone a really cheap price and then they try and get you even lower. Selling a game like Tyson Punchout for $5 and they offer you $2. That kinda stuff tends to make some people shy away from negotiating. I guess my point is there are tools on both sides.....no shocker there.

[duffmanth]

Well, one thing no one has mentioned is how rude some customers can be. That in itself is one reason some people hate to negotiate prices. Rude (or extremely cheap) customers can really turn off a store owner and cause him not to even go down the road of negotiating. How many times do you want to hear "Will you take $5 for that complete Earthbound?"

What really irks me is when you give someone a really cheap price and then they try and get you even lower. Selling a game like Tyson Punchout for $5 and they offer you $2. That kinda stuff tends to make some people shy away from negotiating. I guess my point is there are tools on both sides.....no shocker there.

I had a customer like that one time. This was back when Starfox had just been released for the Gamecube, and I think we were selling it for $69.99 CDN? Any way, this cheapskate comes in and says Walmart has it for $69.07 or something like that, and would we price match?! It was less than
a dollar difference though, and I just laughed under my breath and politely said no.

[chrissylas]

What really irks me is when you give someone a really cheap price and then they try and get you even lower. Selling a game like Tyson Punchout for $5 and they offer you $2. That kinda stuff tends to make some people shy away from negotiating. I guess my point is there are tools on both sides.....no shocker there.

I hate that myself. That's why I've stopped selling on Craigs List. I have something listed for $60 and someone sends me a message asking me if I'll take $30 and then, an hour later sends me an email asking if I'll take $20 (and he'll pick it up... because I'm not sure what he thought the $60 price was for)

When I sell, I really hate haggling if my prices are already at a great level (if I've priced it a little higher to see if someone will bite, that's another thing entirely)

[dnehthend]

I had a customer like that one time. This was back when Starfox had just been released for the Gamecube, and I think we were selling it for $69.99 CDN? Any way, this cheapskate comes in and says Walmart has it for $69.07 or something like that, and would we price match?! It was less than
a dollar difference though, and I just laughed under my breath and politely said no.
I hate that, if you saw it somewhere else for less than why are you here?

[ryborg]

For many months until they were repriced to something sane, or was someone actually stupid/crazy enough to purchase them for what they were asking?

They marked them down by a marginal amount a few times, then they vanished. Hard to say for sure, since I really don't go to this place very often (once or twice a month). Sorry that my anecdote has no resolution...

[SEGA]

There are about a dozen mom and pop video game stores here in the greater Seattle area. I've been to all of them multiple times. The only ones I go back to now are the stores that I can haggle prices with. I really only haggle when I purchase upwards towards $100 of stuff. I usually ask them to cover the sales tax or take $10 off. Their price markups are outrageous anyway and I use that as a talking point. I also point out the fact that the stuff I buy has been sitting for months and months and months. Talk to the owner, if you can, and be frank and curteous.

Shoot the shit with them for a bit, listen to their problems, ask about business, what sells, what doesn't.

Different stores have different "systems" or "generations" of games that account for the bulk of their sales. Simply saying, go to the stores that don't sell a lot of what you're looking for, buy a lot ($100+) and ask for a discount or just say I'll pay X ammount for these. You can usually get up to 20% off with ease.

[UnpluggedClone]

Google 4 gaga

[pseudonym]

This is my local area retro store
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=fair+game+sacramento+fair+oaks&fb=1&gl=us&hq=fair+game+sacramento&hnear=fair+oaks&cid=4154285882472227479

It's absolutely horrid, I went to take in a few N64 games Mario Party 3, Super Smash Bros and Conker's Bad Fur Day all of which are fairly expensive titles. When i was in his store a few days prior i saw him selling these same games for roughly 15 - 20 dollars over ebay or amazon which i thought was crazy but i thought hey i can trade in some games for a decent price and won't have to hassle with selling them online. I go into the store to trade them in and he looks them up on his computer he says yes i can give you 3.25 credit or 2.25 cash.

I thought there was a mistake I asked him 2 DOLLARS CASH? He said yea so i just took the games and left. The guys customer service skills are horrific (the owner) and the prices are simply BAT SHIT FUCKING CRAZY. He sells black label FF7's for 125, Common Turbo Graphx games for 30 dollars. He Sells Atari Jaguars system with 1 controller for 149.99.

He had a bubble bobble 2 for 249.99...

The prices in combination with there overall customer service, it shocks me they've stayed open as long as they have.

I looked at the link in your post, "We pay more, and sell for less!" @_@ :roll:There seems to be three reviews that state they have poor customer service and terrible prices for their games. As bad as the store seems, I'd love a good retro store here- the last one went out of business a couple of years ago.

[mobiusclimber]

There are about a dozen mom and pop video game stores here in the greater Seattle area. I've been to all of them multiple times. The only ones I go back to now are the stores that I can haggle prices with. I really only haggle when I purchase upwards towards $100 of stuff. I usually ask them to cover the sales tax or take $10 off. Their price markups are outrageous anyway and I use that as a talking point. I also point out the fact that the stuff I buy has been sitting for months and months and months. Talk to the owner, if you can, and be frank and curteous.

Shoot the shit with them for a bit, listen to their problems, ask about business, what sells, what doesn't.

Different stores have different "systems" or "generations" of games that account for the bulk of their sales. Simply saying, go to the stores that don't sell a lot of what you're looking for, buy a lot ($100+) and ask for a discount or just say I'll pay X ammount for these. You can usually get up to 20% off with ease.

I've heard good things about Another Castle on Aurora Ave, haven't been there tho. The only places I've gone to w/ any regularity has been Al's and Pink Godzilla, and I haven't been back to Al's in a long time. PG I don't think I could haggle at, and I've yet to try. Their prices have been getting better lately, but I still wouldn't pay 99% of them.

[duffmanth]

This is my local area retro store
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=fair+game+sacramento+fair+oaks&fb=1&gl=us&hq=fair+game+sacramento&hnear=fair+oaks&cid=4154285882472227479

It's absolutely horrid, I went to take in a few N64 games Mario Party 3, Super Smash Bros and Conker's Bad Fur Day all of which are fairly expensive titles. When i was in his store a few days prior i saw him selling these same games for roughly 15 - 20 dollars over ebay or amazon which i thought was crazy but i thought hey i can trade in some games for a decent price and won't have to hassle with selling them online. I go into the store to trade them in and he looks them up on his computer he says yes i can give you 3.25 credit or 2.25 cash.

I thought there was a mistake I asked him 2 DOLLARS CASH? He said yea so i just took the games and left. The guys customer service skills are horrific (the owner) and the prices are simply BAT SHIT FUCKING CRAZY. He sells black label FF7's for 125, Common Turbo Graphx games for 30 dollars. He Sells Atari Jaguars system with 1 controller for 149.99.

He had a bubble bobble 2 for 249.99...

The prices in combination with there overall customer service, it shocks me they've stayed open as long as they have.

This is what the store was like where I use to work when the original owners had it. The store I worked at was in a smaller city, but the owners also ran a store in a much larger neighboring city in a very busy mall. They got away with giving people next to nothing for trade in value on games and turning around and selling it for a huge profit, because people expect to pay high prices in malls. These owners tried to do the same thing in the smaller store where I worked, and they just couldn't get away with it, as hard as they tried to. The other problem in the store I worked at was a lot of our customers got to become friends and regulars, and I didn't want to fuck them over by giving them next to nothing for their games, then turn around and mark them up 10x what they got for them, because it was a smaller city, many of these customers I saw on a regular basis. It was totally different in the mall store where you wouldn't see the same people nearly as much, if ever again.

[skaar]

I see a lot of people in here that have little to no understanding of business and profitability, and just want cheap stuff for free or nothing to fall out of trees.

Yeah it sucks you're not getting what you want for your games - but it's up to you to want to trade it in. If you can sell it yourself just do it. I've never traded in anything to any of these types of stores, other than free copies of new titles from back in the day.

Try running your own store for awhile, your attitudes and priorities will drastically shift.

Overhead's a bitch.

[Vectorman0]

I see a lot of people in here that have little to no understanding of business and profitability, and just want cheap stuff for free or nothing to fall out of trees.

Yeah it sucks you're not getting what you want for your games - but it's up to you to want to trade it in. If you can sell it yourself just do it. I've never traded in anything to any of these types of stores, other than free copies of new titles from back in the day.

Try running your own store for awhile, your attitudes and priorities will drastically shift.

Overhead's a bitch.

Truth.

[TonyTheTiger]

It looks like people are itching to see something they'd consider poetic justice. Sure, Star Fox 64 is probably not going to sell at $70 but if a place manages to stay in business in spite of that, well, they're probably doing at least something right. And since people who feel the store shouldn't be able to stay afloat never see the "For Rent" sign appear in the window they become indignant. "How dare they?!"

[understatement]

Did you know the less you sale the worse Overhead becomes! :yipes:

[AlphaGamer]

.........................

[UnpluggedClone]

google 4 gaga

[jb143]

If a place is selling FF7 for $125 dollars and only giving you $2.00 in credit for it somethings wrong over head or not. And with practices like that they WILL go out of business.

Not if they actually ARE doing what you suggest...that's a 3125% profit.LOL

Now if they are not succeeding in selling a game for $125 while also not succeeding in giving you $2 for it then, yes, the business will fail.

I realise that's what you were trying to say but semantics, you know.;)

[mobiusclimber]

Not if they actually ARE doing what you suggest...that's a 3125% profit.LOL

Now if they are not succeeding in selling a game for $125 while also not succeeding in giving you $2 for it then, yes, the business will fail.

I realise that's what you were trying to say but semantics, you know.;)

I can only speak for the one store I used to frequent w/ any regularity, and I'll say they never sold the overpriced junk. They sold stuff that they accidentally underpriced, and they sold the newer games that they priced similarly to Gamestop, and they sold CDs, records, DVDs, etc etc. But I watched stuff just sit on their shelves for years. The ditz that "runs" the place even told me one game I traded for sat there since the '90s! This place has been in business a LONG time (obviously) and isn't about to go under (tho they aren't doing so well lately), but that's b/c they don't rely on video game sales to stay afloat. Rather than mark down some stuff (like PC Engine games) they moved them to a crate in the back room (staff only!) so you couldn't even see them unless you asked! Seriously you'd think that eventually they would want to cut their losses and just get rid of this stuff, but no. The only times those games left the store was through trades, and even then... I never traded them any of my games, but a friend of mine would bring them stuff that he had no use for. Their trade in was crap, mostly b/c they knew they'd overprice it and it would sit on the shelf. I tried to trade in some things to them but left in disgust at the tiny amount they were willing to give in trade in credit. It wasn't even so much that I thought it was too low (even tho it was) but that I knew what they'd price it for. I ended up just selling the bag of games (piece by piece) for 10X what they offered me in trade, and believe me when I say I asked for at least half of what they would have sold the games for. (How do I know? One of the games was boxed Shining Force, which I sold for $25. I saw them w/ a CIB copy of it for $60.)

[skaar]

These stores really need a large population and market interest to do much of anything. It really is too bad. I think a good mix of modern and retro (as the dp store is to my understanding) combined with a large local market can go well... But the old stuff has to be the gravy not the meat.

[bartre]

where i'm at, we've only got GameStop and one local chain
GameStop is, well, GameStop, so not much to say there.
as for the local store, It's pretty good, they deal with everything from Atari to ps3.
generally their prices aren't bad, but sometimes they're just crazy.
example, $45 for a copy of Mario Party 2, while right next to it there's a copy of Mario Kart 64 for $7.
one thing i really like about them is that they don't care if the game has the box or anything, so i've gotten some really good deals there, like a CIB copy of NiGHTS for saturn for $3, or a CIB copy of Rocket Knight Adventures for $3.

[Jorpho]

the best places are the ones that lower the price based on the time the game has been on the shelf, I like to go in and buy all of the dollar games that have been sitting around for 6 monthsI only ever knew of one place with a policy like that - but I sure made out well there!

[ReTrO-pLaYeR]

I live in St.Louis, which is an area where it's incredibly difficult to find anything pre-last generation except in thrift stores. Out in St.Charles there's a place called "Slackers CDs and Games", which does sell plenty of the older stuff. They want 25 dollars for common titles like Super Mario World, and these aren't even complete in the box- just loose! Most of these games have been sitting there forever, but a few of them from what I have observed have been purchased. They do, however, give excellent store credit (I traded in some PS2 games and ended up with fifty dollars for just the few they could take). That's probably why they overcharge up the asscrack. I could trade the same titles in at Gamestop and maybe get 2 cents for them if I'm lucky.

[aaron7]

Uh, yah. Most every vintage game store seems to be this way.

Either the games are overpriced or not priced and they look it up to find a number.

I mean, I guess I get where they're coming from. If a game sells for $20 on ebay and they ask $18 for it that's fair I suppose. But if I wanted to pay close to the ebay price I'd just GO TO EBAY!!

Ebay literally killed good deals at the flea market and used stuff stores. Really a shame.

[bartre]

I kind of disagree.
the whole ebay pricing thing seems to be beneficial, as long as it's done right.
if the store is doing all of their pricing off of those dumb BIN sales that are $20 more than anyone would pay, then yeah, ebay's screwing it up.
on the flipside, i think it's really helpful to the store if they actually base the prices off of finished auctions that did sell.
plus, there's always the in-store benefit of being able to walk out with it without having to pay shipping!

[Emperor Megas]

I kind of disagree.
the whole ebay pricing thing seems to be beneficial, as long as it's done right.It's never done right, because if it was, you wouldn't know that they were using eBay to adjust the price of the games they were selling in the first place, hence it wouldn't be an issue.

Checking eBay when a customer wants to purchase something in your store is just bad form, as is letting people know that you're using eBay as your pricing guide. If you're going to research prices using online auctions, fine. But there shouldn't be any trace of that in your store. Just because you're in the specialty market it doesn't mean your operation has to be small-time and tacky.

[chrissylas]

I really hate walking into a store that doesn't have prices, asking about a certain game and having to watch the clerk look it up on ebay.

Nothing makes me leave a store emptyhanded faster.

Oh well that and the prices I found at a place this weekend.

$7 for SMB/DH, $47 for Dragon Warrior 2, $15 for Excitebike, Madden NFL '96 (SNES) for $7. Not a single NES game was below $5


That place was incredibly frustrating to even stand in.

[duffmanth]

where i'm at, we've only got GameStop and one local chain
GameStop is, well, GameStop, so not much to say there.
as for the local store, It's pretty good, they deal with everything from Atari to ps3.
generally their prices aren't bad, but sometimes they're just crazy.
example, $45 for a copy of Mario Party 2, while right next to it there's a copy of Mario Kart 64 for $7.
one thing i really like about them is that they don't care if the game has the box or anything, so i've gotten some really good deals there, like a CIB copy of NiGHTS for saturn for $3, or a CIB copy of Rocket Knight Adventures for $3.

While I'm not defending Gamestop in any way, they're actually a pretty good place to find rare games from the PS2/Xbox/Cube era for cheap prices sometimes. For example I find a copy of Ico for $5 there, which goes for at least $50 at most of the indy shops in my area. I also found Silent Hill 2 for $10, which is at least $20+ at the indy stores. I think because it's their head office that sets the prices, they just figure if it's not current gen, sell it at a low price.

[Emperor Megas]

I really hate walking into a store that doesn't have prices, asking about a certain game and having to watch the clerk look it up on ebay.

Nothing makes me leave a store emptyhanded faster.Seriously. I've never actually encountered that, but I'd probably leave before he/she even got a chance to search it.

"Excuse me, these games aren't priced. How much are they?"

"Hold on a second, I have to look them up on eBay and....Sir? Hello...?"