East Coast Gamers Toms River NJ RESELLER AlERT!!!

[HyruleHero]

If you live in the Toms River NJ area or seek a retro game shop do not seek out East Coast Gamers. East Coast Gamers is a well over priced retro and new gaming shop in the NJ area. Prices are outrageous for collectors on retro stuff!! You can find cheaper on Ebay! Their original shop burnt down and they have a new shop that just re-opened. I just hope that no one trades in old video games just so they can resell it at their outrageous prices. When a retro shop is done right for example stores in NJ like Digital Press, Level Up Entertainment, Next Level Video Games . The new and retro gamers unite and help these stores be successful by good wood of mouth business and great service from the retail shop in return. When you run a retail shop and price gouge your products you are only alienating your customers. So retro gamers stay away or make the extra trip to the stores I mentioned and new gamers stick with Gamestop if you want reliable inventory,service, and price. Don't support greedy reseller!

[sfchakan]

Give us some examples of their price gouging.

[Ed Oscuro]

You can find cheaper on Ebay!
Yes. You can definitely find lots of broken junk on eBay that has problems getting to you because "Dracula's Magic" happens - then you're stuck opening cases and looking like a jerk. Being able to see and test goods in person, or send returns if need be, is valuable.

Recently I was so thrilled to find out that there is a store locally - hidden around a corner all these years - that I went and bought something. Could I have gotten it cheaper on eBay? Sure. Well, actually, not really.

Later I needed to pick up an original model SNES, and I balked at the store's $50 price (I hope that's understandable). Went on eBay instead. Ended up having to order a shit ton of SNESes to get one that even worked, and it was just a big waste of time for everybody. I don't particularly mind because I've got some extra parts now, and I like the one I eventually ordered. But y'know, if I could've bought it locally, there's that.

Long story short - "eBay is cheaper" is misleading. The value you get out of bidding on eBay is, in most cases, a bit less than you get from local service, where unless the seller hits you over the head with a bat and calls the cops on you, your chances of leaving with nothing to show for your troubles are far less than if you had dealt with some random person on eBay. (There are exceptional sellers on eBay of course - just as there are bad local sellers.)

Without any concrete example of the terrible pricing, we really can't say how good or bad it truly is.

[Ozzy_98]

If it's broken on ebay and wasn't labeled as such, you can get a refund at least. Not that I've had bad luck with consoles not working off ebay.

[sfchakan]

I've had multiple poor experiences buying hardware online. Games not so much.

Every time, it's always been "oh, I was just using it before I shipped it. It worked fine!" Yeah, right buddy.

[Ozzy_98]

Don't ever buy anything from shopgoodwill then :P Everything is as-is, not tested, no returns.

[Niku-Sama]

every thing I have ever bought on shop good Will has worked. I did get a psx without sound once but it was in a lot with 6 others. I eventually got it working again with some something

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I see some ridiculous prices at afew shops in my area, too. Theres a headshop that has gotten into selling retro game, cuz theres a few guys into them, and things r just so weirdly priced sometimes. $15 for Airwolf, $65 for Kirby's Dreamland 3!!! Insane. They have an NES with cords and everything for $70!! Retarded. They sometimes price things accurately, but oftentimes not. I'll talk them down sometimes if it's something I really want, tho.

I picked up Tomba 2 complete for $70, which was talked down from $80. $80!!! I explained it's selling complete on Amazon for $65 including shipping, so that kinda said I could easily buy it right then online for cheaper. Perhaps if u try talking em down on prices u can get things for a more reasonable price. I had some store credit, also, on that Tomba game so I wound up paying $40 cash. I don't like doing deals like that but this is a game I never see anywhere, so having some store credit for old Grateful Dead cds I never play, I saw a deal. Prices are ridiculous, and it seems sometimes things actually can go for less on Amazon or Ebay.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I am glad I have most of the consoles I want at the moment, cuz I see prices still rising. I'm always into getting and playing more games, but there are some affordable games I'll get and really like. I have no problem paying decent money for a good game, tho. Some Amazon prices are pretty reasonable, if u look hard enough. The Mega Man X collection on PS2 is about $8 brand new. I just bought Loco Roco 2 for PSP brand new, it was $12 I think. Sure, there's prolly a better deal out there for the game, but who cares? $12 for a game I will play and enjoy, and yes open, who really cares?

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

There is a retro game shop near my house that can overprice things also, so I try to be careful. If it's something super cheap tho I'll get it, like some unpopular NES games or something. I picked up Sega GT/Jetset Radio Future on Xbox for $3 there, thats a decent deal to me cuz it's a game I'll play and enjoy. Not simply cuz it's a $3 game, idc if it matches the Ebay prices.

[mailman187666]

Most shops and flea market vendors are almost always above ebay prices, in my area. The fact is, that there are tons of them around me, and none of them try to be competitive at all. There is one flea market vendor that I go to that has the mentality that people don't come to flea markets to pay ebay prices, so most times, it'll be 10%-20% lower than ebay prices. He'll even be reasonable being talked down a few bucks here and there.

These days, it almost seems like ebay is no longer the top dollar option for games.

[Tanooki]

There's a thread over at NA that does this too and it's a pretty good service both for the good shops and the bad.

There's a chain here in town that has been around for probably 20+ years and up until about 2 years ago if that, had been a good deal. The problem is that Half Price Books decided to unofficially rename their store to Buy it Now Books and not warn people. First it was the games, then it went into movies and even the books too because of their mighty internet pricer. They used to slice the price, now they stick full price highest paid BIN values on most the stuff. Because of this people started to poach the other store of goods because it was cheaper and their stocks got depleted, so they were forced to match their bullshit scam pricing and now all the deals in town are gone completely short of maybe a once a month find of an ok price maybe 20% under ebay at one or the other. I totally hear you about warning people. I used to go to both the stores every single week, now the HPB it's only if I'm near by (I live like 2mi from one, 5 from the other) so if I go by I'll roll in but I don't make it a thing to do, same with the other though at least they're not as crappily priced. I'll buy hardware locally before online because you can check it out, but games, those you can do well with online and save a lot if you can't luck into a garage sale or flea market find IF your area support it (mine doesn't at all, very inconsistent and minimal compared to when I was back in CA for 3 years as I'd get stuff every weekend.)

[eastcoastgamersnj]

If you live in the Toms River NJ area or seek a retro game shop do not seek out East Coast Gamers. East Coast Gamers is a well over priced retro and new gaming shop in the NJ area. Prices are outrageous for collectors on retro stuff!! You can find cheaper on Ebay! Their original shop burnt down and they have a new shop that just re-opened. I just hope that no one trades in old video games just so they can resell it at their outrageous prices. When a retro shop is done right for example stores in NJ like Digital Press, Level Up Entertainment, Next Level Video Games . The new and retro gamers unite and help these stores be successful by good wood of mouth business and great service from the retail shop in return. When you run a retail shop and price gouge your products you are only alienating your customers. So retro gamers stay away or make the extra trip to the stores I mentioned and new gamers stick with Gamestop if you want reliable inventory,service, and price. Don't support greedy reseller!

This is East Coast Gamers in Toms River, NJ. We were doing a sweep on Google to ensure that our address changes were correct, and came upon this forum and post.
We sincerely apologize that you feel that we price gauge our items in the store. We do not hide the fact that we use websites such as Price Charting to factor how we resell items. That being said, we would be interested to know what you feel we burned you on so badly.

Being that you posted this in June, it seems that you had to have been in right as we reopened after the fire. The store burned down on May 15th, and we reopened on June 16th. Your post was about a full week after our reopening, when we had very limited stock to even sell, since everything was lost in the fire. So, we are confused as to what must have happened that you felt the need to express such disdain for us publicly.

Anyway, we realize that it is months later, but being that we want to do everything we can to keep our customers happy, please come in and speak to the owner, Mike, and we will see if we can offer you store credit for your troubles back in June. We, again, apologize, for anything that happened to you that made you feel we gauge our prices.

Happy Gaming!
The Staff at East Coast Gamers

[sfchakan]

He seemed to only indicate a dissatisfaction with the prices. Evidently, you didn't offer him "bro prices" and should have known he's a real hardcore gamer. You know, not like your other customers.

I asked him to indicate where you were price gouging and he never returned to post any examples.

Nice of you to post a response and care enough to win them back, though.

[Oldskool]

I think a lot of people are just used to the "Forum" prices.. which in most cases are lower than everywhere else. The problem is that forum prices are not "the going rate", which is what someone on eBay or a game store is going to want. I have found that yes.. prices can be higher in local game stores.. but I have also found good deals as well.

It's true about buying consoles and things too because I deal with the same thing in the business that I run. People figure they will pick something up at a flea market, garage sale, or thrift store.. by the time they get it home they realize it's not working right and then they bring it to me.. then I repair it and by the time it's said and done they could have just came to me in the first place and saved time, money, and they would have even got a warranty with it... not to mention they are supporting locals.

[sfchakan]

I think it's a problem exacerbated by recent shows like American Pickers and even internet shows like Game Chasers. Everyone feels like they're king shit now and deserves a special deal. If you don't give them one, you are a "dirty reseller" or a "price gouger."

Truth is, everyone essentially resells now, unless they hoard. If they can get stuff they don't necessarily want to keep for cheap, then they will just as quickly toss it on ebay trying to get maximum profit as well.

[Greg2600]

If it were up to me, I'd just delete this thread as it was pretty unfair to the store.

[Gameguy]

I think it's a problem exacerbated by recent shows like American Pickers and even internet shows like Game Chasers. Everyone feels like they're king shit now and deserves a special deal. If you don't give them one, you are a "dirty reseller" or a "price gouger."

Truth is, everyone essentially resells now, unless they hoard. If they can get stuff they don't necessarily want to keep for cheap, then they will just as quickly toss it on ebay trying to get maximum profit as well.
I have no idea how all these shows got popular. The auction shows, picking shows, hoarding shows, etc. People will just watch anything now. Just combine the picking and hoarding shows into one to get them out of the way.


http://i59.tinypic.com/2j5dh5f.png

[PapaStu]

If it were up to me, I'd just delete this thread as it was pretty unfair to the store.

Why? This shows that someone wasn't happy, they didn't follow up with their internet rage and the store still came in and replied and is trying to make things right, 6+ months later. Shows a bit of character on their part IMO.

I think in the end, people forget that storefronts cost monies (often times quite a bit) and forum prices won't keep the lights on, and allow those employees to get paid, or the small time owner to bring home any money for themselves.

Shits expensive when you're not Amazon or Walmart and have the buying power of a large country behind you to control prices.

[Tanooki]

Anyone here familiar with Save Point in NC? The gripe at the top of this thread wouldn't have happened there. I can't say anything for this store being complained about, but SP does things a bit differently. The owner posts at NA when I was there and talked about how the other guys were high ebay/amazon bin junk and his plan worked out well. If I recall the basics of it was that he would sell under the online going rate, but not grossly, maybe 10-20% under that so he wouldn't get pilfered by resellers as the margin wasn't enough. And then in turn instead of the usual 10-20% trade rate, he'd give like a third...if the game was super popular or super pricey he'd give like 50% because it would go out the door fast adding that dough into his pocket. To offset things and get more interest he had like arcade games in there, runs arcade/console tournaments with simple prizes, did other little random things and I think he had gamer based merch and basic drinks/snacks. Often he'd have new posts on there showing the benefits of that because word got out and lazy types not wanting to deal with ebay and stuff brought in the good stuff, Samsons, Earthbounds, Bonk NES, Wild Guns, Evo, Chrono Trigger, and so on-- the usual $50-500+ video games on ebay and a good mix of loose, CI, or CIB. It seemed to work. I know I'd go to that store if I lived in or near that guys town. Sure I could sit on ebay and watch for a booboo where I get a game for 1/3 to 1/2 off the going rate, but I'd go there first and support a place with those business practices and I'd also stem a lot of my selling off of my games online due to his valuing. If there were more stores that started to do this instead of just using the very incorrect video game price charting site which JJGames admits is inaccurate since it can't tell the diff of game, game+manual for pricing or how nice or beat up the game is.

[sfchakan]

I always price my local sales under ebay around the same rate for the same reason. It moves fairly quick because it's a better deal, but it's just enough that no one in their right mind will buy to resell elsewhere.

I also gives a much better deal on fast moving games.

Whoever owns that shop is pretty savvy. The gougers will slowly fade away as more people buy online. Hopefully he can stick around for a while.

[Tanooki]

Hes a nice guy and hes sharp. He got into adding incoming carrying I believe small food items along with gamer merchandise, the tournaments bring in cash, and I know he started carrying well marked reproductions at actual price not the ebay over inflated levels you see. If you, him, or anyone else opened up a shop with the prices like you said you have which are like his Id be in there at least once a week. The store here book and music used to but half price books went high bin ebay pricing and it forced their hand because they were getting in not much and being picked clean. Now the shelf has a lot of quality stuff but over ebay which is depressing so I stopped buying their games unless something is fair like a week ago I got CIB Mario Paint for 25 *trade*. I like supporting local, prefer it, but Im not going to give money away to filching practices.

[Niku-Sama]

The only "local" game shop I have I'd game star and while their prices are ok they don't get much variety considering most of their stores up north take the good stuff.

Some times you can catch a rare or unusual before they ship it off

[sfchakan]

Hes a nice guy and hes sharp. He got into adding incoming carrying I believe small food items along with gamer merchandise, the tournaments bring in cash, and I know he started carrying well marked reproductions at actual price not the ebay over inflated levels you see. If you, him, or anyone else opened up a shop with the prices like you said you have which are like his Id be in there at least once a week. The store here book and music used to but half price books went high bin ebay pricing and it forced their hand because they were getting in not much and being picked clean. Now the shelf has a lot of quality stuff but over ebay which is depressing so I stopped buying their games unless something is fair like a week ago I got CIB Mario Paint for 25 *trade*. I like supporting local, prefer it, but Im not going to give money away to filching practices.

A good way of keeping interest in the store up is tossing up Facebook and Twitter posts with new, exciting trade ins. People watch for things they like and some stuff will sell the same day, if not within the hour.

A great Central Ohio store I can recommend is Warp Zone (https://www.facebook.com/warpzonehq) in Hilliard. The owner, Darrin Griffin (previously retroapocalypse on Youtube with a DS-oriented channel), is a great guy who knows his shit. Wonderful source for import hardware and games, too!

[FieryReign]

So retro gamers stay away or make the extra trip to the stores I mentioned and new gamers stick with Gamestop if you want reliable inventory,service, and price. Don't support greedy reseller! Nice little ad placement for Gameslop you slipped in there. As if they aren't the greediest resellers in the biz...

[wizardofwor1975]

every thing I have ever bought on shop good Will has worked. I did get a psx without sound once but it was in a lot with 6 others. I eventually got it working again with some something

I've had pretty good luck with Goodwill as well. Maybe I've just been lucky. Ebay on the hand has been mostly good but I've had my share of rotten luck.

[camarotuner]

To the OP: If you don't like the store, don't shop there. There are a TON of retro stores around me. Some I like and will spend money at. Others I cannot stand and will either only go in there as a last resort or not at all. One of the worst for pricing has recently gotten infinitely better in the last year because (gasp) people stopped shopping there with all the new competition so the owner adjusted his prices and his attitude and it's a cool store again. Vote with your wallet. Calling them out online is just childish.

To the store the OP mentioned: I own a business. It's not a retail store so it's not an exact parallel. But never comment on crap you read about yourself online. It's not worth it. Even if you think you're making a point, you're losing. There will always be negative comments about everyone online. The important thing is word of mouth and if you treat your customers right word spreads and that's how business is built. I have loyal customers who won't go anywhere but my place now. That took time and hard work. Not headbutting with internet trolls. I wish you the best of luck and remember you don't have to justify your business practices to anyone. It's your business. At the end of the day it will fail or succeed based on your decisions and you have to live with those consequences. If you start running it by committee you're done.

[dra600n]

I think a lot of people are just used to the "Forum" prices.. which in most cases are lower than everywhere else. The problem is that forum prices are not "the going rate", which is what someone on eBay or a game store is going to want. I have found that yes.. prices can be higher in local game stores.. but I have also found good deals as well.

That's how I feel about it, as well.

And it's nice to see that the owner handled this situation professionally. Kudos, sir!

[eastcoastgamersnj]

To the OP: If you don't like the store, don't shop there. There are a TON of retro stores around me. Some I like and will spend money at. Others I cannot stand and will either only go in there as a last resort or not at all. One of the worst for pricing has recently gotten infinitely better in the last year because (gasp) people stopped shopping there with all the new competition so the owner adjusted his prices and his attitude and it's a cool store again. Vote with your wallet. Calling them out online is just childish.

To the store the OP mentioned: I own a business. It's not a retail store so it's not an exact parallel. But never comment on crap you read about yourself online. It's not worth it. Even if you think you're making a point, you're losing. There will always be negative comments about everyone online. The important thing is word of mouth and if you treat your customers right word spreads and that's how business is built. I have loyal customers who won't go anywhere but my place now. That took time and hard work. Not headbutting with internet trolls. I wish you the best of luck and remember you don't have to justify your business practices to anyone. It's your business. At the end of the day it will fail or succeed based on your decisions and you have to live with those consequences. If you start running it by committee you're done.

Thanks so much for this post. I can say that we usually do not seek out any negative feedback. We deal with all types of gamers, and plenty of them tell us how they feel in a "not-so-nice" way. I just happened to see this and was curious.
If there is an unhappy customer, and we catch it, at any time, we try to make it right. If we can't, hey, at least we tried.

For the record, this person has never come in since this post. :)

We always appreciate our customers, no matter who they are or how they feel. Thanks for the feedback and the conversation. I can say we feel pretty enlightened!

Happy Gaming!!
East Coast Gamers

[Gatucaman]

You can find cheaper on Ebay!

You really been under a rock for the last 5 years :P.

[Gatucaman]

There's a thread over at NA that does this too and it's a pretty good service both for the good shops and the bad.

There's a chain here in town that has been around for probably 20+ years and up until about 2 years ago if that, had been a good deal. The problem is that Half Price Books decided to unofficially rename their store to Buy it Now Books and not warn people. First it was the games, then it went into movies and even the books too because of their mighty internet pricer. They used to slice the price, now they stick full price highest paid BIN values on most the stuff. Because of this people started to poach the other store of goods because it was cheaper and their stocks got depleted, so they were forced to match their bullshit scam pricing and now all the deals in town are gone completely short of maybe a once a month find of an ok price maybe 20% under ebay at one or the other. I totally hear you about warning people. I used to go to both the stores every single week, now the HPB it's only if I'm near by (I live like 2mi from one, 5 from the other) so if I go by I'll roll in but I don't make it a thing to do, same with the other though at least they're not as crappily priced. I'll buy hardware locally before online because you can check it out, but games, those you can do well with online and save a lot if you can't luck into a garage sale or flea market find IF your area support it (mine doesn't at all, very inconsistent and minimal compared to when I was back in CA for 3 years as I'd get stuff every weekend.)

Should i share a funny story regarding stores in my city or should i make an specific thread about good and bad experiences?

[eastcoastgamersnj]

If you live in the Toms River NJ area or seek a retro game shop do not seek out East Coast Gamers. East Coast Gamers is a well over priced retro and new gaming shop in the NJ area. Prices are outrageous for collectors on retro stuff!! You can find cheaper on Ebay! Their original shop burnt down and they have a new shop that just re-opened. I just hope that no one trades in old video games just so they can resell it at their outrageous prices. When a retro shop is done right for example stores in NJ like Digital Press, Level Up Entertainment, Next Level Video Games . The new and retro gamers unite and help these stores be successful by good wood of mouth business and great service from the retail shop in return. When you run a retail shop and price gouge your products you are only alienating your customers. So retro gamers stay away or make the extra trip to the stores I mentioned and new gamers stick with Gamestop if you want reliable inventory,service, and price. Don't support greedy reseller!

We are not only cheaper than eBay, Gamestop and pawnshops, we also pay more for video gaming items than anyone around. It is funny when a hack from Craigslist or another reseller store that has come and gone already has to lie in order to have a chance to make it. We have been in business for 3+ years, lost everything to a fire, reopened and still have a great customer base in buying, selling and repairing all ages of video gaming consoles, games and accessories.

[Tanooki]

Don't know who you are, but congrats on lasting through a burn out of all things. That usually will finish someone, especially when the goods aren't still produced and easily replaced.