The whole eBay thing

[Gameguy]

If you can't make the connection, then there is no use in trying to explain it further.
I see what you're getting at. That must also mean that Super Mario Bros is communist, there's some vague connections there too so it must be true.
http://web.archive.org/web/20060528174020/http://www.aethiamud.org/communist_mario/

I suppose you're also against food banks and other charities as those are also communist.

And there's this example of communism.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/7527/200305012.gif


Am I the only one that has noticed that the term "greedy" is used almost entirely by adolescents? I'm not trying to stir anything up, but you never hear "greedy" in the adult world.
If you consider a guy in his 20's to be adolescent, fine by me.


Define "excessive", "inordinate" in the terms of a game sale please. You are counting too much on vagueness to disguise your true aims.
If I had to generalize it and make a concrete definition, how about defining it by asking more than the current going rate for items in the same or similar condition?


Either you buy it because it's worth it to you, or you don't. The only time you throw the word greed around is because you want to force somehow the other party to not only accept less, but to also accept your value judgment over their own. That's the road to many a nightmare in modern times. It's like the VGA and you guys are opposite poles of the same phenomena.

There are many cases where stupid people are selling things for 'inordinate' amounts, but that is stupidity or ignorance, not greed. The only market open to them to succeed in is with stupid and ignorant buyers. These buyers would be the only ones truly offended by the idiot sellers existence. Because they keep getting played like a rube. But it's not the sellers that are the problem in the equation.

Greed (negative form) is where you obtain value without exchanging value in return. Whether it is theft, fraud, rule of law, extortion, slavery... Excessive profits, inordinate prices... All the trademark lexicon of the -greedy.

The elemental nature of greed is an inescapable consequence of life. It's either turned to a positive force or a negative one in the relations between people. If you accept greed as an absolute evil, then be consistent. Any meal you would have from now on, skip it. Better figure out how to live without greed pretty fast. Living things would have to stop living for you to eat... And that's greedy.
When did I say it as negative? If someone perceives greed as negative, that's up to the individual. If someone wants as much as they can possibly get all of the time, are they generous or are they greedy?

It's true that plenty of people are just stupid or ignorant when they price their items, but plenty of others are just greedy. Ryborg posted "for most items, my prices are insanely high and you'd have to be an idiot to buy anything for anywhere near my listed price." Would you consider that to prove him merely ignorant instead? When I first posted my comment about greed, I wasn't directing it at ryborg but since he replied back and openly admitted to it I might as well use his post as an example now. Would purposely trying to take advantage of stupid and ignorant buyers be considered greedy?

When did I ever say that I wasn't ever greedy? I agree with your last paragraph that greed is an inescapable part of life. Someone asked why various people post items on ebay for high amounts while refusing to lower the price after several months with no interest, what would you say is the motivation behind them doing this rather than greed?

As for the definition of greed, lets go by the definition posted here;
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/greed

There's no mention of obtaining value without exchanging value in return, the definition is "An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth". There can be debate about what is considered excessive, but the main point of the definition is the desire to acquire the wealth, not the means of acquiring it.

[JimmyDean]

Do I have permission to use that pic as my new avatar?

[Icarus Moonsight]

So it's greedy to ask more than what other people have sold things for, and being greedy is wrong. So the generous and proper action is to make whinny arguments about how they ought to be lowered? If they sell or not and you're not involved, why do you care?

If you put so much emphasis on being generous, buy all the highest priced stuff you can. Help out your fellow people.

[Emperor Megas]

So it's greedy to ask more than what other people have sold things for, and being greedy is wrongDid someone actually say that? This thread has become a circus of the extreme.

[Gameguy]

Do I have permission to use that pic as my new avatar?
I don't mind, I didn't draw it.

I got it ages ago from this site;
http://www.smbc-comics.com/


So it's greedy to ask more than what other people have sold things for, and being greedy is wrong. So the generous and proper action is to make whinny arguments about how they ought to be lowered? If they sell or not and you're not involved, why do you care?

If you put so much emphasis on being generous, buy all the highest priced stuff you can. Help out your fellow people.
All I posted was an honest answer to osprey's question, I honestly don't care whether the prices get lowered or not and I don't care if the items eventually sell or not. Anyone can post any price they like, going rates are more of a range anyway and if there's few other copies of that item for sale at the same time a seller can make up any price he or she wants. Of course, if there's over 10 people at any given time selling the same item between $10-$15 and one seller prices the same item in the same condition at $45, I'd have to wonder why the seller chose to do that.

If there's a game I really want, I'll pay a fair value for it. I don't feel the need to overpay on an item, if I buy an item for less I can afford to buy more games from several other people. More people seem to benefit that way instead of just one guy and as a bonus I end up with more games too, it seems like a win-win situation. :)

I've pretty much said what I wanted in this thread so I'll try to avoid it unless the topic changes direction again. I'll just leave a quote from another thread that I agree with, it seems appropriate to apply in several situations including this one.


It's pathetic how far people will go to lie to themselves to avoid an unpleasant truth.

That quote also reminded me of the Apollonius scenes from The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, I should watch that film again. :)

[kupomogli]

That's what i love about the video game market, when i go to goodwill's when they open you got the book hounds about 5 at a time taking every book there is with there scanners fighting each other etc... While they let FF7 Black Labels just sit on the rack or mario kart 64 for $2 bucks just lay there all day cause it's a old game...

You buy the games and sell them on Ebay or you buy the games overpriced on Ebay and say you found them for $2? Sorry if it's not true, but that thread was funny. Every picture looked like a recent purchase on Ebay as well.

[Icarus Moonsight]

It's all about individual preferences and value assessments and judgments. Why certain sellers sell at lower prices vs higher prices, without making up the profitability with volume of sales? Hyperbolic Discounting


Hyperbolic discounting is the tendency for people to prefer a smaller, immediate payoff over a larger, delayed payoff. Much research has been done on decision-making, and many factors contribute to the individual decision making process. Interestingly, delay time is a big factor in choosing an alternative. Put simply, most people would choose to get 20 dollars today instead of getting 100 dollars one year from today. Normally it makes sense to choose a greater amount of money immediately than less in the future, as the value of a dollar is worth more today than it is tomorrow. Assume that the interest rate is 9%, at this interest rate, a rational person would be indifferent to taking $91.74 now, or $100 a year from now. However, it is interesting how much less we are willing to take immediately rather than wait, would you rather have $100 a year from now, or $50 immediately? How about $40 immediately? Where do you draw the line?

[UnpluggedClone]

You buy the games and sell them on Ebay or you buy the games overpriced on Ebay and say you found them for $2? Sorry if it's not true, but that thread was funny. Every picture looked like a recent purchase on Ebay as well.

once again i don't know what photo shopped stuff was going on but i've posted enough photos with original goodwill price tags and receipts etc... And i have NEVER been rude or got to an argument with anyone on here. So if people don't like my finds no problem i will move on and won't post them anymore. But i'm a good person and have a lot of game knowledge to contribute to this amazing website.

I wouldn't have the game collection i have today without buying and selling, I've come across games like mario party 3 or super mario all stars/mario world carts at $3 dollars a pop at least 20 times you sell that and buy stuff that's rare that you normally couldn't find and it evens out. Basicly like you're buying games like popful mail for $3 dollars.

[jonebone]

Define "excessive", "inordinate" in the terms of a game sale please. You are counting too much on vagueness to disguise your true aims.


I didn't know this was rocket science? It's pretty simple. You look at completed auctions and see the selling range of the items. If you want to add some on the top to cover you 15% fixed value FVFs vs. 9% auction style FVFs, that's cool. If you want to add some on top because your item is extra MINTY, that's cool. Hell if you want to even just add an extra 10-15% on top just because you don't "need" to sell it (or have sentimental attachment), that's cool. But when you ask 150% - 200% of what an item is really "worth" then you are greedy, once again by definition and not debatable.

Obviously, there are exceptions for RARE and I mean R9/R10 type of RARE stuff. You got a NWC Gold? Ask whatever you want for it. But you still can look at these on a case by case basis. If the last one sold for $17.5k (I think?) and you're asking 100k then that's excessive.

Also, don't misconstrue my viewpoints. I'm not in this thread because because I'm enraged that people are turning huge profits (simply capitalism at its finest), I'm in this thread because the level of personal denial in this thread is amusing. It's like the person who drinks 12 beers a day and says "I don't have a drinking problem!" Or the person who's been in several car accidents and they are "never their fault". Here we have the people selling at "insanely high prices" preaching that they aren't greedy. No, they just have such a distorted sense of reality that they cannot come to grips with their own selling ethics.

And you hit on the great topic of Hyperbolic Discounting which is simply a fancy name for the "fast nickels better than slow dimes" selling mentality. I'm a fast nickel guy, ryborg is a very slow dime guy. In the real business world, fast nickels always win out which is why Walmart destroys Mom and Pop stores. But most of us video game resellers have normal 9-5s and aren't forced to live off of reselling income. So you see some people take the slow dime approach since they really don't "need" any sales. Real businesses operate on cash flow, not by letting inventory sit on their shelves.

[Icarus Moonsight]

So in other words, you can't or won't define the terms... Your response was very kilburped. What does kilburped mean? What ever I want it to. ;)

Fast nickels! LOL I'll try and remember that one.

Fast nickels works better if you sell 3 to 1 slow dime, true. Doesn't always pan out though. Wal-Mart does billions of fast nickels, so yeah, they win at nickels. Low volume tends to do better aiming for dimes. Unless they just want rid of the stuff, but that's more a yardsale situation than a business concern, no matter how small.

[ryborg]

In the real business world, fast nickels always win out which is why Walmart destroys Mom and Pop stores.

This is only true if you have a theoretical infinite (or at least an incredibly large) amount of supply. If I only come across one Suikoden II every 2-3 years, it is irrelevant if it takes 6+ months to sell it for $150. I never "need" the money right away from ebay sales and time is rarely a factor.


selling ethics

The only "selling ethics" I care about are if my buyers are happy. They are, judging from my high feedback %/DSRs and complete lack of reasonable complaints. My item descriptions are rock solid and I ship ASAP and safely. Price is their concern, not mine.

[jonebone]

This is only true if you have a theoretical infinite (or at least an incredibly large) amount of supply. If I only come across one Suikoden II every 2-3 years, it is irrelevant if it takes 6+ months to sell it for $150. I never "need" the money right away from ebay sales and time is rarely a factor.


If you are a good reseller then you are only limited by time and not supply. You don't need an infinite supply at all, you just need a continual cash and supply flow. You buy a beginning stock and go from there. As you sell stuff, you take some of that money and buy new stock. Once you are up and running for a month or so, the money flows in. For me personally, I only needed to win about 3-4 decent sized lots (20+ games and system) per week to keep me busy without downtime. That's hardly infinite.



The only "selling ethics" I care about are if my buyers are happy. They are, judging from my high feedback %/DSRs and complete lack of reasonable complaints. My item descriptions are rock solid and I ship ASAP and safely. Price is their concern, not mine.

That's cool if you are in this hobby to only make money and not to build a collection. A reseller cares only about profits, a collector cares about building their collection as well. A collector is willing to take less of a profit to a "friend", after all, there is more to life than the almighty dollar.

Case in point, I sold a Mega Man X3 cart to someone over the forums for $40 recently despite it probably going for $60-$70 on eBay. This person then got out of collecting about 2 months ago and sold me the one item I've wanted for almost a year now... a Sculptor's Cut N64 CIB. Price? $165 and MINTY. The only other quote I could find was $350 for an 8/10 CIB and I was damn near willing to pay $150 for the manual alone. Yet my good deal came full circle.

So what, I didn't make the extra $25 I could have, but I theoretically saved $185 off what I had to pay. Some people see the big picture.

[koster]

Case in point, I sold a Mega Man X3 cart to someone over the forums for $40 recently despite it probably going for $60-$70 on eBay. This person then got out of collecting about 2 months ago and sold me the one item I've wanted for almost a year now... a Sculptor's Cut N64 CIB. Price? $165 and MINTY. The only other quote I could find was $350 for an 8/10 CIB and I was damn near willing to pay $150 for the manual alone. Yet my good deal came full circle.
______________
WTB Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut Manual Only... PM ME!!
From Dictionary.com: "Avaricious, covetous, greedy, rapacious share the sense of desiring to possess more of something than one already has or might in normal circumstances be entitled to."

I'm still looking for a Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut manual - it seems that too many greedy people are looking for extras when they already have one... LOL

[ryborg]

If you are a good reseller then you are only limited by time and not supply. You don't need an infinite supply at all, you just need a continual cash and supply flow. You buy a beginning stock and go from there. As you sell stuff, you take some of that money and buy new stock. Once you are up and running for a month or so, the money flows in. For me personally, I only needed to win about 3-4 decent sized lots (20+ games and system) per week to keep me busy without downtime. That's hardly infinite.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I don't post high prices for EVERYTHING. Far from it. I only post absurd prices for rare and/or sought-after items where I *know* it'll sell high. I'm not one of those people who sells a cart-only Genesis Madden '95 Fixed Price for $25. Those people are the idiots.


That's cool if you are in this hobby to only make money and not to build a collection. Honestly, video game sales only make up ~1% of what I sell nowadays. I used to do the buying of large lots and breaking them down for profit thing. Most of my vintage game purchases come from thrift stores. I don't even bother selling games that are worth less than ~$20 anymore. I just keep them and swap/sell them with IRL friends.

95% of what I sell on ebay is clothing and that's not a hobby; it's a business.


Case in point....

So what, I didn't make the extra $25 I could have, but I theoretically saved $185 off what I had to pay. Some people see the big picture.Fair enough, but I don't see that happening enough to justify giving deals to everyone all the time everywhere. I agree with giving worthwhile places like these forums a break (I've sold some stuff far below ebay value here), but on ebay, it's 100% profit.