why do some collectors hate to admit they paid a lot for a game?

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

I see a lot of that on here and especially YouTube.

[Schiggidyd]

I don't like admitting prices I paid because I pride myself in discovering the games for dirt cheap (99% of the time). I felt so bad for buying Earthbound when it was 135, that I resold it for 180 a few months later. It wasn't for the money alone, but the moral.

The most expensive game I paid for was MUSHA on Sega Genesis complete at about 184 dollars. I feel bad for that, and if I was struggling, that would be the first to go.

[o.pwuaioc]

Because it's a sign of laziness and/or lack of patience. If you wait, you'll often find it for either a good price or a great price. If you pay extra, what does that say about your character? Kind of like that guy who spent far too much on a complete PS2 collection. Anyone can pay for an overpriced good as long as they have the money in the bank. That's not the impressive bit.

[Gameguy]

Nobody wants to be this guy.

[understatement]

I think it has a good bit to do with upbringing, some feel stronger about it than others that it's not polite to divulge or ask about that kind of thing.

I myself don't mind saying if I payed under the going rate but if I pay the going rate it's nothing really special (in other words anyone can do it) so I don't mention it.

[Tokimemofan]

***Attention People! Tokimemofan has no problem admitting to buying Queen's Blade ~Spiral Chaos~ for $120 instead of a PC Engine Duo***

[jonebone]

Why admit it at all? Whenever someone admits they paid $x,xxx for a game, I think of them as a braggart looking for attention. Not that it is always the case, but there's really no reason to publicly admit that you spent a lot of money. People spend lots of money behind closed doors all the time.

90%+ of my collection is obtained at great deals. I don't like to admit the other 10% because yes it does show impatience sometimes. But some games are also worth being impatient

[JSoup]

For some reason, I clicked on this topic thinking that one of the first three posts would be someone complaining about Nintendo Age.

[IHatedSega]

They dont want people trolling them and saying they should have given the money to charity.

[tom]

I love to say I paid $270 for Mangia', or $250 for SongMate, $200 for PictureMate, I feel good about it.
But then, I sold LE The Lucky Dime Caper SMS version for $800, that made me feel even better.

[Rickstilwell1]

I'm not afraid to admit what I actually paid for what. It pisses me off more when people try to lowball me when it's time to sell x rare game I paid x for last year when they should have to pay me the same price I paid for it (as long as the condition of the item didn't degrade any). Can't even get half my money back sometimes. Common games are another story because those fluctuate in price a lot more depending on how many people want a copy of it at once. Just like Earthbound. When people stop caring about it, it will probably crash like CIB original Pokemon seems to have done. $60 for Red Version CIB 2 years ago and now it's popping up all over the place for $30. While Blue version stayed at a constant $30. It had me thinking Red sold less than Blue, or just that more people like the color red than blue.

Sometimes if you can't find a game in a store or you never go to expo's there's bound to be games you will never find a complete copy of unless you cave to ebay's high prices. There have been times where I posted threads looking for a certain game complete in box and nobody here even had one for sale, let alone for any price. (CIB Mr. Nutz for SNES comes to mind)

[Graham Mitchell]

I actually have no problem admitting that I paid a lot for something.

I went to school for a very, very long time and really suffered to have the excess income I have today. So, if a game is hard to come by and I really want it, I don't mind overpaying. I think I paid $200 for a CIB Snatcher with a Justifier. I paid $200 for Panzer Dragoon Saga. When you start collecting Neo Geo carts and arcade PCB's, your concept of "overpriced" changes a bit. I think I overpaid for a Viewpoint kit, which I got for about $250, but I don't regret it, cuz it's awesome! I recently dropped $400 on a Haunted Castle PCB as well. On the other hand, I know when somebody's overcharging for something, and I try research the going rate of things before jumping in. (Somebody wants $300 for a Neo Mr. Do kit on eBay. Ummm, no.)

The thing is, if I didn't have the excess income, I wouldn't be doing this, but I worked (and still work ) really really hard to get to this point. I don't have an expensive car, or a membership to a country club, but I do like my arcade games, and they come at a price.

[Tanooki]

I think a majority of it is that if you get outside those who think games belong stuck in shiny pieces of display plastic, and those in it for the profit, and get down to the gamers they're getting hosed. You'll want something and just take the hit being impatient or really over a good span of time you just can't get it locally for whatever reason(bad area for games?) and see it inching up month over month so you nauseate yourself into just paying the price. The problem really is that it comes down to disgust with how the monetization of the hobby more recently has been ruining it going higher and higher on a heap of titles that just 3 years ago most people didn't give a crap about so the prices were long term flat, fair, and realistic. The same shit that cratered comics and cards in the early 90s is happening now to old video games. Shops on/offline popping up, greed, speculation, stupid behavior, all of it jamming up costs. More and more are falling into the trap and getting chumped.

I for one don't get that feeling because when I saw this stuff start really going down about 2 years back I set ground rules as it bugged me then, angers me now because I had those 2 other hobbies as a kid ruined by the same predators. I won't pay more than original general retail for an old console game ($50) or handheld game($30.) I will be patient, if it takes me a week, a month, a year or more to get it at the price I deem as real fair non-hype predator market value I will wait. Since things have gone 'bad' the most I've ever dropped is $50shipped on Wild Guns and EVO, $40 on Ninja Gaiden Trilogy and Dragon Warrior IV in straight cash. Last week I did a trade of 6 PAL SMS games+Climber G&W for Bomberman 2 and Bubble Bobble Pt2 and that was my largest yet but not out of pocket so I was cool with it.

[Flam]

I see a lot of that on here and especially YouTube.

I think a lot if it has to do with pride. Some of the hard core collectors don't want to feel like a poser by paying too much for a game. I on the other hand don't mind. I don't go after big ticket items, so paying $10 for a game as opposed to $5 doesn't bother me. The most I've ever paid for a game is $50 for a reproduction. Although I do want an old school world of Nintendo sign, but those seem to be too high in price (at least for what I'd want to pay)

[wiggyx]

What everyone else said. Plus, who wants to hear everyone else in whatever forum tell you that they got their copy of XXX for $.XX at a yard sale one week earlier and that "you really should just try other means besides XXX.com or XXX.com for your gaming needs", as if garage and yard sales are an option for everyone to take advantage of.

It's the exact SAME reason that everyone LOVES to tell you how little they paid for a game.

[understatement]

I won't pay more than original general retail for an old console game ($50) or handheld game($30.) I will be patient, if it takes me a week, a month, a year or more to get it at the price I deem as real fair non-hype predator market value I will wait. Since things have gone 'bad' the most I've ever dropped is $50shipped on Wild Guns and EVO, $40 on Ninja Gaiden Trilogy and Dragon Warrior IV in straight cash. Last week I did a trade of 6 PAL SMS games+Climber G&W for Bomberman 2 and Bubble Bobble Pt2 and that was my largest yet but not out of pocket so I was cool with it.

I never understand stuff like this. Unless you account for inflation you’re not really paying the same as the original retail price, $50 back in 1990 is about a $100 today. Also I don’t think cartridge games or "old console game" were ever that cheap most of the ones I remember started at $69.99+ (I don’t know about the handhelds but I suspect they were more than $30).



Also, wiggyx, I don’t think XXX.com has the kind of gaming we're talking about.

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

I really wasn't talking about bragging, but it just seams that everyone wants to appear to be getting great deals. I'm not a game expert but when I see a video and someone is doing a unboxing video of things they got in the mail. I know its rare to find limited edition box sets for "only $10". I see this done a lot. I know its possible to find good deals in the wild but not that common online.

[Bojay1997]

Have you ever stopped and considered the possibility that most people claiming they didn't pay a lot for something actually didn't pay a lot for something? Contrary to what you might think, there are plenty of rare games out there that people find at thrifts, swap meets, buy from other collectors on forums, find at sources other than Ebay, etc....Just because some items get a lot of attention for what they sell for on Ebay doesn't mean that's what most people have paid for them. If that was the case, this would be a hobby for only very wealthy people and that's not the case at all.

[CatTehBus]

I think they don't like to admit how much they payed for a game because they know that other people have found the same game for a better price by being patient and finding it "in the wild". They know that they couldn't wait, they we're impatient, and that they were willing to pay the price someone was asking.

[Cornelius]

What everyone else said. Plus, who wants to hear everyone else in whatever forum tell you that they got their copy of XXX for $.XX at a yard sale one week earlier and that "you really should just try other means besides XXX.com or XXX.com for your gaming needs", as if garage and yard sales are an option for everyone to take advantage of.

It's the exact SAME reason that everyone LOVES to tell you how little they paid for a game.

Got something on your mind today, wiggyxxx?