At what price point will you blindly buy a system or game?

[98PaceCar]

The thread about fluffing your collection has reminded me of a topic I've wanted to discuss for a while now. When you are out hunting, at what point will you just buy a game or system just because it's so cheap?

For me, I'll buy pretty much any system for under $10 and will spend more for systems I don't currently have. The only reason I would pass up a sub $10 system is if it is physically damaged or so dirty I don't want it in my house.

The price I'll pay for games varies by system, but any game for under $2 is pretty much a given. I will pass on ultra commons (combat, smb, sonic) unless they are boxed. As of late, I'm finding myself spending up to $5 on nes, snes, and n64 games. Genesis seems to be a lot cheaper around here, but I'll go up to about $3. Just bought 25 Intellivision carts for $3 a pop and was happy with that price. I'll even buy newer titles (Xbox, PS2, GC) if I can get them for $15 to $20 off retail.

I'm curious what other people use as their break point for pricing. Of course, on rare stuff or things I really want, I'll go a lot more than what I listed above. I'm only talking about games that you don't have an emotional attachment to or games for systems you aren't collecting for completeness.

[chadtower]

Each system has a different bottom price point for me. I'd pay more for a Saturn or TG16 than I would for a Genesis, obviously. It all depends on the system.

[FlufflePuff]

Ill buy most carts (non sports/SMB/Combat) that are under $2. Id buy any system I didn't have for $20. Id buy some systems I have for $10 (NES, Atari, etc), but I wouldn't pay anything more than $5 for others (Genesis, Gameboy, Intellevision).

[Cmosfm]

Hmmm, really varies from system to system for me.

For a common system that I don't have, it's about 10.00. More if it's boxed, usually up to about 20-30.00. Now if it's something rare, that's when price fluctuates...If I find an Adventurevision for 200.00 I'll be damned if I pass THAT up. LOL

Games, common/uncommons that I don't have, are usually 2.00 right now, sometimes 3.00. If it's something I really want, up to 5.00. Rare's vary again.

I havent been hunting much, and cutting my spending back, so I've left some good deals laying on the table recently at the markets. I passed on FF Tactics, Donkey Kong Country and Rayman 3 GBA games boxed for 5.00 each that I know I will regret one of these days.

[98PaceCar]

Each system has a different bottom price point for me. I'd pay more for a Saturn or TG16 than I would for a Genesis, obviously. It all depends on the system.

That's definately true. I was thinking more of the ultra common stuff. Things you see everywhere like a stack of NES or Genesis carts. I'm sure I'd buy just about any TG16, Saturn, Sega CD, etc for a lot more than a buck or two, even if it's a common game for the system.

[slip81]

For a common system $10.00 and under. For a rarer one or one I don't have $20.00. As for games, I'll buy any game, with exception of sports titles if it's $1.50 or under.

[mizarkgram]

I do not usually find many wild games out there (probably since I dont find the time to look for any games other than at EB or microplay). Usually, if I am out yard-saling... I will buy any systme $15 CAD and under, and any game under 5 bucks, depending on if I have it and condition and whatnot. If I see games for like 1 or 2 bucks, I buy them regardless of if I have them, and if they look like someone was using them to fix a tipsy table. I just have a need to satisfy my video game buying. That being said, any Toronto gamers know where I can find some cheapass games???

[tritium]

Less than $3 is an automatic purchse for my Dreamcast games... Less than $10 is an automatic purchase for ps2/GC games....

hmmm I buy ALOT more for DC than anything else. . Hence the lower price point for auto purchases.... Everything else gets checked on my list of stuff I need to buy =) Over 90 games soo far.. for DC


-Tritium

[dcescott]

10 bucks is my price break as well. I just bought a 2nd colecovision w/ expansion module #1 and one game ( Smurf's the common one) for 9.99 at my local thrift store. That's a great deal since my switch just went out on my other cv. Finding a TG-16 for 10 bucks, that'll be difficult but I'm sure it will happen someday. Gamewise, depending on the title/genre 2 bucks is fair. 1 dollar for sports games, regardless of console. This is the only way to justify my hobby to my wife i.e. "It's only two bucks!" (Wife's eyes roll back in disgust) I make the money, she's the financial wizard. I spend money at a drop of a hat (or if there's a slew of games I don't own)

[Raedon]

Complete systems.. $10 games $1-2.. I've gotten out of the habit of buying everything I find cheap to sell.

[Ed Oscuro]

Each system has a different bottom price point for me. I'd pay more for a Saturn or TG16 than I would for a Genesis, obviously. It all depends on the system.
Took the words right out of my mouth.

I'd like to pay no more than $10, say, for a bare Atari Lynx, but I'm big on buying only good condition items (handhelds can be a sort of exception though) so that might not be an attainable goal. $20? Sure.

Some systems I won't buy at ANY price - you always have to pay for shipping. I used to be real interested in the Timetop Gameking but then I found out its games are just ripoffs...no thanks.

[christianscott27]

$3 for any game i dont already have, if havent found a copy by now it must be somewhat rare. if i know something is something worth having i'll go up to $5. wish i could hold at lower prices but that doesnt work much in todays market.

systems are usually part of a box lot so it really varies. as far as my own collection i am essentialy done save for the CDX, adventurevision and imports. i dont do ebay so if i dont think i can trade it locally i wont buy it at any price. roughly speaking i hate to deal in consoles, so many times the other person takes it home and something breaks or whatever and its more headache than the $25 i sold it for.

for modern games under $11 is pretty fair. i'm not trying to complete any systems past the saturn right now so i'm pretty choosey with them.

[rbudrick]

I recently ordered a Gameking with 13 games for about $55 (w/ shipping incl). Can't really beat that price! The games are quite simple, but actaully pretty fun.

If a game is under $4 and I don't have it, I will definitely buy it. For a system I don't have? Hmmm, I dunno...depnded on the system. I bought an Odyssey 1 with I think 6 games once for somewhere between $100 and $150, but if I ran across another odyssey 2, I probably wouldn't pay more than $20, $35 with box. On a new current gen system, I like to try to get them below $100...$150 is acceptable. So, sometimes I just have to wait, or if a holiday comes along, just request it. :-)

-Rob

[SegaAges]

systems - 10-15
if i don't own it, i will then own it

games - depends on the system
next gen - 10 and under
old school - 3 and under

if the price is higher, it will be for something that i actually want

[DigitalSpace]

It used to be $5 for under for next gen systems and $2 for everything else, and they all had to be non-sports. But I don't do this anymore, unless it's something I know I'll enjoy playing. I have about 20 games I've picked up on the cheap that I've either played once and have no desire to play again, or that I'll never play, and it bothers me. I could have put the money towards a better game or some food or something.

So whenever I see a cheap game nowadays, it has to be something I know I'll get some enjoyment out of. No "what the hell, it's cheap" impulse purchases. I'd rather have a small collection of stuff I'd enjoy rather than a large one full of stuff that will just gather dust.

However, if it's something that's rare and/or has some demand, I'll pick it up and sell or trade it.

[NintendoMan]

You know what, I WON'T buy any systems that I haven't either played or at least heard of.

[maxlords]

To BLINDLY buy a game with no knowledge of the game....I won't. if you mean to say at what price will I buy up whatever is available regardless of price....if a game is over $0.25 I will stop and consider what the title is before buying it. at a quarter or less, I'll buy virtually anything.

As for semi-blindly...I'll buy nearly any TG16 stuff at a reasonable price, and any uncommon decent titles at around the $4-5 mark. I never buy completely blindly though. I don't want to get stuck with a lot of extra crap that's hard to move.

[Iron Draggon]

Well I've never been cheap, so the price is irrelevant to me, as long as I feel that I can at least get most of my money back on it, if I decide I don't like it. I'd probably never just blindly buy a system though, because that's just like blindly buying a used car to me, the risk of it being a lemon is just too great. For games, I'd probably have to say no more than $20, unless I was really convinced that it was actually worth alot more than whatever price was. But obviously, anything more than $20 would be a hard sell for me, and I'd have to think about it really hard before I just coughed up the cash for it. I do this sort of thing online all the time, doing searches trying to research things that catch my eye on ebay or in online stores, before I buy or place a bid. If my searches don't turn up anything, or nothing very substantial, then all of the above rules apply, but I'll probably still go for it, just for the heck of it. I've gotten some real gems that way, and so far no duds that were so bad that I regretted my purchases, so I guess that I'm a rather impulsive buyer. I guess that I'm a rather compulsive buyer too, sometimes I'll buy stuff just so I can be buying something, so I just kinda talk myself into alot of stuff rather often.

That's probably why I have so many games now too, so perhaps the secret to owning a large collection is to just do it, just buy whatever you see that catches your eye, and don't even worry about whether it's good or bad, or worth what you paid for it, just spend the money, and watch your collection grow. I've pretty much been doing that for the entire time that I've been collecting, whether it's video games, board games, Hot Wheels, or anything else that I collect. So that's probably why all of my collections are very large, full of rarities and obscurities, and worth a fortune if only for their sheer size. It may sound like a really bad way to collect stuff, because you would think that I'd end up with mostly just a bunch of old crap that wasn't really worth anything at all, but for some reason I just don't seem to have very much really worthless stuff. It may be pretty worthless when I first get it, which is probably why I got it in the first place, but somehow over the years almost everything will eventually become worth it's weight in gold, so I just buy up everything I can, and then just kick back and relax and watch it all go up in value as the years go by. It's really pretty amazing to see how things turn out, because I got almost all of the rarest items in my collections that way. So my motto has always been "Buy now, worry later!" and it works very well.

[qbertandernie]

ill buy any non genesis non atari 2600 game that i dont have for $1, and any genesis game thats boxed for $1, even sports titles.
Saturn and sega cd are a bit higher, depending on my mood, because i never see them, and tg16, jaguar and others depending on what games they are. i find i get on 'kicks' where i seemingly want every available item for a certain system, and wind up paying more than i normally would have, but usually not ridiculous amounts. usually.

systems ill buy no matter what(if there are controllers) for $5 or less, all hookups ill pay $10, but i guess thats why i have 25 NESs....

if its something i dont have ill typically spend whatever i feel is the going rate without researching, as they are few and far between any more and i wouldnt want to miss out!

[GamerTheGreek]

blindly for a system is $95. only for the tgCD. cause i dont have it and dont know much about it. and it could be fun.
for a game so far its been 40 or 50. ( mainly new age games) but i dont know not much out there that ive seen worth buying or risk buying since not alot of old items still around. what little i do see is interesting to say the least.


i still think my biggest system risk is the Mattel Aquarius. not sure what to make of it. it has all the little boxes in the Big box. that houses them alll. ebay sells all the little boxes seperatly . but i have yet to ever see another big box complete .

[Nesmaster]

if we are talking current-gen, probably $10
if we are talking like nes and the like, $2

[Kid Ice]

I'll buy any game I don't already have for $2, but it still has to be in good condition.

As far as systems go, there are only certain ones I want duplicates of. I have enough toasters NES's and Genesi. I could use another PS2 or Gamecube though. I would buy any working VCS for $5 though (maybe more like 10), and I'm always game for a cheap Vectrex.