Points of view regarding "Factory Sealed" games

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Many people seem to be clueless when it comes to factory sealed games. Many others seem to be disillusioned.

Now in the UK, tehre is no disputing it. Nintendo games come with official tear strips with the word "Nintendo" on it; PlayStation / PS2 games come with a tear strip with "PlayStation" on it, and DreamCast games come with a white tear strip about an inch from the bottom...


Now when dealing with Americans (and PlayStation 1 games in particular) it seems as though many are just thick as sh...


Just look on eBay and you will see a handful of people auctioning off "Factory Sealed" Star Ocean 2's... But if you look closely, many aren't in fact factory sealed. They are shrinkwrapped...


"What's the difference?" I hear you all cry...

Well, if a game were truly factory sealed, it would have thick style cellophane with neatly folded ends top and bottom. Envelope style if you will. This style will often, but not always, have a white tear strip running across the bottom of it.

A shrinkwrapped game (Or "reseal") will be thin clingfilm-like plastic with a three sided seam running down the edge of the game...


The latter isn't an acceptable form of seal.


Just think of all those people who are getting away with resealing games with heat-wrap machines (Which are common in many shops).

It is often a case of suppliers (Usually wholesalers) who replace broken cases or damaged cellophane. It is also due to shops using the case for display purposes and then resealing them again.


It's not on. I'm fed up of looking on eBay, finding the game I want, and seeing it is shrinkwrapped. Surely this is a violation of trade description laws?



Also, when questioned, many sellers will say "This is how I bought it. It is definately factory sealed" or "They are all like this, you won't find another which isn't" (Which is complete BS)

People assume that because they bought it from Gamestop / EB / A wholesaler etc, it MUST be as it came out of the factory - Well, they are wrong.



Now I want other collector's opinions on this - Do you agree with me, or do you settle for shrinkwrapped games in your collection? Are you even aware there was a difference until now? Do you care as much as I do, or is plasic just plastic to you?

If you were buying a sealed FF7, which style would you prefer it? Would you pay as much for one if it were shrinkwrapped as opposed to originally sealed?

[Promophile]

I wish the US was like EU, like you said its almost impossible to verify a sealed US game in most cases, which is why I DON'T collect sealed games on ebay, the only sealed games I collect are ones I but and intentionally leave sealed.. I may start collecting PAL sealed games since you have the special shrinkwrap and such.

[max 330 mega]

if it was easier to determine if a seal was legit, i might be more interested in them, but i still dont like them much because you cant play them!

[Gemini-Phoenix]

There are so many N64 and Gameboy games I want from the US which never got a UK release, but I can't verify whether they are actually original or reseals... At least with PSone / PS2 games you have a little bit of a clue...


And I never understood why we get special tear strips, and you guys in th USA don't... Collecting N64 games and the like is so easy here cos you can tell instantly whether a game is originally sealed or not. And you certainly notice the difference when an auction finishes!!!


We have a shop here called GameStation, and they are notorious for resealing old Snes and N64 games with shrinkwrap - It only takes one idiot to go in there and buy a resealed Secret Of Mana and pop it on eBay...

Yet there are still people who will buy it at stupid prices. People are ignorant to this issue.

But then the idiot who bought it wonders why he gets a negative feedback when the buyer opens it up to find no instructions!


I think eBay should crack down on resealed games. And they should insist that people show actual pictures of the game they are selling - Why are people so lazy? Do they expect to sell their "Allegedly" factory sealed Valkyrie Profile when all they put is a scan taken off of Amazon...

I often find people who don't put an actual picture 97.5% of the time have a reseal anyway.

[NESaholic]

I'd like tear strips, but i'm not really a factory sealed collector, if it's cheap i'll buy it, i have some resealed games too, i only bought 'm cuase they were cheap and brand new.
Resealed doesn't mean used, mine were displayed at a game shop,they took the carts out to prevent theft, after not selling they sealed them again, so it's still new, i don't have probs with that.

[vulcanjedi]

Greetings Programs.

Back in 1991-1992 I worked in a babbages game store and as today it was common practice to remove cartridges from boxes to display them. They also had a "check out" policy that allowed employees to take games home to get familiar with them. Even computer games. So when we brought them back they would get reshrunk and put back on the shelf. Early on it was easy to tell which was an original shrinkwrap but as more and more were circulated it became impossible to tell. Even the originals from the factory had cheaper wrap.

Personally I don't collect new games. I have read too many stories about people buying "unopened" things on eBay that turn out to be bogus.

end of line

[vincewy]

In terms of Dreamcast, I did it because I had the chance to get most games cheap, but I have about 17 games now that I have trouble finding it in decent factory folded seal form (not really, but some eBay sellers sell bogus sealed games), it's a pain since those last few games are craps and I simply don't want those as doubles to play. A few Acclaim titles I'll leave them in H seam shrinkwrap form since it was confirmed to be the factory form.

I'm amassing my Gamecube collection too but most will be opened and played, as many games use shrinkwrap with holes around it.