Classic game Stores with ridiculous prices

[Nero 99]

One of the most annaying things to me about being a retro gamer is it can be hard as hell to find a good old school game store with decent prices. It seem's like every one out there treats there stuff like gold. one in particular is called hi score games. the other day I stopped by to check out some snes games And I was amazed at their over in flated prices.check this they were selling an atari 2600 for $99.95 with only 1 controller a sega saturn for $80 and an intellivision 2 for $170. I almost laughed to death when i Saw a Genesis in the box (opened) for $100, mainly because i bought my own genesis form a buddy in the box for 15 bucks with five games. and most of theyre games cost about 10 to 20 dollars more than off of ebay or from this nice little game store i found called Game Quest. What expieriences have you guys had with over priced game stores?

[Tupin]

Stores around here are pretty varied. Some stores charge $60 for a Genesis, but $5 for most games, some stores charge $20 for one with dozens of games.

[garagesaleking!!]

there are a few around pittsburgh, they are all super overpriced. The exchange is the best one and has a few locations. They only have good deals if the condition is a little rough or they have a ton of copies of the same game.

[Oldskool]

They are guilty of that here too. I don't mind paying Ebay prices, but they price them much higher than Ebay. I think they just don't wanna get burned (Kind of like how I purchased a minty MUSHA for $30 and sold it for $115 heh). But really, if they'd just check the current price and not BS you I would be happy enough with not having to wait for and pay for shipping from Ebay.

I think the problem is, they are buying stuff at Ebay for the fair market price, and shipping. And they want to mark it up from there to make a profit.

What they need to do is buy up the huge lots so they get a better deal and can offer better prices. Or take trades, like trade 2 in and get 1 or something. Hell most of the game stores will only give you like 50 cents or a buck for an old genesis or snes cart, then turn around and sell it for 5-10 bucks.

A lot of them will work with you too - if it's a manager or owner you are dealing with. Don't Jew them down crazy, but try to be reasonable and let them know what the actual market value is and that you'll go to Ebay if you can't get it for the right price.

You'll get mixed results with that though, some are cool with it - some when they hear the word Ebay they practically run you out of the shop.

[DreamTR]

It works both ways...though I agree those are severely overpriced, I have a guy complaining when he walks in that $14.99 for a used copy of FFVIII is "too much" and "he can get it for that on Amazon." My response to that is to "go ahead", I know my prices and I know retail works different than ebay/Amazon. Some games go for MORE retail in stores than online and if you want that item right then and now, there it is at the store.

My prices are always very reasonable on many things. Heck, we're selling a Rock Band setup with 3 Guitars, drumset, pedals, and mic for $19.99 for XBOX 360, LOL...but I sell Mario Kart for $24.99 for SNES and N64 and I NEVER have enough of them in stock.

[Bojay1997]

It works both ways...though I agree those are severely overpriced, I have a guy complaining when he walks in that $14.99 for a used copy of FFVIII is "too much" and "he can get it for that on Amazon." My response to that is to "go ahead", I know my prices and I know retail works different than ebay/Amazon. Some games go for MORE retail in stores than online and if you want that item right then and now, there it is at the store.

My prices are always very reasonable on many things. Heck, we're selling a Rock Band setup with 3 Guitars, drumset, pedals, and mic for $19.99 for XBOX 360, LOL...but I sell Mario Kart for $24.99 for SNES and N64 and I NEVER have enough of them in stock.

I think people just ignore the fact that rent, salaries, fixtures, overhead, etc...all add up and don't necessarily play a part in Amazon marketplace or Ebay pricing. Although the examples cited by the OP are extreme, it will almost always be cheaper to buy on Ebay or Amazon than to shop in a physical game store. Having said that, there is something neat about being able to take the item home immediately and enjoy it and often, you get some good conversation during the shopping trip with the employees who obviously have some love for classic stuff.

[Ro-J]

There's a game store near me in Glen Burnie that sells games as far back as the 2600. When I first heard of it I drove up there and immediately went towards the back to the SNES section where I found multiple copies of Space Invaders displayed on the top shelf for $24.95 each. I thought this was a pricing mistake and asked the guy if their stickers were supposed to read $2.49, which would have been a fair price for the game. I was told all prices were accurate. A couple minutes of browsing later I found Madden for the SNES priced at $14.95 and I knew there were going to be no deals found there. I left without even bothering to look at the 2600 or NES games.

The place was fairly crowded that day so maybe they're successful at selling their games at those prices, just not to me.

[Baloo]

I went to a place in a farmer's market up in the Poconos, they wanted $130 for Kolibri 32x, $130 for Shining Force 3 Saturn, the prices were terrible.

[Kyle15]

Here it goes:

Zone 1: Both locations are horrendously priced. Examples include Dragon Quest VII in varying condition for $89.99 a piece, all the way to Xenogears for $69.99 the same way. Consoles aren't that bad.

Top Games: About 40 minutes away in Gardendale. They have straight-out price ranges for everything: $7.88, $9.88, $11.88, $19.99, and up. Most of the sports titles are between nine and eleven regardless, while GBA games sit between the last two prices. But yeah, those are the only prices for "regular" games. Anything rare or with a foreign language is marked-up to insanity. Bootleg Anime boxes are $79.99 and up.

Wizard's Den: An hour and ten minutes away in Cullman. I went for the first time two weeks ago and won't be going back. PS1 games are all $14.99 and up, save for FFVIII which was priced at $50. A Genesis is $40, while a PS1 in the box is $70. 360's are $400 in various states and the large DVD collection is above retail. Quite a large Star Wars collection is housed-up in that little shop as well, complete with prices to scream at.

[Xexyz]

Wow, some of you guys have it rough. I've noticed the prices creeping up lately at my local Game Craze. Their games are usually priced pretty reasonable, but all of a sudden most N64 games with Mario or Yoshi in the title are marked around the $24.99 - $29.99 price range. And get this, they had Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for the Dreamcast marked up to $59.99... seriously? I can only assume it's so high because of the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 buzz. I remember another Game Craze location (closed now) that had a copy of MvC2 for the DC two years ago for a much more reasonable $29.99.

[Eduardo]

Can't compllain about my local store, they check values constantly. They add their overhead and they're fair. I'm not looking for fair deals thou, so I nevver buy there. On the repairing side they kind of gouge the unsuspecting masses, $25 to change the 72-pin on the NES, I did for $2.50 and 15 minutes.

[NoahsMyBro]

For whatever it's worth:

I spent many years working retail, including as a manager of a Domino's Pizza, and staff at a 4-location Pawn Store chain.

At Domino's Pizza a firm rule was that the combined costs of labor, food, and the mileage reimbursement paid to the drivers should not exceed 33% of the gross receipts each day. (Might have been 30%, I don't recall for certain.)

The Pawn Stores would typically mark an item's price at approx. 3x the cost paid for the item.

Charging triple the raw cost of inventory when reselling it might just be necessary to cover the rest of the costs implicit in running a business. If prices are too far out of line competitors will move in and steal customers from the business that is out of line.

This isn't a life essential you're being gouged for. If the price is too high you can always leave it at the store and try to find it elsewhere for less.

I don't know the particulars of running a used game store, but I've personally never traded in any old games or systems because I don't like the (IMO) extremely low amount that stores offer for my stuff. I don't begrudge the stores. They have every right in the world to offer me $2 for a Genesis that I might think is worth $20, and that is likely to be priced at $20 when put ouot on the floor. I have every right to keep my Genesis if I don't like that arrangement.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Every game store I go to sells for above E-bay prices, so it's hard to even go to any anymore. A lot of times I'll seen them keep the same price on a game that's been sitting on the shelf for years. I think they are only hurting themselves because they are clogging the shelves with unsellable games.

On the other hand, some of the super common games are $1 or $2 (usually NES), which is a better deal than E-bay when you include shipping prices.

[DreamTR]

Another thing is sometimes these used game stores have to SIT on inventory they paid high on in the first place...If I offer someone .05 for Madden for Genesis, I am being generous...it will sit for 50 cents probably forever, but things like that I end up bundling in the long run and trust me, items will SIT regardless of pricing sometimes. Though I find it hilarious when someone comes in and wants me to give them $10 for a game I sell for $15. It just doesn't work that way.

[Eduardo]

In my local store they pay 25% of what they sell them for to flat out buy games and 40% if you take it in credit. Not bad if you have games you need to get rid of and they got games you need.

[todesengel]

There used to be a terrible used game shop around my area that shut down a couple years ago. Prices were pretty ridiculous with copies of FF7 that were only the discs and manual going for $125 and cart only copies of Chrono Trigger for $100. Bootleg Famicom multicarts they would try to sell for like $50 or more because "there's a bunch of games on the cart". Luckily my local Play N Trade has pretty decent prices on the small selection of classic gaming items they have. Most Genesis and SNES games were $10 or less, except for stuff like Donkey Kong Country for SNES which was like $15, but I haven't been there in quite awhile.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Every game store I go to sells for above E-bay prices, so it's hard to even go to any anymore. A lot of times I'll seen them keep the same price on a game that's been sitting on the shelf for years. I think they are only hurting themselves because they are clogging the shelves with unsellable games.

On the other hand, some of the super common games are $1 or $2 (usually NES), which is a better deal than E-bay when you include shipping prices.

Most online and brick and mortar stores are going to sell higher than eBay prices. Although there are a lot of businesses on eBay a legit store is not going to be able to compete with Joe Blow selling some SNES games he found in his basement.

[Zapf]

My local store uses some game pricing software - it usually ends up being comparable / less than ebay, and apparently also takes into account how many copies of the game they actually have (though it doesn't take into account smaller details like label quality or cart condition). Any idea what that service is? Is that the paid version of vg price charts?

[bartre]

wow, it sounds like some of you guys in the bigger cities get the shaft.
anyway, we've got 3 places around here that do old games.

1 - the place that's been around the longest, deals in everything, and has set prices for just about every game, so their prices are usually reasonable, depending on the system, they don't always update their prices, as a result ps2, xbox, and GC stuff is all really overpriced right now, and n64 stuff is suffering a bit too, but overall, a good store.

2 - newer place, but not a game exclusive store, they also do dvds and cds, so they generally use a "set price system" where there are a couple tiers of prices, as a result, the cheap stuff is really overpriced, but on the other hand, i picked up mega man 7 for snes there for $12, so not gonna complain

3 - the newest place, actually opened the other week, typically great, but sometimes they just seem to give you the stick, ex: CIB master system w/ 4 games for $25, but a loose mario/duck hunt for $5, so yeah. oh well, the owner is a pretty nice, plus he's willing to deal if you buy a couple games.

so yeah, nebraska is a good place for games, but it can be hard to find the rarer stuff.

[goatdan]

Thought I'd toss in a couple cents as an onilne retailer who has some great relationships with some brick and mortar stores...

Often times, games that are extremely popular (and common) are also the games that people want the most. For instance, I can't keep Super Mario Bros 3 in stock at the GOAT Store no matter what the price is, or even the original Super Mario Bros for that matter. Those are both games that there are about a million copies of, but the thing is that because they aren't found in that many stores anymore (unlike their GameStop days when they were everywhere), if you want any older Mario game, your choice is either to pay a higher price at a retailer, be that the GOAT Store, the local place, or wherever, or try to find one online to buy there.

If I had Super Mario Bros in stock for $0.09 like GameStop used to, I would NEVER keep them in stock. As it is, I have two copies in stock right now, and I'm certain that I will sell them extremely quickly.

On the flip side, rare games generally are priced the best in brick and mortar shops as they don't sell nearly as fast because while collectors may be searching for them, for every one person that inquires with me about Super Troll Islands for the SNES, I have 100 people inquire about Super Mario Kart or Super Mario RPG.

The biggest thing that you get with online stores that I like personally for my own collecting, and why I sell online is that if you have a list of 10 games you want for the NES, I could go to eBay and find those 10 games for maybe $10 less than what I sell them for on the GOAT Store, -- BUT I would have to ship them all to me for $30. A place like the GOAT Store or whatever other store online you see, you pay $10 more and $7 to ship, and you save $13 to get exactly what you want all in one shipment.

You also have a much better shot of the store standing behind what they sell, which is something I never have on eBay. We've been carrying Virtual Boy stuff lately, buying large packages and splitting them up, and of the 8 Virtual Boy consoles I have purchased, three don't work right when they arrived, but since the sellers said, "As-Is", what can you do? Well, I eat those costs making the margin on those extremely small for me, but making it safe for people online to buy from us.

So, there you go. eBay or Amazon may be great for a lot of people, but I always like buying in person, even at a premium, to see things.

Finally, before I forget, boxed consoles in good condition is VERY hard to find and is generally in VERY high demand, so while $100 for a Genesis in the box is more than we would sell it for, boxed consoles can double the price of a console alone, and they are not that hard to sell for that.

[Jisho23]

Video Games New York.

[Baloo]

Video Games New York.

Man, forget that place. The prices there are marked up to insanity.


Most online and brick and mortar stores are going to sell higher than eBay prices. Although there are a lot of businesses on eBay a legit store is not going to be able to compete with Joe Blow selling some SNES games he found in his basement.

Online brick and mortar store = Oxymoron (lol)

I don't know, I'd say it's the other way around. Brick and Mortar stores don't have as much traffic as eBay does, so it's harder to sell items at their highest retail value, let alone above the going market value. Maybe it's just the one I work at (as we price a bit lower, for example FF7 at $35), but I've noticed that the prices are either really outlandish or lower than eBay.

[otaku]

my local stores are pretty good about keeping up with online prices (though usually ebay) with but I've been pretty happy with the pricing around here

[Push Upstairs]

There is a used music/movie/video game store here that tends to overprice their video game stuff and suffers from the "if Mario is on the game, double the price".

But they are alright because they managed to practically give away some very early issues of EGM, issues #2 & #4 simply because it wasn't Nintendo or Mario related.

I got 20 yr old EGM mags in pretty god condition for $3 a pop.


But $50 for a Virtual Boy with no stand or power supply is beyond silly.

[RJ]

One guy near me closed down both his locations awhile back, but his kiosk in the Mall of America is still there (I think)- & last time I looked he wanted $8 for a loose ET cartridge.

I'd probably buy some of his stuff if the prices were decent.

& another place was giving back good $$$ on trade-ins, but I think they're starting to change that. I scooped up loose NES Dr. Mario there for $5, & now they want $13 for it.

[BetaWolf47]

I guess I'm lucky then. Nobody gauges prices where I'm at, except insane craigslist folks. The local pawn shop sells NES games at a flat rate of $3, and SNES + N64 games at the flat rate of $5. Except recently, he started charging more for Mario games. That doesn't bother me too much, since those games are never that hard to find either way. I've found so many great games there for about market value.

[ZombieK]

http://www.superspacecat.biz/servlet/StoreFront

Here is the place i went to the other day in San Jose, CA

This place is epicly over priced. Games I got for free $20 fuck that

The only good thing about the store is the MvC2 Cabinet

[todesengel]

http://www.superspacecat.biz/servlet/StoreFront

Here is the place i went to the other day in San Jose, CA

This place is epicly over priced. Games I got for free $20 fuck that

The only good thing about the store is the MvC2 CabinetWhat the fuck $100 for Kasumi Ninja?! Those people are out of there fucking mind.

[ZombieK]

Yeah... The rare Stuff is Super over priced.
But common games even start at like 7 bucks and im talking about shovelware wait tell you see something popular

I bought battletoads [genesis] in box for $18 which wasent bad to me because its in almost new condition but otherwise i wouldent of paid that much.
{New Copies For Old Games are about 70-200$ the high profile games that are new are redic}

The only cheap thing i saw in the store is a Neo Geo Gold in Box for $100 bucks but i dont know if it comes with everything and the two games. If it does I will buy it.

[Blur2040]

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[ReTrO-pLaYeR]

Slackers Cds and Games can be a piece of shit sometimes. Some of the prices are pretty decent, but you have to be fucking kidding me if you want 25 dollars for a loose copy of Super Mario World. That's probably the most common game for the system, and you shouldn't have to pay much more than 10 dollars for something like that. Maybe if it was CIB or at least came with some sort of deal I would understand. But, the greatest thing you can do here is trade and get store credit. I brought in a few older (and not common, although some people would want them) PS2 games and got around 60-70 dollars for them. Most of them weren't in that great of shape since that was one of my first consoles as a young child.

I'll always do Ebay, since I've gotten some good deal there. Once got a factory sealed Rayman Raving Rabbids Gameboy Advance game there for 6 bucks (I'd assume it'd be around 20 dollars at Kmart or something). But, the seller decided to be a bitch about it and take forever to mail it in...didn't even leave feedback. Sore loser, huh? That same person would probably come to my house and kill me if I won some sealed NES games for that price. XD

[Jisho23]

I forgot this gem of a store: Dragon's Den in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Whats sad is that is has an extremely (and I do mean extremely) impressive array of classic gaming stuff (a rare surprise as its one of the "general gaming stores" that specializes in CCGs, board games, comics, tabletop, etc.). They are loaded up with many of classic staples of "hard to findish" games. Some consoles that I've seen go through there includes a Sega CD-X, Turbo-Duo, and even an Odyssey 2.

But their prices are simply beyond comprehension. The absolute worst was their pricing of "Pocky and Rocky 2." Obviously, its cool that its actually there in store, but last summer their price on it was (brace yourself) $160 dollars. It obviously has not sold as when I went up in that area last week it was still on shelf (for about a year now). They have marked down the price; it's now selling for $60.

[ZombieK]

It's an excellent deal if it doesn't come with the games. Especially if the console and box are in good condition. The games that would have originally come with it are worth a pittance compared to the system.
Well im going to go check it out this friday.
But i heard that this store takes out broken systems from the boxes and reuses the box with working ones and the working ones they use are dirty and miscared for

all the systems on display [out of box] look to have been cleaned

I will have to do a examination lol