Difference in value between sealed and not sealed

[Vectorman0]

I've always been a 'gamer,' but I have always had a knack for collecting stuff and taking care of my games, making sure to never let them become noticably worn. More recently I have decided to embark on my own never ending game collecting journey, and have a quick question.

I know there is a large deviation in 'value' depending on condition, what the demand is, where it is being sold, amongst a plethora of other variables, I guess I am just looking for ballpark figures, or your general opinions.

If a [rather rare] game was sealed, how much difference in value would there be if it was opened and maybe played a couple of times having no noticable difference other than no factory seal?

[v1rich]

All in all there is a big difference for factory sealed games but it is more volatile. Sometimes the will go for well over $100. Range is usually 2x to 10x the price for normal complete games, and sometimes more, from my experience.

[Predatorxs]

Ditto V1rich,

Once a seal has been broken, the game loses alot of value, but it will still get good money for being in superb complete condition..

Say Chrono Trigger, if it's sealed it goes for silly money but once the seal is broken, and the game's out da box, but still in mint condition, along with all the maps and other stuff, you'd probably still get at least $120. But a year back, it might have only gone for $70??

The snes is getting older, and older, i don't think the current price trend, on ebay is gunna end, i think these prices will hold.

Look at both Earthbound and MegaMan X3 complete, the prices are slowly creeping up!, For collectors, i hope it's just the time of year that sends people crazy.

But collectors need to think ahead, instead of letting a mint MegaMan X3 go for $120, how much might it go for in 2 years time?? (It's Scary! people) @_@

(Back on topic)
I have pretty much yapped on about the snes stuff, i'm sure you probably had other systems in mind as well.

http://www.xs.dsl.pipex.com/avator/ms_ufo.gif..XS

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Depends what game and what system - As is always the case.

I'll give you an example which is the exception of the rule though - I bought a genuine Factory Sealed PAL Suikoden two years ago for around £65 - At the same time, unsealed ones were going over £70+

So sometimes it's all a case of right place, right time...


Generally though, sealed games will go above the cost of a normal pre-owned game... Sometimes by as much as a few pounds, other times by a about 20 or 30+ pounds... Sometimes more.


Another example - A few months ago I placed a last second bid on a Factory Sealed PAL Samba De Amigo Box Set - £255 I put, and I still got outbid... Now generally this game will sell for around £80 - £130 pre-owned...


The PAL version of Steel Battalion usually goes in the region of around £170ish, but Factory Sealed ones with their brown delivery case can go upto around £250... So that's effectively £70 for a simple brown box!!!

[maxlords]

What really cracks me up is this:

1. You're paying 2X-10X for plastic shrink wrap.

2. The game is not always mint inside a sealed package. I recently bought a game called Kaze Kiri Ninja for the PC Engine...it's nearly a $100 game used, usually runs around $85. I bought a sealed one for $75 cause it was such a good deal. I opened it, and lo and behold the manual was put into the case wrong....you couldn't tell from the outside but there ended up being a fairly nasty crease inside the manual. From a rare "sealed" game that normally would have sold for double.

IMO, sealed games are just not something you should invest in unless you can get em cheap. Ultimately, someday people are going to either sell them off again or open them. Who wants $100+ shrinkwrap? I don't. I guess you could try to eBay it...

[rhiohki]

What really cracks me up is this:

1. You're paying 2X-10X for plastic shrink wrap.

2. The game is not always mint inside a sealed package. I recently bought a game called Kaze Kiri Ninja for the PC Engine...it's nearly a $100 game used, usually runs around $85. I bought a sealed one for $75 cause it was such a good deal. I opened it, and lo and behold the manual was put into the case wrong....you couldn't tell from the outside but there ended up being a fairly nasty crease inside the manual. From a rare "sealed" game that normally would have sold for double.

IMO, sealed games are just not something you should invest in unless you can get em cheap. Ultimately, someday people are going to either sell them off again or open them. Who wants $100+ shrinkwrap? I don't. I guess you could try to eBay it...

Agreed. Although I have splurged a many a time for some sealed items, it depends on the game in question. Sealed games fetch ridiculous amounts, but it all boils down to plastic wrap/factory sticker you're paying extra for.

I have seen both sides of the coin. A factory sealed game that is truly in MINT shape as well as factory sealed games that are damaged to hell. This holds true especially with boxed games because they still can sustain dent/crease damage while still in the factory shrinkwrap. CD sealed games can have tears in the wrapping and cracks in the case, and this degrades the value among collectors. Manuals can sometime have the factory induced 2-arch crease on the spine.

Either way, I don't abhore collecting sealed games. Personally I do it for a game that I truly love and want to have in as best condition as possible, but that's just me.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

What really cracks me up is this:

1. You're paying 2X-10X for plastic shrink wrap.

2. The game is not always mint inside a sealed package. I recently bought a game called Kaze Kiri Ninja for the PC Engine...it's nearly a $100 game used, usually runs around $85. I bought a sealed one for $75 cause it was such a good deal. I opened it, and lo and behold the manual was put into the case wrong....you couldn't tell from the outside but there ended up being a fairly nasty crease inside the manual. From a rare "sealed" game that normally would have sold for double.

IMO, sealed games are just not something you should invest in unless you can get em cheap. Ultimately, someday people are going to either sell them off again or open them. Who wants $100+ shrinkwrap? I don't. I guess you could try to eBay it...


But the question is - Was it original shrinkwrap, or were you just a sucker for a reseal??? It may have been a case of the person selling it knowing that the manual was creased, so then resealed it and tried to pass it off as new...

It probably only sold so cheap because other people could blatently see it was a reseal...


In my opinion, only extreme cases will the game be damaged - Most the time you can tell from just looking at it whether or not there is something wrong...

PAL DreamCast games for example tend to have a problem where the pips inside become loose and rattle around inside. Other times the disc may be loose (This happens in all games, not just DreamCast ones)

Very rarely you will come accross a genuine problem - A while ago there was a batch of Factory Sealed PAL DreamCast Rez's going around which didn't actually have manuals inside the box - But this was a documented mistake confirmed by Sega...

Unreal Tournament also has major misprinting inside the boklet - But you just wouldn't be able to tell that from outside.

[EnemyZero]

yeah , i love buying sealed games just as much as the next guy, but theres some things i wont bite...like as much as i love chrono trigger..id never dish out the money on a factory sealed one...if it exists.... ive been lucky, i picked up a bunch of new sealed saturn games from vglq.com like 6 bucks a pop...enemy zero...braindead 13, crusader no remorse...i got nights and fighting vipers both sealed for 18 bucks together

[v1rich]

A sealed chrono trigger does exist (or several) and they go for $300 - $800 now.

Same for Final Fantasy II & III and some others.

Funny money. @_@

[Solar77]

What really cracks me up is this:

1. You're paying 2X-10X for plastic shrink wrap.

2. The game is not always mint inside a sealed package. I recently bought a game called Kaze Kiri Ninja for the PC Engine...it's nearly a $100 game used, usually runs around $85. I bought a sealed one for $75 cause it was such a good deal. I opened it, and lo and behold the manual was put into the case wrong....you couldn't tell from the outside but there ended up being a fairly nasty crease inside the manual. From a rare "sealed" game that normally would have sold for double.

IMO, sealed games are just not something you should invest in unless you can get em cheap. Ultimately, someday people are going to either sell them off again or open them. Who wants $100+ shrinkwrap? I don't. I guess you could try to eBay it...

You're speaking like a true gamer, but not a true collector.

That's awesome and I completely respect it, but you need to educate yourself a bit with some of the more established collectible markets. You'll realize that there are MASSIVE price deviations that are produced by the most MINOR of condition changes.

I do some comic book dealing on the side. Recently I had a copy of Ghost Rider 1 (1973 version, not the 1990's crap) professionally graded. If the book had come back a 9.4 (near mint) it would be worth approx. $700. It came back 9.6 (near mint +) and the last sale in this grade was $2500. What's the difference between a 9.4 and a 9.6? One spine stress that absolutely no one without OCD would notice.

Look at the market for action figures. A MISB (mint in sealed box) Bluestreak Transformer has sold for over $1500. That same figure without the tape on the side of the box would be worth about $400. If the box was opened completely and the toy had been played with, you're looking at $100-$150.

The fact is that as we, members of the Atari, NES, SNES, PS1, etc generation(s) get older, Video Games are finally moving into their own as collectibles and as they do, the typical collector mentalities will fall into place. There will be the Open it and Play It collectors, the I Want a Nice yet Affordable copy collectors, and there will be the Big Money collectors who want the games sealed. They're not paying for SHRINKWRAP. They're paying for the BEST EXISTING COPY of the games they love, in the exact condition they remember first seeing them in the stores when they were children.

Logical, maybe not. Typical human behavior, certainly.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Take into consideration all those MIB Vintage Star Wars figures from the 70's... Look at how some of those get professionally graded and sell for tons! There a place in London which does it, and they also seal the figure up in a hard plastic case to preserve it's condition as it is!


Is there a place I could get my game collection graded perhaps? I'd love to get my sealed PAL Suikoden or Vandal Hearts II graded, as well as a load of other games I have!


I have a few sealed American rare PS1 games, but some have stickers on, or stuff like that.

It's when you consider grading, the difference between original cellophane and that nasty shrinkwrap come into play...