Digital Press prices???

[maxlords]

Ok...I've been thinking about getting the Digital Press guide for a price guide/rarity list. So I checked out the online price guides to see kind of what I'd be getting. And I have to say that the guide's accuracy is pretty good. Rather comprehensive I think, at least for title listings. I saw an error here or there, but every guide has that. But then I started looking at the prices. And what I noticed is that they're universally VERY low! What's going on with that? Games that I KNOW sell on eBay, and in the real world for $50+ are listed as $15-20! It seems like a LOT of the games for some systems (Genesis?) are undervalued, while ones for other systems (notably older systems) are overvalued. Now, don't get me wrong, some of hte prices are accurate, but a lot are not IMO. And I'm not just talking eBay prices. I'm also talking what these games sell for in game stores and shops around the country. Some of the stuff listed, I can't even find it at those prices in pawn shops or Goodwills!

What I want to know is, where do the prices COME FROM, and what determines the DP prices? Same with the rarity...where does that come from? For example, in the Sega Saturn online guide, Shining Wisdom is an R3, and worth $15, but Dragon Force is an R5 and worth $60. However, these games both had approximately the same print runs, didn't they? What determines the ACTUAL rarity? Is that a value judgement on the part of DP, or are you going by actual print run statistics? Bangai-O for Dreamcast had a nice print run, but it's listed as an R4, while Dragon Riders of Pern, which had a low print run to my knowledge, is listed as an R2 worth $10.

I don't understand the listings and how value is determined, and the values don't seem to match those that retail stores sell the games for. Is it just me? Could someone explain all this to me?

[Sylentwulf]

Honestly, I thought a lot of the prices are too high in a lot of cases. And too low in different places. It depends what you're basing your pricing on.

On ebay, VERY common carts like adventure, pitfall, kaboom, frogger, etc... All go for $5-$15 CONSTANTLY, but their actual value is only $1-$2, because EVERYONE who has an atari, collector or not, HAS TO HAVE those games.

If Glib were as popular as Pitfall, they would probly be worth $500-$600 each, easily :)

The only ones I noticed that were LOW, off the top of my head, are:
Rescue Terra I
Glib
Swordquest Waterworld
Berenstein Bears
Smurf Save the day

Games in this category are commonly rare :) They ALWAYS go for around $100 on ebay, but mostly because they got labeled as rare, but DP has most of those rated well under $75. Still pretty close, and they don't base their items on ebay, and a private collector to collector trade, the games are usually worth less, because it doesn't matter how they're "labelled" by ebay.

[Raedon]

Most of the NES plus systems are imho overpriced as I'm used to getting games where every NES games on the table is $3 or every SNES games at the Pawn Shop goes for $5 regardless of what it is.

My biggest problem with Genesis games is finding them in a box.. I won't buy them unless they have a box and beside not seeing any of the +500 uncommon Gen games I hardly ever see gen games in boxes anymore, so they are worthless to me. Sure I have sonic's and Phantasy Star's in the box.. but I have yet to find a Shining force box.

And Sylent is right, you can't get games on ebay for under 4-5.. it's not possible unless you can find a good multi-ship. 1.99+3.00 shipping always

[Sylentwulf]

*I haven't thrown too many advert's around lately*

Of course, :I: Combine shipping on all of my auctions, and pretty much ecverything starts at $1.99. I've also just started listing how the end label is on all of my games as well, no more fear of a cart with no end label!
http://www.ebaystores.com/id=3614179

*OK, back to the board :) *

[digitalpress]

Regarding pricing...

The shortcut answer: a panel of 20+ die-hard/hardcore collector's establish our book's prices and rarity ratings.

The long answer: check here ~ http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1840

[maxlords]

Ok..what I still don't understand is this:

Is your rarity rating a direct function of the print run? Or is it an estimate based on how many of the hardcore gamers spot it in the wild and how often? I'd LOVE to see a rarity listing based solely on the print run numbers....

All in all, the guide sounds like it's a good reference, but only in a general sense, not for a hard and fast pricing, as compared to say, the Overstreet comic guide, where what the guide says IS what it's worth.

[sniperCCJVQ]

Ok..what I still don't understand is this:

All in all, the guide sounds like it's a good reference, but only in a general sense, not for a hard and fast pricing, as compared to say, the Overstreet comic guide, where what the guide says IS what it's worth.

The purpose of the guide it's not to be a "Bible" or a "Beckett", just look what Joe said in "How to use this Guide".

Most of the collector love to get stuff for "low ball" price because the stuff is mostly find in the wild (even is Epay have take a big place now)

by the way, most of the time when i want to sell something, my price is always a little less under the one in the guide.

[Mayhem]

Print run? Well partially I'd imagine. But you also have to look at how many of that print run were sold, and not destroyed, chucked out etc. A game could have had a print run twice as many as another title, but if it hardly sold... it is ultimately going to be rarer. And don't forget demand as well. The bigger the demand:supply, the higher the price is going to get. Just witness Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 2/3 etc on SNES... pretty common, but prices right up there...

[ianoid]

The prices are not meant to be a guide to eBay. They are not meant to be a guide for dealers. They are meant to be a guide to collectors.

There are a few published books for classic games out there with none anywhere near as accurate.

When prices were added to the guide 2 or 3 editions ago (aside from personally being a huge detractor), they were universally lower than eBay by a stretch. As the years have passed, the prices in the guide have changed little, but the prices on eBay have met and frequently dropped below the guide. You may not notice, because people seem to only talk about the most exorbitant and silly auctions, but there are a tremendous number of rare titles (classics wise) that you can get on eBay for $3 regularly. Games like Death Trap that used to fetch $75 regularly now occasionally sell for $25 and most often $40 or so.

My belief is that there are more sellers joining eBay than buyers, which drives down prices. I think the constant change of the online auction world makes this type of price guide even more significant.

[video_game_addict]

Define "extreme" and "norm" please. :wink:


maxlords, if you haven't purchased this book yet....GET IT NOW!!
It's well worth it, you won't be dissapointed. It isn't really something you have to consider. Although most of your questions were concerning games/systems which are not covered in the guide, so you may not have as much of an interest in classics, I don't know.

Again as other people have stated, its a collector's guide, consider it a reference for how much YOU might pay for said game in the wild. Just because a game might fetch $50+ on ebay doesn't mean you would shell out that sort of cash at a thrift store/flea market/trade meet/etc.

[digitalpress]

Also remember that stuff that isn't in the book is at our website (click banner below)!

[ianoid]

I wouldn't exactly say the DP guide has prices I'd pay in the wild, but it depends on the item. Some items you'd be lucky to find anywhere at any price.

Also, people seem to note eBay prices at their highest, but it's not unusual for stuff to sell for below DP guide prices.

It sounds like some people want a stock ticker that keeps track of video game prices on a minute by minute basis. We are all perfectly capable of surveying the situation and deciding what something is worth to us. If you are too impatient to decide, go ahead and waste some money. At least the DP guide can give you an idea of whether you are getting a reasonable deal.