The whole eBay thing

[kupomogli]

That's what i love about the video game market, when i go to goodwill's when they open you got the book hounds about 5 at a time taking every book there is with there scanners fighting each other etc... While they let FF7 Black Labels just sit on the rack or mario kart 64 for $2 bucks just lay there all day cause it's a old game...

You buy the games and sell them on Ebay or you buy the games overpriced on Ebay and say you found them for $2? Sorry if it's not true, but that thread was funny. Every picture looked like a recent purchase on Ebay as well.

[Icarus Moonsight]

It's all about individual preferences and value assessments and judgments. Why certain sellers sell at lower prices vs higher prices, without making up the profitability with volume of sales? Hyperbolic Discounting

Hyperbolic discounting is the tendency for people to prefer a smaller, immediate payoff over a larger, delayed payoff. Much research has been done on decision-making, and many factors contribute to the individual decision making process. Interestingly, delay time is a big factor in choosing an alternative. Put simply, most people would choose to get 20 dollars today instead of getting 100 dollars one year from today. Normally it makes sense to choose a greater amount of money immediately than less in the future, as the value of a dollar is worth more today than it is tomorrow. Assume that the interest rate is 9%, at this interest rate, a rational person would be indifferent to taking $91.74 now, or $100 a year from now. However, it is interesting how much less we are willing to take immediately rather than wait, would you rather have $100 a year from now, or $50 immediately? How about $40 immediately? Where do you draw the line?

[UnpluggedClone]

You buy the games and sell them on Ebay or you buy the games overpriced on Ebay and say you found them for $2? Sorry if it's not true, but that thread was funny. Every picture looked like a recent purchase on Ebay as well.

once again i don't know what photo shopped stuff was going on but i've posted enough photos with original goodwill price tags and receipts etc... And i have NEVER been rude or got to an argument with anyone on here. So if people don't like my finds no problem i will move on and won't post them anymore. But i'm a good person and have a lot of game knowledge to contribute to this amazing website.

I wouldn't have the game collection i have today without buying and selling, I've come across games like mario party 3 or super mario all stars/mario world carts at $3 dollars a pop at least 20 times you sell that and buy stuff that's rare that you normally couldn't find and it evens out. Basicly like you're buying games like popful mail for $3 dollars.

[jonebone]

Define "excessive", "inordinate" in the terms of a game sale please. You are counting too much on vagueness to disguise your true aims.

I didn't know this was rocket science? It's pretty simple. You look at completed auctions and see the selling range of the items. If you want to add some on the top to cover you 15% fixed value FVFs vs. 9% auction style FVFs, that's cool. If you want to add some on top because your item is extra MINTY, that's cool. Hell if you want to even just add an extra 10-15% on top just because you don't "need" to sell it (or have sentimental attachment), that's cool. But when you ask 150% - 200% of what an item is really "worth" then you are greedy, once again by definition and not debatable.

Obviously, there are exceptions for RARE and I mean R9/R10 type of RARE stuff. You got a NWC Gold? Ask whatever you want for it. But you still can look at these on a case by case basis. If the last one sold for $17.5k (I think?) and you're asking 100k then that's excessive.

Also, don't misconstrue my viewpoints. I'm not in this thread because because I'm enraged that people are turning huge profits (simply capitalism at its finest), I'm in this thread because the level of personal denial in this thread is amusing. It's like the person who drinks 12 beers a day and says "I don't have a drinking problem!" Or the person who's been in several car accidents and they are "never their fault". Here we have the people selling at "insanely high prices" preaching that they aren't greedy. No, they just have such a distorted sense of reality that they cannot come to grips with their own selling ethics.

And you hit on the great topic of Hyperbolic Discounting which is simply a fancy name for the "fast nickels better than slow dimes" selling mentality. I'm a fast nickel guy, ryborg is a very slow dime guy. In the real business world, fast nickels always win out which is why Walmart destroys Mom and Pop stores. But most of us video game resellers have normal 9-5s and aren't forced to live off of reselling income. So you see some people take the slow dime approach since they really don't "need" any sales. Real businesses operate on cash flow, not by letting inventory sit on their shelves.

[Icarus Moonsight]

So in other words, you can't or won't define the terms... Your response was very kilburped. What does kilburped mean? What ever I want it to.

Fast nickels! I'll try and remember that one.

Fast nickels works better if you sell 3 to 1 slow dime, true. Doesn't always pan out though. Wal-Mart does billions of fast nickels, so yeah, they win at nickels. Low volume tends to do better aiming for dimes. Unless they just want rid of the stuff, but that's more a yardsale situation than a business concern, no matter how small.

[ryborg]

In the real business world, fast nickels always win out which is why Walmart destroys Mom and Pop stores.

This is only true if you have a theoretical infinite (or at least an incredibly large) amount of supply. If I only come across one Suikoden II every 2-3 years, it is irrelevant if it takes 6+ months to sell it for $150. I never "need" the money right away from ebay sales and time is rarely a factor.

selling ethics

The only "selling ethics" I care about are if my buyers are happy. They are, judging from my high feedback %/DSRs and complete lack of reasonable complaints. My item descriptions are rock solid and I ship ASAP and safely. Price is their concern, not mine.

[jonebone]

This is only true if you have a theoretical infinite (or at least an incredibly large) amount of supply. If I only come across one Suikoden II every 2-3 years, it is irrelevant if it takes 6+ months to sell it for $150. I never "need" the money right away from ebay sales and time is rarely a factor.

If you are a good reseller then you are only limited by time and not supply. You don't need an infinite supply at all, you just need a continual cash and supply flow. You buy a beginning stock and go from there. As you sell stuff, you take some of that money and buy new stock. Once you are up and running for a month or so, the money flows in. For me personally, I only needed to win about 3-4 decent sized lots (20+ games and system) per week to keep me busy without downtime. That's hardly infinite.

The only "selling ethics" I care about are if my buyers are happy. They are, judging from my high feedback %/DSRs and complete lack of reasonable complaints. My item descriptions are rock solid and I ship ASAP and safely. Price is their concern, not mine.

That's cool if you are in this hobby to only make money and not to build a collection. A reseller cares only about profits, a collector cares about building their collection as well. A collector is willing to take less of a profit to a "friend", after all, there is more to life than the almighty dollar.

Case in point, I sold a Mega Man X3 cart to someone over the forums for $40 recently despite it probably going for $60-$70 on eBay. This person then got out of collecting about 2 months ago and sold me the one item I've wanted for almost a year now... a Sculptor's Cut N64 CIB. Price? $165 and MINTY. The only other quote I could find was $350 for an 8/10 CIB and I was damn near willing to pay $150 for the manual alone. Yet my good deal came full circle.

So what, I didn't make the extra $25 I could have, but I theoretically saved $185 off what I had to pay. Some people see the big picture.

[koster]

Case in point, I sold a Mega Man X3 cart to someone over the forums for $40 recently despite it probably going for $60-$70 on eBay. This person then got out of collecting about 2 months ago and sold me the one item I've wanted for almost a year now... a Sculptor's Cut N64 CIB. Price? $165 and MINTY. The only other quote I could find was $350 for an 8/10 CIB and I was damn near willing to pay $150 for the manual alone. Yet my good deal came full circle.
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WTB Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut Manual Only... PM ME!!

From Dictionary.com: "Avaricious, covetous, greedy, rapacious share the sense of desiring to possess more of something than one already has or might in normal circumstances be entitled to."

I'm still looking for a Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut manual - it seems that too many greedy people are looking for extras when they already have one...

[ryborg]

If you are a good reseller then you are only limited by time and not supply. You don't need an infinite supply at all, you just need a continual cash and supply flow. You buy a beginning stock and go from there. As you sell stuff, you take some of that money and buy new stock. Once you are up and running for a month or so, the money flows in. For me personally, I only needed to win about 3-4 decent sized lots (20+ games and system) per week to keep me busy without downtime. That's hardly infinite.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I don't post high prices for EVERYTHING. Far from it. I only post absurd prices for rare and/or sought-after items where I *know* it'll sell high. I'm not one of those people who sells a cart-only Genesis Madden '95 Fixed Price for $25. Those people are the idiots.

That's cool if you are in this hobby to only make money and not to build a collection.

Honestly, video game sales only make up ~1% of what I sell nowadays. I used to do the buying of large lots and breaking them down for profit thing. Most of my vintage game purchases come from thrift stores. I don't even bother selling games that are worth less than ~$20 anymore. I just keep them and swap/sell them with IRL friends.

95% of what I sell on ebay is clothing and that's not a hobby; it's a business.

Case in point....

So what, I didn't make the extra $25 I could have, but I theoretically saved $185 off what I had to pay. Some people see the big picture.

Fair enough, but I don't see that happening enough to justify giving deals to everyone all the time everywhere. I agree with giving worthwhile places like these forums a break (I've sold some stuff far below ebay value here), but on ebay, it's 100% profit.