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Thread: Classic video game stores suck.

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    If you knew it was 2-3x over market then why on Earth would you buy it?

    The game market never has short sharp inclines... Not many long sharp inclines either. Ignorance is the key.


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    Quote Originally Posted by j_factor View Post
    A classic game store near me has a different problem -- shitloads of games are out with no price marked. I sure as hell am not going to stand there and ask "how much is this one? and this? and this?" How do they expect to sell anything? Also their loose N64 games are on a rack with the sides of the carts facing out, and the titles written in sharpie on every single cartridge. Really? They couldn't have stuck little labels on?
    I have one of those near me also, nothing is priced, they have to consult the computer on each item. I pretty much just go in to browse now while waiting for my chicken teriyaki order to finish.

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    Quote Originally Posted by j_factor View Post
    A classic game store near me has a different problem -- shitloads of games are out with no price marked.
    There's a hole-in-the-wall shop near me selling DVDs and old games (they want $99 for an Atari 2600 and a dozen common games) and they had a bunch of import Dreamcast games, lots from Japan and a few from Europe. None priced, of course. I wanted the late British releases, so they went to look them up on the computer. It was fairly obvious they were looking for them on eBay. But since they never came out over here, they couldn't find the games on US eBay, so they refused to sell them to me. I mentioned the Japanese imports to 98PaceCar, and he went there and bought a huge stack of games for a total of $45. Because the titles were in Japanese, and therefore unsearchable, they just stuck an arbitrary price on the lot. After hearing that, I went back and tried to buy those UK games again, hoping they'd worked out a price. Again, they went to look them up on US eBay and couldn't find them, so yet fucking again they wouldn't sell them. They had to make sure to price gouge me personally, even though they give other people cheap deals on games they couldn't locate on eBay. Useless people.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dendawg View Post
    If somebody's willing to pay that price, then it IS the market value.
    But most of the time, people aren't willing to pay that price. One person who overpays for a game or system does not set the market price.

    Often time, these games and systems just accumulate on the shelves and don't go anywhere. I've seen stores that have their games on the shelves for years cause nobody wants them for the price they want.

    t was fairly obvious they were looking for them on eBay
    I would actually be OK with that if they didn't charge 2-3 times what you can find on eBay.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zthun View Post
    But most of the time, people aren't willing to pay that price. One person who overpays for a game or system does not set the market price.

    Often time, these games and systems just accumulate on the shelves and don't go anywhere. I've seen stores that have their games on the shelves for years cause nobody wants them for the price they want.



    I would actually be OK with that if they didn't charge 2-3 times what you can find on eBay.
    Something you aren't realizing is that retail brick and mortar pricing "market" value is completely different than online auction pricing.

    We sell Zelda III for $19.99 and Super Mario World for $17.99 and Super Mario All-Stars for $24.99.

    I can't get that on ebay for those all the time and with our high sales tax those come out to be much higher than ebay, but they are competitive and we sell them. All the time.

    Yes, that is what makes our money, but again, your whole idea for this post was to complain about classic game stores and the main reasoning was that you can't get deals at them. You can. Like any place. You just have to "look" for them. If they have Mario for $45 but boxed Super Turrican 2 for $5, you obviously have a deal there. Most game stores don't bother with unpopular game pricing unless they are run by collectors or are corporate and keep up with value.

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    I work at a small chain of video game stores in Southwest Virginia, and we're pretty reasonable when it comes to prices. I mean, trust me, I'm one of those people who HATES going into a retro store and seeing stuff marked up.

    We have TONS of retro games that we sell for a flat price of $4.99, and that goes for anything from the NES/Master System up to the original Xbox. Of course, for some stuff, that's a bit overpriced, but for lots of games, it comes out even considering shipping.

    Of course, the "harder to find stuff" gets marked up a bit, but that's mainly the BIG titles like Mario, Metroid, FF, and your other mainstream games. If we end up getting stuff in that's relatively unpopular, we still sell it for cheap. For example, I've been able to pick up stuff like MUSHA for the Genesis complete for $14.99. :O I'm a big PS1 collector, so it's crazy when we get stuff like Jurassic Park Warpath for $4.99, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne for $4.99 or Suikoden 2 for $49.99. However, of course, we currently have a disc-only copy of Monster Rancher for $19.99. Ugh. You've just got to know what's worth what.

    Of course, it sucks because it all depends on trade-ins. We get web orders, but where we're a small little chain, we don't have a huge amount of retro stock at all times. I mean, we usually have TONS of Genesis/NES/SNES/N64 stuff, but Dreamcast/PS1/Saturn/3DO/T16/etc... stuff comes in every so often. So it's always good to check back.

    One bonus, though, is that when we take in cart-based games, if the label/cart is physically damaged (worn label, etc.), we sell them for $4.99. I amassed a large part of my SNES collection this way over the summer.

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    i dont see how any brick and mortar game store can survive these days... best ways seems to be sell online..

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    I don't mind high prices as long as they're fair. Like $10 markup is fine I think. Something for $80 or 90 when you can buy it for $50 normally is something I don't like to see. Like the one guy I saw on Ebay selling disc 2 of FF7 for $20+.
    Everything in the above post is opinion unless stated otherwise.

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    Quote Originally Posted by DreamTR View Post
    Something you aren't realizing is that retail brick and mortar pricing "market" value is completely different than online auction pricing.

    We sell Zelda III for $19.99 and Super Mario World for $17.99 and Super Mario All-Stars for $24.99.

    I can't get that on ebay for those all the time and with our high sales tax those come out to be much higher than ebay, but they are competitive and we sell them. All the time.

    Yes, that is what makes our money, but again, your whole idea for this post was to complain about classic game stores and the main reasoning was that you can't get deals at them. You can. Like any place. You just have to "look" for them. If they have Mario for $45 but boxed Super Turrican 2 for $5, you obviously have a deal there. Most game stores don't bother with unpopular game pricing unless they are run by collectors or are corporate and keep up with value.
    I just want to mention that your pricing is actually very reasonable, I don't see a problem with pricing games like that. The stores I've been to would price Zelda III for around $40 loose, and Super Mario All-Stars for $60 loose. Most of these stores already closed down, there might have been a couple that priced those games even higher than what I mentioned. Keep in mind that there would also be tax added, and the sales tax a couple years ago was 15% where I am. Most of the stores somewhat close to me aren't worth visiting, I don't bother with the ones located in Toronto as the transit fees would cost me over $10 just to visit them.

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    I used to think the same way about the thrift stores in my area. I mean, who is going to pay 60.00 for a N64 with one controller and Mario 64? Not me I can tell you that, however someone is willing to pay that price, because the next time I was at that same thrift store, it was gone! Now maybe someone picked it up for half price on the "color of the week" price tag, but even 30.00 for that setup it over what I would pay. But it just goes to show that someone out there is willing to pay those prices, so the store might as well keeping marking them up to that price.
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    Quote Originally Posted by rpepper9 View Post
    I used to think the same way about the thrift stores in my area. I mean, who is going to pay 60.00 for a N64 with one controller and Mario 64? Not me I can tell you that, however someone is willing to pay that price, because the next time I was at that same thrift store, it was gone!
    That reminds me, the Value Village near me had an N64 with 1 controller and an RF switch(no AV cable) for $30 in one of those EB Games pre-played system boxes. A woman was looking it over wanting to buy it, so I went over and offered to sell her one I had with all hookups and an AV cable(instead of RF) for $20 as I never used it anymore. She told me "no thank you", and then bought the untested system from Value Village for $30 plus tax. I seriously think most average consumers are idiots.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gameguy View Post
    That reminds me, the Value Village near me had an N64 with 1 controller and an RF switch(no AV cable) for $30 in one of those EB Games pre-played system boxes. A woman was looking it over wanting to buy it, so I went over and offered to sell her one I had with all hookups and an AV cable(instead of RF) for $20 as I never used it anymore. She told me "no thank you", and then bought the untested system from Value Village for $30 plus tax. I seriously think most average consumers are idiots.
    For whatever reason, I think I remember you telling this story before.

    Anyway, I'm going to go with the convenience factor as being a good reason to shop at retro video game stores with it actually happening in action to me this past weekend.

    My local game stores usually sell their games for a reasonable price (they usually look up the current price trend and base it off that), but I tend to remain cheap and not spend more than $10 on most games. Well I went in and saw The Lost Vikings for $12. I decided to purchase it because I really wanted it. True I could've actually saved a few bucks by buying it on Ebay or could have waited for it to turn up in the wild, but I know my game is guaranteed to work and the quality it comes in. Plus I have the game today instead of having to wait a little bit to play it.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gameguy View Post
    That reminds me, the Value Village near me had an N64 with 1 controller and an RF switch(no AV cable) for $30 in one of those EB Games pre-played system boxes. A woman was looking it over wanting to buy it, so I went over and offered to sell her one I had with all hookups and an AV cable(instead of RF) for $20 as I never used it anymore. She told me "no thank you", and then bought the untested system from Value Village for $30 plus tax. I seriously think most average consumers are idiots.
    I suppose Value Village has some sort of warranty. A random guy who moves in on her hoping for a sale ... won't.

    So she might not have been that much of an idiot.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kitsune Sniper View Post
    I suppose Value Village has some sort of warranty. A random guy who moves in on her hoping for a sale ... won't.

    So she might not have been that much of an idiot.
    Yeah...this.

    I mean, I'm a big reseller, so I completely agree with you...I hate seeing people come in and buy some overpriced game/system when I know they could get it for tons cheaper online or at a yard sale...but you don't have the warranty, security, or immediacy of a store.

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    One of the longest lasting classic gaming stores in my city went out of business last moth, with the other one cutting back on store hours. Another one in a neighboring city has taken to being open four days a week.

    I wouldn't say that any of these stores suck, they just had a lack of business. The first store I mentioned had the same copy of Pilotwings 64 on the shelve, in the same spot, since it's day of release. It wasn't expensive by any definition, just no one that wanted a copy of Pilotwings 64 happened into the store.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rpepper9 View Post
    I used to think the same way about the thrift stores in my area. I mean, who is going to pay 60.00 for a N64 with one controller and Mario 64? Not me I can tell you that, however someone is willing to pay that price, because the next time I was at that same thrift store, it was gone! Now maybe someone picked it up for half price on the "color of the week" price tag, but even 30.00 for that setup it over what I would pay. But it just goes to show that someone out there is willing to pay those prices, so the store might as well keeping marking them up to that price.
    There's another local chain around me that overcharges for EVERYTHING. They still charge $90 for FFVII, $80 for Suikoden 1, and even $50 for Mega Man Legends 1.

    However, they've got such a huge selection at any given time, and it's one of the few retro stores around, so they sell through tons of their overpriced shit.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kitsune Sniper View Post
    I suppose Value Village has some sort of warranty. A random guy who moves in on her hoping for a sale ... won't.

    So she might not have been that much of an idiot.
    No refunds, 7 day exchange only. Now all video game stuff(same with videos, DVDs, books, CDs)is marked No Exchange/Final Sale. Not much of a warranty.

    The Microplay that's 30 minutes north sells stuff with a 6 month guarantee and offers refunds or exchanges. I could see someone buying stuff there instead as everything is guaranteed properly. N64s are either $30 or $40 there.

    Edit: I didn't mean she's an idiot for not wanting to buy my N64, it just seems to me most consumers aren't that good with shopping around for most purchases. I see plenty of stuff selling at big box stores for double what they would be at Wal-Mart or other discount stores, yet plenty of people are still buying them. Even stuff like DVDs, it's not like paying more for them at Best Buy will mean you'll get a better quality one than what's at Wal-Mart. A few dollars more wouldn't get me to notice, but actually almost double does make me notice. I also see plenty of people trying to sell their used DVDs on craigslist for $2-$3 each and nothing sells for months, DVDs at the Salvation Army that are beat up for $3 sell fast and DVDs at Value Village still sell at $4.99-$9.99 each. I've seen used DVDs priced higher than what they're priced new at Wal-Mart and Zellers, yet they still sell. Why?
    Last edited by Gameguy; 10-14-2010 at 11:20 PM.

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    B&M store prices should be higher than ebay, because you get to have it now, see the item, get a warranty..... and the stores over-head is higher. If you want to wait one to two weeks, take a chance on condition, and save alittle cash, go to ebay.

    I believe B&M stores should price their items in the middle(compared to ebay). You can't expect a store to compete with individuals selling on ebay or at flea markets. That is comparing apples to oranges. People on ebay and at flea markets(and garage sales) are pricing their stuff to sell fast cuz they want to get fid of it(in most cases).

    People who compare B&M store pricing to ebay pricing, just dont get how a REAL business works. Plus, just like buying a candy bar, a car, or a house, if you dont like the price, no one is holding a gun to your head....just dont buy it.

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    the only one i know of in my area is PowerGamer in the Glen Burnie Mall, and they are not that bad on prices...Sometimes even shock me at what they have in stock..A lot of stuff you have to ask for because they keep it behind the counter and in the back..

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    All right, as a guy who runs a classic gaming store, albiet not a brick and mortar one, a little bit of a quick lesson about those stores that do exist.

    As others have mentioned, the popular games are popular because they sell, and they sell well. I think I could probably sell 100 copies of the Mega Man titles, or Mario titles for the NES at double or even triple the price most people think they are worth collection-wise, because for people buying the games at a store (or even online when browsing) it is less about finding it for the absolute cheapest price and instead because they want it right then.

    Obviously, there is a tipping point for this. I can sell Super Mario Bros All-Stars on GOAT Store all day for $15, but I'd never have them in stock. At $20ish, we find we can keep them in stock while they still sell well. If I priced them at $40, we would very rarely sell them and if I was a B&M store, I'd find myself having issues meeting my month wages and whatnot.

    Resell stores need to have enough of a sell-through rate to make money. But, at the same time, resell stores need to price things so that they keep inventory on hand so that when people come in, there isn't just five things in stock.

    Meeting that ratio is a pretty difficult thing to do for anyone in this business -- it's definitely tough for us, and we've plowed a TON of money into keeping titles in stock that we sell -- but once you have it you become pretty solid.

    If you don't like the prices some store is charging for something, don't buy it. If the rest of the market feels the same way, and the store isn't stupid, they will eventually lower their prices.

    As for the original suggestion that $150 for a boxed NES set was too much, if it was in perfect condition I think that is about spot-on for a real world sale of those where you have a guarantee about what you're getting. I'm always willing to buy in the real world at a slight premium, so long as I can see the item I'm buying first. I've never been disappointed by the condition of an item I bought that I could hold first, but I have many times been disappointed with games I bought from eBay.
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