Are $calpers and Re$eller$ getting worse ?

[Th3 hoff]

1 of our mods ( at a local website ) made this over the top YouTube video to start a discussion about re$ellers and $calpers.
They have been around for years but is the problem getting worse ?
And have the re$ellerS that target kids ( amiibo, skylanders, Disney ) lost all morals ?
Is reselling more accepted in the USA then in Europe ?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP96A5BXUPw

Best comment posted so far :


There are 3 types of resellers in my opinion. The first and most vicious one is the type you just portrayed. He's a mean son of a bitch who doesnt know anything about games but the value.The second type is the ultimate game freak. He just wants to be in and around games 24/7. This person started out as a gamer/collector. His game knowledge grew by the day and at some point he decides to open a webshop.The third type is the normal collector/gamer who accidentally picks up lots with doubles. He'd rather trade his games than sell them. But he has to make a buck or two to keep the hobby a fun hobby, so it doesn't get to expensive.

[FieryReign]

Well, I guess if people continue purchasing junk and supporting scalpers nothing will change. It's not hard to be patient, do some research, and find the games for retail price. Paying 2-3X the price of a new game is asinine. Don't know why people are so lazy and support that nonsense. I guess people enjoy getting their wallets raped.

That video was awful. I want those couple minutes of my life back.

[eskobar]

Most people forget how old vintage games are and many have an unreal price in mind because a few years ago they bought or could bought them them for X usd ...

If resellers or scalpers didn't exist, yes, many games we want could be cheaper, and yes, many of them could be gathering dust on a flea market, a little store or in the trash ... or in the hands of a few selected "collectors".

Its quite expensive to get a good vintage game and don't forget that this is not a necessary item, is not drinkable or eatable, you always can choose not to buy a game if its too expensive and you always have the option to go with the current of the last generation of consoles to keep gaming without spending many dollars ... or in the case of many vintage consoles you can emulate or purchase a flash rom cart and download the game you want.

There are always options, complaining and banning something is not the way to deal with a problem.

By the way, I am a reseller :evil laugh:

[The 1 2 P]

I'm not sure if it's getting worse but it doesn't really affect me. Normally I would agree with the person who said that being patient helps(and it usually does) but the last time this discussion happened someone pointed out to me that not everyone's area/region/state/etc is as plentiful as the next person. So while I can wait around and eventually pick up a bunch of old Nes games from Goodwill that includes some rarity's not everyone else has that luxury. I personally don't buy anything that's vastly marked up so scalpers aren't getting my money but buying from reseller's is inevitable.


By the way, I am a reseller :evil laugh:

I would guess that at least 70% of the people on message boards like this one are also resellers, including myself. But we all represent different levels of reselling. My collection was getting out of control so I had to start unloading stuff but also if I'm out and I see two cheap copies of something worth money then of course I'm going to grab both and keep one for me and sell the other one. Or sell both if it's something I don't want to play. It's an easy way to keep our collection's going with stuff we want while subsequently getting rid of stuff we no longer have an interest in or never got around to playing.

[Tanooki]

I haven't watched the video yet, and I'll update this with an edit if I do.

Going by the topic -- NO, just more concentrated closing more and more on local if not wider spread saturation. Three years ago is about when things broke towards gaining into the current saturation of scalpers at least as far as old video games go. When it became even more and more crowded those types then spread from just old stuff, but related items that give similar tinglies (like certain Amiibo of 8/16bit characters), and others who will find anything marketed as limited and then due to online discovered that it is so they run out and buy a bunch to make cash.

Is the problem getting worse? Definitely, more and more are doing it for various reasons, but mostly the three you said. Predatory types not caring where the dough comes from who doesn't even care about the materials. Those who are collectors getting extras or what not. Then you have those who could either trade/sell something because they get doubles or find a nice deal so they can still afford the hobby. I'll bluntly admit, I'm that last one historically speaking. If I can find a game for pre 3years ago plus price and I don't find I like it, I'll sell it on the lower end of current average because then I can afford something I'd like or even need(not even game related.)

Are these types that target kids items lost their morals? Debatable. They may never have had them, or they grew cold towards it for whatever reason. Let's assume they had them up front, but then because excuses and reality blur, they'll just got after an item as a catch all regardless if it burns a 10 year old kid or a 30 year old adult like the Amiibo pillage of the last year. Sure adults wanted stuff for memories like myself or for genuine game use, but the kids, plenty want those for Mario party, Smash, and the others for the WiiU and maybe the 3DS if they got the reader and then they can't get their favorite because they're all bought up and returned up days/hours later at like a 50% mark up. They know who they're impacting, they don't care if it's a kid or an adult or they'd do something different.

I don't know the system in Europe or systems if it's country specific, so that's kind of a silly question. Most societies were eventually developed or further developed using a system of barter(trade) and not just straight cash or precious minerals and gems to pay for stuff. It's in the blood and it's a fair option.

The problem is this time of year though really, the closer you get the Christmas this stuff picks up, and it's not just video games. I can remember past years where ELMO dolls went for stupid high prices and panicked parents paid so their kid wouldn't be crying on Christmas morning. I'd see Tickle Me Elmo on ebay or craigslist out west for like 2-3x the retail price or more and people paid it out of desperation to make some kid or someone else (if not themselves) happy for the season of giving/receiving. It's rotten but it's seasonal and sadly expected.

I would add this something I strongly wish a huge group stores on (amazon) and offline (target etc) could do. Limit all purchases of X item to one per customer, per payment option, per address that all gets logged into 'the system' anyway when you buy stuff. When any form of card (credit/debit) is used that scan gets not just the digits, exp date and security code but it sees a name and address as well tied to the card so that's doable, and those paying in cash have them require an ID check as least as a scare tactic(as that wouldn't be as effective as cards/checks.) Make it grossly it painful to people who want to harm others especially at Christmas. If a flipper can only buy a new boxed item (Amiibo, Elmo, etc) and that's it per payment option/per address they shouldn't be able to get easily more than 1 or 2 items per chain store. It should be easy to bar that garbage, but having it done just won't happen, and it could hurt people who may have a few kids who want the same thing, but in that case it kind of would be more of a needs of the many over the needs of the few or the one.


EDIT: Video has bad acting but at an amusing level due to the parody of the issue at hand. Personally it does nothing for me. I swore off buying NES/SNES games online a couple years ago and have bought less than fingers on my hands since locally. I don't get mad about it anymore and really don't care, don't really want to get on some resellers ass about it either as they don't care either or they'd stop. The farce will end when people stop feeding the animals. I changed gears to having a real pinball table, some legos, gameboy family and sega genesis to keep myself entertained and far more chill. So if someone was expecting a lot of me making tired posts tearing into idiots I'm not.

[calgon]

It's not on my radar since I haven't bought a "rare" game since jeez, probably street fighter zero 3 Saturn in 2010. It helps that I've never been into RPGs too much and already own just about everything I could ever want.

I guess it's just a logical progression of a hobby where people now have money to spend on items they didn't as a kid, plus YouTube shows. Overall it's fine by me as long as no one gets hurt

[Sailorneorune]

I understand reselling if it's within reason. For example: if someone here really wants an amiibo, but their FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) ran out. My GameStop has 3 or 4 of this amiibo left. I go to my GameStop, get extra amiibo A, and let person B know I picked it up. ~$14 for the amiibo, and another $3-4 to ship it practically anywhere in the US. If I had to check multiple locations, I may add another couple of bucks, so it's $20 shipped for that amiibo if, say, I had to pick it up at one of the Evansville or Owensboro locations.

I have no problem with people earning a little extra money, but it's gotten out of hand. Even relatively common NES games are setting people back about $20 a pop now. My copy of Pulseman will, for the foreseeable future, be a painful reminder of how batcrap insane the secondary market for retro games has become.

When you can get a Wii, the Virtual Console download of an OMGT3HR4R3Z game, and 10 more Virtual Console games of your choice for the same price or slightly less than the physical copy, the price of the game you desire has clearly gotten out of hand.

Some retro game fans are squarely in the NO DIGITAL!!!!!1 camp. For me, it's whatever is the more reasonable option.

buy EarthBound, get a Wii U free!*
(compared to just buying EarthBound on eBay. Plus you can play other stuff on the Wii U)

[Dashopepper]

I got a good example. Two Black Fridays ago my wife drags me to Best Buy. I find two brand new The Last Story Wii special editions for $20 each. I buy both. Keep one and sell one on Ebay for $56 the next day.

Was it more moral to leave the game sitting on the shelf at Best Buy? Should I have done a good deed and sold it on Ebay for what it cost me?

I don't necessarily think scalping is evil. It's a product of economics I guess. And when a company has enough supply to ward off scalpers you'll here people on the internet complain that limited editions aren't limited enough anymore.

[Gameguy]

Sometimes I feel bad just leaving something behind at a yard sale or thrift store if it's something that I feel deserves to be appreciated, at yard sales if stuff doesn't sell it's often just thrown out or left in "free" boxes at the curb even if it later rains. Or sometimes things like rare toys would just be bought by people who don't know what they have and let their kids trash it. I often pick up things like this, even if it's just for $1, then take it home, spend 20 minutes or more just cleaning all the dirt and/or stickers off of it, and then price it at $5 or so. I just want things to go to people who'll appreciate them. If stuff is priced too high I won't bother though, I don't want to throw away money I can't get back on things I don't personally want to keep. Plus if the seller prices stuff high, I doubt the stuff will just be thrown out or bought by someone who doesn't know what they're buying.

Of course finding stuff that actually has value is pretty fun. Trading that stuff for items of equal value I'm actually wanting is pretty rewarding. It doesn't happen too often though.

I've previously avoided buying some older big box PC games at a thrift priced $2.99 each. They were maybe worth $5-$10 each and I didn't want any of these to play so I left them. I later heard that after a couple weeks they were all thrown out as they didn't sell. This annoyed me quite a bit. I often buy stuff like this now just to keep them from getting trashed, even though I'm usually stuck with them for months or years until I can find someone who wants them.

[Tanooki]

I've done that slight upsell bit on cheaper stuff too as it just seems like recovery and relocation. I've got goodies out of it and some goodies I still have yet to rehome. Maybe you should inventory your special things as maybe someone here could help out with that.

[Atarileaf]

I've previously avoided buying some older big box PC games at a thrift priced $2.99 each. They were maybe worth $5-$10 each and I didn't want any of these to play so I left them. I later heard that after a couple weeks they were all thrown out as they didn't sell. This annoyed me quite a bit. I often buy stuff like this now just to keep them from getting trashed, even though I'm usually stuck with them for months or years until I can find someone who wants them.

As someone who's recently gotten into big box PC game collecting, especially late 80's to mid 90s Dos or early Windows stuff, this story stings a bit.

[eskobar]

As someone who's recently gotten into big box PC game collecting, especially late 80's to mid 90s Dos or early Windows stuff, this story stings a bit.

A bit offtopic but can't miss the chance to ask ...

are 80s, 90s and early 2k games playable on modern hardware? I have seen quite a few pc games and have always avoided them. I was a big fan of the PC in the 80s and 90s and in the time a few games weren't stable with contemporary hardware so I think that with modern hardware could be harder ... specially with 3dfx, power vr and riva stuff ...

Yesterday I saw: Lucas Arts Archives Vol. IV for $350 pesos (aprox. 21 usd) and passed it ... I really want to play Jedi Knight and the expansion on my laptop ...

[Atarileaf]

It's hit and miss. Really old stuff you should get an older 486 and dos or use dosbox, which is what I use. Some of the newer windows titles will work on modern hardware, some won't. Hard to say specifically which titles will or won't. I have an older Athlon XP system and an older PII system with Windows 98 so I'm covered to some degree with most of what I have.

What's sad is how hard of a time I'm having find an older dos computer. Not nearly as easy to come by nowadays, in these parts anyway.

[Greg2600]

I've bought many times from sites like A2600.com, tradengames.com, collectorscardsandgames.com, etc. Prices have been fair. On ebay, I'll bid on an auction sure, from time to time, but the majority of my buys have been lots of games or consoles with games. That's how you save $.

[kupomogli]

As long as the game isn't well known to be such a great game, the price is more than fair, although even games as like Brigandine, Suikoden 2, Tactics Ogre, etc, are fair priced because they're highly sought games. If you want cheap, some of the best games aren't as well known, so go after those games. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find what those games are than looking at every game available. You can't just go to a Youtube video of the best PSX, NES, N64, PS2, etc, games no one knows about, because those unknown games are just unknown to the vast majority of people who really don't know as much as they like to make it seem, and even then they'll be middle range costs.

These games are out of print titles that were $50-$80 when they were brand new, and most of the games can be found for a little more than half that cost complete(or less.) For older games I don't think resellers are a problem because they're keeping these games priced reasonable. If some random shmuck is going to sell Suikoden 2 for $10 at a flea market and some reseller nabs it and sells it for a much higher price, then it's the fault of the guy at the flea market, not the reseller. If you feel every game should be less than $50, then it's you that's the problem, not the reseller. Although I wouldn't put it past some of the resellers to have a bidding war against themselves in order to keep the price high, I mean 365 days a year someone is interested in purchasing all of these games that they'll bid back and forth? I think most people who still use Ebay know the cheapest way is to bid once at the highest cost you're interested in near the end of the auction.

However, I do think the resellers are a problem when it comes to newer games. When some amazing online deal goes live, it's usually resellers who take advantage of the deal being offered, crash the system, buy just about all of the stock, etc until the deal is removed from the system. The people who actually want to purchase the item are the ones that miss out.

[kai123]

I just don't buy into it anymore and I just pirate everything and spend my money on the current generation and PC games. I don't care about it anymore. Get a flashcart and be happy playing games. There is no reason to spend copious amounts of cash on older games. I will buy them up to $60. I just treat them the same as current prices. To each their own but I am much happier not "hunting" for games and just playing them now.

I have also stopped watching as many videos about games and stopped reading the news sites as much. It is such a waste of time. There are so many games I love that they just won't give the time of day. It keeps that feeling alive of going to a store and not knowing if anything new came out. Kind of like when I was a kid.

[FieryReign]

+1 What he said up there.^

[Tanooki]

I just don't buy into it anymore and I just pirate everything and spend my money on the current generation and PC games. I don't care about it anymore. Get a flashcart and be happy playing games. There is no reason to spend copious amounts of cash on older games. I will buy them up to $60. I just treat them the same as current prices. To each their own but I am much happier not "hunting" for games and just playing them now.

I have also stopped watching as many videos about games and stopped reading the news sites as much. It is such a waste of time. There are so many games I love that they just won't give the time of day. It keeps that feeling alive of going to a store and not knowing if anything new came out. Kind of like when I was a kid.

Piracy aside (mostly) I've done this too. As I said before I quit buying NES/SNES games 2 summers ago online cold as I got fed up with it all and the annoyance it was causing me. Locally I've avoided it almost completely too getting maybe 4-5 SNES and 3 NES games in all that time and nothing of any real interest/value to most. Well before that when I saw it going bad back in 2011-12 I capped myself. Cold hard cash, no more than original $50 retail on carts and $30-40 on handheld games, and I still stick to it. I don't NEED it, I want it, and I don't want it bad enough to harm myself getting a game when I can just fire it up on the computer or just not bother as I have enough as it is. I still like to hunt, but I widened it to cover antiques, vintage toys (30s-80s), Legos (loose or sets), and some old games but they're no longer the driving or primary interest to make things better. To do games I went into the Gameboy family and lately Sega Genesis as all that stuff mostly is very very cheap, few of the games break that $30-40 price tag and exceptionally few get over $50 especially as a game cart only and they seem stuck there which is great. You make do, you change tactics, and if you can't hack it, quit -- don't let them win, drive forward or change gears on your terms not theirs.

I've also mostly stopped reading game news, rarely look at a video unless i'm curious about an old game I'm sort of unfamiliar with to see how it 'long play's out without mindless people yapping to fill space to help decide. I'll go through modern gaming news media sites maybe once a week to 10 days, a little more frequently with a couple that cover android/ios releases (pocket gamer out of UK and droid gamers are great.)

[celerystalker]

Don't care to watch the video, but I l'm in the camp that just doesn't care. There's always something else to buy if I wwnt to buy games; I'm never trapped. Like Tanooki buying Genesis or GB games, there are also imports, oddities, and even games for the popular systems if you don't watch the same crap videos and media everyone else does and are willing to take some chances. If old games keep rising in price, it's no big deal to me. At least for me, where with baseball cards as a kid I could only dream of finding those Honus Wagners and Mickey Mantles, with video games I was in from beginning, and I still have a lot of what people want these days, so it's kinda neat from that angle.

Realistically, though, those of us who are in this to play and enjoy our games sometimes want to get angry about this, but they've become a collectible, with all of the ups and downs that brings. It's a different consumer base competing for the same product, and it's not completely unnatural or evil... it's just relatively new to the hobby, and it's not going away anytimr soon. So, best thing to do is mind your money and spend it wisely, understanding that you have options beyond just paying top dollar for what's hot.

Also, people should bear in mind that as easy as it is to call a reseller unethical, it's just as unethical to snake away someone's games at a yard sale that they didn't know better about when selling. I'm not a reseller and they don't need defending... but taking advantage of people is the same offense, regardless of from which direction you approach it.

[Tanooki]

I agree with you on that last part but not entirely. Someone at their garage sale will choose to research or not, or not even care to, before placing a price on a sticker. That's their choice. As long as you don't come up to them knowing you have a $30 game they marked at $10 and try and talk them down to 2 for $5 with one them being it I think it's moderately different. Pay what they ask, they're happy, end of story, but if you try and get one over on top when knowing the truth, that's just sleazy. Whereas online you don't have that choice anymore. You want Zelda for NES, you will pay $25 for it or get one in shabby shape. You can't argue that price unless it's a best offer deal, you do or you do not, same as the sticker at the garage sale. The guy online just wanted to match others online, the guy at the garage sale either isn't aware or doesn't care because they put the price on it. I'm not going to even scratch into that as a reseller finding a cheap sticker I'm just doing this from someone who would keep to play as that goes down that angry old rabbit hole of picking off stuff people could play so you can make a fast buck and people fighting over it despite the former seller getting what they want out of it.

[celerystalker]

I disagree regarding garage sales. In my experience, the people who put those cheap prices without research are typically elderly or estate sales being held by people far out of touch with internet culture or collecting. If I run across anything old enought to be on a cart these days, it's usually an elderly mom selling something her adult child hasn't touched in 20 years, and they are completely oblivious as to the crazy values some things have reached. Why would they? 15 years after the NES was popular, not much cost anything, so why expect that a game like SCAT or Kickmaster that they may have tried to sell at a store back when but only got an offer of $.10 would now cost over $100? Why would it even be worth researching from their point of view? It's one thing if it's a 30-45 year old selling their old stuff, but when it's a 60+ year old or estate sale situation, it's a different animal.

[Gameguy]

As long as you don't come up to them knowing you have a $30 game they marked at $10 and try and talk them down to 2 for $5 with one them being it I think it's moderately different.
There is a point I think a bit differently about, at least more recently. If it's a cartridge game or a console, is it fully guaranteed to work without issues? Usually when people are selling games at a garage sale they haven't bothered to play them recently, you have to take a chance that they haven't developed problems from poor storage. Or with consoles there's a good chance they're broken in some way. As you've mentioned Zelda, the battery could be dead and need replacing. It's rare but I've also come across games with the boards swapped too so the game doesn't match the label. Usually I won't pay more than $5 for any game unless it's something really sought after, or disc based and in high demand.

I'm not going to demand all games for $0.25 each, but I still want them cheap if I can't test them and don't know the seller. I bought a dead copy of Donkey Kong Country 2 for $10 at a flea market, I didn't feel good about that when I tried playing it at home.

[Tanooki]

Celery -- You're assuming a bit much, I've come across people between their teens and 40s who do this at garage sales/flea markets too. I've done it when I wanted to let loose some stuff the last time I did one about a year and a half ago as i put some NES stuff outside, including a boxed up Hogan's Alley and I didn't price it by ebay. You really never do know. Even if you're right and it's all oblivious people, I think the difference I stated fits. They pulled it, they thought about it, they put a sticker on it, that's what would make them happy. Same thing on ebay, but ebay is entirely different as you have to compete, and you still do see low low end BINs that fly by and people snap them up, it's just scarce now. You pay what is listed, that's what they want, same at the local stuff too. I still believe the sleazy reseller person would talk them down further just to stick it to them. You're right if it's an estate sale and another beast entirely, but again that's their choice. Someone died, last thing they care about is thinking a lot about clearing out stuff, that's why you can get all sorts of cars, furniture, art, and more for less...but I do hit those up and some of them do have high end prices as well so you can't blanket statement saying all estate sales are picking on the elderly too. Each case is unique.

Gameguy -- You and me both. I've learned I need to do some thinking about some Genesis games. There's discussion all over on piss poorly made PCBs Tengen used when making Genesis games and more and more of them are failing. It causes common games up to the expensive Grind Stormer to just up and drop dead. You can resurrect them if you have the skils, supplies and equipment doing a digital organ transplant moving the chip to another board. But even aside from that we see blown batteries, old chips that just do up and fail, and more will happen as time goes along. You can assume fairly well, but no longer trust a cartridge game won't be blown buying it blind and that is a factor. In my flea marketing days out in CA and what little exists here I've hit a couple snags too. I picked up a Crystalis with a dead battery from age, this I eventually a few years later getting a kit fixed, and then there was a Super Punchout too and that one had a blown battery. Tried to clean it, it appeared no traces were shot with a friend of mine who did electronics, yet even when we transplanted a new battery to it, it never would save again rendering it fairly useless. Back in the 90s the one time I trusted mail order games (Funcoland) I got a broken copy of River City Ransom that would only play as much as a few moments into the first gaming screen, 10-20% of the time if lucky into the second before it would just quietly freeze. It's why I don't like paying much with unprotected locations for items like these as they fail. Someone asking for $30 or $300 for a game at a flea market on a chip I'll ignore, or laugh and just walk away as it's playing with fire.

[jonebone]

Didn't read the thread...

But better question, is it ever going to get better? The answer is no unless the values of the hobby completely tank. Unless that happens, reselling only becomes more abundant with each passing day.

[Tanooki]

I kind of was leading towards that in my original big post. It's not worse, it's just more populated. Same tactics better or worse and more at it. It's why I stopped caring which was for the best and went with something else. You'd need the bottom to fall out like beanie babies or the rest before (and if) it would recover. Or you'd need something so scandalous and rampant which would blunt force cause a correction such as comics had happen. The books from the scamming scalping period and a bit before went straight into the toilet value wise almost entirely, but the truly valued stuff that truly is lower in existence (total population) and even lesser so the nicer in condition it goes still commands serious value. In time games should go there, but it could be years yet I think.

[Gatucaman]

I disagree regarding garage sales. In my experience, the people who put those cheap prices without research are typically elderly or estate sales being held by people far out of touch with internet culture or collecting. If I run across anything old enought to be on a cart these days, it's usually an elderly mom selling something her adult child hasn't touched in 20 years, and they are completely oblivious as to the crazy values some things have reached. Why would they? 15 years after the NES was popular, not much cost anything, so why expect that a game like SCAT or Kickmaster that they may have tried to sell at a store back when but only got an offer of $.10 would now cost over $100? Why would it even be worth researching from their point of view? It's one thing if it's a 30-45 year old selling their old stuff, but when it's a 60+ year old or estate sale situation, it's a different animal.

Well i got Kickmaster for $4 a couple of years back on a flea market after being boned by a hipster.

[Tanooki]

The 2nd kickmaster I ever had was like 2 years ago and it was like $4 or $6 as well, something in that area and I really gave it a good push unlike the one I had a few years earlier. I knocked off most the game but it got so bland, boring, and annoying to keep playing I got rid of it, and yet again a couple months ago I had another in a lot and it still wasn't that good. Given I turned the lot enough to get even and a little ahead out of it so it was even cheaper, but wouldn't have been had I still found it didn't get better but worse with age unfortunately. It's really not about the game anymore, nor is it about the fake or actual real rarity, it's about the business and nothing more than the business of it. The fact there's an increasing amount of those making a business of it now is the issue, it hasn't gotten worse, it has become more and really over populated. There's so many resellers vs stock vs actual interested keeping buyers (gamer or collector) the chance of not paying is next to nothing short of the most common of commons and that's the problem.

[celerystalker]

Well i got Kickmaster for $4 a couple of years back on a flea market after being boned by a hipster.

Flea markets and garage sales are different all together. Regular flea market sellers ought to know better, as a lot of them want to act like retailers. All I was saying was that it's not ethical to take advantage of people who aren't in a position to know better. Store owners, people running regular flea market booths, ebay sellers... they try to operate a sales operation and have a responsibility to know their stuff, and it's not your job to educate them. A little old lady at a garage sale may be a different story, is all I'm saying.

[Gatucaman]

The 2nd kickmaster I ever had was like 2 years ago and it was like $4 or $6 as well, something in that area and I really gave it a good push unlike the one I had a few years earlier. I knocked off most the game but it got so bland, boring, and annoying to keep playing I got rid of it, and yet again a couple months ago I had another in a lot and it still wasn't that good. Given I turned the lot enough to get even and a little ahead out of it so it was even cheaper, but wouldn't have been had I still found it didn't get better but worse with age unfortunately. It's really not about the game anymore, nor is it about the fake or actual real rarity, it's about the business and nothing more than the business of it. The fact there's an increasing amount of those making a business of it now is the issue, it hasn't gotten worse, it has become more and really over populated. There's so many resellers vs stock vs actual interested keeping buyers (gamer or collector) the chance of not paying is next to nothing short of the most common of commons and that's the problem.

Welp, to being honest, i finally made the sin of buying Vice Project Doom at Ebay only because i had to use the promotion of a free shipped service to mexico via Estafeta, which is decent enough to not he as jewed enough when it cames to shipping, but most NES games are overpriced, even the widespready ones. :angry:

And yes, i payed $29 for Vice only because i had birthday money.......................and i didn't enjoy it that much, the music is really bad, and some of the platforming is bleh due to the enemies pushing you back.

But then again IF i ever buy another NES game at fake ebay price, maybe Lolo 3, cause i have found NO ONE who is willing to sell it for under $18 and that fucking title is now at $40 the cheapest!, and i had no fucking luck finding the Lolo sequels on flea markets, i have only found the original, and i only want to play the 3rd one.....

And i honestly see no point of trying to win auctions on Ebay because shillbidders and E-snippers are FUCKING EVERYWHERE, and even if you win, the end price will be not different that the cheapest BIN price shipping included, (which is something veridical by the way.)

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


Anybody wants to sell me Lolo 3 at a real price? :beaten:

[Tanooki]

$29 seems like a lot for Vice Project Doom, but then again I don't attempt to keep up much on NES/SNES stuff anymore unless I think something maybe cheap, then I whip out the iphone. I gave up being on the nose with the values because I tired of it, same with SNES more or less. Seems odd to waste money just to get special shipping though. I never heard of it being terrible though, but considering it's not $50 already it must not be special either.

Do what you want with your money, just buy it if you want it that bad I guess. If you don't care about perfection you could do what that paul guy at NA does, find the shittiest working copy. That'll cut your expenses by a lot, and then you can leave it crappy or do something with it, your call as it's already a mess.

I'll have to argue against you on that one, at least so far, with me using ebay the last few weeks in relation to Sega Genesis. I've not been sniped so far, no shilling, nothing. People just don't because because it's NOT Nintendo NES or SNES games (or certain varied N64 titles from the later years.) A good large majority of the Genesis and GB/GBC/GBA aren't being screwed with thankfully so it's more like the old days of lower prices and less infuriating tactics. I doubt it'll last, but it might, as Sega really did piss off a lot of their fans and they're irrelevant to most 'retro' gamers these days because it's not Nintendo. Gameboy is handheld so most brush it off as bite sized games not worthy of their time and that ignorance makes things better for those who do.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Fuck scalpers and (overpriced) resellers. They ruined the classic game market, at least for several systems. Even some common SNES games in shitty condition are 20-30 bucks now. Those were often the rental mules. Well scalpers, overpriced resellers, hipsters, and Storage Wars like shows ruined it. People will fucking pay an arm and a leg for Nintendo shit. It's manifesting itself with the Wii U now. At least with older systems, even fairly rare ones like Sega Saturn, there was a time when you could find stuff dirt cheap for them, usually in the first few years after their discontinuation. With Wii U it seems the scalpers are already fucking up the market. I want to grab a Wii U when they are discontinued, at the time they're the cheapest, to collect. I'm not looking to make money on the thing.

[eskobar]

Welp, to being honest, i finally made the sin of buying Vice Project Doom at Ebay only because i had to use the promotion of a free shipped service to mexico via Estafeta, which is decent enough to not he as jewed enough when it cames to shipping, but most NES games are overpriced, even the widespready ones. :angry:

And yes, i payed $29 for Vice only because i had birthday money.......................and i didn't enjoy it that much, the music is really bad, and some of the platforming is bleh due to the enemies pushing you back.

But then again IF i ever buy another NES game at fake ebay price, maybe Lolo 3, cause i have found NO ONE who is willing to sell it for under $18 and that fucking title is now at $40 the cheapest!, and i had no fucking luck finding the Lolo sequels on flea markets, i have only found the original, and i only want to play the 3rd one.....

And i honestly see no point of trying to win auctions on Ebay because shillbidders and E-snippers are FUCKING EVERYWHERE, and even if you win, the end price will be not different that the cheapest BIN price shipping included, (which is something veridical by the way.)

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


Anybody wants to sell me Lolo 3 at a real price? :beaten:

I have a Lolo 3 cart with the pcb in very good condition but the supports of the pcb are broken and the cart cannot be played because the pcb is a bit loose. You can put the pcb in another shell to play it.

Saludos

[Tanooki]

Swap the label. Heat it up so much the blue softens then slowly remove starting with a razor blade as to not warp or ruffle the sticker. Apply to replacement she'll using some new glue and you're good. It will be slow going.

[Gatucaman]

I have a Lolo 3 cart with the pcb in very good condition but the supports of the pcb are broken and the cart cannot be played because the pcb is a bit loose. You can put the pcb in another shell to play it.

Saludos

Sent you a message dude, Check it :)

[Gatucaman]

And got no luck :puppydogeyes:

[Gatucaman]

Man, Why is it that is so much impossible to find Adventures of L O L O 3 or heck even the second one (even tough i am not interested on that one), sadly got burned out by Eskobar at the end of the day, and EBAY prices have gotten worse, with the game being sold at $45, WHY?

Now Tanooki, i know you think that is worthless to buying NES games in physical form, BUT, the thing is, i only buy good games that i wanted to play anyways, i have over 100 games, but for real, i have played and beaten most of these titles.

Also, i been able to find some really hard to find titles for cheap, since market here in mexico has different rules, cause we are poor in income and we don't win in USD, And i can swear to all of you that the games that i have buyed properly were games that i have enjoyed and even completed, i even enjoyed games that people have a "fuck that game" mentality like Ninja Gaiden III, and i am talking about our american Ninja Gaiden III, "which isn't really a broken ruined forever that mah Famicom master-race", oddly enough the only game that i got whiplash disappointment was, if you believe it, VICE project Doom.

Are people like me just wrong or Out of touch because we want to own the carts, i mean, it's not like i want a full collection, i even refuse to call it a "collection", because to me that means, just showing shit, not using shit!, which is what videogames are meant for anyways., so no, i just don't feel like getting a Flashcart for NES, because when this problem started, i already had over 90 titles, and not liek many libraries that has games that only you like or mediocre garbage like Tiger Heli etc, no, i can speak that mine is at the very least a much richer and unique library of games, i didn't even like certain games that people called "Classics" like Kid Icarus, which i tough legitimately it was and poorly aged game and just couldn't enjoy it, same reason why i never bother with the original Metroid or even the first megaman game.

and dont even get me started on fucking 4chan /vr/ forums, when we cant even discuss the issue of the Retro Scacupster as i like to call it out, and people being belligerent to others with the "GET A FLASHCART STUPID". vibe, and scumbag scacupsters defending their dirty deeds with the dead excuse of "mah supply and demand".

[Tanooki]

I do? Huh, guess I have around 60 worthless games. No, I find supporting the scalper market worthless because the prices are just abusively high on anything on the upper end of the quality scale and anything (good or bad) perceived as so called rare (along with legit rares.) That's why I stopped caring and gave up buying the stuff online and off as well outside of super rare exceptions of fair pre-scam pricing and same with SNES too. Like you said, you have been able to find some cheap. Recently I bought NES games (and system) for the first time in over two years and it had two games in the $50-100 club, tried them, didn't like them, but I had them and what I paid for that lot wasn't awful by any means. And yes, prices despite online annoyances can be local as can availability. I could find heaps of games out west, but in this area very few and those that do are influenced by half price books asking the highest paid BIN price possible so it's pointless.

You're not out of touch. You're just smarter than the average person that has been brought up with disposable culture and cheap every few years if that replaceable items. Some people who are in their 20s and under are part of this club, but a lot of them into gaming/music/movies have been brought up in a mind controlled type way by the industry to not care if you actually have something in hand, and to not even realize you don't own something when you pay for it. They'd rather push convenience, cheaper pricing, and the ability to have a heap of stuff in one little device that could be shared among others. Few will realize or get mad when they find an old game vanished due to time, device/os changes and all that, or they just don't care and move along due to disposable culture leanings. Some though will realize they're getting screwed. Maybe they own a Nintendo console, had it broken or stolen, couldn't get it repaired, and find out that 100s or 1000s of dollars in games were stuck on it bound to the device and they're shit out of luck. Or they'll be a victim of a licensing agreement expiring or going sour, much like Ubisoft getting Turtles and it getting wiped off Wii-Ware/VC, or over on Kindle when there was a battle over Orwells 1984 (irony!) and Amazon reached out over Wifi and manually erased it off every paying customers device and their site (which they got sued hardcore for and lost as it was stealing.) I once had a Loco Roco game on my T-Mobile phone like a decade ago, Sony didn't want to host it anymore, and it got erased from me and I lost my purchase. Had I physically owned it like my Loco Roco UMD I had then they couldn't do that.

So no, you just respect your ability to pay for something and control it within the confines of the medium -- cart, tape, cd, dvd, blu ray, memory card, whatever. I use MP3s, but I buy CDs and make them because I won't trust Apple or someone might piss off a studio and lose those tracks just as I have ripped 3 blu-rays of mine and put them on mobiles too instead of just paying for a streaming/download. I don't feel out of date, I still use the modern tech but I find creative ways to control it still just as I'll buy any game on GOG.com over Steam given a choice as I get a physical keeper copy vs the DRM/front end saddled copies they have.

I don't much like calling what I have a collection too due to the modern idea of it with gaming, but it is one. I did collect them, but they're not amiibo desk toys, I use them. Just like I have a small Lego collection, I collected them but I enjoy building, displaying, then tearing down and doing it again later.

[Gatucaman]

I do? Huh, guess I have around 60 worthless games. No, I find supporting the scalper market worthless because the prices are just abusively high on anything on the upper end of the quality scale and anything (good or bad) perceived as so called rare (along with legit rares.) That's why I stopped caring and gave up buying the stuff online and off as well outside of super rare exceptions of fair pre-scam pricing and same with SNES too. Like you said, you have been able to find some cheap. Recently I bought NES games (and system) for the first time in over two years and it had two games in the $50-100 club, tried them, didn't like them, but I had them and what I paid for that lot wasn't awful by any means. And yes, prices despite online annoyances can be local as can availability. I could find heaps of games out west, but in this area very few and those that do are influenced by half price books asking the highest paid BIN price possible so it's pointless.

You're not out of touch. You're just smarter than the average person that has been brought up with disposable culture and cheap every few years if that replaceable items. Some people who are in their 20s and under are part of this club, but a lot of them into gaming/music/movies have been brought up in a mind controlled type way by the industry to not care if you actually have something in hand, and to not even realize you don't own something when you pay for it. They'd rather push convenience, cheaper pricing, and the ability to have a heap of stuff in one little device that could be shared among others. Few will realize or get mad when they find an old game vanished due to time, device/os changes and all that, or they just don't care and move along due to disposable culture leanings. Some though will realize they're getting screwed. Maybe they own a Nintendo console, had it broken or stolen, couldn't get it repaired, and find out that 100s or 1000s of dollars in games were stuck on it bound to the device and they're shit out of luck. Or they'll be a victim of a licensing agreement expiring or going sour, much like Ubisoft getting Turtles and it getting wiped off Wii-Ware/VC, or over on Kindle when there was a battle over Orwells 1984 (irony!) and Amazon reached out over Wifi and manually erased it off every paying customers device and their site (which they got sued hardcore for and lost as it was stealing.) I once had a Loco Roco game on my T-Mobile phone like a decade ago, Sony didn't want to host it anymore, and it got erased from me and I lost my purchase. Had I physically owned it like my Loco Roco UMD I had then they couldn't do that.

So no, you just respect your ability to pay for something and control it within the confines of the medium -- cart, tape, cd, dvd, blu ray, memory card, whatever. I use MP3s, but I buy CDs and make them because I won't trust Apple or someone might piss off a studio and lose those tracks just as I have ripped 3 blu-rays of mine and put them on mobiles too instead of just paying for a streaming/download. I don't feel out of date, I still use the modern tech but I find creative ways to control it still just as I'll buy any game on GOG.com over Steam given a choice as I get a physical keeper copy vs the DRM/front end saddled copies they have.

I don't much like calling what I have a collection too due to the modern idea of it with gaming, but it is one. I did collect them, but they're not amiibo desk toys, I use them. Just like I have a small Lego collection, I collected them but I enjoy building, displaying, then tearing down and doing it again later.


Thank you buddie for this words, and sorry for what i said about what i tought of your views on collecting NES carts, that assumption was a made on what i read from you before regarding SNES.

And by the way, i did beat VICE project doom just a few hours ago, and honestly, i did enjoy it better than my past sessions, maybe it was because i had to learn to only move a few pixels and to stay and fight the enemies, cause they are just too many of them, i still think the music is weak tough, so yeah, while i wish i havent resort to Ebay on this one, i think i was unfair on the game itself.

And, yes, i was blowing off steam after being burned out by Eskobar, :sad: man, what's worse is that the japanese lolo 3 is one of those cases when the famicom version is even expensive. :shameful:

[JSoup]

I just don't buy into it anymore and I just pirate everything and spend my money on the current generation and PC games. I don't care about it anymore. Get a flashcart and be happy playing games. There is no reason to spend copious amounts of cash on older games. I will buy them up to $60. I just treat them the same as current prices. To each their own but I am much happier not "hunting" for games and just playing them now.

Similar here. Years ago I realized there was a difference between "I want to own this" and "I want to play this. If it's in the first camp, it's got to be at a price I'm willing to pay or I'm just not going to bother. That "must own" list is pretty short. For the rest, pretty much every video game created since the dawn of such things can be played at least three different ways outside of owning the game these days, so there is no time based stress on me to get all the things ASAP.