Anybody ever thought about renting their collection?

[Anthony1]

Has anybody ever thought about renting individual games from their retro collection? Some of you guys have a huge library of games from all kinds of different systems, you could practically start your own retrogame rental business.


It's real easy to do. Just require that people who rent from you place a deposit before renting. Their deposit has to cover the "value" of the items being rented. Basically you just value the items at whatever price it would be that you would "love" to sell that game for. That way if somebody rents a game and doesn't return it, then the worst case scenario is that you get the deposit which would be the highest price you could possibly get for the item.


Cartridge games are shipped cartridge only, and CD games are shipped CD only. This saves you lots of money on shipping, and you don't risk your manuals or boxes getting messed up. This also encourages people not to deliberately not return a game, just to get a manual or box they've been trying to get or something like that.


Think about it, there could definitely be a market for it. The key thing, is you would need to have a really huge selection of games, and you would have to require that the person rent enough games at one time to make it worth it to you, to go through the process of shipping them, etc, etc. People could rent the games for a 3 week period, or one month. (part of that time the game is being shipped there and back)


This gives people an oportunity to try a particular game that they've always been interested in trying, without having to actually purchase the game outright. Of course, this would only really work with games that are relatively valuable, because otherwise it would just be cheaper to buy the game, or pay a little more to buy the game outright, but there are lots of games that people are very interested in, that alot of people can't get ahold of. Imports and stuff like that.


If I had a big enough collection of games, I would try it.

[keiblerfan69]

Nope, I don't trust many people so I wouldn't.

[The Manimal]

yeah, enjoy theft if you do so. :)

[jonathonwillie]

this would be a great idea and a good way to make alot of money; however, there will always be that one asshole who ruins it for everyone.

I think I could make some decent money with my snes titles as i have hundreds of titles including all the main rpgs ec.

one big problem i see with this though would be to rent a game, and send back one with a bad label or a broken cart and just keep the one you rented. the renter gets his game back and doesnt get the deposit and turns it into a big mess.

It's too bad as there are some fun expensive games that i want to play beat and return and don't want to put down 50$ or more just to get a copy

[Anthony1]

Nope, I don't trust many people so I wouldn't.



But you wouldn't need to trust them. They don't get their deposit back, unless the game is returned in the same working and looking condition as it was sent. Since their deposit is based on a somewhat inflated value of the games they are renting, then if they kept the games, or returned them in crappy shape, then you just keep the money. More money than you would have been able to get had you tried to sell them.


This would really work good for somebody that has an absolutely huge Saturn and 3DO and Sega CD and Neo Geo CD and Jaguar CD and TurboCD and Playstation collection. Because you can ship an individual CD for like 60 cents. So shipping it there and back is only $1.20. So it would make alot of sense with CD games.


Certainly if you are a collector, you are not going to want to rent your private collectables, but if you have doubles, or if you are a gamer and have tons of CD's and carts and stuff, then this could actually be a nice little side business.

[kainemaxwell]

lending games to friends, yes. Lending/renting to strangers, nope. I like keeping my games where I know they are and intact.

[segagamer4life]

lending games to friends, yes. Lending/renting to strangers, nope. I like keeping my games where I know they are and intact.

yeah, good point, I keep my friends close and my games even closer... :D

[PapaStu]

Yeah right. Thats a novel concept, but there isn't gonna be anyone thats willing to fork over the $$ to cover possible damage/and or its cost when most people would just use an emulator and a ROM.

Yes there are a few cames and systems that dont emulate well, but no ones gonna put some 150 dollar down to be allowed to rent Radiant Silvergun or PanzerDragoon Saga.

[KingCobra]

HELL NO!!! :fist:

You have no clue over 25+ years of gamming how many games have take'n a walk from soo-called friends :/

Sure you could charge a Deposit, but what a hassel factor and besides that? A lot of what was once a cheap common has change'd over time, look at Zaxxon(5200), Tapper/Burgertime(Colecovision), and NEO GEO carts. Just look how fast some Dreamcast games are sailing through the roof?!

If I had a MOM&POP Video store, I might think about renting some extra loose Old School stuff, but other than that? Naww...

[Jumpman Jr.]

I actually sort of used to do that back in high school. I always had a lot of N64 games, and my friends would always want to borrow them. I remember that I would rent my games out for like $3 for a week (only if I knew I wasn't going to play the game). Which is peanuts considering it practically costs that much to rent a game from a video store for one night.
I made a few bucks off of doing that.

[CreamSoda]

LOL that's just silly...

It is a good way to...

-Get your games ruined
-Get your games stolen
-Rent out to people who don't care about anything other then the current gen

I'll pass, but credit to you for coming up with a somewhat original idea. Note: Please don't think I'm bashing you, just saying I don't see it working.

[Retsudo]

Hells no! I dont even let people borrow my shit.

[Haoie]

Something being selfish has its advantages. And so I wouldn't ever lend my games out commercially. Have you seen how bad the scratches are on video rental CDs?

[pacmanhat]

I sometimes lend a game or two to people I know and trust, especially when it is downright logical to do so.

For example, I have a friend who really wanted to play Dragon Quest VIII but had no means of buying it when it came out. As fate would have it, I had picked up a copy right around the time the Xbox 360 came out. Knowing that I would soon have no interest in playing it (because of the 360), I lent it to him for a month or so. He enjoyed it, I enjoyed my 360, and now I'm enjoying DQ8. Everyone wins.

[Anthony1]

Ok, First off all, you aren't going to rent a game, that you would never ever be willing to "sell", because there is always the chance that the game is never returned.



BUT



I SAID BUT



DID YOU SEE ABOVE THAT I SAID BUT?



But, you are going to require a "cash" deposit before anything leaves your house. This "cash" deposit will cover the "inflated" values of anything that you rent out. The games must be returned in the "same" condition as they departed. If the games aren't returned in the same condition as when they left, then the renter is sent the game back, and you deduct the inflated value for that particular game from the "cash" deposit that is on hand.


Take digitial photos of all games that will be rented, pics of the front and back of the cart, of the label, same thing with front and back on the cd's. Then you have this information available for any possible disputes. Extremely minor scratches could be tolerated for extremely common cd games. Super minor scuffs and whatnot could be tolerated for relatively common cart games. But if a game is sent back in a condition that is definitely worse than when it left, you simply offer the renter two options. Pay a fine, which you set at whatever amount you think is fair for you, considering the new value of the merchandise, or the renter simply is forced to buy the game, and you send it back to them, and deduct that amount from their cash deposit on hand.


It's really freaking easy people. You aren't RISKING ANYTHING!!!


Do you get that?



You aren't risking anything. You simply don't offer up for rent games in which you would be heartbroken to be forced to sell them for a super inflated price. The worst case scenario is that somebody doesn't return a particular game that you really wanted to be returned (although if that was the case you should have never offered it up for rental in the first place) and you have to charge them the super inflated price for the item from your deposit. So basically the worst case scenario is that you are forced to sell a game that maybe you weren't super excited to sell, but at least you are forced to sell it at a super inflated price, that you set yourself prior to the person renting it.



THERE IS NO RISK!!!



The only risk, is whether or not the whole idea would be worth it. The key factor is that you would need a base of customers that would be willing to rent for a price that would make it worthwhile, and you would need a considerable collection of games to encourage people to rent with you. I can tell you right now, that if somebody offered a service like this, I would use it. I would rent some PC Engine Hu cards that I haven't been able to get my hands on (I would return them), and I would rent some SNES games that I haven't seen anywhere but don't feel like buying on Ebay for inflated prices. There are a few PSX games I would like to rent, some Saturn games, definitely some Jaguar and 32X carts. I would definitely like to rent some of those.


I wouldn't mind giving a cash deposit to somebody, as long as I know that they are known to be a long time DP member with a solid reputation. There are plenty of DP members that qualify for that. I would give a cash deposit, plus rental fee for the games that I choose to rent, and I would just leave the cash deposit on hand so that I could rent lots of other games. Heck, I would be renting at least a few retro games every single month. The price for rental would definitely have to be decent. Obviously it has to be high enough for it to be worth it to the person renting, but it has to be low enough for the person that is renting to want to actually do it. The way to make things work is that you charge maybe a higher price, but the person gets to rent it for a longer period.



IF I HAD A BIG ENOUGH COLLECTION I WOULD DO THIS MYSELF. Actually, if nobody else try's this out, I might try it, even though I have a rather small collection. Just to prove that this would indeed work.

[Ulticron]

When I was a kid I thought about it. People would borrow my NES games all the time, but I never tried it. Now I wouldn't dare try to rent anything I own even if it was to someone that lived next door to me.

[GameSlaveGaz]

I have a hard enough time getting borrowed games back from my boyfriend, let alone people I don't know.

However, they are paying for it...

If one were to do it, it would have to be only in his/her local area (no mail-order, that's just asking for trouble) and you'd have to do a whole membership dealie like Blockbuster.

That way, you have their name, number, and address on file (like a real rental place does) and if they don't return your shit, you can track 'em down and beat the crap out of them.

In theory, it may be a good idea. You get to make some money back on what you've invested in your collection. But, you can't trust everyone. Someone's gonna take advantage of that and keep your game. Or damage could incur, either accidental or due to negligence.

If one were to actually start a rental biz out of their collection, they'd have to give it some serious thought and find ways around any issues before actually going through with it.

[Charlesaway]

I like how you say there is no risk.

And then point out the risk.

I, personally, am against the idea myself. In all serious honesty, I would much rather have (at least now) my games then the value of my games. And even if I only lose 1/10th of a percent of games I rented out in that way, they would be sorely missed.

Some of those rare games cannot be replaced. Even at inflated, ebay like values, they may only come up for sale a few times a year.

[rjohnson]

There was an article in the new york times news paper 2 or so years back about a new potential up and coming buisness idea...similar to internet cafes, except thru gaming...retro and new. People come in, slap down a deposit and rental fee, and liscence / ID and rent a system, TV chair, etc... and play a game or two...even rent memory cards OR bring in their own (a la MVS systems)...

You could do beer/wine sales or just food and drink... like old days arcades used to...

THEN to leave, they get the deposit back, and you get $...

this is a pipe dream i have to follow thru on one day...when retired...and when the stuff we have will be worth so much more... REAL GAMES and REAL SYSTEMS...not crappy emus and CPUs...

when folks see what i have or what i collect they at first think i am mad...as i have so danged much.... but then that bug bites and they see what is really there (what i think of it as) a treasure of great endless weeks of fun...


i do not think that i would ever let it leave the premises though...and i would have EVERTHING tagged with rfu cards so they could not leave...

Thanks for the discussion!

[Charlesaway]

There was an article in the new york times news paper 2 or so years back about a new potential up and coming buisness idea...similar to internet cafes, except thru gaming...retro and new. People come in, slap down a deposit and rental fee, and liscence / ID and rent a system, TV chair, etc... and play a game or two...even rent memory cards OR bring in their own (a la MVS systems)...

You could do beer/wine sales or just food and drink... like old days arcades used to...

THEN to leave, they get the deposit back, and you get $...

this is a pipe dream i have to follow thru on one day...when retired...and when the stuff we have will be worth so much more... REAL GAMES and REAL SYSTEMS...not crappy emus and CPUs...

when folks see what i have or what i collect they at first think i am mad...as i have so danged much.... but then that bug bites and they see what is really there (what i think of it as) a treasure of great endless weeks of fun...


i do not think that i would ever let it leave the premises though...and i would have EVERTHING tagged with rfu cards so they could not leave...

Thanks for the discussion!

See, this seems like a much more viable case to me. Kind of like a video gaming museum, but interactive. It would be sweet.

[Anthony1]

GameSlaveGav said:

If one were to do it, it would have to be only in his/her local area (no mail-order, that's just asking for trouble) and you'd have to do a whole membership dealie like Blockbuster.

That way, you have their name, number, and address on file (like a real rental place does) and if they don't return your shit, you can track 'em down and beat the crap out of them.

In theory, it may be a good idea. You get to make some money back on what you've invested in your collection. But, you can't trust everyone. Someone's gonna take advantage of that and keep your game. Or damage could incur, either accidental or due to negligence.




---Anthony1's reply:

Did you actually read the post above you? I said that you would take a cash deposit from your members before they ever start renting. You take a cash deposit, and the renter knows ahead of time, that if he returns the game in worse shape than it was sent, that you could force him to keep the game, and to deduct the inflated price from his cash deposit. That would be part of the Rules and Regulations for Membership. You would have to be a total retard to rent out games without having the cash deposit in hand first. And if somebody doesn't return a game, not only do you get the inflated value for it, but you also get the rental fee that the guy paid.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Charlesaway said:

I, personally, am against the idea myself. In all serious honesty, I would much rather have (at least now) my games then the value of my games. And even if I only lose 1/10th of a percent of games I rented out in that way, they would be sorely missed.

Some of those rare games cannot be replaced. Even at inflated, ebay like values, they may only come up for sale a few times a year.



----Anthony1's reply:

I totally agree. That is why there would be a number of games that you simply wouldn't offer for rent, or you would set the required deposit so high that nobody would ever rent them. Look, I totally understand that whoever does this would have to have a really large collection of games, alot of doubles of games, and a big part of his collection either wouldn't be offered up for rent at all, or the deposit prices for those games will be so inflated that if somebody really did keep it and he had to take the deposit, he would be overjoyed that he got that much money from it.

[PapaStu]

I understood what you said and i quote what I said earlier.


Yes there are a few games and systems that dont emulate well, but no ones gonna put some 150 dollar down to be allowed to rent Radiant Silvergun or PanzerDragoon Saga.

Charging a market value for the games is useless. Whats value? Who determines it? DP guide? Ebay? My cat? Hell often the reason people don't own these is beacause they cant afford it, so what makes you think that they can put a nice sized deposit on something valulable?

So someone borrows a cd and causes a light surface scratch that doesn't affect game play. Then what? Do you take all their money and give them the copy of the game? Take a percentage? What would you determine a light scratch to be worth on a $100+ game (say for instance Suikoden 2), that would still hold its value with that light scratch on it? What if its more heavily scratched yet still totally playable AND a professional resurfacer cleans everything up on it. Then what???

[cyberfluxor]

I have thought about this subject matter before, and truthfully for collectors I don't think it's possible to just rent your collection. Now, if you're just an avid gamer then you can just do like others and open a used game store. Basically everything in the store is yours, free to take home and watch or play, and when you're done with it just put it back on the shelf for sale.

A local guy around here looks up current prices of games and pays you 80% of the current trading value. SO if you buy a game from him, play and beat it, you can sell back to get 80% of you're money back. You can think of the 20% as the rental fee and 80% the deposit. If the customer decides to keep it then it's already theirs.

[jajaja]

I've thought about it actually. But I would never rent out any of my own collection, I mean stuff that are mint or things I only have 1 copy of. But I guess the marked for renting NES game arent really that big so it would never happend.

[k8track]

I think I would just rent out the boxes.

[evil_genius]

Someone could make alot of money doing this. But noone goes near my collection or they will hear me shriek, "Get!"

[Zilla]

I dont see it working out all that well without a lot of planning and a user base thats willing to participate. Its not a jump out of bed and do it type thing. Too much risk involved.

[rjohnson]

No risk actually...

There is a video store near me with some really hard to find out of print videos / discs..... that have leans on credit cards to rent... like $300 plus bucks.... so if some idiot ruins it, there is more than enough fund sin the lean to cover replacement and replacement search time....

you just have a lean worth twice the game price.... like if RS2 goes for $150 online, have it set at $300...

hard core or not, no play without pay.

This eliminates kids from wrecking or trying to steal....AND the stuff stays in house.... like an internet cafe, the computers stay in house...

As it is REALLY gettin difficult now to find older games and systems at Gwill, etc... it may be a more profitable buisness as time progresses....

Then,, as a buisness,, you can get more games... and guess what.... they are still ALL yours, and the collection GROWS...

I already consider my collection a museum and library...

DO any of you have your collections insured against loss fire theft already?

[Tony Montana]

I agree with Papastu, there is no significant risk with the deposit but there would never be enough people who are willing to leave that kind of money in order for it to be profitable. If the people who really want to play a game have 200 bucks sitting around I think they would rather spend 100 and actually own Suikoden 2 rather than just rent it and get their money back.

The other idea of an actual "Retro Game Cafe" type of business seems much more plausible and less hassle.

[Anthony1]

One thing that has been mentioned, is that although a deposit in theory could work, nobody would be willing to deposit $200 to be able to rent Radiant Silvergun or whatever. My answer to this, is that you are absolutely correct. Nobody would deposit $200 to rent a game like that. For some reason, everybody thinks that a rental service like this is only good for the super rare, super expensive games. But this is not the case. There are tons of games out there that are only worth about $15 to $25 to outright purchase, that I would love to rent.

Now, you might be wondering, why would you pay money to rent a game that you can purchase outright for only $15 or $20 or $25? Here are a few reasons:


1. Although you are interested in playing the game for maybe a month, you don't feel like actually paying $20 or whatever for it, and buying it. You just want to sample it for a rental fee.

2. There are lots of games that aren't necessarily rare or valuable, but are still difficult to track down for a price that is decent. This gives you a chance to rent these kinds of games that you would have to spend some considerable time tracking down.

3. There are a number of import games that I would like to play, but my only access to getting these imports is via Ebay, and the prices can be quite high, not to mention the fact that I might need some type of converter thing to play them. If somebody had converters, then those could be rented out along with the games.

4. Maybe I'm somebody that collects games, but I want all my games to be super mint, and I want to play a particular game, but the only way I would actually buy it, is if it's super mint. Well, this gives you a chance to play that game, even though it isn't super mint, you can play it and get it out of your system and take your time waiting for a super mint version to show up.



Basically, there are lots of different reasons why people might be interested in this. Now..... Are you going to have a huge number of customers and a huge clientele? Probably not. But you might have a core group of guys that like to rent stuff from you. This isn't an idea to create a real, big time business, this is an idea to help fund your other retro activities. Some people out there have huge collections, tons of doubles and extra's and they aren't doing anything with them. This gives them a chance to make some extra cash off of that. Cash that could go towards them buying whatever retro stuff they've been thinking about.


Also, if there was a large enough market to do this locally, then you could even rent actual video game systems. Shipping systems through the mail on a rental basis would not be logical, but if somebody is local and they can just pick the system up, and return the system to you, then that wouldn't be a problem.


As for the idea of having some type of Retro Games Cafe, and actually having a physical retail location, you must be out of your mind. Do you know how much it costs to have retail space right now? There simply isn't a large enough market to make a Retro Games Cafe a long term possible solution. You would have to live in New York or LA or something to have a large enough base of potential customers to even make such an idea feasable. Even then you could easily go under. The key is to have zero overhead. So if you are operating off a website, via emails and such, and just shipping things from your home to people, then it's something that could actually generate money. But having an actual retail location to rent retro games is not a very viable business plan. Most commercial property leasers won't lease a space for less than a 2 year commitment. That means that you need to have say $3000 a month for 24 months, plus a deposit. If you go out of business prior to the 2 year lease being up, then you need to have the ability to sublease to somebody else, and that's a big headache in and of itself.


Now, I'm not saying that renting retro games as a very small sliver of part of a retail situation couldn't be profitable, but so many things would have to go absolutely perfect that it just wouldn't be a very prudent investment.

[Vroomfunkel]

I don't get why you are getting so wound up simply because not everyone agrees with you.

If you're so sure it can make a fortune, and nobody else wants to do it, then go ahead and do it - you'll have no competition, and you'll make a fortune and then you can laugh in everyone's face.

Personally I think the idea is insane and would never work. If I wanted to 'rent' a $20 retro game, here's how I would do it - I'd buy the game.

THen I'd play it for as long as I liked, at my lesiure. Then, when I'd finished with it, I'd sell it. Any discrepancy in price, I add to the postage I've paid and count as the 'rental' fee.

That's how I first played Panzer Dragoon Saga. Except I made a profit on it, so it was even better than renting!

Your idea won't work because why on earth would I put aside the same amount of money for the same amount of time, in order to have exactly the same experience, minus the box and manual and have to worry about running up extra fees if it takes me a bit longer to finish than I thought, or I forget to post it back in time?

Don't bother to reply telling me how wrong I am - if that's the case, go ahead and set it up and roll in all the cash. Then come back and tell me I'm wrong.

Vroomfunkel

[Anthony1]

If you just wanted to rent one game at a time, then ya, it doesn't really make sense. It would be better to just buy the game and resell it. Some people don't like having to list the thing on Ebay again, and you don't always know that it's going to resell for what you thought.


The only way this idea makes any sense, is if the person that is renting is renting multiple games. Like 5 games at a time. If you can easily buy the game on Ebay for a really good price, then yes, why rent it, but I'm talking about games that are about $20, or more, and you just don't want to go through the hassle. For example, I would like to play Neutopia for the TG-16, but I don't feel like buying it on Ebay for $23 and then later trying to sell the thing back. If I could rent it, I would.


If the person that did this had a large enough library, which would be needed to make it all worthwhile, then you could rent like 5 or 10 games at a time, and you could have games from all different kinds of categories. Like a Jaguar cart like AVP, or a 32X cart like Blackthorne and a PC Engine game like Son Son II and a Genesis game like Crusader of Centi, and a Saturn game like Thunderforce V or whatever. Basically, you would be renting a number of games, from various sytems and being able to get them all at one time, in one box, without having to worry about trying to buy all of them individually and then sell all of them individually.

[Vroomfunkel]

Sure.

Like I said, go for it. Looks like you won't have competition to worry about :)

[coreycorey2000]

Lets get this started then. How much would you pay to rent Neutopia? Lets see if it works haha.

I've thought about renting games locally. I would need to open a business to do so. But I don't have an extra $40k kicking around to get the stuff that i'm missing. And a games collection doesn't count as collateral for a loan (even if it has $40k worth of value). With the right collections agency working for you. Renting can be very risk free. The trick is finding a good one.

[Anthony1]

I've thought about renting games locally. I would need to open a business to do so. But I don't have an extra $40k kicking around to get the stuff that i'm missing.


Ok, first of all, if you are going to have a retail location, then the money needed for the collection of games to rent is the least of your worries. The concept of opening your own game store is one that we've all dreamed, but the failure rate for a mom and pop type operation and the money needed to actually get one off the ground makes it pretty much a pipe dream for anybody that is not already in the millionaire category already. In my city, nobody will even lease you a decent space unless you have been in business for 2 years already and can show that your business is proftable. And then, even if you meet all the requirements, they require a 2 year commitment. Even if you could find a little hole in the wall place for like $1300 a month, you still have the utilities, the insurance, the fact that somebody has to work there, so if you already have a career going, you have to quit your job.


I mean, just getting started down that path there are so many issues that it would make your head spin. Believe me, I know, me and a guy were going to start a huge gaming operation, but we could never find the necessary location with enough parking spots with the right square footage for the right price, with lease terms that we could actually live with. It's a long story, but actually having a real "retail" location requires so huge an investment of time and money, and such a high failure rate, that I just don't think it's a good idea at all. Not unless you have a spare $150,000 that you wouldnt' have a problem losing.


The specialization in the rental of old school video game stuff is something that could actually work, but the only way it works is if you keep the overhead to an extreme minimum. That means that it has to be a home based business, and you have to be the one and only employee. The other thing, is you would need to already have an absolutely monsterous collection of games already, with tons of doubles and triples and loose carts and cd's, etc, etc, etc.

[coreycorey2000]

Well it costs $600 a month to rent a location big enough around here with a 1 year lease. I had it all set up but my loan fell through. I've been in to small business help centers to discuss the idea. I have a business plan wrote up and everything. I have a rather large collection of games. And I wouldn't be doing it alone. However since I do not own real estate I'm not eligible for loans. So until I save up some serious cash it is impossible. The population of the largest town within an hour is 70k so rent won't be as high as larger cities. I'll just set up at flea markets instead in the meantime. $1000 a day in sales at a flea market proves that there is a market for retro games around here. I've done surveys and the works. Renting wasn't going to be the main focus by far. But we were planning on having all the old school games and systems for rent as well as things that can't be found around here. There are very few places around to rent even new games. And nowhere to rent games pre playstation or n64. None of the stores sell things such as Saturn, Atari Jaguar or neo geo. And that's without getting into obscure systems at all. And I've seen less than a dozen imports while collecting locally. It's not that difficult to stay a float when you can use ebay. Without any solid competition games that cost $1 sell for $5 locally. Also things that are near worthless locally bring in good money on ebay. By combining the two it should work.

[Iron Draggon]

Why not just rent game time, instead of the actual games? Charge people to come over to your house and play your games with you at a set rate. They get to choose which games you play, and you get paid to have someone play with you. Kinda like being a whore but without any sex. LOL

[dairugger]

from my personal experience-no.. Ive lent my systems and games to friends before-and always been disapointed how they were treated, and how they came back.. since im kinda of a neat freak-and perfectionist, no one takes care of my things like me.. ive even had my sega-cd returned to me broken-and never got my parapa the rapper game back from a friend i had known since childhood.. and problems would occur with games with roms- an example would be someone exchanging a aes games innards with a boot, etc.. and on the payment end of things- what happens when a conflict occurs-ever use paypal, and had a problem?? i imagine there would be a middleman decision on who is right.. or who gets money or not.. believe me someone will ruin it-always happens, and someone will exploit the inherrant flaws.. good idea in therory (but not my collection) but some people just aint right! :-( collectors by nature are anal- and most people dont treat their things right-let alone someone else's!

[Xexyz]

Personally, I think this is a bad idea. Good in theory, bad in the real world.

First off, you won't find many people willing to lay down a large value deposit just to play something more on the rare/high demand side like Pirates! Gold or Mario RPG.

Another major factor is the games condition. The renter could be reckless and damage a cart label or scratch up a disks surface.

I love playing my games, but I'm also extremely paranoid about their condition. I do buy games that aren't flawless, but even so, I put as much effort as possible into preventing any damage or wear from occuring to them. I'd figure most people in this hobby do.

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I did during middle school, but then got worried about potential theft.