Games in the DP Guide valued at $1 but selling for $5

[Anthony1]

I've been doing alot of research in the rarity guides, for systems like the PS1 and Saturn, and other systems. Like the 32X, Sega CD, 3DO, Genesis and SNES and Dreamcast.


I've noticed that there are alot of games that have a valuation of $1, yet, they commonly are sold for $4, $5, $6 and $7 on Ebay.

And at places like GameStop and GameCrazy, they are usually priced at $4.99 or more.

So if these games are worth $1, then why are they being sold for so much more?

And if they are worth only 1 buck, then where can I buy one for 1 buck? And I would even be willing just to have a loose cd or a loose cart of these games for 1 buck.

Here are some examples of PS1 games that are valued at $1.00, that I would gladly buy in a new york second for 1 buck loose:

Descent - Interplay - R1 - $1
Fade to Black - E.A. - R1 - $1
Forsaken - Acclaim - R1 - $1
NBA Live '96 - E.A. Sports - R2 - $1
NFL GameDay - Sony - R1 - $1
NHL '97 - E.A. Sports - R1 - $1
Nightmare Creatures - R1 - $1
Ninja: Shadow of Darkness - R1 - $1
Oddworld: Abe's Exodus - R1 - $1
ONE - ASC Games - R1 - $1
Project Overkill - R1 - $1
Road Rash - E.A. - R1 - $1
Sentient - Psygnosis - R1 - $1
Tenchu - Activision - R1+ - $1


Here are some other ones that are valued at 2 bucks:

Wipeout 3 - Psygnosis - R1+ - $2
Wild 9 - Interplay - R1 - $2
Rascal - Psygnosis - R1 - $2
Soviet Strike - E.A. - R1 - $2
Jupiter Strike - Acclaim - R5 - $2
NHL Face Off - Sony - R1 - $2
PGA Tour '96 - E.A. - R3 - $2
ESPN Extreme Games or 1Xtreme - Sony - R3 - $2


All I can say, is that if anybody has any of these games, and they want to sell them to me for these actual prices, then I would be willing to buy them right away. Or if anybody knows any place where I can buy any of these games for these prices, then please let me know. Because quite honestly, I can't get these games for this low of prices even at thrift stores! And that would be on the miracle chance that they would even have any of these games.

But you know what, I hope that DP hooking up with Manci Games magazine will help encourage people to sell these games for these prices. That would be sweet to go into a GameStop and buy Oddworld: Abe's Exodus for 1 buck. That would be really sweet!

[swlovinist]

The guide, in my mind is used as a gamers reference, and in most cases, you are not going to find the games at the price they are worth. You are going to find the video games at an inflated price...espically at places like Gamestop and EB.

The guide will best serve you when doing trades with friends or when you are at Flea Marts or Pawn Shops. The guide it to inform you on what the hell you are looking at and what it is worth....

Find me a game place that sells what a game is worth, and I will show you a thousand dollars on the ground.

The market is always changing, with supplies and demands on particular games going up and down on a daily basis...in other words use it as a guide(hence the name) and not a price set in stone. Dont take this as a slam at all(my fellow California friend) but take this from someone who has 1) worked and managed game stores 2)Used the DP guide so much, that I might need a second copy 3)Fellow gamer and collector with over 3000 games. I see from your posts that you know what is up, but remember we also live in Californa...one of the most inflated priced States in the World!!!

[digitalpress]

It's a collector's guide. So you're not going to find our prices in retail shops like GameStop and even less likely on ePay.

In the guide it explains what the values represent. Check it out.

BTW I have a bunch of the games you need that I'll sell you for $1 and $2. I'll send a PM your way :)

[jonjandran]

Grrrrr I hates these double posts...... :angry:

[jonjandran]

I look at it like this :

The DP Guide shows what the games are worth on average , not what they are currently selling for. :D

[SoulBlazer]

And then I've also seen games being sold at EB and online for LESS then what it is stated as being worth in the DP guide. I usually take that either as a case of a game not being popular at all and no one cares what it is really worth, or someone who does'nt know what he has. :D

[Anthony1]

I do understand that it is a guide and not to take things so literally, but I just don't think that there are very many Playstation 1 or Sega Saturn games that are only worth a buck.

Especially complete ones.

Yes, there are tons of Genny and SNES and NES games that are worth a buck, or even less, even complete ones, but with the PS1 and the Saturn, I just think they have some more value. For whatever reason.

It's just when I see a game valued in the guide at $1, but I can't find it anywhere for less than $6, then it seems kinda strange to me.

But I do understand that it is just a general guide, and that one shouldn't take the valuations too seriously. Games will sell for more and less than what the DP Guide lists, I do understand that.

Maybe, the deal is that some games that would commonly be sold for only a couple of bucks are now going for much more. How often are the prices re-evaluated?

Games are kindof like stocks, in that their valuations tend to rise and fall for various reasons. Obviously they don't rise or fall as quickly, but I think maybe every 6 months the prices should be evaluated and adjusted when necessary. Maybe you guys already do that. I don't know.

Anyways, I didn't mean to complain about the wonderfull service that you provide, I just noticed that there were alot of $1 games that I would love to get for $1. And I was curious about it. Thanks.

[jonjandran]

http://tinyurl.com/323zu

There you go , A whole bunch of games for the PS1 that sold for under a buck.
Yea you have to add shipping but if someone is selling these in your area you could have probably done a local pick-up

[NintendoMan]

Of course the guide won't tell the prices exactly, but is a sort of reference. There is no way to tell the exact prices of the games.
I LOVE NINTENDO!

[Balloon Fight]

I just use the guide as a reference when doing trades, or how much i should pay on ebay and the like. Most likely you wont find single games for $1, but you can sometimes find large lots of them that factor out into a buck a piece.

[Raedon]

Usually if you see a rise in game prices it means the hobby of collection console games is growing. I only use Ebay for stuff you just don't come across.. like Bubble Bath Babes or a gold NWC

[christianscott27]

the guide prices are not gospel, just a guideline. its not really worth a retailers floorspace to sell $1 items in most markets, even if thats what they're worth.

what i use the guide's prices for is a common language of worth in trades, ok what i mean to say is- when we have the trademeets at my house people are often trading between vaired consoles, such as intellivision and SNES. using the guide (with the additional sections printed out) allows us to make these multi platform trades by giving us an across the board worth of each and every game. this makes the trades fair and keeps everybody in line :) and since its all cashless trading the actual dollar amounts are not so paramount. when somebody at the meet actually goes to buy or sell something the $ figures are pretty loose and its whatever the two parties agree to.

[kevincure]

There are a huge number of PS1 games that can be had for a buck - it's not uncommon for a lot of 20 to 30 common games for that system to sell for under 50 bucks. For many of the games you mention, ebay is probably the cheapest place to buy them. Look for a seller that has a lot of the games you want, save on shipping, and you can pick those up very cheap.

[Griking]

I look at it like this :

The DP Guide shows what the games are worth on average , not what they are currently selling for. :D

Worth on average as compared to what if you aren't talking about selling price? If a game routinely sells at $2-$5 then how can the average = $1?

[jonjandran]

Worth on average as compared to what if you aren't talking about selling price? If a game routinely sells at $2-$5 then how can the average = $1?

Because most of these cheap worthless games don't even sell on Ebay even if they're listed for a quarter and 1 out of 10 sell for $4 then I'd say a $1 is what they're worth.

[Griking]

Well, I'm not only considering online selling prices I'm considering Gamestop and EBWorld prices as well. These games must be selling for these prices in the stores otherwise they would have been remarked to a lower, sellable price a long time ago. Even my local Goodwills and Salvation Armys don't price games lower than $3 each.

[jonjandran]

I don't know about other places but in my EB and Gamestop, the cheap nes, genesis, n64 , snes,ps1 , etc games have just been sitting there marked $2.99-$4.99 for the last 1-2 years.

Even when they have the buy 2 get 1 free sale , no-one buys them.

Even at $1 I don't think they'd sell.

[punkoffgirl]

I look at it like this :

The DP Guide shows what the games are worth on average , not what they are currently selling for. :D

Worth on average as compared to what if you aren't talking about selling price? If a game routinely sells at $2-$5 then how can the average = $1?

It's what collectors would value the games at. If a collector was selling games, those are ABOUT the prices they'd expect to get for them, and ditto if they were buying them. It has very little to nothing to do with retail or eBay sales.

[portnoyd]

I look at it like this :

The DP Guide shows what the games are worth on average , not what they are currently selling for. :D

Worth on average as compared to what if you aren't talking about selling price? If a game routinely sells at $2-$5 then how can the average = $1?

It's what collectors would value the games at. If a collector was selling games, those are ABOUT the prices they'd expect to get for them, and ditto if they were buying them. It has very little to nothing to do with retail or eBay sales.

Or to put it another way: who would pay more than a buck for NBA Live 96? Some of the non sports games, maybe, but they're in such large supply, that your market is large enough that paying eBay/retail prices isn't the only source and you shouldn't be forced to pay $5. If you want to play the game, fine, but as a collector, you can wait until the $1 (garage sale? flea? thrift? trade? board sale?) rolls around.

dave

[Griking]

I know that this has been brought up many times before but....

I consider myself both a collector and a gamer and while I know that I and none of you would pay more than a dolllar for many games I really have to think that this is more so because we're all a bunch of cheap bastards rather than the fact that these games are only worth a buck.

Non-collectors generally will (and do) pay a lot more for games than we will. Maybe its because they don't know better, maybe because they know that most of these games generally went for $20-$50 each when they were new and assume that they're worth at least $5 each now (which I agree) . Maybe it's also because these games are really worth more than we're willing to admit. But whatever the reason, I have to take non collector's buying habits into consideration when I consider the value of an item. Why should I value and price a game at $1 in my store when people buy the same game for $3 at the Goodwill down the road? Because the Guide says so? I don't think so.

I love the DP guide, but when it comes to collecting I generally only use it for the rarity ratings. I've come to look at the prices in the guide as more along the lines of what Joe may pay for a particular game but not what the game is truely worth.

[Anthony1]

I don't know about other places but in my EB and Gamestop, the cheap nes, genesis, n64 , snes,ps1 , etc games have just been sitting there marked $2.99-$4.99 for the last 1-2 years.

Even when they have the buy 2 get 1 free sale , no-one buys them.

Even at $1 I don't think they'd sell.


Damn!! I wish I could go to your EB and GameStop! I would buy a ton of stuff. At all the GameStops and GameCrazy's around me, those games are pretty much long gone. Especially on the PS1. As for the 16 bit games, yes, they have alot of crappy sports games for a buck, and Mario/Duck Hunt and such, but everything else is much higher.

[digitalpress]

I consider myself both a collector and a gamer and while I know that I and none of you would pay more than a dolllar for many games I really have to think that this is more so because we're all a bunch of cheap bastards rather than the fact that these games are only worth a buck.

I've come to look at the prices in the guide as more along the lines of what Joe may pay for a particular game but not what the game is truely worth.

Are you calling me a cheap bastard?!

Guilty as charged.

One thing in my defense though. I am but one of 50 members who price games for our guide. So there are at least 50 cheap bastards responsible, I can't take all the credit.

[jonjandran]

Damn!! I wish I could go to your EB and GameStop! I would buy a ton of stuff. At all the GameStops and GameCrazy's around me, those games are pretty much long gone. Especially on the PS1. As for the 16 bit games, yes, they have alot of crappy sports games for a buck, and Mario/Duck Hunt and such, but everything else is much higher.

I should go take a picture of all the NES, Genesis, Snes, in the bins at my EB.

Tons of them ....... Most of them the cheap $2.99-$4.99 games.

And even with the buy 1 get 1 free sale they can't get rid of them..,.

[Anthony1]

Damn!! I wish I could go to your EB and GameStop! I would buy a ton of stuff. At all the GameStops and GameCrazy's around me, those games are pretty much long gone. Especially on the PS1. As for the 16 bit games, yes, they have alot of crappy sports games for a buck, and Mario/Duck Hunt and such, but everything else is much higher.

I should go take a picture of all the NES, Genesis, Snes, in the bins at my EB.

Tons of them ....... Most of them the cheap $2.99-$4.99 games.

And even with the buy 1 get 1 free sale they can't get rid of them..,.


Oh, yeah. There are tons of $4.99 loose Genny carts and SNES carts and NES carts. And some at $3.99 and $2.99. And lots of crappy sports games for $1.99 and $1.49 and .99. But all these games are the extremely common games. And they are usually the crappy games. The sports games and racing games and stuff like that. But any of the decent action games or action adventure games go for much more.

Even though in the DP guide they are valued at 1 freaking dollar complete. And the ones at GameStop aren't complete, and they have damaged labels, and some kids name in permanent ink all over the back.

[punkoffgirl]

*lol* You know, something just struck me while reading this topic again.
People here are basically saying that the DP Guide doesn't value games at high enough prices, right?
And then there was the other thread about the "monthly" price guide that's coming out.. And people were worried that stores were going to use it to price games too high. Well, since the DP guide is going to be used as a base for the prices in the monthly guide, I would guess that this shouldn't be an issue.

[BenT]

A bit OT, but I'm shocked that Sentient is R1. I would imagine about 60 people bought that. :)

[Anthony1]

*lol* You know, something just struck me while reading this topic again.
People here are basically saying that the DP Guide doesn't value games at high enough prices, right?
And then there was the other thread about the "monthly" price guide that's coming out.. And people were worried that stores were going to use it to price games too high. Well, since the DP guide is going to be used as a base for the prices in the monthly guide, I would guess that this shouldn't be an issue.

Yeah, I hope the stores follow the price guide in Manci games. That would be sweet. Then I can go into a shop and get Abe's Exodus for a buck!!