How come everybody knows how much their old games are worth?

[Mythik]

It seems like everyone knows how much they're worth nowadays...what happened to people selling old nes/snes games for $1/ea, no matter what they are?

the only time I've ever seen games at a flea market/garage sale, they had common games for $5, and a boxed Zelda for NES for $25...when I asked the guy how much for the zelda and he told me he was like 'This is a good price! I can easily get over $30 on ebay!'

what happened to the average ignorant person who doesn't know what an old game's worth? :(

[Richter Belmount]

i dunno internet?

[christianscott27]

annoys the crap out of me, a little knowledge is a bad thing. case in point this weekend at the flea market - some guy has a copy of some genny college football game. i dont own it so therefore i want it but i know its worth next to nothing, esp loose. to be fair i offer $2, its actual guide price. he turns me down and asks for $5 cause he "knows" he can sell it for that online. UGHHH, no you cant, it would never get that on ebay, this aint friggin phantasy star stupid. somebody told this guy old games are worth money, now he figures that applies to every old game. end result, i dont get a game and this doofus doesnt make any cash off it, lose-lose situation.

even worse example...some guy has 6 sealed radio shack brand N64 mem. cards, the store price on them reads "1.97", obviously some old stock the shack clearance priced. so i try and work out a fair deal, $10 for the lot. these might be some low-grade trade stuff. he says no way, then i say well they're only two bucks at the store so how about it? he then procedes to fingernail the pricetags and the plastic seal off so nobody else can try and lowball him on the price...lose-lose.

[swlovinist]

those days are over, I guess you'll have to pay more for your games now. It sucks to remember those good ol days doesnt it?

[Richter Belmount]

I feel better with knowledge like , now i wont be a idiot who pays 70 bucks for a loose chrono trigger.

[Dimitri]

I feel better with knowledge like , now i wont be a idiot who pays 70 bucks for a loose chrono trigger.
Hey! I'm not an idiot! :embarrassed:

...bit of a newb back then, sure, but... x_x

[YoshiM]

It seems like everyone knows how much they're worth nowadays...what happened to people selling old nes/snes games for $1/ea, no matter what they are?

the only time I've ever seen games at a flea market/garage sale, they had common games for $5, and a boxed Zelda for NES for $25...when I asked the guy how much for the zelda and he told me he was like 'This is a good price! I can easily get over $30 on ebay!'

what happened to the average ignorant person who doesn't know what an old game's worth? :(

It's because everyone talks about eBay, what gets sold on there (ie practically anything) and how much they can get for stuff. Like comic books or action figures, video games have become the next "collectable" and when anyone hears that magic word, dollar signs appear in their eyes. So instead of just getting rid of stuff by donating or blowing out for cheap at a garage sale, the people hang on to the stuff in hopes that someone will cough up "top dollar".

[Big Papa Husker]

I know... everywhere I go.. even Goodwill has games higher than they used to be. Heck they have Asteroids for the 2600 for $1.99 along with Mario Bros/Duck Hunt for $1.99 as well.

Ive had my best luck at Pawn Shops where I found Suikoden and Lufia for $7. At a different shop I found XCOM (disc) for a buck. Its really sad that the good ole days are gone.

But this summer I will still check out garage sales... I should get lucky/hit the jackpot once this summer at least.

[Fuyukaze]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

No one likes to be taken for a fool these days and with the internet its easy to compare prices and see whats going for good and what isnt. Problem is all to often people look at a few examples and believe its true of everything. They see games like Chrono Trigger fetching 80$ for a complete copy and think, "hey, I got a copy of it loose right here!" so they try selling it for 20-40$. Good deals for old games isnt a dead thing, its just that people have to tighten their grip on the wallet and be willing to shop around better. Find the good deals and know when its an actual good value, and skip the crap that just isnt worth it. Be frugal! Shop smart! Look for them deals! They dont come easy, and sometimes they dont come cheap. They do happen so long as your willing to search and barter. Flea markets though realy have gone down hill over the past 10 years I will admit. Last one I went to was trying to ask 20$ for a Oddesy 2. No games, no cables, and no controlers. Just the system itself. Also had some extremly used GBC systems for 30$. Best deal found there was Galaga NES for 5$, Super Metroid SNES for 10$, and King Arthurs Knights of the round SNES for 10$.

[FooFighter]

Had a guy at a pawn shop up in Montana a few months ago tell me how "those old Atari abd Nintendo games go from $50 to $100 on the internet. I just nodded and tried not to laugh as I looked at the loose NES game "The Black Bass" in his case with a $75.00 price tag on it. LOL

I did learn a lesson at a Salvation Army the other day though.
I saw two Boxed SNES games in the case with $2.50 price tags on them and waited in line 10 minutes to get them. I get up to the counter and the girl gets them out for me and starts to ring them up. The lady next to her (the manager I think) takes 1 look at my shirt and then looks up at my face and says to me "those are $15.00 each" I tell her they are marked $2.50 and she says "Well they were mismarked". Needless to say I walked out mad :angry:

The lesson you ask??????? Don't wear your Nintendo t-shirt out when you are shopping for games they really see you coming....

[FlufflePuff]

I would have raised some hell with that woman if I was you. I'm never a fan of being the angry customer, in fact, I generally hate anyone who complains to managers, but she is discrimating against you because you don't look poor. That would be like someone refusing to sell me a Mozart cd because I had a Reel Big Fish tshirt on. I'd tell her they were marked that way and unless she could prove to me that they were mismarked I wouldn't leave without them.

[thegreatescape]

Its not quite so bad down here, due to games always being comparitively expensive, but it has gotten worse lately. Case in point: the local gamestore used to sell all Mega Drive games for $10, and I was pretty much the only person to buy them. All of a sudden they notice that the Mega Drive games arent just sitting there so they start hiking up the prices. Now i cant afford to buy games there and the pile is getting higher and higher (probably around 150+ MD games there, all boxed). $10 is a little high to start with, but $20 for a complete High Seas Havoc is too much :/

[Videogamerdaryll]

How come everybody knows how much their old games are worth?

Ebay...

[Sniderman]

Sorry gang, but:

Several years ago: "What, those old games? I ain't got the system, so Hell, how about $1 each?"

Today: "What, those old games? Those are collectable and I could sell 'em on eBay for , let's say, $10 each?"

So, when the sellers had no idea that they were collectable, everything sold for cheap. Combat went for the same price as Chase the Chuckwagon - on the low side. And we rejoiced. Same thing today, only in the revese direction. The sellers price Combat the same as Chase the Chuckwagon - on the high side. And we curse them.

Blame eBay. Blame the media for letting folks know that these are collectible. Blame the baby boomers who are now looking to recapture their youth at any price. Blame the buyer who crows "Woo-hoo! You know what this is WORTH?!?" when he snags something at the flea market. Blame Jakks Pacific and their best-selling retrogame joysticks. Blame the remergence of Atari and the Atari Flaskback. Blame the companies that produce classic game compilations (MIdway's Arcade Treasures, Sega Classics, Pinball Hall of FAme, Atari Antholgy, DRagon's LAir updates, every Namco collection, etc.)

Blame everyone you wish, including yourself and myself. The videogame collectors cliche is no longer underground. It is mainstream. And the sellers know it.

[Cryomancer]

I think a lot of the "mainstream"-ness is probably a fad. So maybe right now things are tough, but eventually all these trend followers will get bored, and then dump the stuff off cheap. Maybe in a year or two we'll have some weird resurgance of cheap stuff? Who knows.

[Teo]

I once found a prototype in a pawn shop. When I was paying for it the guy says hmm, You can probably sell this for a couple hundred on ebay eh? :/

[Super Mario Fan]

I think a lot of the "mainstream"-ness is probably a fad. So maybe right now things are tough, but eventually all these trend followers will get bored, and then dump the stuff off cheap. Maybe in a year or two we'll have some weird resurgance of cheap stuff? Who knows.


I hope, for the sake of collecting, you are right.

[lurpak]

you simply need to educate the people. if they claim that they go for $75 on ebay you simply state that "that would be the rare games that sell for that much, common games go unsold at $2, these are all common games"

if they still dont understand bring it to thier level try saying "I have a (insert your car here), yesterday a car on ebay went for $125,0000, do you want to buy my car for half that, then you can sell it on ebay"... this is only a good idea if you dont have a car worth more than $63,000/

[Kejoriv]

Yes there are some sellers that try to sell common Atari games for $10 each, but Im trying have nice finds this spring. Many of these sellers in flea markets or yard sales just want to make a quick buck and dont have a clue how much this stuff is worth.
In the past month Ive bought 4 nes systems, 2 snes systems, 400 + nes games, 20 snes games, sega saturn, 20 snes games. All that stuff and I didnt even spend $250. Since there are more people buying videogame items you just have to get lucky or look for the stuff in different places.

[Griking]

Carry your DP guide with you in the car. The next time someone tries to sell you an old Genesis sports title for $5 show him the guide. He probably won't change his price because he probably overpaid for the game himself and needs to make his money back but at the very least he may buy the guide for his own use. If the guy knows betten than to overpay for the next game perhaps he won't have to over charge for it when he tries to resell it.

[GrandAmChandler]

Had a guy at a pawn shop up in Montana a few months ago tell me how "those old Atari abd Nintendo games go from $50 to $100 on the internet. I just nodded and tried not to laugh as I looked at the loose NES game "The Black Bass" in his case with a $75.00 price tag on it. LOL

I did learn a lesson at a Salvation Army the other day though.
I saw two Boxed SNES games in the case with $2.50 price tags on them and waited in line 10 minutes to get them. I get up to the counter and the girl gets them out for me and starts to ring them up. The lady next to her (the manager I think) takes 1 look at my shirt and then looks up at my face and says to me "those are $15.00 each" I tell her they are marked $2.50 and she says "Well they were mismarked". Needless to say I walked out mad :angry:

The lesson you ask??????? Don't wear your Nintendo t-shirt out when you are shopping for games they really see you coming....

Best thing you can do is wear the most generic outfit possible. IF you look like you have no money, they will want you to spend at least some in there store. Wear an Abercrombie & Fitch shirt? They will see you coming and jack up the price. No lie. I have seen it happen.

[Nature Boy]

It's not eBay that has 'ruined' things. At least not directly. It's the people who bought the cheap stuff and sold it for massive profits that 'ruined' it.

What would you do if you were that flea market guy after you were told "I just sold that lot of 50 games you gave me for $20 and got over $1000 for 'em?"

[Cmosfm]

The resurgence in popularity has really affected the pricing for the most part. Thrifts see em selling faster so they up the price, and they sit there.

Most people in my area KNOW about eBay but are too "hick" to know how use "one of dem dere newfangled computers and that internets" so I still get great deals at flea markets and yard sales.

I've never once, outside a game store, seen a seller price his games according to "value" or "Rarity". I normally see "all NES games 2.00/3.00/5.00" or something along those lines. I did once see someone selling a gold Zelda cart for 45.00 because "someone told him that since it was gold that it was worth a lot of money". He asked me if that was a good price, I set him straight, but I don't think he believed me. LOL

Good times, good times.

[imanerd0011]

I actually saw this happen just the other week.
So I got a call from a friend that said the pawn shop downtown has a Neon nintendo sign. I go there immediately and find out that it is true. But it is the EXACT same sign that I already own. I figured I could buy it for around $100 and then pass on the good deal to a fellow member (since the sign is from the NES era, and looks very cool!). I asked the guy how much he wanted for it, he says "$300, I saw this same sign on Ebay for $550 and it still have 2 days left". I said "no you didn't. I bought this exact same sign less than 2 months ago for $180". (Keep in mind this guy is the biggest hick/redneck ever, and I highly doubt he even owns a computer). I told him I would give him $125, since no one will EVER buy it from him for $300, but he said $250 was as low as he would go.

It really pissed me off, mainly because this guy is poor as all hell (I know where he lives), and sells about 1 thing a week. I have no idea how the hell he pays rent for his place, because he has had the same 10 NES games ($10 each) sitting there for over 2 years!!!
Someone must have told him his signs are worth alot of money, because he wants a fortune for all his stupid little beer signs as well.

[blissfulnoise]

Deals are not dead.

You can still go to yard sells and buy lots of games for cheap. Gamerush just sold off all their "retro" games for $0.99 a piece. You can still hit flea markets and thrift stores and get games for under $5.00. You can still buy "lots" on eBay and pay under $3.00 a game.

It's all a matter of where you buy and who you buy from.

Despite the fact that people have a twenty dollar price tag on SMB/DK, no one is ever going to pay that much. Simple fact. Simply move on to the next seller and see what they have and for how much.

[starchildskiss78]

You know...

Going and finding another seller is really the way to go. Anybody with any sense at all will eventually lower their prices when they see that "rare" SMB/DK cart they're trying to sell for $20 not sell. Also these forums are the best to help each other out in the quest for that game we've just been dying to own. If it wasn't for DP I wouldn't have made the intelligent gaming purchases I did. I know I made some dumb purchases (ie: paid too much) but that was because I knew the consequences but wanted the item anyways and didn't want to have to go to eBay and wait forever to get it or go into some bidding war.

When it comes to people trying to relive their past I have no problem with it. I even understand the motivation of people selling their stuff for WAY too much. It wouldn't matter what the item is...it would be overpriced 9 times out of 10. So, enjoy the deals you DO find, continue to share info with others in the same boat, and don't stress over it!

[FooFighter]

Best thing you can do is wear the most generic outfit possible. IF you look like you have no money, they will want you to spend at least some in there store. Wear an Abercrombie & Fitch shirt? They will see you coming and jack up the price. No lie. I have seen it happen.

I should just park my car right out front where they can see it and they will definately think I'm poor. LOL

But seriously what a few people have said is the truth. E-Bay is the problem. The guy at a local game store in Montana has a computer on his counter and if you contest a price he logs on to E-Bay to back it up.

E-Bay you have to both love it and hate it.

[AFGiant]

Gah, I wish I had started collecting earlier than last year. I see all these amazing finds and hear all these awesome stories, and I wish I could have been in on it all. Sure, I make an occasional nice and cheap thrift find or cheap boxed buried in a game store, but I would have liked to have bought from these 'fountains of silicon' that thrifts and flea markets used to be. But, I'm not gonna pout and complain about it. My time collecting is here and now, and I'm making it my mission to find and buy my own deals.
Game on.

[J2games]

Honestly, for those people that use the excuse "I'd could sell them on Ebay for that much!" just remind them that by the time they got done paying the fees for the listing, for the selling, for PayPal and the time involved in shipping, your offer might not be such a bad thing.

And when shopping for games, I've had better luck at garage sales, people are usually looking to get rid of stuff at a garage sale quick, if they knew if was worth more, it would have been sold on Ebay long before!

[Anthony1]

This is a great topic. I've really been into trying to find valuable games at various places for good prices. Not so much to be a profiteer so to speak, but to simply finance my very expensive video game hobby. There are so many video game related items that I want to buy, that I figured that I should really try to locate any games for low prices that go for big cash on Ebay.

The reality, is that alot of the old venues that people go to are catching on to this phenomenon. Especially thrift stores. I used to find alot of nice things at thrift stores, but lately, I don't find jack squat, and if I do find something, it's way overpriced.

In fact, going to a place like GameCrazy is actually better than a thrift store sometimes, and that ain't saying much. At least GameCrazy has alot of loose Genny games for $1.99 or $2.99 that are pretty decent, while thrifts have bumped their prices up pretty dramatically recently. It's almost like the Thrift Store Association of America has sent out a memo about video games and not to sell them too low.

Also, more and more people are hearing about Ebay, and how one can make a living, simply buying things at Garage Sales and thrifts and then selling them on Ebay. There are even full page ads in my local Newspaper about some seminar on how to make 100 grand a year selling on Ebay from the comfort of your living room.

Well, more and more retards are thinking that they can do the same thing, and the traffic at various thrifts have really picked up recently.

Garage sales would normally be the best way to go, but you really have to factor in a couple of major variables when you talk about Garage sales.

1. Gas - Gas is money. Gas is very F'ing expensive right now. If you drive all over town going to Garage sales, you are spending some coin on that gas.

2. Time - Time is money. If you spend 3 hours driving around all morning long looking at Garage sales, well that is time that you could have spent doing other things. Time is money.

So when you start thinking about the Gas that you are wasting, and the time that you are wasting going around from Garage Sale to Garage Sale, you better find something pretty damn good, or you are really in the hole. Last year I was really gung ho about Garage sales. But I would drive around to about 12 different garage sales and not find crap! I would spend like 2 hours of my time or more, plus tons of gas, and not even find one damn thing at 12 different Garage sales. So I started to really sour on the whole Garage Sale thing.

Right now I think that Flea Markets are still the best. You still have some people out there that are willing to sell a box of games for $15 or something like that. There are lots of people selling used XBOX and PS2 and GameCube games now at some of the flea markets, and the people that have old school games think that they can't get those kinds of prices, so sometimes you can get some really good stuff for dirt cheap. Of course, you also got the people that thinking everything that they have is solid gold and that they are doing you a favor for selling you a common loose sports cart for $10. That's just the way it goes.

I actually had this one dude, and he had a bunch of SNES games. Games like Zelda, Super Metroid, Super Smash TV, etc,etc,. Well this guy actually had prices like $25.00 marked on these games. I offered the guy $20 cash for 4 games and he said ok, so I took Super Metroid, Smash TV, and two other games I don't remember, but I basically got them for $5 each with no tax or shipping. So the moral of that story, is that money talks and bullshit walks when you are at flea markets. Offer these people some nice greenbacks in their face, and see if they flinch. Sometimes if they are dragging the same ole crap to the flea market every time and it's not selling, then they decide to say F it and take your money even though they really wanted more for it.

[felix]

The trick is to just keep any eye out. Garrage sales where parents are selling their kids old "crap" are my weekly holy grail. I havent really started collecting yet, but have a few games that I have picked up to start my collection. I got a full NES system (in suprisingly great condition) with Contra, Zelda, the SMB/Duckhunt combo, Rush n Attack and Castlevania 2 for 12 bucks. A lot of it is where you shop and who you shop from..

Now im not saying that you need to go out and hussle grandmas for their grandkids systems.. but ask if you can mow somebodies lawn for that old snes sitting in their garage..

[ozyr]

As others have commented, I would agree with ebay driving prices up in general. I hate ebay - but still use it :embarrassed:

[Vroomfunkel]

Not only can you still find good deals in the wild, you can also find them on ebay!

You just have to learn to walk away from all the rip-offs and be patient.

I've found thrift stores trying to sell common Saturn games for £10 apiece. The local Oxfam had Final Fantasy 7 in mint condition for £1.50, but wanted more for Earthworm Jim 2 for the Saturn, because it was in a bigger box!

They now have a bunch of Megadrive commons that they want £3.50 for?!?! And not long back I bought a bunch of sealed Dreamcast games from there for £2 each ...

You just got to learn to pick and choose.

I've also had Yu Yu Hakushu battle from ebay for $10, and various other steals of a similar magnitude .. you just gotta be patient and bide your time, and learn how to look.

So yeah, not everyone selling old games is gonna be throwing them out at a $1 each any more .. but it will make it all the more satisfying when you do find a deal, like my recent minty Phantasy Star II for 50p!

Not to mention that the ebay effect works well in some ways too - it used to be that Phantasy Star II would sell on ebay UK for £20 - £40 .. but a few years of ebay and it's finally sunk in that the game ISN'T that rare ... so now you can get it there for £7 - £15. So when you see some chump trying to sell it for £50 on his car boot stall, you can just laugh in his face and move on!

Vroomfunkel